There are some places where toting a desert tan gun case slathered in MOLLE straps is a normal everyday occurrence. I don’t live in one of those places. I live in Austin, Texas. A place where it’s more socially acceptable to ride a unicycle down the street while wearing a tight plaid shirt, suspenders and an ironic neck tattoo than it is to exercise one of your fundamental civil rights. A new company is looking to give gun owners a little bit of cover when transporting their equipment to and from the range, disguising their firearms as something more “socially acceptable.” From CovertCases.net comes the Guitar Gun Case.
Let’s get this out of the way up front: this really is just a guitar case that they have stuffed with foam. Its really nice foam — the kind that is pre-cut so you can pick out the pieces to fit your specific gun. But still just a guitar case and foam nonetheless. You can probably get the components and build this yourself in your basement, but what you’re buying from CovertCases.net is the complete package already assembled and ready to roll.
The case itself is pretty nice, featuring rigid sides (so as not to reveal what really is lurking within) and a faux leather finish. The handle is sturdy enough to keep your precious cargo from dropping unexpectedly to the ground, and there are three latches designed to keep the case closed.
Speaking of the latches, this is where we run into one of the first problems.
The latches do in fact lock (key provided inside), but they aren’t really secure enough for air travel. This would be a great way to covertly bring your firearms with you when you fly (following the rules, of course). It might make the baggage handlers think that all you’ve got is a cheap guitar instead of several thousand dollars in stainless steel and machined aluminum. The shoddy locks will make you reconsider, though. I’d love to see a version of this case with the ability to put proper padlocks on the exterior of the case, or with covert (yet secure) locks built in.
On the inside the case is exactly what you expected. The foam padding can be customized to fit your specific gun, or you can just leave it as-is and there’s still enough wiggle room to allow the cover to lock closed.
The problem with using a guitar case as a gun case is that it really isn’t designed for the job. The bulges are in all the wrong places, and woe be unto you if your gun is just a little too long. Classic firearms like a bolt action rifle or a pump shotgun will fit with relative ease but the more modern implements need not apply. Unless you happen to be rocking a suppressed SIG SAUER MPX SBR like me.
In theory this is a really cool design, especially for apartment dwellers. The ability to move your guns and gear in and out of your residence without alerting the neighbors is great. Keeping a low profile is key — people won’t be tempted to steal things that they don’t know know are there.
The problem is the execution. Covert Cases has other solutions specifically for handguns, but handgun cases are already relatively covert enough that a specialty case isn’t a requirement. Rifles are really where it’s at and for the modern firearms (like the AR-15) the case isn’t a good fit. Literally.
Specifications: Covert Cases Guitar Gun Case
MSRP: $239.99 [Website]
Ratings (out of five stars):
Quality * * * *
Leather exterior, padded interior, with custom fitted foam. Not shabby.
Function *
Doesn’t easily fit most rifles. Locks are not suitable for air travel and easily defeated.
Overall * *
If you’re looking for a good case for a PDW SBR or something relatively slim then this works. When you start adding optics and longer stocks fuhgeddaboutit. Same goes if you’ve got a long gun you want to tote stealthily.
But at least you can pretend to be El Mariachi.
Came here for this, and it’s the first comment.
Well done!
You Win
Let’s play.
As an avid musician who often carries some stringed instrument case, I have to chime in. Any instrument case is a lousy concealed carry case. Why, because El Mariachi and Desperado. People now assume a guitar, or even a mandolin case is hiding a gun. I have actually been carrying a rifle case in one hand and a guitar case in the other, and someone asks me if there is a gun in the guitar case. This has happened multiple times in and around Austin. However, I carry a .458SOCOM SBR with a folding stock and a plate carrier with hard plates in a Vertx Gamut backpack and no one bats an eye. For long guns, the best thing I’ve found is a hanging garment bag with the rifle hung sandwiched between two suits. I haven’t found anyone that makes a quality garment bag made for this setup, so I just modify the Victornox version.
http://www.thetruthaboutguns.com/2015/12/daniel-zimmerman/380814/
Skinner Sights makes a “garment” bag specifically for holding firearms. There may be others.
So, someone is attempting to monetize sticking foam in a guitar case? This is an ‘idea’ somehow?
People have been doing this for a hundred years – sticking guns in stringed instrument cases. .
I guess it’s the same reason they sell pre-chopped vegetables at the grocery store.
Yup. Why buy that thing for $239 when you can get a well worn used one for a fraction of the price and have it not look as inviting to steal.
You can get a brand spanking new one for a third of the price on the intertubez. Shipped free. And foam is not expensive.
Two words: Thrift. Store.
Yeah, but this case has tactical foam. Not just regular foam. Which makes all the difference, operationally.
I concur. I’ve been using tactical spray foam insulation for as long as I can remember and I also highly recommend Gillette’s Tactical Shaving Foam.
I prefer to orient the gun (of whatever sort) in the case (of whatever sort) with the delicate optical bits toward the case’s handle. Yeah I know the foam is supposed to keep the contents from shifting, so the gun’s weight isn’t supposed to ride on the glass. I’d rather be safe than sorry.
Thank you! I’ve been preaching this for ages… well, months at least. I’m glad I’m not the only one.
That’s how I roll, granted my Holosun Micro (Aimpoint T1 alternative) wouldn’t care if I dragged it behind the car on my daily commute, that thing is built like a brick sh*thouse.
Also, an SBR or “Large Pistol” in a tennis racquet case is a lot more convenient and useful (assuming you may have to deploy from INSIDE the vehicle) than a full size rifle in a guitar case.
Guitar case from thrift store: $12.99
3″ thick bedroll foam from Fred Meyer: $15.50
If you want something like this, I can strongly reccomend AKases.com. They make a similar but much better product for the same price. These are velvet/felt lined, with cutouts specific to your rifle, with cut outs for extra magazines, buttstock, etc as needed. they have version for most varities of AKs (pistol and rifle, under folding, side folding, etc) as well as a variety of other guns (UZIs, MP5s, STG44s, and on and on). Good high quality stuff.
http://shop.akases.com/
(FYI: have no affiliation with AKases, just have seen a few of their products and was impressed in quality)
Is that a Trombone in that case or are you just really, really happy to see me?
When the slide extends to seventh position, everybody’s gonna be happy.
Great. Now where do I put my ammo, spare mags, hearing protection, and all the other ancillary cra…stuff I take on a range trip?
You can fit all that stuff in a relatively innocuous range bag, but then it’s most definitely not a bag suited to carrying sheet music, which is what I usually have in my other hand when carrying a guitar case.
Next from Covert Cases: A hollowed-out Marshall amp for transporting ammo!
Like this? http://www.covertcases.net/#!product-page/c826/e695d7a5-b8cf-ab8f-ddb6-abcba2bcfd22
Aren’t musical instruments nearly as big a target for theft as firearms? From a theft/burglary standpoint, isn’t this kind of like hiding a bar of gold inside a box labeled “Silver Coins”?
Shhhh…you are not supposed to point out the blindingly obvious.
I would guess they’re a bigger target. A Gibson Custom has a higher retail than a Wilson Combat AR, and isn’t going to attract much attention walking into a pawn shop.
You’re exactly right. This is why I carry my guitar in a gun case. Safer that way.
My shotgun or lever-action rifle fits nicely in a folding chair bag, nice shoulder strap too. An plastic butter tub in the bottom hides the shape of the stock butt.
Don’t all laugh at the same time, but a Hi Point carbine also fits perfectly into a folding chair bag. I would expect that a KelTec folder or possibly an AK folder might also fit. And if the Hi Point fits, I expect a Beretta or other PCC would fit. My folding chair bag is red, by the way, so that it stands out as innocuous.
Go to a music store or online dealer and get a bass guitar case. All of my bass cases are just rectangular in shape and they are bigger than guitar cases. Get a travel case and it’s much cheaper than this one.
You can also get a tennis racquet case with a great big “Spaulding” on the side at Walmart for about $15.
It’s akin to how Blackhawk makes a tennis racket bag, calls it a “diversion case”, and sells it for $50.00 – whereas you can get a Wilson one for half the cost and it does the same thing.
I have my guitar in a locking aluminum airline style rectangular case. When I’ve carried it in public or had it out where visitors can see it, I’m always asked if there’s a rifle in it. My .22, being a bullpup, fits in a small case (which came with it). Even though that case has a great big Walther banner down both sides, I’ve had people stop and ask me what kind of instrument it is.
If you live in Austin, I say get the must gun-case shaped gun case you can, and let the beards and scarves get flustered. They’re in your world, they can adapt or run off to Portland.
Do this while open carrying.
Is that the Portland in Oregon, Maine, or North Dakota.
I clearly meant Oregon. I don’t think the skinny jean crowd could handle a Maine or North Dakota winter.
I figured it was Oregon, I was just being a smart-ass.
That’s ok, me replying has gotten a brainstorming session going for more euphemisms for “hipster.”
I like my Bulldog “ultra compact” case. Looks like I’m carrying a wind instrument of some sort. 29 inches long, it fits a carbine length AR handily with it broken into two halves. So, good for the range and back. Not so much if you’re counting on the AR for self defense. Oh and it was 30 bucks. Sidenote: I used to carry my shotguns in a banjo case, fit the Sears .410 and Mossberg 500 with room for more.
I’m a mandolin player and I found that instrument cases attract attention. People either want to come up and talk to you about it, or they assume there might be a valuable instrument in it and put an eye towards stealing it. I liked the earlier suggestion about tennis racket cases. I started putting my mandolin hard case inside of a triple tennis racket case and people started ignoring it. Used tennis rackets are not interesting or easy to fence. If I had to check a firearm on a flight, I’d get an airline approved case with locks, but hide it inside something really boring.
Guns are heavier than guitars.
Guitar cases are not made to handle that kind of weight.
Besides, they’re awkward shaped and take up a lot of space.
I don’t see much usefulness here.
Thats a lazy ass product if i ever saw one. With the depth of that case they could have made a trap compartment under neath a top compartment that would hold an actual electric or other thin bodied guitar.
I have a soft nylon “gig bag” with a big logo on it from a cheap guitar. A soft rifle case fits right inside it.
You concealment bag must match you intended enviorment. Lets say you use a double tennis racket bag for your AK pistol and use a short mag in it with full size spare inside. Don’t dress in jeans and carry it into a grocery store, doesn’t fit in like taking the above case into a restaurant for dinner though it may work in the city where your a pack mule on public transportation.
Discreet covert carry of a non folding butt stock rifle is a failed starter when there sre better suited firearms available (folding stock gas piston rifles or pistol variants there of).
Example: Sig P556 is 21 X 11 with a 30 round mag and 10.5 barrel. Get a colorful fabric bag, decorate it with happy logos and bedazzel the bag. Peoples attention, if any, goes to whats on the bag not whats could be in it put a condom over the muzzle then X length of french bread and extended wrapper. Drop in your mag pouch belt and tuck a flying hawiian shirt around it. Now you can go anywhere but through a metal detector. Cost to conceal: $20!