Are folks still using this or are there significant penalties (weight, size etc) for travelling with them.
Thanks, Peter.

There are absolutely no restrictions or weight or dimension issues with traveling with the Tuff Pak. No extra charges apply and this case is one of the best ways to travel with firearms both here in the States and overseas as well. Bring up some of the older posts here regarding the Tuff Pak and you will get plenty of information as to it's use and reliability.

Larry Sellers
SCI Life Member

I still use mine for most trips. I never get charged any excess baggage fees for it. The only drawback is that it occasionally confounds TSA when they insist on opening it. They won't let you help, and they have trouble getting the inside duffel out (they usually lay it on a metal table that isn't long enough to get the inside duffel out) and then can't figure out how to get it back in there (the best way is to get it started and maybe 1/3 of the way in, then stand it up and let gravity take it the rest of the way). So sometimes it takes a few extra minutes while those guys try to figure it out and get it locked back up. But otherwise, no complaints whatsoever.

The only time I don't use it is when my travel involves a small plane with significant weight limits. But even then there are times when you can check the tuffpak and go the rest of the way with just a soft case.

Also, it holds up to 5 guns but I'm pretty sure most airlines limit you to 3 in a single case.

The TuffPak is actually LIGHTER in weight than the other options for a gun case that will hold multiple long guns.

+!

Regular Tuffpak for long guns, short Tuffpak or Pelican 1750 for breakdowns.

Omn my last trip to Zim the wife and I had 3 TuffPaks.
Two standard size and one takedown.

On the times TSA has opened my TuffPaks, I have helped them repack them everytime.

I have never had any Drama with TSA, even though I seem to set off the metal detector most every time...

Once when I started to tell a guy to feed it in partway and then stand it up, he actually told me they knew what they were doing. While they proceeded to try to shove it in horizontally.

My experience with TSA is generally positive. I've had very few negative experiences. I have no idea why they insist on opening a case they just x-rayed and that they KNOW has a firearm in it, but they do that probably 50-75% of the time. And sometimes they're cool about it - I've gotten compliments on my rifles from a few guys, one guy who was fascinated with the idea of shooting an auodad in Texas, and one priceless guy in Chicago who wanted to know whether that bolt action rifle was a "9 mm".

But even though I'm super nice to them (and everyone!) they've never actually let me help them. Maybe they're afraid I'll sneak another rifle in there somehow.

Had a female TSA person in Anchorage tell me, "Your gun needs to be in a hard sided case". I smiled and hit the side of the Tuffpak pretty hard and said, "It is". She got the idea.

The folks at Tuffpak when I told them the story at SCI said to print a page from the website and take it with thus proving it's a gun case and not a golf bag protector.

quote:

even though I seem to set off the metal detector most every time...

Tony, you were always a Heavy Metal-type of guy!!!

quote:

short Tuffpak

Biebs, mine is the regular size. Does the "short" Tuffpack have room for "stuff" like the regular one does? If this works out I plan on taking a double and a Blaser R93 with a single barrel, so, I was planning on packing the double, broken down, in a soft case in the regular Tuffpack.
Peter.

Peter

The Takedown TuffPak is ideal for a double and the Blaser rifles.

It is actually a little bit bigger "around" that the regular TuffPak.

AND being shorter is easier to travel with as well...

One time, when I was in the "Penalty Box" for setting off the metal detector twice, as a TSA "Official" approached me to do the pat down, I said, as I showed my "Credentials" "I would prefer if SHE did the pat down"...
I pointed to a very nice looking TSA "lady"...

The "Dude" stepped aside and She stepped foward and did the search... I said better check again... She did... They all laughed, including me, and life went on...

quote:

I pointed to a very nice looking TSA "lady"...

Tony, there is such a thing??? Must be about as common as an 83" Kudu :-) :-) :-)

She was "Nice", and very Sweet...

Thanks you gentlemen!
Peter.