Securing your firearms and ensuring there is no misuse of the gun will both protect you physically and legally.

The best way to transport a gun in a pickup truck is to secure the firearm in a lockable case (unloaded), secure the separate ammo in another case, and then secure the locked firearm box in a locked toolbox in the bed of your truck.

If this can’t be done, there are other general guidelines that should be followed.

There are a number of laws you need to consider as a gun owner, and you should always check your local laws to ensure you are following them.

The information here is by no means legal advice and should simply be used as an option and for guidance.

You must make the most informed decision on transporting your firearm with your own research.

Below is the most information I could find on this subject, so I hope it helps!

How to Transport Firearms (the right way)

It is always important to consider both local and federal laws when it comes to owning and transporting a firearm.

Each state has its own regulations and you should know your laws both inside and out.

Most information is found on the internet regarding the rules for your state. Skip to this section at the end of the text for some helpful resources for gun laws in your state.

In my search, I came across a company called Legal Heat and they have a very cheap guide ($20) that reviews all the firearm laws and regulations for the current year in every state.

I think that’s a pretty good investment to protect yourself from any legal repercussions, especially if you go across state lines.

This nifty handbook can be easily stored in your glove box for convenient reference.

Legal heat also has a great video walking you through the best practices for transporting your firearm.

There are federal protections for transporting firearms across state lines that don’t allow concealed carry licenses, but your federal protection goes away if you participate in any other activities other than basic transport activities such as getting gas or food.

Once you lose federal protections, you are subject to local state laws.

Legal heat states that the best practices for transporting include:

• Firearms are unloaded
• Firearms are added to a lockable, hard-sided container without any ammunition inside
• Ammunition must be stored in a separate container
• Store firearms as far as physically possible from the driver
• Ammunition stored in a separate, inaccessable location by the driver

Handgun Cases

It is not difficult to find handgun cases that are hard-sided and lockable.

Finding one that fits your specific gun type might take some time and effort to confirm the appropriate size.

There are some cases, like the one below, that have built-in locks. These come with their own lock and key system.

fsdc mlc5200 caretaker steel lockable gun case & security box

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• Lockable
• hard-sided
• 9.5″ x 6.5 “
• Padding included

The other, possibly more common type of handgun case is one that does not have a built-in lock. These cases seem to have stronger claims, such as weather and water resistance.

These type of cases have additional padlock holes that allow you to add your own lock for extra security.

condition 1 economy series hard plastic pistol gun case

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• Lockable with padlock holdes
• Hard-Sided
• Padding included
• 13.8 in x 7.75 in x 3.17 in

Shotgun and Rifle Cases

Shotguns and Rifles are much larger than handguns and can be more difficult to transport.

They come in a variety of sizes, but most fall in the 42 – 48 inch range.

I was unable to find any type of rifle or shotgun case that has a built-in lock, but most of them had multiple padlock holes to install your own locking system.

condition 1 48 in single scope hard plastic rifle case

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• Lockable with padlock holes
• Hard-sided
• Padding included
• 48.24 in x 8.28 in x 3.8 in

Plano all weather tactical gun case 42 in

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• Lockable with padlock holes
• Hard-sided
• Padding included

If you happen to find a lockable case on its own, you will need to worry about the next step, but otherwise, you must make sure you have your own padlocks. It is recommended to have a unique key since combination locks are relatively easy to hack.

Forge tsa approved travel luggage locks

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Ammunition

Ammunition must be stored in a separate container. I could not find any specific guidelines on how exactly this should be stored, but the Sheffield Field Box Ammo storage box seems to be one of the most popular.

This box is stackable on top of each other, has a padlock hole, and can easily be used for long-term storage as well.

sheffield field box ammo storage box

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• Lockable
• Stackable
• 11.5 x 5.06 x 7.25 inches

Truck Bed Gun Storage

In a pickup truck, it is best to place the locked firearm case in a lockable truck bed toolbox.

This means that it is recommended that you have a secure toolbox in the bed of your truck, that can fit the gun case and can lock.

One of the best truck tool boxes on the market is the one from Decked.

They have a wide variety of shapes and sizes that can fit almost any truck.

They probably can also make sure that the case that you buy will fit in the toolbox.

A cheaper alternative to the Decked toolbox is the TruXedo TonneauMate.

This toolbox is unique because it can fit under a tonneau cover (if you have one). This can be drilled and secured into the bed of your truck without covering any of the bed floor.

It seems to fit most full-size trucks.

TruXedo tl tonneaumate toolbox

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• Lockable
• 55 x 23 x 15 inches
• Fits under most Tonneau Covers

Weather Guard also has some good truck toolbox options within a variety of price ranges.

If a toolbox is out of the question, you will need to find some other way to secure your firearm in your truck.

You must make sure that your firearm and ammunition are not within reach from the driver’s side of the vehicle.

This means that if you have a regular cab truck, you will need to find a way to secure and lock your firearm in your truck bed.

If you have two rows, it may be possible to place the locked case on the floor of the back seat.

The Home Depot has a great guide on how to install a truck bed toolbox to help you out.

Gun Law Links by State

I did my best to find the best governmental resource to find your local gun laws. These should be fairly reliable resources to investigate your state gun carry laws.

These sites should be a good starting point to help you find the appropriate gun laws in your state or others states you’re traveling to. (But seriously, the Legal Heat book is probably worth your time).

I apologize for the states missing. If you find a good resource to add, please add a comment below and I will add it to this list.

• Alabama
• Alaska
• Arizona
• Arkansas
• California
• Colorado
• Connecticut
• Delaware
• Florida
• Georgia
• Hawaii
• Idaho
• Illinois
• Indiana
• Iowa
• Kansas
• Kentucky
• Louisiana
• Maine
• Maryland
• Massachusetts
• Michigan
• Minnesota
• Mississippi
• Missouri
• Montana
• Nebraska
• Nevada
• New Hampshire
• New Jersey
• New Mexico
• New York
• North Carolina
• North Dakota
• Ohio
• Oklahoma
• Oregon
• Pennsylvania
• Rhode Island
• South Carolina
• South Dakota
• Tennessee
• Texas
• Utah
• Vermont
• Virginia
• Washington
• West Virginia
• Wisconsin
• Wyoming

Conclusion

The best practices for transporting a gun in a truck are to:

1. Unload the firearm
2. Store the firearm in a hard-sided, lockable box
3. Lock the gun case in a tool box in the bed of your truck
4. Package your ammunition and place it in the back seat of your truck as far away from the driver as possible

These guidelines will help you in transporting your gun, but they are only a recommendation. They are not legal advice.

Making the right decision is completely up to you. You are responsible for knowing the local, state, and federal laws regarding transporting, owning, and operating your firearm.

Find the right truck bed toolbox for your vehicle today!

It is used to determine how much weight can be carried in your vehicle either in the cab or the trunk/truck bed.

It can be used to determine the weight capacity for either a truck, car, or trailer.

GVWR Explained

GVWR is the Gross Vehicle Weight Rating. It is a value provided by a manufacturer that determines the maximum amount of weight that a particular vehicle can weigh.

This means that all weight on the truck, including gas, passengers, cargo, additions, etc cannot exceed the GVWR.

The GVWR cannot be changed for a vehicle. It is determined to be the safe additional value for which a vehicle can handle.

Exceeding the GVWR can lead to damage to the vehicle, unsafe operation, and voiding warranties.

What is Payload Capacity?

The maximum weight that can be carried on a vehicle is also known as the payload capacity. It is determined by the GVWR.

Payload Capacity refers to the amount of weight that can be added to a trailer or vehicle in either passenger or cargo weight.

It is calculated by taking the GVWR and subtracting the curb weight.

The curb weight refers to the weight of a vehicle (with a full tank of gas if applicable). It is the weight of the vehicle once it leaves manufacturing. If any changes are made to it, you must take this into account.

The payload capacity will be a total of all weight that can be carried. You will always want to check whether your vehicle can handle any additional weight. You can use the calculator below to test it out.

Payload by itself refers to the total amount of weight that is put on the truck by passengers, custom parts, cargo, and tongue weight (weight exerted on a truck through a hitch by a trailer).

So to make sure your payload never exceeds your GVWR, you need to add up the curb weight, cargo weight, passenger weight, and tongue weight and ensure it does not exceed the GVWR.

This calculator below makes it very simple of whether or not your car has exceeded its carrying capacity.

The calculation above is based on the equation below.

GVWR – Curb Weight – Passenger Weight – Custmoization/Addition Weight – Tongue Weight

If the value above is greater than zero then you can carry everything listed, otherwise, you will need to reduce the weight.

Payload capacity helps to categorize trucks as half-ton, quarter-ton, and one-ton trucks. READ HERE for more details and examples.

What is Trailer GVWR

Trailers also have GVWR. This acts similarly to ruck GVWR. The difference here is that trailer GVWR is only dependent on the weight of the trailer along with its cargo.

The weight of a trailer with cargo can’t exceed the GVWR.

What is Truck GVWR

Truck GVWR refers to the amount of weight that can be totally loaded onto a truck at a single point in time.

This means that the scale weight of a truck cannot exceed the GVWR at any point.

How is GVWR Calculated?

GVWR is a value that is determined by manufacturers. This cannot be calculated on your own.

When you receive a truck, you should have information printed on the inside of the driver’s door on a sticker.

The GVWR is dependent on some factors such as engine, shock, brakes, and body. Stronger components will be able to carry more weight, therefore, increasing the GVWR.

Any changes you make to a truck in these key components may affect the GVWR of the vehicle. When in doubt, err on the side of caution when making any changes.

GVWR could go down after lifting a truck due to changing the suspension.

If you plan to use your car to tow or carry heavy loads, you are better off just leaving your car in the stock build so that you do not mess with the specifications.

Some manufacturers offer additional packages such as the heavy-duty payload package offered by Ford for the F150 which improves the axle, springs, wheels, and tires.

GVWR vs GCWR

You may be familiar with the term GCWR as well. This term is used for towing and refers to the gross combined weight rating.

This is the maximum value that a truck can weigh in with a trailer, passengers, and cargo.

GCWR relates to towing and GVWR relates to payload capacity.

For a more detailed explanation check out the entire article on GVWR vs GCWR.

Conclusion

GVWR stands for gross vehicle weight rating and refers to the maximum amount of weight of a vehicle. This means that the weight of the truck plus passengers, cargo, and tongue weight must never exceed the GVWR.

GVWR is determined by manufacturers and must be followed for safety and warranty reasons.

The GVWR is used to calculate the payload capacity of a truck to determine the amount of weight that can be carried on a truck.

This calculator will help you determine whether or not you are exceeding your truck’s GVWR.

Please share this with any friend who may find it helpful!

You may find a car labeled a half-ton, a quarter ton, or a one-ton truck.

But what does that mean?

In simple terms, the ton rating is the amount of additional carrying weight that a truck can handle. So a half-ton truck can carry an extra 1000 lbs, a quarter-ton truck can carry 1500 lbs and a one-ton truck can carry 2000 lbs.

This weight is defined as the payload capacity. This article will help you understand how payload capacity is calculated, as well as some examples for each type of ton rating truck.

What is Payload Capacity?

Payload capacity is the amount of weight that a car can carry.

It is calculated by taking the GVWR and subtracting the curb weight.

Payload Capacity = GVWR – Curb Weight

The GVWR (Gross Vehicle Weight Rating) is a value provided by a truck manufacturer that designates the maximum weight that the truck can safely carry. This value includes the weight of the truck, passengers, cargo, modifications and tongue weight.

The tongue weight is the amount of weight that the truck carries from a trailer. The recommended tongue weight for a trailer is 10-15% of the total trailer weight.

This means if you pull a 1000 lb trailer, the tongue weight should be between 100-150 lbs.

So in order to calculate the maximum payload capacity, you need to subtract the weight of the truck. The curb weight is the weight that a truck has without anything in or on it (but with a full tank of gas).

So when you remove the curb weight from the GVWR, you will get the amount of weight that can be added to the truck (Firestone).

Read more about the importance of GVWR here!

Payload Capacity Calculator

Play around with the calculator to determine the payload capacity of your truck to find out if it is a half-ton, quarter-ton, or one-ton truck.

Payload Capacity vs Towing Capacity

Payload capacity as mentioned before refers to the amount of weight that a truck can carry.

Towing capacity refers to the amount a truck can pull.

How are they different?

The payload capacity is based on the GVWR, but the towing capacity is based on the GCWR.

For a more detailed breakdown of payload and towing capacity, check out this article!

The GCWR (Gross Combined Weight Rating) is a maximum weight that a particular truck can be with its trailer.

To calculate the towing capacity of a truck, you subtract the curb weight of your truck from the GCWR.

Towing Capacity = GCWR – Curb Weight

Payload capacity and towing capacity are not directly related. You cannot determine the towing capacity straight from the payload capacity.

Maximum Towing Capacity Calculator

Need to know how much your truck can tow? Just plug in the information below!

It is important to note that you need to take one more thing into consideration.

Though your truck may be able to tow the above number, you want to make sure that with this trailer weight, the payload capacity (carrying capacity of the truck) is not exceeded.

The calculator below will be able to tell you whether or not you will exceed the payload capacity based on a few factors: GVWR, Curb Weight, Passenger Weight, Cargo Weight, Customization Weight, and Tongue Weight (Use Tongue Weight from previous results)

For a more detailed explanation between the difference in towing and payload capacity check out this article.

What is Ton Rating?

So ton rating is a simple way to categorize trucks into three categories based on the amount of weight they can hold.

Ton rating is in three forms:

• Half Ton
• Quarter Ton
• One Ton

This rating specifies the payload capacity of the truck by weight. With a ton being 2000 lbs, a half ton has a rating of 1000 lbs, a quarter ton has a rating of 1500 lbs and a one ton has a rating of 2000 lbs.

Unfortunately, this is no longer strictly followed and makes it confusing.

By definition, these are the weights that classify each type of truck, but in reality, most truck ratings actually have the ability to carry more.

It has become more of a branding effort by truck companies to separate their various offerings.

Typically half-ton trucks are designated by the number 150 or 1500, quarter-ton trucks are given 250 or 2500, and one-ton trucks are 350 or 3500. As said before, these values no longer directly related to exactly how much can be carried because there are many half-ton trucks that can carry one ton in cargo.

A more defined classification of trucks is that determined by the Federal Highway Administration and the U.S. Census Bureau (seen below).

These two groups categorize trucks into 3-4 categories (light-duty, medium-duty, light heavy-duty, and heavy-duty trucks).

The issue here is that most consumer pickup trucks are light-duty and some are medium-duty. Any truck above these classes would typically be used for commercial purposes.

What is Half Ton Truck?

A half-ton truck, by definition, is one that can carry up to 1000 lbs of extra weight.

Today most half-ton trucks can exceed this value.

The manufacturer has significant control over whether or not they want a truck to be classified as a half-ton truck. They do so by providing a 150 or 1500 rating to the vehicle title.

Popular Half Ton Trucks

Below are some of the most popular half-ton trucks on the market. With each truck, you will find the payload capacity and the towing capacity taken straight from google results.

Each number listed is the maximum weight for each. This does not mean that every version of these models has this capacity, but there is some variation of customization that can achieve these ratings.

• Chevy Silverado 1500 (2,310 lbs max payload, 9,700 lbs max towing)
• GMC Sierra 1500 (2,200 lbs max payload, 9,600 lbs max towing)
• Ford F150 (2,238 lbs max payload, 11,300 lbs max towing)
• Nissan Titan (1,699 lbs max payload, 9,400 lbs max towing)
• RAM 1500 (2,325 lbs max payload, 8,280 lbs max towing)
• Toyota Tundra (2,290 lbs max payload, 12,000 lbs max towing)

*All based on 2022 models

What is Quarter Ton Truck?

Quarter ton trucks, by definition, can carry up to 1500 lbs of extra weight.

They usually have a number rating of 250 or 2500 in the name to indicate it is a medium-weight truck.

Popular Quarter Ton Trucks

Below are some of the most popular half-ton trucks on the market. With each truck, you will find the payload capacity and the towing capacity taken straight from google results.

Each number listed is the maximum weight for each. This does not mean that every version of these models has this capacity, but there is some variation of customization that can achieve these ratings.

• Ram 2500 (4,012 bs max payload, 15,040 lbs max towing)
• Chevy Silverado 2500 (3,900 lbs max payload, 14,500 lbs max towing)
• Ford F250 (4,323 lbs max payload, 15,000 lbs max towing)
• GMC Sierra 2500 (3,900 lbs max payload, 10,800 lbs max towing)

*Based on 2022 models

What is 1 Ton Truck?

A one-ton truck is the heaviest of the three classes and typically the most powerful consumer truck.

Anything above a one-ton rating is a commercial truck.

A 1-ton truck can carry an additional 2000 lbs safely.

These often have a 350 or 3500 added to the title name.

Popular 1 Ton Trucks

• Ford F350 (4,663 lbs max payload, 20,000 max towing)
• GMC Sierra 3500 (3,715 lbs max payload, 36,000 lbs max towing)
• Ram 3500 (4,644 lbs max payload, 14,970 lbs max towing)
• Chevy Silverado 3500 (7,442 lbs max payload, 36,000 lbs max towing)

What Happens If You Exceed Payload Capacity?

The payload capacity is almost entirely for safety. Your truck only has so much strength and breaking capacity that when you add too much weight, the car can no longer function appropriately.

When you add too much weight to your car, you can lose control, cause extra structural damage to the vehicle and cause more severe damage in the event of an accident.

It is important to always make sure you know the specs of your truck so you do not exceed this amount.

Conclusion

Ton rating is defined by the amount of weight a truck can hold which includes cargo, passengers, tongue weight, and any other additions.

Half ton, quarter ton and one ton ratings refer to the percentage of a ton that a truck can carry.

Today, this rating is much more fluid than it used to be because many trucks in these ratings can carry much more, often up to two times the rating.

It is important to always calculate your specific payload and towing capacity with the calculators below.

Don’t forget to save this page to calculate towing and carrying capacity!

And share it with your friends!