How the way your gun is stored and moved can impact performance and reliability.
Gun Storage is always a very popular thing amongst the non-shooter community and for precisely the reasons you think; child safety and ease of access issues.
However, what we have noticed more and more, is that the actual shooting community does not touch on this as often as it should. Not just for the reasons of safety (which is a crucial matter) but for one that affects all shooters... Performance and Reliability
You see - bear with us here - if you think of a gun as an egg it is always safer to transport it in a box designed for doing so. Throwing them in a plastic bag or even unprotected into the boot of your car is going to end in a mess. So when you are storing and transporting something as highly strung as a gun, perhaps you should be storing it in something designed to take it.
"What about gun bags or slips?" - Besides the point that we have never seen the point in calling them slips. Yes, these purpose-made bags are a suitable form of protection from the elements. However, they are never going to be as good as a case at preventing physical damage from things such as propping your gun up for extended periods of time (resulting in bent barrels).
Seasoned shooters tend to store and transport their guns in hard cases and then use a gun bag as a means of carrying them around the shooting site. This keeps them safe during transport and more importantly keeps them legal - Yes Legal.
The Law and gun carrying - A basic example
It is a criminal offence to visibly carry a gun in public. This does include: to and from gun shops, ranges and permissions. It is also worth noting that if you are pulled over by the police and they discover an uncovered weapon, they may charge you for carrying it in public.
There are also stories of people being arrested for carrying guns in gun bags in public. As the gun is not hidden... Most people know what a gun bag looks like.
How Transporting your gun may have an effect on your performance
"I already have a gun case, and what does this have to do with performance" we hear you cry.
Yes, we did get a bit sidetracked there. But now imagine if you will then you have gone to the effort of buying the best gun your budget would allow, some beautiful optics and an amazingly efficient silencer. You do all that and then put it in a hard case to protect your new purchase. How is anything now going to affect your gun?
Well here is the clincher and it is one we see as the root cause of many gun-related issues. Vibrations. Now if you are one of the lucky few who drive around in a Rolls-Royce and road vibrations aren't an issue. Then read no further. If you are virtually 99% of the rest of the gun-owner population you may want to consider this next bit.
You see when you are transporting your gun to and from your shooting location. Whether this is in a car or even dragged along the floor in a roller case; you will inadvertently introduce vibrations into your gun.
Yes, the padding in your case does help prevent vibrations. However, get the right frequency of vibrations and you may find some of your screws start to come undone!
Screws such as the ones holding your scope mount secure to your gun, the ones that hold your magazines together and even the ones that hold your barrel in place! - This of course raises the usual "my scope loses Zero" argument.
So what can be done about this?
Let's clear this up straight away... DO NOT RED LOCKTIGHT THEM!
The popular thread locker is defiantly no way to prevent your screws from coming undone, especially their red one as it is not removable. You could get away with using the blue variant, but bare in mind that your gunsmith may well charge you more for having to remove Locktight. The best thing we have found is to use a SMALL blob of clear lacquer or clear nail paint on the edge of the crew where it touches the metal. This can prevent the screw from rotating without locking it up. If you don't want to do either of these, you are best getting into the habit of checking your scores periodically on your gun to ensure they are tight.
Excluding wooden stocks, as this wobble depends on temperature and moisture as they need room to swell without cracking, If metal parts of your gun have wobble it may be worth checking for loose screws or checking within the shooting community to see if they are normal.
And of course make sure you have the suitable way to store and transport your guns to keep you compliment with the law and to preserve the reliability and performance of your gun.
Think we missed something?
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