I have been fortunate enough to purchase a nice used Merkel double in .470 Nitro caliber. I will be taking it to Africa in August for a buffalo hunt. I know this subject has been talked about before. I can take a Tuffpak or a hardside two gun case. I will also be taking a .375 as a backup gun. My understanding from a friend who travels allot is the barrels on a double are heavey enough that if the Tuffpak is dropped stock end first the weight of the barrels can break the stock. Since taking two rifles eleminates a break down case for the double, Seems I'm left with two options, break down the double and use the Tuffpak which I can take a few extra article and the .375 or use the hardsided case. Thanks in advance for your advice.

Put the hard-sided case containing the Merkel into the TuffPak.

George

peashooter,

There are many cases but I have taken twice a
tuff-pak with sack...Transported with rifles in the middle surrounded with clothes and not touching the bottom of the tuff pak...My double is in a better quality softcase but in two pieces with softcase folded and is very tight..If flying in to camp the sack can be removed from the case..

Mike

2 members of this forum have had a double seriously damaged inside of a TuffPak. I would suggest a Pelican Case.

I don't think even a Pelican can protect all rifles under all circumstances from being damaged during air travel. See the following recent post by a member of this forum:

QUOTE]Originally posted by Fish30114:
Well gang, I just unpacked my gear from my recent hunting trip, including my guns, and what a blow in the head. My most favorite rifle, and absolutely the most beautiful gunstock I have ever owned, on my Sauer 202 Takedown was shattered through the wrist. Air Tran and TSA screwing me mutually IMO. The rifle was packed in a soft case inside of a pelican (bold added by me for emphasis)double rifle case, as tough of a system as I can think of.

I include TSA in my hosing due to the fact that the case had been opened after the initial inspection upon check in and my signature of the 'firearms declaration' that goes inside of the case. The reason I know this is that my wood stocked 202 Takedown was inside of the soft case inside the pelican case, and the Synthetic Sauer 202, my other rifle for the trip was inside the pelican case, but not in a soft case as well. When I just opened the case the rifles had been swapped around, the wood stock alone in the pelican case, and the synthetic inside of the soft case. I don't really know if it would have mattered, but my wood stocked rifle definitely took a beating during it's transit. It was dinged up quite a bit, and of course the crack through the wrist.

I don't know how I'll ever get another buttstock only from Sauer over here in the states, it is a nightmare just to get a barrel (which I can't seem to do but every blue moon) or extra magazine, much less a new buttstock. I will call Air Tran later to see if it's just a lost cause, which I assume it is, but maybe my homeowners insurance could give me some relief????, I'm a life member of the NRA, maybe I'll shoot them an e-mail

Right now I think I'll just cry a little bit.....

I posted a bit of this on the medium bore forum as well, if anybody has ideas how to obtain a new buttstock, I would appreciate the input,

Thanks--Don

Perry

peashooter,

I have traveled 3 times to Africa with a Merkel 470 double and 375 bolt in a tuffpak with no problems. The double was not broken down. I had good sturdy foam on the bottom and clothes on top. I do not pack a lot of stuff in the case.
The rifles were in good sturdy leather soft cases.

My break down case did not fit in the tuffpak.

Just my 2 cents worth.

BigB

peashooter,

I have a metal ICC gun case that I've had for over 15 years. It is not the latest and coolest but it has served very well and weathered quite a few baggage gorillas.

Mark

ICC is what I prefer. jorge

PWN, it sounds like those guns were not in fitted foam, but were rattling around inside the Pelican with one being only in a soft gun case and the other not. For the soft case to fit, it would seem the Pelican foam had been removed. Is that correct?

I have a pelican fitted foam case, and I have a really hard time seeing a weapon being hurt in it, unless it was actually run over. They're heavy, but I'd rather pay the extra baggage fee.

I have just about every gun case known to man, and I've never had a rifle damaged on a hunting trip, in the lower 48 or Alaska, and Canada, or to Africa, or Europe and Asia!

Guess I've been lucky, but I have a suspicion that most of the problems encountered today result from the Idiots that think they need to inspect the rifle every time it changes planes, and these people are too dumb to drive a taxi, much less inspect a $15K rifle, and put it back in the case so it isn't damaged.

The Pelicans, and ICCs are very good, but are very heavy, and look like gun cases, and that fact alone is a problem. The Airlines are lousey with anti-hunting freaks, who love to send your rifles to Japan, rather than Africa, or damage your rifle so you cant use them. The case that says GUNS is a target for missconnect!

The TUFF-PAK I have is the break-down one with wheels, and two double rifles in it in breakdown soft cases plus a pair of Hunting boots, and cloths makes a smaller and tighter fit for the rifles, with thick close-cell foam top and bottom, with a thiner sheet of the same foam around the outside of the two rifles, then surrounded by cloths. At the top, all that is needed is to pick up a disk of CC foam, and unzip the soft cases to expose the chambers of the barrel sets of both rifles!

We all have our favorites when it comes to travel cases for our rifles, and most are good, but none are perfect, and none will protect from every thing that can happen by accident, and certainly not the things that happen on purpose! IMO, the biggest mistake the case manufacturers made is makeing a gun case look like a "GUN CASE"!

Check out Americase. They offer some of the best options out there, and will build to your specs on a custom basis if you wish.

its the cut out foam in the pelican case that will keep your rifle safe in a violent acceleration/decceleration.It will absorb the energy evenly without damaging a single part of the rifle.The compression danger might be less of a problem.Any rifle that is suspended in empty space against other loose items and is secured by velcro straps in a couple of areas will be damaged if the case is violently swung,thrown,or hit.I own two of the large 1750 cases and will only put one rifle in each.I feel there is not enough foam between rifles if two are put in a single case.I'll pay the extra money for the excess weight,but i know my rifles will arrive safe and ready.

I second the vote for an Americase. They are tough and can be put into a non descript bag with clothes etc in it so not to look like a gun case. My other choice would be Pelican or Starlight type cases.

I used a Tuffpak on my last Safari for bolt rifles (double was in Americase as described before) and will not do so again. Reason is I did a meticulous job of packing on the Tuffpak to protect the rifles. In Seattle the security person said he needed to check the rifles but I was not allowed to help him or touch the bags in any way. I tried to get him to just unzip te back of the soft cases the rifle were in but he said he needed to take everything out because there were firearms in the bag. So basically when he is done checking (I still cannot touch the cases or contents) he just stuffs everything into the Tuffpak where ever he wants, the rifles were not placed where they were originally. Just stuffed down the sides which seems like the most vulnerable place for them to be. Everything turned out OK but I was nervous and the risk isn't needed.

With a Pelican all they do is open it, check the chambers and close it. With the Tuffpak they ripped everything apart and would not carefully pack it again. I would rather pay over weight fees and/or carry an extra bag versus a greater possibility of having my rifles damaged.

You guys are scaring the hell out of me. I have the big Pelican and have had no trouble with the airport monkeys "so far". I am now thinking I need to sell my DRs and buy a pair of NEF handi rifles, that way I'm out less than $500.00 in the case of a major catastrophy.

I basically have 2 cases and have never had a problem with either. I have a Browning that has tailor cut inserts and if the rifles I'm carrying are not same as previous I cut new foam inserts, the upholstery shop sells the foam and it is cheaper than repairs, my other is a hevi-duty Cabelas aluminum which I custom cut the inserts for. Guns always arrive in perfect condition. They are both scratched and gouged but hard to imagine anything in them EVER being harmed. It's even difficult to remove and replace a gun incorrectly should they desire for some reason to remove them. Only drawback is they are heavy and do look like guncases,but then most guncases are segregated most of the time at an airport anyway so they are easy to identify. With the new weight restrictions maybe someone will come up with a newer design that will improve upon these cases but till they do I'll just pay the overweight fees.

The lock issue on the Tuf-Pak is "much ado about nothing". By the rules, no one but YOU can have access, ie keys, to a baggage containing guns.

At Dullus, when they wanted to open my cases,
one on the way over [they called the gate on the phone], all 3 on the way home, they paged me as I had not got to the gate and had a 4 hour layover.

I have always found the TSA people looking inside gun cases to be very nice.

TSA people at the X-Ray machine have also been nice as well, even when I have been sent to the "penalty box" [ie failed the metal detector after 2 attempts].

Anyone who thinks the airline gorrillas don't know what is inside a Tuff-Pack is kidding themselves. They may be uncaring but their not stupid. I also don't think they go out of their way to break whats inside them either...their too lazy to make the extra effort!

I have used ICC cases for hunts all over the US to Canada and to RSA. The only problem I ever had was that a laminate stock did split behind the receiver on a custom 10/22. The ICC case had a gouge in it about 1/4 inch deep or better. It looked like someone took a large hammer or corner of a sledgehammer to the gun case. Upon arriving from my trip, I showed the Airline Agent the Case, I inspected the gun, and showed them the crack, and told them my problem. I then submitted a damaged goods form, and they replaced the stock and paid for a new gun case for me. I think that was Southwest, and they reimbursed me for the damages. Whatever they did to that case it was bad.

500grains,

So it is improper packing and not the case at fault when a gun is damaged in Pelican, but not a Tuffpak?

Perry

There are many ways to pack and everybody has their preference.

Does anybody use an SKB? I have an older SKB two rifle case which I have used for years in the lower 48. I don't see them mentioned here very often and was wondering if anyone has had issues with them.

I have SKB and Americase gun cases. I would be afraid to use them for airline travel becausethe latches are easily and quickly pried open.

At least with the Pelican you can use a regular lock, that is hard to defeat with pocket tools.

I still like the Tuff-Pak best, I will just always break the guns down, and continue to carry the scopes in my carry on.

I've used the SKB in the past and have learned to carry extra latches with me as they are always getting "buggered-up" even thought I put duct tape over them.