I pack a little clothes in my bow or gun case, usually one set of hunting clothes.
I take a small, roughly 1' square soft side as carry on. In it I have another change of safari clothes, my shave kit and optics that I don't want stolen.
That's it for me.

I use lightweight Eagle Creek suitcases, and a TuffPak. With the ridiculous weight limits on carry-on bags, I put cameras, binoculars and so on in my pockets and around my neck until I am past check in, and reload them into my carry-on bag before boarding. Do NOT put anything attractive to thieves in your checked baggage!

quote:

Originally posted by Rick O'Shay:
Am I really the only one that uses a Saddleback suitcase? I like it even more than the Filson duffle...

Nope, love all Saddleback products.

I now officially HATE anybody who uses Saddleback luggage. Grrrr... Now that I have discovered it, it is going to cost me a blood fortune! Damn you!!!

Bye the way, how do you lock these bags for checked in luggage? I have used the red ox screw type cables across Europe and Africa and love them. Would they work on these??

Saddleback bags are an addiction, I think I have 7 or 8 different pieces, my GF makes fun of me saying I have more bags than she does .

The backpack on top contained my laptop, camera gear, iPad etc. and was a carry on. The waterbag is carry on legal as well, but I had checked it in on this trip.

Now, the Beast duffel has SEVEN straps one has to undo to get into them. Even more of a deterrent than a lock .

I also never keep valuables (read something one might want to steal) in checked luggage.

tanks - this luggage looks great and appears to be quite sturdy, BUUUUUUT how much does just the bags weigh? Seems something made of this much heavy leather must weight a ton on it's own. Just wondering with the smaller weight limitations now, actually how much actual gear can one pack in this stuff? Thanks for any insight on this.

Larry Sellers
SCI(International)Life Member
Sabatti 'trash' Double Shooter
R8 Blaser
DRSS

quote:

Originally posted by tanks:
Saddleback bags are an addiction, I think I have 7 or 8 different pieces, my GF makes fun of me saying I have more bags than she does .

The backpack on top contained my laptop, camera gear, iPad etc. and was a carry on. The waterbag is carry on legal as well, but I had checked it in on this trip.

Now, the Beast duffel has SEVEN straps one has to undo to get into them. Even more of a deterrent than a lock .

I also never keep valuables (read something one might want to steal) in checked luggage.

The Beast duffle does weigh a bit, 11.9 pounds. That picture was on return from an 8 week overseas trip. I had a ton of clothes, and gear in it and still managed to be under the international flight weight limits.

More info can be had at their web site about their products.
http://www.saddlebackleather.com

Now, for the Beast bag, I use Magna Cart Hand Truck that I carry on board with me.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/produ...00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

quote:

Saddleback luggage

Tanks, how do you lock your check in pieces?? You must have a way to keep prying hands out.

As I said on a previous post I usually am not concerned. However, there is always the option of:

Yes, I do that too, even with my hard side luggage, when it is available. It ought to be MANDATORY at every airport in order to circumvent the always present airport thieves.

Stanley rolling ABS toolbox. Mine made 6 trips to Africa, one trip to Argentins, three trips to Mexico and countless out of state hunt in the US.

Perry

I don't travel as much as you guys, at least on planes. I drove OTR ten yrs and lived out of a med sized metal suitcase that set in the R floor in the cab nearly all those million miles. Never had a problem with it. Since I gave up trucking, I haven't been out n about much. Three times to Fla, once to SLC, and ALBQ twice is about it. Sure am looking fwd to seeing Australia, hopefully next year. In state hunts I just load it all in the camp trailer n go.

Last trip by plane for rifles & handguns. I used a SKB. Locks went bad, they replaced 'em. Then couldn't find the key. I called and they sent more locks and no key. By then it was time to go so I called & asked them to just mail the keys to destination. They were at home when I got back two wks later. I ended up wrapping a chain n padlock around the middle of the SKB. It wasn't opened either way from here to JAX n back thru DFW. It WAS xrayed though.

For clothes I use my old Army duffel bag yet. First thing the wire loop pulled loose. I went to a metal shop and had a 1/2" bolt drilled to fit a pad lock. Never had a problem with it since.

Would like to see what a TufPak looks like if one of you guys would post a picture.
Thanks,
George

I prefer to not use the normal "safari looking" luggage. I have found that my traveling partners that have such luggage have more trouble than me in airports. I think when the low life's are looking for stuff to help themselves to these proper "safari looking" bags make it easier for them as they know these are the bags with the goodies. It may be a coincidence but I try and not bring attention to my bags in transit. They only have so much time to pilfer so it makes sense that the "safari looking" luggage would have a higher percentage of finding better stuff

quote:

Originally posted by georgeld:


Would like to see what a TufPak looks like if one of you guys would post a picture.
Thanks,
George

Could Tuffpack change the logo on request and put instead -- in say five languages -- English, French, German, Swahili and Arabic --

HAZARDOUS MATERIAL -- BIOLOGICAL CONTENTS

Or would that just cause more problems with the airlines and government officials?

quote:

Originally posted by lavaca:
Could Tuffpack change the logo on request and put instead -- in say five languages -- English, French, German, Swahili and Arabic --

HAZARDOUS MATERIAL -- BIOLOGICAL CONTENTS

Or would that just cause more problems with the airlines and government officials?

Mine does not have the obnoxious logo on it. The case has a large un-textured flat spot on the side just for sticking labels on it. I keep a business card in the clear pocket on the top for identification. You could put any sticker you want on the flat spot - "DANGER- Mother in Law inside. Open at own risk!"
Honestly, nothing is needed. Most folks think it is golf club case. Firearms just do not cross their minds when they see it. Whenever people ask me what it is (which they do sometimes) I just agree with whatever they think it is.

I like my RedOxx bags and have taken them all over Southern Africa and will continue to do so, but I am always troubled by my inability to completely lock them. I lock the two zippers shut, but the bags' design allows you to get a hand in there even with the zippers closed and locked. Since everyone says the zippers are easily broken anyway, maybe it just doesn't matter - the locks are more to ensure your bags stay shut during normal baggage handling rather than to truly secure the contents from a thief, I guess.

I lock my ammo, knife, and anything semi-valuable in a plastic field box that gets buried at the back and bottom of the RedOxx duffel. And of course I don't put anything valuable in the checked duffel - optics ride in the Tuffpak when I'm using it or in my carry on if I'm using a Pelican for the rifle(s). My biggest worry is that some thief will break into my bag and steal my boots, which I prefer not to wear on the plane and would prefer not to have in my carry on.

All in all, I'd like my RedOxx bags better if I could fully secure them.

I read this with great interest and have decided to give everyone (that is interested) a sneak preview of a piece I have written for a well know hunting publication. A shade long for an AR post but those that have time to read a longer piece may enjoy it. Comments welcome and no intention to highjack this thread at all but rather add to it !

Enjoy.

A ‘solid case’ for the ‘big birds’ of Africa!

If reading the title you spontaneously thought of large 5 kg Spurwing geese flighting in the early morning mist or Egyptian geese at dusk dropping onto the mealie fields or even size 3 shotgun cartridges then let me apologies straight away because I have mislead you. What I want to write about here is rather rifle and gun cases – as in airline and luggage cases – with the ‘big birds’ being Airbus A380s, Boeing 747-400s and all the other ‘big birds’ that transport us and our beloved shotguns and rifles to ‘destination Africa’ for our safari and hunting vacations.

In a perfect world and an ideal vacation, after trouble free local security screening and checking of your firearm licenses and your guns at your departure airport, you check in one suitcase and one or maybe two gun / rifle cases at the airline desk. The smiling attendant tags the gun cases as firearms - and you watch as they are carried along on a rubber belt for a short distance and then routed down into the cargo / luggage handling only to reappear at your destination either in the special section for bulky luggage and sporting goods or they are brought to you by another smiling airport attendant responsible for handling weapons and firearms. You have arrived, as have your valuable guns, intact and undamaged. Your dream safari, whether with rifle, shotgun or both can begin!

The reality could not be more distant. Modern day airline travel, even if you are lucky enough to sit up front in a plane, is for most of us no fun at all. And now factor in travelling with one or two guns and maybe ammunition. Today airports and airlines are very security conscious and rightly so and travelling with sporting firearms only adds to the stress factor. There is a lot to be said for renting the PH’s or camp rifle but then again who doesn’t enjoy hunting and shooting with his or her own rifle or shotgun. But let’s fast forward to the time ‘after check in’ and ‘before arrival’ – you head off to Duty Free or maybe the First or Business Class Lounge for a pre-flight drink and snacks whereas your gun case(s) is / are sent off on the start of a hazardous, bumpy and perilous journey on miles, yes miles, of luggage belts, ramps, drops, slides and chutes, all designed to quickly transport your luggage from ‘A’ to ‘Z’ with minimal human intervention. Add to this a layover and flight change in Europe if you are flying from the US or at a major hub if you start your trip at a regional airport and you have just added in more conveyor belts, ramps, slides, chutes and bumps, bangs and scratches to you gun cases! And I will not even open the often quoted can of worms about baggage handlers’ treatment of gun and rifle cases. I like to think that airport staff treat gun / rifle cases the same way they treat any sporting item i.e. with care and safety.

I have actually toured a number of airport baggage handling facilities and it is simply amazing the physical distance that a piece of luggage travels from check-in to arrival. It is literally miles upon miles of rubber belts with hundreds of corners, straights, ramps, slides, luggage cages and baggage trucks. Incredible to watch but I would hate to be a piece of luggage let alone a USD 5.000,- plus sporting rifle with a Zeiss or Swarowski scope on top!

My first hunting trips to Southern Africa, before I relocated to South Africa, were from Germany, and my wife and I travelled with 2 or 3 gun cases with one rifle and one shotgun a piece. The cases were cheap hard plastic things with thick foam bedding and simple locking mechanisms, the sort that all gun shops stock and sell. At times, to avoid excess luggage items and keep down costs, I would squeeze two shotguns into one case – a bit like doing a Browning or Beretta jigsaw puzzle. I must have used rolls of tape sealing gun cases over the years. It’s a credit to Lufthansa and Germany’s airports that in all of our travels with firearms not one of the cases was ever seriously damaged nor our guns lost of delayed. We were lucky. Thank you Lufthansa and thank you all the other airlines that we have flown with our sporting guns over the years!

I have however heard and read dozens of horror stories about damaged or lost firearms, gun cases that did not turn up on time, cases that were outwardly damaged, rifles with damaged stocks or scopes and in one instance an empty case on arrival - the single lock had (been) broken open and the shotgun was missing! Imagine the paper work to sort that out! Airline policy on lost and damaged luggage varies – US domestic flight carriers are liable to a maximum of USD 3.300,- per item, whilst British Airways states on their website that their international liability is capped at EUR 1.000,- . Others are similar it’s just the currency that changes. But one thing is for sure, none of the amounts whether in USD or EUR or whatever will cover the replacement cost of a good quality rifle, a quality scope and a gun case. Do not even think about the ‘personal factor’ i.e. it was Dad’s deer rifle or grandfather’s shotgun! So basically it is down to the traveller to cover him / herself with a quality case and plenty of travel insurance.

My wife and I then started travelling within Africa and over time I upgraded our rifles and shotguns to include expensive double safari rifles by Krieghoff plus an Army & Navy double and a collection of classic British shotguns in various calibres, both singles and pairs. Intra Africa travel, Johannesburg to Windhoek, Johannesburg to Harare, Johannesburg to Cape Town and other routes, inevitably led to dents, scratches and in one case a broken lock. At this stage, I purchased a second hand aluminium rifle case on eBay which would accommodate one complete rifle or two shotguns. A great piece of equipment and 100% secure but it’s a nightmare trying to fit it into a taxi or other vehicle. It was far from the ideal solution and I started to seriously look for suitable, quality alternatives.

I wanted after a case that could readily accommodate and transport a double rifle – almost all of my hunting whether plains or dangerous game is nowadays with one of three double rifles – and a shotgun or a pair of shotguns if just travelling for wingshooting using double guns. It needed to be 100 % solid and able to withstand today’s international air travel as well as bumpy rides in the back of the PH’s bakkie and the interior 100 % secure so as to keep everything in place. It needed to be a manageable size that can easily fit into a car boot or on an airport trolley without having to offload everything to manoeuvre into the elevator or to go up the escalator. It needed to be a low net weight (empty) so as not to bust through any airline baggage maximums when packed with firearms. It needed secure locks (plural) to ensure security and keep my guns in and strangers out. It needed to be able to stand up to airline and airport use and abuse for at least 10 years. And finally it needed to come at an acceptable price. Add all of these factors up and I thought that it was going to be a bit like the search for the ‘Holy Grail’ or that 60” kudu or 40” plus buff that we all dream about!

The internet took me from Europe to Asia to the USA and back again. A manufacturer in Brescia, Italy, the home of fine Italian guns, had some beautiful rifle and shotgun cases in classic old world styles including double motor cases in rich, chocolate brown leather lined with green felt. Beautiful to look at and superb Italian craftsmanship no doubt, but could they stand up to Africa’s baggage handlers and airports? I doubted it. From Italy I moved to England. Would an antique, leather and oak double shotgun case meet the bill? They hold two guns, seem pretty robust and fit into a taxi. Security and weight let them down – two leather straps and a simple key lock do not provide 21st century airport security. Plus being oak and leather they are heavy from the start at 7 kgs plus! They may well have been ideal in the days when safaris started off on steam trains and ocean liners and porters carried one’s luggage aboard, but they are not a modern day solution for today’s global safari hunter.

I saw a number of very good and likely very suitable gun cases manufactured in the USA, but once I had factored in shipping to Germany (our European base) or South Africa (our African base) plus the cost of exchanging money to US Dollars and all the US taxes and the import duties, they became expensive. Having said that, if I had been in the States for some reason with the possibility to travel back with one of the cases I saw, I would have bought one and done just that.

After a long time looking and nearly giving up the hope of finding something suitable, I finally found what I was looking for at the annual ‘Wild & Hund’ hunting and game fair in Dortmund, Germany. A solid aluminium case manufactured by a German, family operated company in Massing, Germany, that has been specialising in aluminium cases for decades. The case that I was looking at has two side-open lockable compartments – each spacious enough to take a broken down double rifle or a shot gun - built around a central partition with twin key locks and a robust grip / handle. The case measured 260x860x120 mm. The interior contains more than enough foam, which can be cut to shapes, to securely bed down rifles, scopes and accessories with plenty of space between each piece. In one of the corners of the case is an external retractable steel wire with a fixed loop on the end which allows you for example to chain the case in the back of a vehicle during transport or to a radiator in a hotel room as an additional security feature. And all eight corners are reinforced with riveted stainless steel corner pieces. The net weight of the case came in at 3.5 kgs. And to top it off they could sell me two identical cases – one for me and one for my wife – with the same keys / locks on both cases. No more discussions or debates about who has the keys to which case! The price came in at less than USD 750,- a piece and as a non resident in Europe I could get the Sales Tax refunded at USD 150,- per case. And – wait for this – each case carries a 10 year guarantee / warranty! I had found my ‘Holy Grail’!

I purchased two matching cases with identical locks and two extra sets of keys. On their maiden voyage they did not carry any of my guns / rifles but went empty from Germany to South Africa. They arrived with one or two minor handling scuffs and scratches but nothing worse.

Some months later they were put to the test on a flight up to Windhoek from Johannesburg on SAA for a long weekend’s shooting. The one case packed easily containing a .375 Kreighoff Classic plus a Leatherman and a 1928 Cogswell & Harrison side by side shotgun and the second case containing my wife’s Browning 20 bore and a Sauer 202 Take Down. After a trouble free security screening and checking of our firearm licenses and our guns at OR Tambo Airport in Johannesburg, and after relocking the four locks on the two cases with one key, we checked our gun cases at the airline desk. The smiling attendant tagged the gun cases as firearms - and we watched as they were carried away by a baggage handler to start their long journey to Namibia. On arrival in Hosea Kutako Airport in Windhoek, they were brought to us at the ‘Firearms Office’ by a smiling airport attendant. We completed our license papers, had the guns inspected and proceeded to the exit. We had arrived, as had our valuable guns, intact and undamaged. Our dream safari could begin!

Post script – we have since travelled throughout various countries in Africa by air and road with our gun cases, hunting in Botswana, Morocco, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe and we have had no trouble whatsoever. Nothing damaged, nothing lost, nothing stolen! A scratch and a small dent or two, yes, but nothing that has ever dampened the start or finish of an African safari!

I like the Pac Safe line of luggage.

It is lined with wire mesh so it can't be sliced with a knife and the zippers are designed so that they can't be unzipped with something like a ball point pen.

BuffNut:

Ever try locking one zipper to the zipper on the next compartment? You effectively lock both with one lock. But then it's just a TSA lock so anyone can get into it anyway.

Charlie64:

Nice article. My riflecase is a tank, as it has been described by one PH. It is built by Americase I believe, and takes two full length firearms. Double locks. It's bashed, scuffed and marked, but never has a rifle ever been damaged. Heavy, yes. Somehow, I've never been charged an extra fee. Closest I came was on Precision Air, a Tanzanian airline. But they came around when the PH charmed the young and pretty ticket agent. End of story, no extra fee.

I like the tank. It works.

I take less each time!

I use a Pelican case for the rifles(s). I used a 1740 last time for 2 rifles. It's a monster. Sweet talked the check in ladies both directions and didn't pay an oversized or overweight fee.

This time using a Pelican 1700 case. I'm going to take my rifle apart (it's not a takedown) so I can use a shorter case than a 1750.

Now, if I decide on taking 2 rifles, I'll use one of my 1750 cases (instead of the 1740) and carry the scopes in my carry on bag.

In the past I've used a heavy duty Cabela's duffle bag. http://www.cabelas.com/product...ffel-Bags/713848.uts

I think I have the 36" version. It's inexpensive and indestructible. The old heavy canvas Army duffels are good as well. And the Army parachute bags.

I used big jumbo Masterlocks on my guncases.

Lots of good stuff posted. I'm not as concerned with the rifle security (maybe I should be?), as I am using a heavy duty aluminum case with master locks. More concerning is locking of the checked luggage and ammo case of which both are equipped with TSA locks. If I am going to be required to ship ammo separately from JB to Windhoek, I'm going to put a master lock on it for that leg.

Are TSA locks required on your rifle case or can I use a tamper resistant lock?

ted, I was told to never put TSA locks on the rifle case. TSA wants it as secure as you do.

quote:

Originally posted by JGRaider:
ted, I was told to never put TSA locks on the rifle case. TSA wants it as secure as you do.

Absolutely. You, and ONLY you, should be able to open your firearm case. Certainly not anybody from TSA!

quote:

Originally posted by Bud Meadows:

quote:

Originally posted by JGRaider:
What are you guys using?
1. A simple suitcase?
2. Anybody use Red Oxx duffels?
3. Why do you use what you use?
Thanks in advance.

This topic comes up at least once a year, and I'll throw in my $.02. Go to your local Salvation Army Resale Shop and buy a large hard sided Samsonite suitcase. If the locks don't work or it's missing the key, so much the better, as you can pay a lot less. I got mine for $8.00 in 2012. Next go to Home Depot and buy a hasp set for less than $2.00 a pair. Mount the hasps using bolts that you should LocTite to their nuts so they don't rattle loose. I pulled out the old ratty liner and the divider to reduce weight and increase capacity. Buy FOUR TSA locks in case somebody decides to tamper with the original set of two. Keep the backups in your carry-on. For less than $10, you get as secure a bag as possible, and you don't have to worry about dings and dents. When the suitcase costs only $8, they add to the "patina".

Thanks for the recommendation!! I went to local thrift store today and got a really big black plastic Samsonite suitcase with wheels and a fold down handle for $6.50 !!!!!!!!!!!!!! Just need to put on some of the locking latches you mention above.