This fall I'm goin on my first trip out west hunting and I need a airline approved gun case what does everyone recommend?Also which is better a hard plastic one or aluminum?

Tuff Pack, Pelican, or those sturdy aluminum units sold in Cabelas. I'm a fan of the Tuff Pack, though there are detractors with rael concerns.

Pelican was one that I'm considering the other is SKB I was checking prices on a Pelican and www.midwayusa.com was $10.00 cheaper than Cabelas I dont think I seen a Tuff Pack where do you get them? I wanna see what they look like.

quote:

Originally posted by Tom S:
This fall I'm goin on my first trip out west hunting and I need a airline approved gun case what does everyone recommend?

Also which is better a hard plastic one or aluminum one?

It's alot about personal preference of course. but I really like the Cabelas Bullet Proof aluminum cases with integrated wheels.

Get the good SKB golf case. It's built like a tank, has wheels, has TSA locks, is cheaper than a Tuff Pak and has a lifetime warranty. It also weighs less than 2 gun aluminum cases and will hold a lot more stuff.

I would, however, get an extra TSA lock for it just in case despite all odds TSA manages to break it. The locks are easily changed with simple tools.

I have several but this Browning case is great! I won it at my local Rocky Mt. Elk dinner. It has wheels, "O" ring seal, preasure valve, and a rust inhibitore built in. Cost for this unit is much cheaper than most of the above mentioned cases. After thousands and thousands of miles mine is scratched but I have never had a point of impact shift on any scopes and NO firearm damage.

It doesn't have the cheap locks most come with. It just has two realy beafy padlock slots for your own locks.



http://www.browning.com/produc...d=149&type_id=41662A

I use Americase for my Blaser.
http://www.americase.com/

I use THIS brand of guncase. They don't use that 'egg carton' type foam padding that just compresses. It is a harder polurethane foam that you cut out for your weapon to fit into. 2 guns fit on two different levels, not squeezed side by side like most 2 gun cases.

I bought one of the aluminum cases from Gander Mountain. I also went to my local rubber goods store and purchased a 1 inch thick sheet of heavy heavy foam rubber. I cut a piece of it to just fit in the case and then cut out the center of the foam to fit the rifle that I was shipping to matches all over the US. It has been shipped via UPS and several airlines and the case has been beat to **** but I have never had any damage on the rifle. Whatever you buy make sure you get something inside the case to keep the gun from sliding around. The foam inside the case isn't enough when people start slinging it round!
Blair

Tuffpak seems to have many fans around here, so I am buying one for my trip to RSA this spring(lucked into a used one on the AR classifieds). Initially I looked at the Storm case by Hardigg, also looked at the pelican but to be honest it looked/felt so much like the storm I thought they might be made by the same people. With such similarity I compared the two solely on price and the storm was a bit cheaper(Both excellent cases based on reviews I read). The deciding factor for me toward the tuffpak was the fact that the tuffpak does not look like a gun case, hopefully helping it slip past baggage handlers who might like firearms, or at least the cash from selling them.

You can find the Storm 3300 case online for around $180,Pelican 1750 for $200, and the Tuffpak goes $355. Downside to the Tuff is that you cannot seem to shop and get a better deal, which is good for the sellers, just not the buyers. Most of the others you can shop around and find a few places that sell significantly below retail and occaisionally find one on ebay that goes at a decent price.

I've been flying SKB cases for 3 or 4 years now, three times to Africa plus Canada, Louisiana twice, etc.

They've been great, just a few cosmetic scratches.

I won a SKB gun case at a fund raiser and certainly glad I bid on the item. On average I travel with it on 3-4 trips per year with only cosmetic scratches on the outside of the case. It is the hard sided plastic with two levels for the guns. I've also had the typical aluminum gun cases and the two that I've owned dented easily, which made me start to seek another case.

Regardless of what you choose, please be sure and get one that has wheels. You'll quickly learn to love those little suckers!!

What ever you decide on, make sure the locking meckanism is sturdy.

quote:

Originally posted by DC Roxby:
It's alot about personal preference of course. but I really like the Cabelas Bullet Proof aluminum cases with integrated wheels.

I've been using the Cabela's bullet proof case with wheels and luggage shelf. It's a real jewel - just strap the duffel bag on the shelf and take off. It's much easier to deal with just one load. Plus in several transcontinental and international trips I've had no damage to case or contents.

All of the locking systems are pretty cheesy. What I do is, after the agent has checked the gun(s) and the proper tags are filled out,etc, I lock the case in the presence of the agent and whip out my roll of duck tape (aka tamper tape) and give the case two or three turns around over each lock.

TuffPack, hands down. Too many benefits to even mention. Most important nowadays is the weight and the fact you can pack additional gear inside it. Mine was purchased in 1996 and has made over a dozen African safaris as well as many NA hunts, without any problems. Same for all my hunting partners.
Get the inner duffle bag, you'll be glad you did. Go to their website and read the endorsements.

I am not familiar with the Tuff Pak, but have heard some complaints. Not so with the Pelican derivitives.

The Storm, Starlight, and Browning case are all the Pelican case with no difference for the Browning, Little difference for the starlight, and IMO a BETTER latch on the Storm, which is now an option on the Pelican, I think Pelican made storms case with it's latch to spec for a year or two as an exclusive, and now you can get it on a Pelican. Oddly enough, I have seen the Storm cases to be slightly cheaper than the Pelican cases also.

Mostly based on my own use, and having seen my CASE go through some very tough abuse, and my Guns come out OK, I strongly recommend the Storm version of the Pelican. I can also tell you based on experience, I remove the buttstock and use a smaller lenght case, and it is worth the effort in transportation convenience to take the butt off and put back on. It has yet to affect my Point of Impact BTW.

good luck to you!

I use tuffpak and Ziegel engineering aluminum cases. Lately I prefer the Ziegel case as it is easier to show the gun to customs or TSA.

www.ziegeleng.com or Dean Ziegel 562 596 9481

BigB