Best Gun Case Locks for Traveling with Firearms
Ready to hit the road this summer? Make sure you grab a lock for your gun case to keep things safe and secure. What do we recommend? Come see!
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Are you looking to travel with your firearms? Well, you've come to the right place.
Traveling with firearms is a multifaceted subject. You gotta think about cases, foam cuts, and locks.
To me, locks are the most important part.
I want my guns cased and secured. It doesn't matter if I'm flying, driving, or riding the shoelace express. Owning a firearm is as much a responsibility as it is a right.
Securing your firearm from theft and unauthorized users should be something taken seriously.
Today, our goal is to teach you about the best locks for gun cases — how to pick them out, what to look for, and even a few recommendations!
So, the next time you hit the road with guns in tow, you'll be ready.
The Quick List
- Best Budget Pick: Master Lock Commercial 3KALFJump to Details ↓
- Best Bang For Your Buck: Master Lock 1175Jump to Details ↓
- Best Mid-Tier Lock: Abus Plus 88 SeriesJump to Details ↓
- Editor's Pick: American Lock 5300DJump to Details ↓
Table of Contents
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How to Choose the Best Gun Lock
Shackle
The shackle is the portion of a padlock that slips through the lock hole. It's that U-shaped metal loop at the top of a lock. It's also often the weak point of a lock.
Thicker is better with shackles. Thick shackles are tougher to cut and often create deep and more secure locking points. However, when we talk about gun cases, we’ve got to compromise with size.
As nice as a 1-inch shackle would be, you'd be hard-pressed to find a gun case that accommodates a shackle that thick.
Locking ports on gun cases vary, but they seem to often be around 10mm in diameter — Pelican cases, in particular, use 9.4mm diameter locking holes.
Shackle thickness isn't everything, though. Shape matters. Hexagonal shackles grant more strength than standard. You might also discover that shackles can also be protected by a shackle guard, as well.
Padlock Body
The padlock body creates another critical pressure point.
When choosing a padlock body, you want to think about the design as well as the material utilized in the body of the lock.
Here are all the most common materials designed to make padlock bodies.
- Plastic: No. Why?! Just stay away from it.
- Aluminum: Ahhh, Nah B, I don't suggest it.
- Brass: Here we go. Brass locks can be strong enough to secure guns. Way better than plastic or aluminum. Also, weather-resistant, which is nice.
- Solid or Case Hardened Steel: Now we are cooking with gas. These bad boys are durable and cut and tamper-resistant. Most lock makers coat them with an anticorrosive material for weather resistance.
- Stainless Steel: Oh my, stainless steel is quite strong and very dashing. It's also weather-resistant, tough to tamper, and requires several blows with a sledgehammer to beat, in my experience.
- Titanium: Titanium is my love language. Titanium locks are made from a premium-grade material. They are extremely strong and tamper-resistant, and weather-resistant, and even lightweight...but, they are expensive.
- Laminated: Laminated locks are not so much a material but a design style worth noting. Instead of being a solid piece of metal, multiple pieces of metal are stacked upon each other and cemented together. It's often an affordable design that's quite durable and rugged.
Lock Styles
There are a few options for locks on the market, but key or combination locks are the way to go when it comes to gun locks.
There are some pros and cons to either type of lock style.
Keys are often simpler and require you to memorize nothing. They do require you not to lose a key.
These locks can be picked, but I don't think a whole lot of petty thieves have the skills to lock pick. If they do, they probably want to steal something more than guns.
Combination locks cannot be picked.
Unless someone has unlimited time, the combo is going to be tough to guess.
However, combination locks do require you to memorize the combo. So, if you forget, you'll need to break the lock.
Biometrics
If you’ve been paying attention to the world of securing guns, you’ve probably seen some really cool biometric locks that can be opened with a touch of a finger.
Biometric locks require a fingerprint to access. They are often easy to fool and can be unreliable.
If a biometric lock opens every time you touch it without complaint, it’s not actually all that accurate about reading your fingerprint. Highly accurate models will have you trying your print over and over until you find the sweet spot where it reads well.
Plus, you lose lock strength to shove tech into it.
Biometrics might be the future of security, but we ain't there yet.
Case Material
Also, remember most gun cases are made from high-strength polymers.
Pelican, Plano, etc., also use high-strength polymers. Locks will keep people out and prevent casual theft. A padlock can't prevent someone from swiping the entire case and taking a hacksaw to it.
So choose your gun case carefully.
The overall security of your guns and gun cases is your responsibility. Locks are simply one component — an important component, but one nonetheless.
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Best Gun Case Locks
1. Master Lock Commercial 3KALF - Best Budget Pick
Pros
- Affordable
- Laminate design
- Pick resistant
Cons
- Shackle can be cut
If budget is an issue, the Master Lock Commercial 3KALF is the way to go. It’s a good lock for the price, and it’s secure enough that I feel confident recommending it.
Make sure you get the commercial variants. Commercial-grade Master Locks offer better drill resistance and a hardened steel shackle. The 3KALF shackle is 7mm in diameter and quite long.
Its laminate design keeps things tough without upping the price.
You can cut through this shackle, but you'll need a rock-solid pair of bolt cutters to do so. The 3KALF resists picking, prying, and smashing with ease.
It's one of the more common, budget-based locks and works in that capacity. Getting through multiple locks will take time, and they limit opportunities for theft.
2. Master Lock 1175 - Best Bang For Your Buck
Pros
- Hexagonal shackle
- Brass body
- Combination lock
Cons
- More expensive
The Master Lock 1175 takes on the role of a beefy lock at a relatively affordable price point and helps solve the 3KALF's biggest weakness -- the shackle.
Hexagonal shackles, like the one on the 1175, are much harder to cut with manual tools. A power tool might chew its way through this lock, but bolt cutters be damned. A hexagonal shackle distributes the force over a bigger area and makes manual cutting much more difficult.
The shackle is 3/8-inch thick, so it might be just a tiny bit bigger than some gun cases, but most will accommodate it. This 57mm thick body deserves its spot in the WWE. It's thick and strong like Stone Cold in his prime. Prying, smashing, and drilling won't be easy.
The body is made from brass, and as we know, brass is good to go for gun case locks. Instead of a key, you do use a four-digit combination lock which means over 10,000 possible combinations.
Tried the Master Lock 1175? If so, give a rating below!
Readers’ Ratings
5.00/5 (1841 Votes)
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3. Abus Plus 88 Series - Best Mid-Tier Lock
Pros
- Double-bolted
- Hardened steel shackle
- Pick resistant
Cons
- Higher cost
Abus makes some outstanding locks that vary widely in design, size, and use. The Plus 88 Series are padlocks but designed to go beyond basic. Abus made the Plus 88 Series for serious tasks.
This Teutonic lock features a hardened steel shackle built into the brass body's lock. The 40mm body lasts and resists brute strength attacks.
Thieves would have more luck breaking the case the lock is attached to than the case itself.
The lock is double-bolted and quite rugged. It'll take a dedicated attacker to get through this lock.
When you are using several of them on a gun case, a thief will need a ton of time to get through the locks — which buys you time for them to get caught!
Abus designed the plus disc cylinder to resist lock picking and manipulation in general. It's a solid little lock from Germany that's well-made, and Abus sets the European standard for high-quality locks.
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4. American Lock 5300D - Editor's Pick
Pros
- Solid steel construction
- Shackle guard
- Pick and pry resistant
Cons
- Expensive
When you really want to deter a potential thief, go with the mighty American Lock 5300D. The 5300D is a big lock; it weighs half a pound and is manufactured from steel!
You can't get close to this shackle due to the shackle guard. A shackle guard makes it impossible to get a manual tool in there to cut the shackle.
You have to attack it with something like a grinder, and it's gonna take some serious time (and noise) to get through.
This 5300D lock will resist prying (duh), smashing, and general hooligan attacks. Hooliganism is deterred by a dual ball-bearing locking mechanism. The serrated pin system makes picking tough, and you'll need to be a talented lock pick to get through it.
Ultimately this keyed lock provides a ton of security while still being able to fit a gun case. That's the tough part overall, finding a super secure lock that will still fit a gun case.
How We Chose the Best Gun Locks
This article is a meta-analysis based on our staff's experience traveling with firearms over the years at Pew Pew Tactical.
For this article, we chose locks based on personal experiences with specific locks and online recommendations from Deviant Ollam and the Locking Picking Lawyer. We evaluated the locks' security and ability to fit the most common gun cases.
Why You Should Trust Pew Pew Tactical
Writing this article from the ground up is Pew Pew Tactical Author Travis Pike. Travis is a Marine infantry veteran and earned his Expert Rifle Badge from the USMC while in service. He is a certified NRA Basic Pistol Instructor and concealed carry instructor out of Florida. Travis has written thousands of articles for multiple publications in the gun industry and has done his fair share of traveling with firearms -- enough to know what makes a good lock.
Editing this article is Editor-in-Chief Jacki Billings. With a bachelor’s degree in Mass Communication and a good-standing member of the Society of Professional Journalists, ACES: Society for Editing, and the Professional Outdoor Media Association, Jacki runs our experienced team of expert writers and editors. She has worked as a media professional for over 20 years and has specialized in gun media for almost 10 years. As Editor-in-Chief, she uses her expertise to set testing protocols and editorial standards across the site.
Final Thoughts
Don't skimp on a good lock. If you can smash it off with a hammer in a blow or two, then it's not the lock to secure your gun. If it comes from the dollar store, it's not a good lock. You can purchase good locks for a reasonable price.
When you consider the cost of your firearms, optics, lights, etc., purchasing a hundred dollars worth of locks doesn't seem so bad. Good locks go a long way, friends.
How do you secure your guns when traveling? Let us know below! Traveling with guns? We've rounded up the Best Car Safes to keep your gun secure when you can't have it on you!
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