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I am planning to muzzleloade hunt Washington with my son on Fort Lewis. He doesn’t have a muzzleloader so I am taking 2 with. Any recommendations for a case the airlines would approve of? It will be the first time I have traveled by air with a weapon.
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The airlines only care if it has locks on it. But I only travel with pelican cases. They are about the only ones that the gorillas can’t break. If a pelican is out of the budget the Plano all weather extremes are very good also.
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Thank you I was not sure if there was some additional standard they look for
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You might look into mailing them.
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Back in the day I used only aluminum gun cases for both rifle and pistol. These had full length "piano" hinges and a locking rod/bar.
The baggage goons never managed to break one in about 15 trips. --- SAWMAN
If I’m not mistaken, the case needs to be equipped with tsa approved locks. I traveled for many years with an skb case. It survived and held up very well.
JTD
We’ve traveled the country with my youngest and her two rifles for years... this is what worked for us:
Pelican 1750 with some of the foam removed
Placed each rifle (both Walthhers) into a soft case
Place soft cases into pelican and then LOCK
We chose key operated pad locks ( sourced from a locksmith, not Home Depot) and had all locks keyed the same.
Claires case had 4 places for a padlock. Southwest didn’t care if we used 2 or 4. United insisted on using all 4. I carry spare locks and keys with me
You CAN NOT use a TSA lock to secure the case. Federal law requires you to be the ONLY one to maintain control of the key and hence be able to unlock the case
Each air line has subtle differences for how they handle this. I print off the TSA reg AND the airline reg the day before traveling. I leave a copy in the rifle case and carry a copy with me. Having yesterday’s date on the print out helped me in one ‘discussion’ with the TSA.
Airlines SHOULD Secure your luggage and make you show ID to claim it from the oversized area or the baggage office. The only issues we’ve had was when united placed the case on the carousel instead
Allow a modest increase in time to deal with ticket agents who may not understand and the possibility that TSA inspection will require the case to be opened. I allow +30 mins for BWI and +60 at Dulles.
Make sure your case is marked with your phone number.
May be worth a quick trip to your airport to discuss with your airline.
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You 100% can use TSA locks on the case. But you must have separate lock on the gun itself.Quote:
Originally Posted by Shamr0ck
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I stand corrected. The reg does say that TSA locks can be used.Quote:
Originally Posted by Solomon.trenton
Here is the link to the current TSA reg:
https://www.tsa.gov/travel/transport...and-ammunition
Personally, given the investment made in her rifles, there is no way I’d use a lock which could be opened by another.
Happy to get a phone call and provide the key should the TSA want to inspect the inside of the case rather than wonder who’s been inside the case and whether the rifles were returned to the way we packed them prior to surrender to the airline.
As she heads off to college as an NCAA shooting athlete, I’m interested to see how the team handles air travel with the rifles - can always learn something...
ETA - ULine makes REALLY long zip ties which I’ve seen some athletes use around the girth of the case. Provides a quick visual indication if someone tried to gain access to the case. Make sure you pack wire cutters in another checked bag though as they don’t come off without being cut.
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Thank you for the info.
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I have flown with both types of locks. If you are in a rush (traveling with my four kids) TSA is much faster. Otherwise I still have to bring the case to the x-ray machine and wait my turn and make sure its ok. Either way I have my own trigger locks.Quote:
Originally Posted by Shamr0ck
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Out of curiosity do you also secure the firearm into the case with a cable lock to prevent theft?Quote:
Originally Posted by Solomon.trenton
We are traveling with approx $8,500 worth of rifles and sights and likely gravitated to the NON TSA locks as she is very protective of her ‘babies’ :)
In any case, thx for pointing out my misunderstanding.
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My muzzleloaders are a CVMA bobcat I have hunted with for over 20 years and a new traditions Shanendoah that I built in my gunsmithing class. Do I have to have trigger locks if I use my own locks on the case? I think there is more sentimental value on the muzzleloaders than what they cost.
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one last note...
We are in the final stages of packing our daughter up to leave for college and one of the tasks completed was to update the insurance policy covering her sporting equipment. Initially, we used our home owner's policy to provide coverage for her rifles/sights, scopes and miscellaneous items but transitioned to a valuable personal property (VPP) rider about 3 years ago when we started traveling a lot. The contract for carriage embedded as the Ts and Cs for the airline ticket really limited the amount of compensation the airline would provide should they damage the equipment and i wanted to avoid a claim against my HO policy if I could. The HO policy has a much higher deductible than the VPP policy and should Claire's equipment get stolen/damaged, the VPP claim process should be more streamlined and allow us to replace the equipment faster.
USAA won't insure her custom shooting suit nor her shooting boots, but will cover any other component as long as it's worth more than $100. I did have to provide very detailed information about all the covered items, but USAA does not require serial numbers - just make/model/caliber and provide a place to upload a picture
Had never thought of doing this until a fellow athlete had their rifle damaged traveling to the Jr Olympic match and was tied up in all kinds of red tape with the airline over covering the loss.
If you travel frequently - maybe this is worth it to you - it is to us and hadn't given it any thought.
Have fun on your trip!
we've never traveled with trigger locks on the rifles - but we do use standard padlocks on the cases. May be best to contact your airline to get their guidance. Imagine that trigger locks are a nice 'Belt and suspenders' approach and couldn't hurt if you can secure the trigger lock without risk to the trigger and mechanism.Quote:
Originally Posted by Erik