TargetTalk

What do you do when traveling by auto and use a motel and don't have a CCW?

Are gun boxes allowed in rooms, do you feel they are safe in your car/truck?

Jim

I always take them in with me; never leave them in the car.

The guys I travel with always leave them in the trunk of the car, set the car alarm and don't talk about them or show them. Last place I want to leave guns is in a hotel room if I go out to dinner or something and people will see the gun box as I move it in and out of the car if I always keep them with me. Chances of a random break in your car are astronomically small if you are driving a low profile, boring vehicle. However a whole host of people known and unknown have easy access to your hotel room for cleaning and other purposes and many of those are undocumented aliens. The only person I know that has had guns stolen out of his vehicle was driving a pickup and the gun box was visible.

For International matches, I never carry a 'gun box'. The pistols are in their original cases and stuffed into a nondescript canvas sack which I leave in the motel room. Chance of my motel room being burgled is about the same as my car being burgled. I agree that a gun box is a high visibility item and if I had to bring one I would keep it hidden in the car.
The rifle shooters really have it tough. Hard to hide/disguise a rifle case.

I take them in with me. I just got back from a rifle tounament in Florida, and I cleaned the rifle in the room. During the OBR which is 11 days of HP matches in Florida, many guys clean thier rifles outside their motel rooms on tailgates.

Another example, I was at the Midwest Palma held in Wisconsin staying at a camp ground. After the match at the campground you could see guys cleaning their rifles out on the picnic tables.

I think we get a little paranoid, there is nothing wrong with having your guns with you.

I'm from Michigan also and have the CCW, but doesn't matter if you have one or not.

Guns stay with me if possible.

If I am in the room, guns are in the room. If in car, guns in car.

However, on occasion the guns do stay in the room I do the following:

Make them invisible as much as possible, including ammo and other signs of guns.

Leave TV or radio on fairly loud, leave light on, and hang DO NOT DISTURB sign on door.

Martin

I have wondered if people seeing me leave my room loading multiple rifles in my truck think I am up to something. But then I live in the South and no one really questions anything.

It is hard to leave anything behind in a motel room but if you do make sure to leave the Do Not Disturb sign on the door and the TV on.

Pistol people have it easy. Last time I went to a big match I had to load and unload 3 rifles and a air tank plus bags. After the 3rd night of doing this to a 2nd floor room I was thinking about switching to pistol lol.

So I would say either be invisible or highly visible. If no one sees anything thats great but if they do make sure they see enough to know they probably want to look for a different victim lol.


Bo

I have not heard about any thefts from our shooting community. A club shooting friend had all of his pistols stolen from his UNLOCKED safe! A relative and companions had their rifles stolen from their car when they parked at a rest stop and had to use an overhead crosswalk to get to the food service on the other side.

I prefer keeping my firearms with me in the room, including the ammo. Being a pistol shooter is convenient as far as dealing with small packaging. I'm nervous of ammo being affected by the heat of a locked car, so there's a bit of back-and-forth transporting.

My pistol case has both a combination lock and padlock; like many of you, I shove my gear out of sight if I'm out of the room for a short period. Then, they go where I go.

Being female, it's a comforting thought that I have live ammo and a .45 within reach if some nimrod decides to kick in my motel room door!