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full-length bolt gun airline approved travel case?

Hardigg Storm Cases and Pelical military grade gun cases are strong enough to pass major drop and other tests. (Look at the rather neat weaponry they show in their ads.) Bad news is that they weigh a whole lot and aren't anywhere near cheap. Still, given that airline baggage handlers train for the shotput with your liggage and the cost of a hunt, it's probably not a bad deal. Alas, I think you still have to put TSA padlocks in the holes and those aren't very theft resistant. Or, does anyone know a source of strong TSA-coded locks???????

Here you go Leo, but I'd go with about 5 padlocks rather than the combo-lock
http://www.travelsmith.com/shopping/sear...eyword=TSA+lock

I have the biggest Pelican. It is a great case. Took it to Africa last year. The Hardigg Storm case sounds excellent too.

Get a case that uses one or two TSA approved locks (probably sold seperate). Get the TSA locks no matter how flimsy they look. The locks are generally a joke. The thief is going to steal the entire case and cut it open later. A better lock is useless - AND the TSA will chop it off anyway.

TSA locks can be bought anywhere. Walmart/Target/Your local travel shop.

Brent

I've had one of these for about 15 years and its been on 4 times that many flights, no gun ever scratched. I would not travel with anything else.

http://www.kalispelcaseline.com/Pg/HuntingCase.asp

Pelican.

Weight is now an issue with the airlines charging you out the ying yang for 1 pound overweight. I have a variety but tend to use the Pelican the most.

Jim

Another strong endorsement for Kalispel. One of my Kalispel cases has literally flown more air miles than most people I know. It was stuck in an airport overseas once and I needed a case to fly to another country for a hunt. I bought another Kalispel just like the first one. You just can't tear them up, and I added up all of the air miles one of my rifles flew without neededing to adjust zero. I can't remember how many it was, but it was staggering.

Whatever you do, be sure you get a 100% aluminum case. Also, don't get a diamond plate case or one that has a lot of sharp edges or is generally hard to handle. If you want to gurantee your bag gets banged around and is the first one to be left off a flight, then get one that will bite every baggage handler that touches it. DIamond plate gun cases were an answer to a non-existant problem, yet they caused problems with their existance.

I am a recovering Road Warrior and will never fly with a case with any plastic structural components. ANd the aluminum used must be thick enough to do the job. FOrget worrying about weight. Almost everyone brings too much crap that does not do much for them. Never sacrifice the gun to have too many extra clothes or some gadget reviewed in a magazine. If it means yo uwind up paying a little extra for baggage, then so be it. You are already paying for hunting, flying, parking, eating, etc. It is just one more cost to be added in.

I have the 2 gun Kalispels and use the extra space to pack all kind of stuff in there. Now that you can fly with your ammo in the gun case, the 2 gun case really helps even more. I have flown with 2 rifles and 4-6 boxes of ammo, and one time a rifle and shotgun with planty of ammo for each all tucked neatly in the case. Plus it had a lot of other stuff such as knives, cleaning stuff, etc. The 2 gun Kalispel is long enough to hold a Model 12 w/30" barrel, so it will handle 2 guns of pretty long length

That Kalispel case looks like a winner. There are couple of dealers near me, I'm looking forward to getting one.

Agree with Brent about all the TSA locks I've used. I had one on a suitcase that TSA opened and then jammed. The hotel engineer opened it with one flick of his leatherman tool. They may be better than nothing, but the measurement falls within the Heisenberg measurement limits fa sure.

Mark, we can now put ammo in the guncase? This is good news. I'm back to Africa in August and I'd rather have my ammo in a hard case than the soft duffle I use for clothing. When did this change?
Thanks,
Leo