For those that are looking for a vehicle rack for your "Swiss Army guns", you might want to take a look at Santa Cruz Gunlocks .  Their webiste isn't the greatest.  They also have rack for other rifles and shotguns.  I just put one in my squad after searching for one for a few years.  I read some good reviews about them on the Lightfighter Forum, but I haven't seen them mentioned here, so I thought I'd let everyone know.

They are a lot nicer that the other racks that we have, which include a Tufloc and some other brand our installer got for us.  The racks are open, which allows clearance for optics, vfg's, and lights.  These racks can be mounted horizontal or vertical on the partition, and they also have a truck mount.  In the horizontal mount, the rifle can be mouted parallel or perpendicular with the roof.  The lockhead is a handcuff style, and can be mounted to go around the barrel nut, or it should also fit anywhere around the handguard.  The brackets are well made and have a very nice finish on them.  When I was installing it, I saw that they had made in Tiawan stickers on them, which at first kind of irritated me, but then I remembered that they are an ally.  With the brackets, you can adjust how far from the roof you want the rifle, and you can pretty much put it anywhere from side-to-side that you want it to.  There is also adjustment in the butt plate bracket which allows you to get it just right.  One thing that some installers might not like is that it is not mounted on its own bracket, which might make a little more work for them when moving equipment from car to car, unless they leave them on the cage and move the whole thing.  Also, guys who have cantilever mounts or who have the larger rail covers might have a little bit of trouble getting them to fit.

I mounted mine as low as possible to make it easier to remove.  Since I'm kind of stubby, I won't have to worry about hitting my head.  I also mounted it as far to the passenger side as possible to allow our M16's with collapsible stocks to be mounted in it.  There is enough clearance between the mount and roll bar to mount most optics.  I have a NSN ACOG on my rifle, and it cleared the back up iron sights.  If more clearance is needed, I'm sure that you can add some spacers from most hardware stores.  They also have a 10 second delay timer available that will keep the lock open after hitting the release button, so you don't have to keep it held down.  Total cost was just under $200 for the rack, lockhead, delay timer, and shipping.  It took me close to 3 hours to put it in, but I took my time to make sure I got it right and had to move it around a little bit to get it exactly where I wanted.

I have looked at the ELS-275 from Big Sky Racks, but I didn't like it how you had to have the buttstock extended, and I have read some reports that the rifles will twist down.   I'm glad I waited and found these.  

Here are some pictures

Driver's Side


Passenger Side


Close up of lockhead around Barrel nut/handguard slip ring


Rack


Lockhead


Butt Plate

I really like that.  I am get my own take home cruiser soon and after reading about this and seeing the pics I think I going to change the vehicle rack I was going to get and have the chief purchase me this one.

Thanks for the info and Pics Hollywood304

Hollywood304 I meant to ask how these hold up on rough roads.  I have to drive a lot of dirt roads to check spots and they can get pretty rough.  I am also sure once I ket the K-9 ready i will be going to the State Park and other places to assist the Warden and Ambulance service in my personal cruiser.  

So my question is how will this hold up on bumpy dirt roads?

The racks we have in our cars now rattle a lot because of the wear from the roads and stuff

Also can I use the same rack for a shot gun and my AR or not?

Quoted: Hollywood304 I meant to ask how these hold up on rough roads.  I have to drive a lot of dirt roads to check spots and they can get pretty rough.  I am also sure once I ket the K-9 ready i will be going to the State Park and other places to assist the Warden and Ambulance service in my personal cruiser.  So my question is how will this hold up on bumpy dirt roads?

I'm sure they'd hold up well.  Mine doesn't seem to rattle at all on normal driving.  With the amount of adjustments that can be made, I'm sure you can get it pretty snug to eliminate any movement.  

I think I forgot to mention that the Lockhead is mounted on a flat crossbar.  There is an allen head set screw inside of the lockhead that gets tightened down on the crossbar.  This allows you to get the lockhead positioned just right.

Also can I use the same rack for a shot gun and my AR or not?

I'm not sure if they would fit in the same mount.  It might be possible, though.  I'm going to Florida for a week, but I can grab one of our shotguns and throw it in to see if it will work when I get back if you haven't gotten an answer yet.

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Thanks Hollywood304, just let me know.  We have shotguns in our cruisers anyways, but I usually carry my AR with me when I am on duty.

The chief told me since its gonna be my own personal car, i can carry which ever one I want, so I will carry my AR, but if they both fit the same rack that would be great.

Just let me know what you find out.

Quoted: Also can I use the same rack for a shot gun and my AR or not?

Sorry for not getting back to you right away.  I grabbed an 870 and a 1300.  Neither would work.  The trigger guard ends up being in the way of the lock head.  If you were to have shorter stocks on the shotguns, or mount the lock head so it's further down on the handguards of the rifle, it should work then.

Thanks for the info, i have ordered one for my new cruiser, I have decided to put the AR in the rack and the shotgun in the trunk.

tag

Bout time. I have a Santa Cruz 870 lock, and it isnt very fancy. typical rattle trap lock. Effective though.

This new cuff style looks like a good idea, however I wonder if someone will soon make one that clamps to a 1913 rail instead of around it.....

Quoted: Thanks for the link Hollywood. We have a TufLoc rack in our trucks that is designed for m4 style carbines. I don't think throwing the rifle in a 45 gallon drum would be any noisier then these POS are. Whoever designed it doesn't know his ass from his elbow!

The Tufloc in one of our squads for the M16 isn't that great either.  You can slide the buttstock a good 3" forward and back.

Quoted: and they wonder why it's so friggen noisey...

This one is quiet.  I don't even have the lock cinched down all the way tight.

Quoted: My bosses gave up telling me to put the rifle back in the rack. I take it out and lay it on the hump between the seats.

Be careful driving like that. If you get into even a moderate crash that thing will become a missle.

We have those in our patrol cars. We run Rem. 1187's with rifle sights in the rack. It is the most quiet rack I have ever had. At first I did not like them as I was in love with the Big Sky racks. But I have been inpressed with this one.

tagola.  thanks, Hollywood!

Quoted: tagola.  thanks, Hollywood!

No Problem.

Great info!  I was just in the process of ordering a new mount and was trying to decide between the Tufloc and SC.  It would appear that you have a Setina partition?

This is EXACTLY what I've been looking for. Looks like they'd work for Shotguns too?

I got one in my cruiser and use it for my patrol rifle.  I absolutely love it.

Quoted: Great info!  I was just in the process of ordering a new mount and was trying to decide between the Tufloc and SC.

We have a Tufloc in one of our other squads and another agency has one in theirs that I've helped to fit better.  After getting the Santa Cruz, I realized how cheap the other ones are.  The Tuflocs vibrate a fair amount and they do not fit very tight.

It would appear that you have a Setina partition?

Yep.  It's also got the Lexan versus the regular plexiglass.

Quoted: This is EXACTLY what I've been looking for. Looks like they'd work for Shotguns too?

They also have brackets for several different shotguns.  The way mine is set up, a shotgun will not fit in it.  The lockhead ends up right around the trigger guard.  If you were to try and mount a shotgun and an AR in the same mount, you would either have to move he lockhead further down the handguard, or get shorter stocks on the shotguns.

TAGO

Quoted: Quoted: This is EXACTLY what I've been looking for. Looks like they'd work for Shotguns too? They also have brackets for several different shotguns.  The way mine is set up, a shotgun will not fit in it.  The lockhead ends up right around the trigger guard.  If you were to try and mount a shotgun and an AR in the same mount, you would either have to move he lockhead further down the handguard, or get shorter stocks on the shotguns.

Duct tape and bailing wire........