On the Road: Best car/hotel SD weapon?

I would never travel with long guns for defense use, especially since in my state you cannot have a loaded long gun in a vehicle unless you're a cop. When I do travel with long guns, it's for hunting or a range trip. The guns are in cases, and when I stop for gas or a small store along the way, I lay the guns in the floor board of my truck. If I hide them anymore than that I'm asking for jail time for concealing a firearm. I keep my doors locked when I go inside and I park where I can see it. Even with that, I still make a point to keep all stops short. Yes, crime can be that bad here. It's not everyday but numerous houses and vehicles are broken into here by thrives looking for expensive guns. I know of someone who was caught stealing shotguns out of cruisers. So I don't take chances.

Leaving a gun in a hotel room? I wouldn't trust house keeping. I don't travel much but when I do I keep all valuables in my car. Everything else is in a duffle bag in the room and we usually put a do not disturb sign on the door when we leave too. Do you really trust complete strangers?
Carrying the gun around with you, will attract negative attention. I guarantee that. Even in my little town, people with think your nuts. I'm sure the police will show up. Good luck playing 20 questions with a guy with hand cuffs. Depending on the cop you deal with you may not have an issue or you may get questioned about everything under the sun trying to find one little shred of something to arrest you on. Open carrying a pistol is one thing, which I still wouldn't advise, but a rifle or shotgun just seems like a bad idea especially with police. And any thief seeing you with it will probably follow you to see where you keep it. Every druggie is just itching to have that fancy rifle to trade for drugs.
 
You might consider a folding stock AK type rifle. You can fit those into a tennis racket bag and nobody will give you a second look. Pick your caliber of AK too. Whatever makes your heart beat faster. :D
 
If you can legally carry a pistol in many states then go for that.
When I can't I bring my Kel-Tec Sub 2000 or my Rossi 20 gauge SxS.
Both pack easily 9 the shotgun breaks down into a very small package and are good self defense tools.
From your list I would go with either the SxS shotgun or the Mossberg mini.
 
I would go with sks as I do not like AR's or 223 for anything other then maybe punching paper.

Any would work, I have never been questioned carrying a cased long gun anywhere but I live in the Midwest.
 
I like a Ruger 10/22 takedown for travel. Ability for accurate fore out to 100 yards, perhaps a bit further. Easy to transport quite a few rounds of ammo.

Aside from that, my G19 is never far away.
 
Where are you guys staying? The Bates motel? Unless I'm on a hunting trip, I usually don't feel the need to travel with a long gun.
 
This, in my opinion, is one of the few cases where a pistol grip only shotgun has uses. Inherently short-range, potentially tight quarters situations. Also not hard to sneak into a hotel room. I think it would be a good choice here. You also get much lower penetration.
 
This is a bit of a peculiar proposal you put up here.
In my own approach to the conditions you present, it comes down to "which Glock"? I have 3, all in 9mm. They're the 19, 17 and 17L. The 19 comes along when I anticipate close quarters environments. I got the 17L to settle my yearning for a pistol caliber carbine. The 17 lives in a kind of "battle bag", with 250 rounds of ammo in various magazines.
For what I'm likely to encounter, I don't feel the need for any long gun, and I don't understand why one would go to the trouble of accommodating one during travel.
When I've been in situations where I had to present a gun to change the minds of morons, the presence of my gun has had the most profound effect. My composure, which conveys confidence and deliberation has usually done the rest. When I have had to fire, all I had was a Ruger P-85 with my hot hand load of the time. I didn't have to try to kill the guy, or even hit him. As odd as it may sound, all it took was fast, well aimed fire smacking all around these guys to make them break new speed records in their departure.
 
I suppose if you know you're going to a conference and are going to be back the next week, it isn't a big deal.

When I travel, I don't know for sure where or how long. A couple months ago, I was enroute to Jacksonville, FL, and received a call to go to GA. By 11AM, I pulled off the road to book a flight to Lubbock, TX. Another instance- I had a week long trip planned the just before Thanksgiving, and ended up stuck there until Christmas.

There is always a possibility that a hurricane or some other disaster will take place, and I'll be sent there for disaster recovery. We had guys in NOLA after Katrina, for example. And when there are rounds hitting the building, I'd rather be there with a rifle than with just a handgun.

It isn't that big a deal to put a rifle in a suitcase. I have a Mini-14 with a folding stock, and I can put it in the leg of an old pair of pants in my suitcase. It sits in the truck sometimes, but there's probably $50,000 of equipment in front of it.
 
Okay, then, wayneInFL, although I didn't specifically identify why I usually pack away a different (from my EDC) firearm, you've nailed it.

I've become aware over the years that, when I leave home for pretty much any reason, I can't always be sure when I'll be returning.

I like to be prepared for those "unusual" situations.

Thanks, all, for the thoughtful responses and I think we would all like to hear more.

Best,

Will
 
I would stick to a designated full size handgun for the car. I cant imagine lugging a rifle along with me everywhere I go.

MTT TL said:
How would I be making a spectacle of myself checking into a hotel with a rifle on my shoulder? You really should talk to some hotel clerks for some good stories. They can tell you some stories I am sure. Something tells me you don't travel much.
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Forgive me if you are being sarcastic, but I have been to over a dozen states, staying in hotels in all, and never once saw someone check in with a rifle on their shoulder. Saying to someone who would question that, "something tells me you don't travel much", as if you are insinuating that checking in with a rifle slung on your shoulder is the norm, is just not the case. Not even close to the norm. I think the average person would check in first, then bring it in with a hard or soft case as not to draw attention to themselves. There's no point to walk around the lobby with a rifle slung across your back when you can discreetly carry it into your room.
 
This thread stinks of YouTube EDC videos. Like those, I'd guess that most folks here aren't really dragging around the things they're calling out.

(Note: I'm not saying they can't be, or that nobody does. My real EDC is extensive, and I take an EDC bag everywhere. I'm simply pointing out how often people claim one thing, when they actually carry or do far less.)
 
A friend of mine & I used to ride our motorcycles down to the river bottoms to go plinking. Across our backs would be your average wood stocked .22 rifle. Even in rural America it seemed to stir up a bit of commotion. Nothing major but... Personally I like to draw as little attention to myself as possible when away from home. I've traveled a bit for as young as I am, 40 states & 2 Canadian provinces by motorcycle or small airplane. I really cannot see even with an extra short nfa type weapon being able to realistically have it on my person at all times to be deployed & used effectively. Any sort of regular long arm away from home would be just silly for my circumstance. If I need a full power rifle to engage a threat I would imagine I could get the heck out of dodge too. Touching of a .223 inside a motel room? Eh no thanks.

I bought a handgun just for defense. A Sig P220 & I practice with it as much as reasonably possible. I cannot imagine needing more than eleven rounds of warm .45 to defend my life, which I hope I never have to do.

Now all this isn't to say my micro 7 doesn't regularly get tossed in the front seat of my cage for no other reason than because. It'd not be my first choice for fighting from the interior of a vehicle however. I'm looking to build a 18" single barrel shotgun to break down & toss in my baggage compartment. But that's more of a survival idea since I have plans to cross very rugged land.

Point being, every firearm has it's place I'm certain. I'm just not seeing the point in carting around anything more than a handgun for defensive purposes as a civilian. Not to ruffle any feathers, jmho.
 
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When I have had to fire, all I had was a Ruger P-85 with my hot hand load of the time. I didn't have to try to kill the guy, or even hit him. As odd as it may sound, all it took was fast, well aimed fire smacking all around these guys to make them break new speed records in their departure.
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What?!?!

You felt that your life was in danger so you drew your handgun and shot at some people.
Yet, you didn't feel that your life was in so much danger that you felt you actually had to shoot someone?!?!
 
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