The U-Haul full of guns vs the moving van

[Glenn E. Meyer]

When we moved, we had way to much for a u-haul or a self-driven van. Nor was I capable of manhandling significant furniture. Thus, we did the classic moving company (which we could afford). For the guns - the handguns (due to NYS laws) went FFL to FFL. The long arms were packed in Pelican cases. The driver and I went over them, being sure they were not loaded, taking down serial numbers, I took pictures, he did too). They wouldn't take ammo. In our SUV, I took (stored according to the Fed travel rules, etc) a compliant Ruger PCC. It came up to the motel room each night. Now, for all my generic ammo, I had a bargain sale for buddies. Shipping it would be a pain and not worth my time in the other details of a move and house sale/buy. I did take a few of the fancy SD ammo (some 20 round boxes) with us in the SUV.

Now, I'm reading advice about moving. OMG, the movers will steal everything and it's not covered (I made sure of that specifically). So, folks pack 'arsenals' so to speak in their U-haul and drive across country (some claim to drive 24/7 - I couldn't). Question for those in the know (law,etc.) - how likely is it for a break in at the motel in the dark of the night? Do thieves have a spider sense for the arsenal on the road? Easy to get into one of those?

On a previous move, just for you shower fans, the set of Psycho butcher knives vanished.

Just curious.

[lwt16]

I did a lot of stolen u haul reports back before retirement.

If it were me, I’d employ a friend to drive in shifts. No way I’d leave what I own in a hotel parking lot overnight.

[RevolverRob]

Nothing stored inside a vehicle, in a hotel parking lot is secure, nothing.

I have done the move guns in a uhaul thing before. When I do it, they are in a safe, which is strapped to the front wall of the box right behind the cab and everything else is loaded in after that blocking it (first in, last out). When parking a box truck at a hotel, I like to back the door against a wall or fence, ideally basically touching it. It doesn't guarantee someone won't break into it, but it guarantees they'll have a hard time getting big things out (i.e., enough stuff out to get to any guns). I'd honestly trust this more than I trust low-rate moving companies.

Honestly, I use the same trick when I'm pulling a trailer or when I have an SUV full of stuff. Backing it into a spot where the rear door cannot be opened is ideal. Someone can still break in, but they'll be more limited in what they can get out of the vehicle.

___

[penates]

I just moved cross country for employment purposes and moved all my firearms in the U-Haul. The firearms (And a few musical instruments) went in the cab over compartment. The items were all packed into locked hardcases. In front of that went the ammo cans, books, and furniture all cross tied to the tie down rails inside the truck. The truck was parked backed up to light posts. Having had a co worker lose some very high dollar firearms, I would never trust a moving company that is within my payscale.

[Clusterfrack]

I did a lot of stolen u haul reports back before retirement.

If it were me, I’d employ a friend to drive in shifts. No way I’d leave what I own in a hotel parking lot overnight.

This. Your parked U-Haul seems like a convenient way for the thieves to drive your stuff to their destination.

And can confirm that movers are not to be trusted.

[okie john]

TL;DR = plan your route.

I recently moved my father to an assisted living facility, which meant that I needed to get a significant chunk of high-dollar gear to Washington from Texas. Transfer fees for the firearms would have been prohibitive but there was also a trove of scarce loading components. The shipping options open to private citizens for those are non-existent so I decided to drive it all back.

My plan was to load everything into a low-profile rented SUV, drive a while, stop for the night, pull the fun stuff into the hotel room, then reload and roll out the next morning. Lather, rinse, repeat. I didn't make reservations, instead planning to just find little places along the way and go from there.

I left the Hill Country about 1000 and made Albuquerque just before dark. The roads looked good, the scenery was gorgeous, and the weather was clear so I decided to keep going until I found a place to stop.

Bad move.

I got heavy serial-killer vibes from every motel in northern New Mexico so I didn't stop until I hit Cortez, Colorado, around midnight. I pulled the guns into my room, slept with a loaded Glock next to the bed, and got up every hour or so expecting to see the rented Durango surrounded by little blue chunks of broken glass.

By 0400, I realized that the logic behind my plan was seriously flawed so I re-packed the Durango and drove the remaining 14 hours back home stopping only to eat, buy gas, and use the bathroom.

I did get a bunch of cool stuff that used to belong to my father plus more than enough H4350 to pay for the rental AND the post-drive chiropractor visit, but I probably wouldn't do it that way again.


Okie John

[HeavyDuty]

I did two cross country moves in three years, each time through the Dead Zones of NJ, NY and MA. I used UHaul, I believe 25 footers each time I moved the guns. They went all the way to the front and were buried by other things.

IL to NH I did in one long drive, but NH to TX was split over three days. I was careful about where I stayed and parked, but at some point I just took the chance. I did remove the battery cable every night.

[okie john]

I did two cross country moves in three years, each time through the Dead Zones of NJ, NY and MA. I used UHaul, I believe 25 footers each time I moved the guns. They went all the way to the front and were buried by other things.

IL to NH I did in one long drive, but NH to TX was split over three days. I was careful about where I stayed and parked, but at some point I just took the chance. I did remove the battery cable every night.

I made it a point to avoid California, but everything I had was legal in every state that I crossed and in Washington state. I figured one guy driving a rented SUV with out-of-state plates would be a cop magnet but I didn't get stopped once.


Okie John

[Lester Polfus]

I plan to never move again, but if I had to, I wouldn't stay in hotels or motels, particularly ones that have easy on/off access to the internet.

We avoid hotels as much as possible. If I had a moving van full of stuff, I'd instead look to stay at Air Bnb's, State Park cabins, or KOA cabins.

For Air BnB's you're often in a residential neighborhood or rural property, and frequently you can back the truck up to a garage door or something. You're also just not in the type of area that gets cruised by people who boost stuff out of moving trucks.

KOA and State parks are often gated access after dark.

[Borderland]

I plan to never move again, but if I had to, I wouldn't stay in hotels or motels, particularly ones that have easy on/off access to the internet.

We avoid hotels as much as possible. If I had a moving van full of stuff, I'd instead look to stay at Air Bnb's, State Park cabins, or KOA cabins.

For Air BnB's you're often in a residential neighborhood or rural property, and frequently you can back the truck up to a garage door or something. You're also just not in the type of area that gets cruised by people who boost stuff out of moving trucks.

KOA and State parks are often gated access after dark.

I stayed at a WA state park on the Columbia R. with my RV a few years ago. I had an issue with my tow vehicle so we were there in the break down site longer than our reservation. That was 4 days longer than I planned to be there. I had a visit from the state parks LEO to chat about our situation. Cool dude and geared up for a shoot out. He came across like he really enjoyed his job. I think he made his rounds through several parks every few days just to sniff out anything out of the ordinary. Lots of traffic in those parks and they keep them safe for the paying customers. All of our parks are closed at sun down. There's a WA. SP a few miles from me.

[LJP]

Several years ago I was on a dive trip with a buddy, and the organizer (Bernie Chowdhury, for any divers on here) had several thousand dollars worth of technical dive gear stolen out of a uhaul trailer in a hotel parking lot in FL. Fortunately, the thieves apparently didn’t really know what they were looking at, so it could have been a lot worse. But, still happened. On the cross country moves I’ve made, the guns stayed with me and my vehicle.

[Archimagirus]

When we moved from NM to OR, we took the few guns and ammunition I owned at the time with us in the car. When my dad passed away in 2020, we sold the bulk of his collection that I didn’t want to a local shop and the rest came with us in the car. Each trip, the guns came into the hotel with us at night. For our trips we stayed in nice hotels, so I felt safe with the car in the lot but not with the guns in the car. It was a pain to unpack the car and then repack it the next day, but that was what we paid for the piece of mind that they were safe.

If I had any advice for anyone traveling through NM, it would be to not stop anywhere in the state with a loaded Uhaul truck or a trailer attached to a vehicle. Albuquerque is particularly bad, when we lived there I remember one or two stories a month about vehicles and trailers getting broken into or stolen.

[Spartan1980]

The only time I moved guns across country I had so few I could unload and load each night.

A friend of mine asked me to keep his safe after he got divorced and moved to CA. Around a year later he was settled and ready to take them out to CA. I rented a Uhaul trailer for a one way trip, put his safe in that and drove from Oklahoma City to Gallop, NM on a weekend. He drove out and met me there. We had dinner that night and breakfast the next morning, then we just unhooked the trailer and hooked it to his truck. This was over 20 years ago and probably isn't a good idea now, especially the part about going into CA with guns.

[okie john]

I stayed at a WA state park on the Columbia R. with my RV a few years ago. SNIP


Cool dude and geared up for a shoot out.

Not a bad plan for that neck of the woods. There is no shortage of desperadoes along the Columbia.


Okie John

[Glenn E. Meyer]

I got heavy serial-killer vibes from every motel in northern New Mexico so I didn't stop until I hit Cortez, Colorado, around midnight. I pulled the guns into my room, slept with a loaded Glock next to the bed, and got up every hour or so expecting to see the rented Durango surrounded by little blue chunks of broken glass.

Been there on a couple of motels. Glock 19 was by the bed. On our last trip, we planned on staying at Embassy Suites across the USA. Ate at Cracker Barrels. Tried to settle in before it got dark.

[Evil_Ed]

Last couple of times I had to move large quantities of arms across country, it was in the back of my SUV or pickup; blankets and/or rigid tonneau covers over everything. Overnight stops, the vehicle was parked out of the way, blocked in as much as possible. Spending an hour or so carting a ton of individual rifles in sleeves and hard cases into/out of a hotel room (usually on the 3rd floor) wasn't an option so it was a night of hoping and praying each time as everything was left in the truck overnight. Carting everything in/out would have drawn more attention than just parking the truck in an out of the way spot in the first place. If an out of the way spot wasn't a thing, then it was parked in direct visibility to me so I could at least look out the window and see.

Knock on wood, no problems each time. So long as nothing is visible and so long as the vehicle itself isn't a thief's target, you've got just as good a chance of making it through unscathed as if the car were empty in the first place.

It also helps to plan your overnight stop a bit...fortunately where I was moving to, I had driven to a bunch of times so I had a good idea of safe/reasonable areas to have an overnight stop. I also knew that absolute worst case there were plenty of rest stops with truck rest areas that I could crib a spot in and catch a powernap if needed, sleeping in the car.

[FNFAN]

I got heavy serial-killer vibes from every motel in northern New Mexico so I didn't stop until I hit Cortez, Colorado, around midnight.

Every time I hear of someone mentioning 'serial-killer vibes' it takes me back to Green River, Utah. We stopped for a meal there and it was like a scene from, "Race With The Devil" getting eyeballed by different sets of people in the diner. Strange folk.