Thinking of going with a gun boot. Just seems more secure and less apt to being jolted off zero than the forked racks.

 

The kolpin gun rack has a very bad design defect, in that if your rifle has a scope mounted and you mount the gunboot vertically the scope will bottom out before the barrel will. All of the guns weight will therefore rest on the scope and the scope will take a a lot of abuse .I have seen several scopes thrown out of zero and a couple that had the actual scopes damaged from impacting the case during rough riding.If you really want to use the kolpin gun boot, stuff material in the end of the boot until the gun is resting on the barrel and not the scope.I have been trying to get a good look at a new gun boot from a company called tamarack that may work better(I have seen them on the net but have not actually handled one yet) but for now I simply strap a good hard case to the front rack.My present method is a little slow and inconvenient but it does offer the best protection for your scope.

 

I built a custom bracket out of 3/16 x 2" x 15" steel. The forked mounts bolt the the steel then the steel bolts to the front rack with u-bolts. the bracket is bent on one end to match the angle of the rear of the front fender. The gun then sits semi-vertically right behind the front left fender. kinda like some of the truck gun mounts that are just inside the drivers door.

I've got a Honda 450ES so the foot area is fully protected. This allows the gun butt to rest on the floorboard. If you don't have a floorboard you'd have to fabricate a base plate for the gun to rest on.

This works great. the gun is nice and accessible if i need it in a hurry. Especially the shotgun during grouse season. I can dismount, grab the gun and load all in one motion. The rifle is the same.

The semi-vertical mount keeps the gun from getting caught in brush. The first season out I had the forks mounted directly on the front racks. don't know how many times the gun got ripped out of the mounts. By the next season I had the new mount and haven't had a problem since.

 

nytephyr that sounds like it just might work for me too would like to see it do you have a picture of it ?

 

I sit on the fourwheeler and then lift my belly and slide the rifle under my gut and then let mt gut fall down.My gut holds it in place.

 

I'll try to get one.

I don't have it mounted right now (the bike is set up for trails and dunes), but I should be able to take pictures of the bracket just set on the quad. You'll get the idea.

It isn't fancy but it does the job. Someone with better fabrication capabilities could make a much better solution.

 

now that is funny

 

my kolpin works great for shotguns, but it ends there. the mount (ring type) allows the case to jiggle, not a good thing for a scope. there are mounts now that are secured in two places (eliminating some if not all jiggle) & usualy mounted on the rear rack. i have no problem however with the scabard itself. its very tough. find the most secure mount you can!

 

Hey biggin, I bet that keeps the scope from foggin' up too!![img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-happy.gif[/img]

 

Gun boots get wet on the inside from either rain, wet rifles or just condensation and then they take a while to dry out getting your rifles wet until they do dry out. I'd get a set of the forked ones, I love mine from Bass Pro for $20 and have not had any problems with them harming my rifle or zero. I do, however, use a scopecoat from Cabela's to keep rain and dust out of the scope though I also used them in my gun boot. Also, the bracket that my forked ones screw into are smaller than the bracket for the gun boots. In the off season I just screw them out and don't even notice them.

LY