If you have a firearm and you constantly travel or drive in different places in the city or in other states and countries, then you will need to have a gun safe to keep your firearm concealed safely while you are driving. In addition, the gun safe would also allow your firearm to be in a more secure place if you don’t need to bring it with you outside the car, especially if the gun is heavy.
While large cars and trucks will have a lot of compartments and areas to place a gun safe, small cars are limited in space when it comes to gun safes. Small cars, as their name already suggests, are sometimes way too small to accommodate gun safes, particularly the rifle safes that are usually long. But, there are certain tricks and methods that you can do to make specific rifle safes fit in a small car. Without further ado, here are some very simple tips that you can follow if you have a small car and you want to fit a vehicle rifle safe on it.
Where to Install a Rifle Safe in a Small Car
Despite having limited space, there are hidden areas in a small car where you can place a gun safe safely and securely. Here are two of the best places where you can place a rifle safe in a small car.
The Trunk
Many people would consider the trunk of the car, which is found at the back, to be the best place to store a gun safe. One of the reasons why many gun owners install a safe on the trunk is because of its big space, so you have the opportunity to install a larger safe because of how spacious the trunk is.
However, to conceal the gun safe, the owner would need to install a false bottom on the trunk, which would make it appear like the gun safe isn’t even there. A false bottom would require you to spend more money than what you needed to purchase the rifle safe, so installing a safe in the trunk may sometimes cost more.
Under the Backseat
Another great area in the small car where you can install a rifle safe is under the backseat, which will provide you plenty of space to store a long safe that is suitable for rifles. However, the one downside to installing a gun safe under the backseat is that you will have to spend a few minutes unlocking the backseat and then pushing it in order to have access to the safe.
While the said drawback can be quite inconvenient for some, it is actually an advantage for a few people that want the gun safe to be as hidden and as difficult to access as possible to avoid gun theft. So, the main advantage of the backseat gun safe is that it would also be hard to access by thieves that are aiming to take your rifle or other firearms from the car.
How to Install a Rifle Safe in a Small Car
There are various steps that need to be followed in order to install a rifle safe in a small car properly. Luckily, the steps are also applicable to all kinds of vehicles, so you don’t need to specifically follow steps that are exclusively applied to small cars. Here are the steps to install a rifle safe in a small car.
- Choose the best place to install a rifle safe, which could either be the trunk or under the backseat.
- Once you have chosen a location, you would then need to measure the dimensions of the trunk or the bottom of the backseat.
- With the dimensions as a reference, you can then start shopping for rifle safe that can fit within those dimensions. Be sure to get a rifle safe that is not too long, or else it won’t fit properly on the small car.
- Determine how to place the rifle safe on the backseat or the trunk. It should be a little bit easy to access but not too easy that other people will have a quick time finding and opening it.
- Cut out excess carpet that may hinder you from installing the rifle safe properly. You may also want to order a new carpet for your car if ever you cannot cut the excess material.
- Place the gun safe safely. If you are going to install it under the backseat, you may need to uninstall or detach several parts of the backseat so that the gun safe can fit.
- Screw on the bolts to secure the gun safe and to keep it from moving.
Are There Alternatives if the Rifle Safe Doesn’t Fit?
Of course, there will be specific instances where the car is too small for all types and lengths of rifle safes available on the market. So, if you want to have your rifle stored inside your small car, then there are no alternatives if the car is really too small in terms of dimensions.
But, if you have smaller guns that you want to store in your car, then there are alternatives for those. Smaller gun safes are much more versatile in terms of placements, as you will have more choices on where you want to put them since they are small enough to fit almost anywhere on the car. Here are the places in the car where you can place a small gun safe.
- Under the driver’s seat
- Inside the glove box (the compartment found in front of the passenger seat next to the driver’s seat)
- Under the front passenger seat
- Under the backseat
- In the trunk
- On the floor console (a compartment between the driver’s seat and the front passenger seat) if the small car has one.
There are gun safes that are specifically made to fit on a car’s floor console, and there are also some safes that are made to stick well on the car’s glove box. Doing a little bit of research on which gun safes are suitable for your car is great if you want your firearm to be safer and more secure inside your car.