Flying with a firearm

[Corbic]

Thanks for the advice. Everything I am doing sounds the same as you up to the eyebolt. May be able to run a cable through something inside my case. Not a bad idea.
The phone # on the case may not be bad either as it makes it easy for them.

I thought the declaration you fill out at the counter goes inside the case?

He's putting his case inside a suite case.

 

[Shifty Powers]

He's putting his case inside a suite case.

yea i meant run a cable through something in my suitcase. As the gun case will be in the suitcase

 

[M91196]

The location of the declaration issue is the one I see a lot of gate agent confusion on.

As well as labeling. Do not allow them to flag your luggage with a firearms “inside” sticker. That is against US law. I have had them try that due to their lack of understanding.

Just politely ask for a supervisor to explain things and then you drop the knowledge with a smile, it’s always worked for me.

********This is all pistol related I don’t know how I would handle long guns that have to ship by themselves and are obvious when they hit the belt at baggage claim*********

The idea with the of the orange firearms declaration form is to tell someone down the food chain that the firearm has been legally declared as baggage.
So TSA screens the luggage and sees a gun they can open my traditional suitcase and see the form and move on.

If it’s locked inside with the pistol they don’t know I’ve legally declared and complied.

Under no circumstances should they be able to access a firearm(without effor) That’s why no TSA lock on a gun case.

In TX (Love Field) after declaring they sent us to a separate room and the agents opened the suitcase looked at the pelican case and asked if they were unloaded inside etc. That’s the only time I’ve had any interaction after leaving the baggage drop.

I just took a hardware store eyebolt and drilled a hole in the most reinforced part of my suitcase and bolted it in with some fender washers. Run a cable thru eyebolt and the handle on pelican case.Never stop a true hardcore thief but keep the crimes of opportunity to a minimum. Baggage handlers have stolen guns before but there is a lot of surveillance and I don’t see anyone wanting to deal with all my close and a pelican case sprayed all over while they try and stuff my 2 2011 pistols in their waistbands!!

Some of my friend run the gps devices in their cases, I think I need to look at those again too for piece of mind.

I also aviod connection flights as much as possible and have never booked a flight that connected in a state that I could have an issue with if my flight stuck me in that state.

 

[Shifty Powers]

The location of the declaration issue is the one I see a lot of gate agent confusion on.

As well as labeling. Do not allow them to flag your luggage with a firearms “inside” sticker. That is against US law. I have had them try that due to their lack of understanding.

Just politely ask for a supervisor to explain things and then you drop the knowledge with a smile, it’s always worked for me.

********This is all pistol related I don’t know how I would handle long guns that have to ship by themselves and are obvious when they hit the belt at baggage claim*********

The idea with the of the orange firearms declaration form is to tell someone down the food chain that the firearm has been legally declared as baggage.
So TSA screens the luggage and sees a gun they can open my traditional suitcase and see the form and move on.

If it’s locked inside with the pistol they don’t know I’ve legally declared and complied.

Under no circumstances should they be able to access a firearm(without effor) That’s why no TSA lock on a gun case.

In TX (Love Field) after declaring they sent us to a separate room and the agents opened the suitcase looked at the pelican case and asked if they were unloaded inside etc. That’s the only time I’ve had any interaction after leaving the baggage drop.

I just took a hardware store eyebolt and drilled a hole in the most reinforced part of my suitcase and bolted it in with some fender washers. Run a cable thru eyebolt and the handle on pelican case.Never stop a true hardcore thief but keep the crimes of opportunity to a minimum. Baggage handlers have stolen guns before but there is a lot of surveillance and I don’t see anyone wanting to deal with all my close and a pelican case sprayed all over while they try and stuff my 2 2011 pistols in their waistbands!!

Some of my friend run the gps devices in their cases, I think I need to look at those again too for piece of mind.

I also aviod connection flights as much as possible and have never booked a flight that connected in a state that I could have an issue with if my flight stuck me in that state.

Thanks for the info good sir. It has been valuable. I have not filled out one of the declarations yet, but I will be. I like the idea of it in a clear folder or something, so once I do this I will have to look into it for the future.
I was able to mimic what you do and wrapped a cable lock around the structure of my luggage and through the handle on the case. I also added a post it(then I taped over it) with my name and phone number on the front of the case. I also have a tsa lock to put on the outside. I am sure I will have to take it all apart when I get there so that will be fun.

Thank you for letting me know about the declaration form and if they try to put a label on my bag. That is very good to know!

Ill report back on how this turns out

 

[Zinc03Cobra]

I shoot USPSA matches all over the country and live in unfriendly gun state.

My advice mirrors most.

This is how I travel with 2 comp. pistols and a dozen fancy magazines.

Locked pelican case with my locks, inside are all my unloaded mags and 2 pistols.

Large Label on pelican case with my mobile number

Firearms declaration is inside a giant clear packing list sleeve stuck to pelican case.

Case is inside a traditional suitcase with a TSA lock.

Inside traditional suitcase I have an eyebolt in that I run a cable thru both so the pelican case can’t “fly out on the tarmac” and disappear.

Know the law, I carry a copy. Many gate agents have no clue.

I ship ammo since I always exceed the weight allowance although I know they rarely enforce that.

Ammo needs to be in original style containers per the law, to fly,they don’t want it loose.

Thank God some first hand knowledge was brought into this thread.

^^ALL THIS.

I fly with a firearm pretty often. One thing I run into is that I never get flagged for carrying a firearm to my destination. I get flagged on the way back and step off into another room with some TSA folks. It's a small inconvenience but I really don't care. KNOW THE LAW and they can't mess with you.