What's a "truck gun"?

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  • Last Post 07 August 2011
tturner53 posted this 12 June 2011

I hear this term all the time. “It's my truck gun” or something like that. I've used the term myself, referring to some beater rifle I keep behind the seat, sometimes. (Where I live you have to consider an auto burglary as likely). Anyway, is a truck gun one you wouldn't miss too much if it got stole? Or one you don't mind bashing? When I do pack a truck gun, it's usually a low dollar SMLE that shoots fair enough with issue sights. My reason? I've been on alert since a lunatic shot a bunch of school kids in Stockton. My truck gun aint for coyotes or jackrabbits, none of those around here anymore. I'm thinking if an 'active shooter' situation pops up under my nose I want something to hold besides my #@&*. Maybe I could just use the truck?

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hunterspistol posted this 12 June 2011

    For all the reasons you listed but, the most serious one, a cheap sturdy carbine that you can bounce and rattle to death in a pickup truck.  Check out Ruger's Ranch Rifle, that 's one that is built just for that reason. The Ranch Rifle is a truck gun.

     Most folks that have truck guns don't really consider burglary a big thing because, after all, while you try to break into the truck you can wonder how well armed the driver is, and, where he is for that matter.                        

     Hunters usually coin the phrase “truck gun” but, it describes the situation pretty well.

http://www.ruger.com/products/mini14RanchRifle/models.html>http://www.ruger.com/products/mini14RanchRifle/models.html

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gee-gaw posted this 12 June 2011

My truck gun is a Glock 17 with 3 extra mags...but I agree with Clint Smith, A handgun is what you use to fight your way to a rifle! It's just that I can't fit an AR in the glove box or console. I think the original truck gun concept came from the need to have a gun to take care of varmints when they were sighted on routine trips doing chores on the farm or ranch. Thirty years a go around here, you could drive some of the back-roads and shoot ground-hogs and crows...right from the truck...no repercussions. The farmers were happy that you thinned the varmints and we were all happy to get in some good shooting.  Those truck guns were of a bit higher quality, and reflected it in our frequently hitting small targets at extended ranges. Sadly, those days are gone. If you did that now one of the recent transplants would have a stroke while dialing 911. I miss those days. Now the coyotes have cleaned out almost all the ground-hogs, especially the ones out in the middle of the fields that were such a challenge to shoot at.   I know, stop whinning, they were good times while they lasted, and a lot of good memories!!! Wayne

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JetMech posted this 12 June 2011

Mine's a FR8 Spanish Mauser, a 308 with an 18” barrel. 19 gn of 4759 behind a Lyman 311041 delivers consistant 2 1/2” groups @100 yds, does whatever I'll use it for. I've had to use it twice to put down deer that had been hit by cars.

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6pt-sika posted this 12 June 2011

I live in the Piedmont region of central Virginia and it “used to be” that every truck around here had a rifle in the rear window rifle rack .

The term around here for truck gun , was a short one that was easy to get from the back window while still inside the truck and shoot a deer or groundhog !

All of which was and still is illegal here !

 

In this state it is illegal to shoot off sandbags on the hood of the truck when shooting at Mr. Groundhog !

However unless the warden is new and trying to make a name for himself they don't usually enfore the shooting from the bags off the hood of the truck thing !

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argie1891 posted this 12 June 2011

i have several truck guns and no truck. sometimes it is a remington model 14 in 30 remington. or a marlin model 81 22lr. sometimes it is a martini cadet in 310 cadet. by far the one i like to put in the van  most often is a savage 340 in 30-30 loaded with cast bullets. it just works and with the rear peep sight it shoots well. joe gifford

if you think you have it figured out then you just dont understand

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99 Strajght posted this 13 June 2011

I have a Rem. 870 marine model with 18” barrel. Also an assortment of loads from slugs to 00 buck and a few 6s and 8s. The shotgun has worked in all sorts of situations for me.

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raytear posted this 13 June 2011

It seems to me a truck gun meets or exceeds the following criteria:

  1. Adequate caliber to reliably take down a man or whatever type of large threatening animal one might encounter. In Texas that would be wild/feral hog, black bear, cougar, or feral dog; unlikely, but perhaps even an elk or some exotic game animal.

  2. Accurate enough to accomplish #1 out to 150 yards.

  3. Sights rugged enough to stand up to being bounced around in the cab of a pick-up.

  4. Reasonably quick to reload, either by swapping mags or with stripper clips/chargers, etc.

  5. Reasonably inexpensive in case it is stolen from the vehicle. Subjective, I suppose, depending upon one's financial situation.

  6. Readily available ammo either thru purchase or personal handloading.

Many of the military surplus arms fit this bill nicely. And if they are Mausers, stripper clips are readily available.

EXAMPLE: A Mauser '98, or variant, with a Willaims' aperture sight and a US surplus cloth bandoleer filled with ammo on stripper clips. These fit under the rear seat on an extended cap pick-up or behind the seat of a regular cab. Out of sight, but relatively handy to retrieve. An '03A3 Springfield could also be done this way, but the price tag for the rifle might be more than some would like to pay.

My thoughts, FWIW.

Good shooting! RT

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72coupe posted this 13 June 2011

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Ed Harris posted this 14 June 2011

94 Winchester .30-30 or Winchester Model 12, pump-action 12-ga. gun, depending upon the season. 

Interesting trivia. My Winchester Model 12 is a solid frame, non-takedown gun with 26 inch full choke barrel which was built in 1914.  That length seemed unusual for a 12-ga. full choke, so researched it and was told by a Winchester collector that in the 1920s after introduction of the takedown version of the Model 12 came out, the older solid-frame guns didn't sell as well. Remaining WWI-era solid-frame actions were assembled with Model 97 barrels (which mine has) into low-cost “guard guns” sold to prison systems mostly in southern states for use on prison farms and road gangs (which we had in Virginia into the 1970s).  My old Model 12 has a 26 inch barrel because that is the longest one which hangs behind the seat inside the cab of a Ford Model T pickup. 

It's a “truck gun." 

8-)   

73 de KE4SKY In Home Mix We Trust From the Home of Ed's Red in "Almost Heaven" West Virginia

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jimkim posted this 14 June 2011

I'm kinda with Ed. I've used either(sometimes both) my Marlin 30-30 or my Mossberg 12 ga pump with a 40 S&W,357, or 44 magnum as backup.

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6pt-sika posted this 14 June 2011

For me the perfect truck gun would be a Remington Model 7 Stainless Synthetic in 243 , 260 or 7mm-08 with a Leupold 3-9 or 4-12 on top !

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RicinYakima posted this 14 June 2011

I have to go with raytear, but also add that you can loan it to your son-in-law to go hunting with his buddies! If you get it back it will be a surprise!

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blacksan posted this 16 July 2011

My “Truck-Gun” of choice is a lever-action Marlin in 357. Simple, rugged, accurate, reliable and handy. The definition of a “Truck-Gun” in my understanding.

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codarnall posted this 17 July 2011

I hitched a ride up Highway 1 in RSVN and the passenger side of the 6 by had a big metal hoop for swiveling around above the cab I'm sure it was for a “truck gun". Maw deuce I think.

Charlie

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72coupe posted this 17 July 2011

codarnall wrote: I hitched a ride up Highway 1 in RSVN and the passenger side of the 6 by had a big metal hoop for swiveling around above the cab I'm sure it was for a “truck gun". Maw deuce I think.

Charlie I drove a 3/4 ton truck from Chu Lai up to Tam Ky with a 105 howitzer in tow. Would that qualify as a truck gun?

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billwnr posted this 17 July 2011

Are you sure it's not a gun big enough to bring down a truck?

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codarnall posted this 17 July 2011

Same time same place 12/66 - 4/68.

Charlie

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72coupe posted this 17 July 2011

codarnall wrote: Same time same place 12/66 - 4/68.

Charlie

We just missed, I was a forward observer for A Company 1/46 Infantry from Oct 1968 to May 1969. Then I was fire direction officer for B Battery 1/14 Artillery May 1969 to August 1969 and I worked in S4 for HHB 1/14 Artillery of the 198 Light Infantry Brigade till Oct 1969.

I am pretty sure if you used the correct round, a 105 howitzert projectile would bring down every truck ever made and it probably wouldn't even have to be a good hit. I find that with a 105 shot placement is not real critical.

 

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RicinYakima posted this 17 July 2011

Attached is the truck we took out each morning while we cleared roads for mines, Phouc Vhin, 1968-69.  Unit made in our shop, this is the final version. The M2 .50 caliber rocked the truck so hard, you couldn't hit anything after the first two rounds.

Ric

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codarnall posted this 18 July 2011

I was referring to a 6x6 not a dune buggy.

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