It's rare that you see anyone with a gun rack around here today, every so often you'll see an empty one, or one with a rifle in it. I'm thinking whether it's visible in the window or not, should be unloaded, safety engaged, and the action open, probably required by law to do that anyway. The way people are today, it's just a big red beacon that says "steal me", just not a good idea anymore, when I was a kid it was more common, more farms and more of a rural environment. My father used to cart his Mossberg 151K around in the 66 F-100, when working around the place for when that woodchuck pops up or to nail a few pigeons with short rifle rounds in the barns, usually got those at night with a flashlight to light em up. Dairy farmer who still plants one field here, he and his family don't even own a firearm, nor do they hunt, at least I believe, but he'd always get the corn in before the season, his brother in law used to ride around in the truck and his kids would push the deer, he'd get out and shoot, was kind of a window shopper I'd say, they had a lot of land too, but would think nothing of driving on your place, happened here once, still laugh thinking about it, ole Teddy and 2/3 sons, made sure to give a whistle when one got close ! No one seemed to mind, nothing but farms then, today not so.
If I needed to carry one, it would probably be the Ruger ranch Mini 14 or something similar, shorter barreled, maybe like those new savage tacticals or similar, that .17 heavy barrel would easily do a woodchuck in, it's so darned accurate, you could easily place a headshot at 100-150 yards, I have proof of that right here on top of my monitor with penny and a quarter punched through by the .17 at 100+yds, neat little round, darned loud for it's size too.
I'd want some kind of soft easily removed sleeve, keep the rifle lightly oiled so it does not rust, sleeve will keep the dust off, use flip up scope caps, they are really are handy, and have it tucked behind the flip down bench seats like the older trucks had, might just have to buy an older truck to go with the rifle ! You can keep it from getting banged up, if I needed to keep my mini 14 ranch in a vehicle, I'd still want it kept clean and in good order, what good is a firearm that is dirty, can malfunction and not sighted in ? Onme should always keep a firearm clean and in order even in a farm vehicle, there are all kinds of sleeves and inexpensive covers that slip right off with no fuss.
I am a big fan american made ones, don't like the imports SKS, AK's and all those, do like the mini 14/ranch because the action is the rotating bolt, gas operated, would really have to be dirty, gummed up for it to malfunction. Never been able to get tight groups with it, kind of a dust collector, but when someone else want's to come over and shoot .223 is when I'll take it out, still looks new. Short magazine is better in the vehicle I suppose, I like the 5 round but it's hard to get out of the action, nothing to grab, so the 10 or 15 would be best. I have a 40 rd in a drawer somewhere, to me it is a novelty item, pre-ban, stainless of good quality MFR no longer made, it looks ridiculous, unless you like to load up 2 boxes, mow trees down or fear that armageddon is near ! There was a family clan that used to buy cases of ammo and mow down trees at their preserve near the local landfill, I remember going to a place near there, plinking on some old toilets and one of the troopers came by, we knew him, but you always worry what they think when they see you armed, we put the rifles down and just about came out with our hands up, he kind of laughed, not necessary, but still appreciated it, was just checking in, different times then, we still worried about a false reaction, and we did not know who it was, we did knw most of em.
2nd time I ran into him in the woods here at our place, was digging up and restoring our old survery monuments on the property lines, went in off another road, much easier, later on we heard the patrol car knocking over weeds and brush like the air breather was flipped upside down, vvvvvmmmmmmm........! on an old unsused overgrown road, here I am with a shovel and a helper, just got done, packing up ready to leave, apparently some neighbor called after we went in the old road, now there is a NYSP patrol car directly behind me in the woods, same guy, he was wondering what was going on, had to explain though, you could tell he was suspicious and he was stationed right next to us. Still well within your rights, I'd not have wanted a rifle visible in a gun rack in that situation then, just me, more trouble than it was worth, and today it's even worse given the same situations again, with what has happened recently in NY, 2 good honorable men have been lost in 1 yr., in very bad situations involving firearms/bad guys, just no need to draw attention by displaying firearms in your rear window, out of respect, not to draw attention for a thief and no real need to carry one.
Probably more fun to live in a more rural area anyway, no worry about what you have in your work truck, around here, just drawing attention.
