What’s a bag gun? As the name implies, it’s a gun that fits into a bag. Plenty of guns can fit into a bag, and handguns, in particular, can be piled into bags. In fact, I might experiment with brown bag carry, where, much like the rule about keeping your booze in a brown bag, I keep a gun. That’s beside the point.
When I talk about bag guns, I’m not talking about handguns. I’m specifically referring to long guns that can, as explained, fit into a bag. Admittedly you can make some very large bags, and even a Barrett M82 can fit into our definition of a bag gun. So let’s shrink our bag. Let’s say no bigger than your average gym bag. That provides plenty of room but also isn’t eye-catching. Gym bags, backpacks, and even smaller bags will all fit in this definition.
Digging Into Bag Guns
What’s the purpose of a bag gun? Great question. There are plenty of reasons to have one. It’s discrete, compact, lightweight, and fits well inside vehicles. It can be carried to and from your home, a hotel room, or wherever without drawing eyes. It offers more accuracy and firepower than a handgun.
A small, portable long gun allows you to extend your effective range and increase your overall accuracy. Accessorizing is easier, and tossing on optics, lights, and more makes the weapon more capable and easier to use in austere environments. With all this mention of bag guns, let’s talk about the best bag guns on the market that you can invest your hard-earned dinero into.
Axor Arms PAF12 Folding Shotgun
Coming out of Turkey, in time to hunt turkey, is the Axor Arms PAF12 folding shotgun. The Axor Arms PAF12 is a bit of an oddball when it comes to the world of bag guns. It’s the only shotgun on the list. The PAF12 breaks open at the rear of the receiver and folds forward. The receiver itself basically breaks in half, with the bottom receiver sticking to the stock and the top rotating downward.
Breaking the weapon in half and then putting it back together takes no effort. It’s quick and easy. You can do it in a flash. This is one of the bigger guns on this list. Still, it pops right into a gym bag and offers the firepower and versatility of a 12 gauge.
The gun holds four rounds in its tubular magazine. It has a front rifle sight and a rear open sight. The rear sight acts as a lever to open the gun. The PAF12 12 gauge shotgun has this weird spring to help close the action, which I hate, but it can be removed. Other than all that, it’s a pretty simple shotgun. It’s a pump shotgun, and it does pump shotgun things well.
KelTec Sub 2000
One of the classic bag guns on the market is the Keltec Sub 2000, and it’s the oldest model on this list. The Sub 2000 is a pistol-caliber carbine that is now in its second generation. It’s popular for its low price point, the fact it uses common pistol mags, oh, and it folds in half. With the flip of the trigger guard, the front half of the gun folds over the back half of the gun.
The system closes and opens rather simply and reduces the gun’s overall length to a little over 16 inches .it’s basically briefcase sized at this point. The Sub 2000 comes in a few different models, which include chamberings in 9mm and 40 S&W, as well as in SIG, Glock, S&W, and more magazine platforms.
It’s a simple blowback carbine, and the latest model uses an M-LOK handguard, an adjustable stock, peep sights, and even a threaded barrel. It drops into a bag with ease and can be very easily toted about. This compact rifle uses a standard straight blowback design that isn’t the comfiest option, but it’s functional.
S&W M&P FCP
The latest in bag guns comes from S&W in the form of the FCP. They might have taken a small page out of the KelTec catalog. This is also a straight blowback operated pistol caliber carbine that uses common pistol magazines. Although, the pistol magazines are limited to the M&P 9mm series. The FCP doesn’t fold over the top, but it folds horizontally. That’s a clever way to make an easily optic-ready folding gun.
That’s not the only cool trick the FCP has. It’s also got a stock that offers a real cheek weld as well as room to store a couple of spare magazines. The handguard is M-LOK, and the barrel is threaded. The setup is still a simple, straight blowback design, but it’s decidedly a little fancier than the Sub 2000.
The trigger is a little better, the stock is much better, and the ability to add topics is quite easy. The FPC is a bit more refined at a slightly higher cost. The biggest downside comes from the expensive magazines and the fact you are limited to M&P magazines. Oh, and this bag gun actually comes with a bag.
Ruger PC Carbine
Ruger really likes making take-down rifles and platforms. The PC Carbine looks a lot like the Ruger 10/22 but is beefed up to handle the more powerful 9mm cartridge. The PC Carbine also breaks down to cut the size in half and makes the weapon easily fit into a bag. The Ruger PC Carbine comes optics-ready and has a modular magwell.
Ruger includes both a Glock magwell land Ruger magwell and the aftermarket has opened up even more options. The PC Carbine uses a dead-blow blowback design that uses a tungsten weight to reduce the recoil associated with blowback operation. This results in a lightweight, low-recoiling little platform with simple ergonomics and hard-to-beat reliability.
The main downside of the PC Carbine in our bag gun selection is that it’s slower to put together than the other options on the list. There are various models, and the most compact is the standard variant. I highly suggest tossing the PC into the Magpul Backpacker stock.
KelTec SU-16C
KelTec makes the list once more with the SU16. This is a semi-auto, 5.56 caliber rifle that uses a short-stroke gas piston system. It uses standard STANAG magazines and is quite light and handy. What makes it easy to toss into a bag is the fact that the stock folds upwards and connects to the handguard of the rifle. This shortens the overall length to 25.5 inches overall.
We can even fire the weapon with the stock folded, making it reactive as soon as it leaves the bag. The SU-16C is odd but cool in a different kind of way. The SU-16C comes with standard peep sights and is optics-ready. The handguard even unfolds into a bipod for a little extra support.
The SU-16C is all kinds of cool, but the bad news is that it’s tough to find. KelTec doesn’t seem to make many of them, and when they do, they get swallowed quite quickly. That makes it tough to find and integrate into a bag gun.
Bag It Up
Boom. There it is, our catalog of the best bag guns vying for your cold hard cash. Bag guns are unique in their ability to remain convenient and easy to carry while still offering you a bit more firepower when necessary. Plus, they give off serious James Bond vibes, and who doesn’t wanna be Bond?
