Most agencies running a Ford Police Interceptor fleet have one operational question about long-gun storage: how do we get a rifle into the cab fast, locked, and out of the way, without drilling new holes through a vehicle the agency leases. That question is what a no-drill vehicle rifle mount has to answer.
The answer is more constrained than it looks. Aftermarket vehicle rifle mounts are easy to find. Aftermarket vehicle rifle mounts that genuinely don't drill, that fit a current-generation PIU without fighting the OEM console, and that survive the long fleet rotation, are a much smaller list.
Why Ford PIU Owners Run a No-Drill Vehicle Rifle Mount
The PIU is a leased fleet vehicle in most agency motor pools. New holes through the chassis or the dash are a problem for two reasons. First, fleet manager and the vehicle warranty: drilling typically voids the OEM warranty on whatever you penetrated. Second, end-of-lease return: the agency owes the lessor a vehicle in returnable condition, and that means the holes you punched are coming out of the budget.
A no-drill vehicle rifle mount sidesteps both. The hardware bolts to existing OEM attachment points, comes out cleanly at end of service, and leaves nothing behind. Same vehicle goes back the way it came in.
What "Best" Actually Means for Patrol Fleets
"Best" is overused in this category. A more useful frame: a fleet-ready vehicle rifle mount has to clear four bars at the same time.
- Genuinely no-drill. The hardware mounts to OEM points. No new holes, no permanent modifications, no creative "almost no-drill" exceptions in the install sheet.
- Side-configurable. Driver or passenger, your call. Some agencies run passenger-side ride to the driver's reach. Some run driver-side for the partner's draw. The mount needs to ship configured either way.
- Doesn't fight the console. The PIU console is already crowded. A vehicle rifle mount that blocks a screen, fouls a radio bracket, or interferes with the partition is a non-starter.
- Built for fleet rotation. Vibration, rough roads, long shifts, multiple operators. The hardware has to survive years, not weeks.
If a vehicle rifle mount fails any of those, the maintenance overhead eats whatever savings the cheaper unit looked like at quote time.
How the StandA.R.D. Fits the Ford PIU
The StandA.R.D. Vehicle Rifle Mount is built to those four bars by default. It mounts to OEM attachment points on the current-generation Ford Police Interceptor and Explorer chassis. No new holes through trim, headliner, or sheet metal. Driver-side or passenger-side configuration ships from the build sheet. The cradle is built around the rifle platform you actually carry, AR-15 and M4-pattern by default, with shotguns, 308 carbines, and specialty platforms available on request.
It's not a universal mount. There's a reason for that. Universal mounts have to compromise to fit everything, which means they fit nothing the way it should. The StandA.R.D. is a built-to-order vehicle rifle mount: agency tells us platform, rifle, install side, lead time follows.
When You'd Want a Different Vehicle Rifle Mount
The StandA.R.D. is not the answer for every situation. A few cases where another vehicle rifle mount makes sense:
- Trunk-stored long gun only. If the patrol unit never needs in-cab access to the rifle, a trunk rack is lower cost and the right tool. We have a separate writeup on in-cab mount vs. trunk rack if that's the question on the table.
- Single-officer non-pursuit unit on a non-PIU platform. Older Crown Vics, smaller SUVs, and certain unmarked configurations have less standardized OEM attachment geometry. We'll quote those, but the lead time is longer.
- Inventory-grade mount for a temporary unit. If the vehicle is going out of service inside 6 months, a fleet-grade vehicle rifle mount is overbuilt for the use case. Talk to us before you spec it.
For a current Ford PIU fleet that needs in-cab long-gun access on every unit, though, a no-drill vehicle rifle mount is the only configuration that makes sense, and the StandA.R.D. is the one we recommend.