3gun Air Travel

[assaulter]

I'll likely be flying to one or more matches next year. Any advice on how to avoid being raped by the airlines? Any particular carrier to avoid? I like the idea of using a soft case inside a hard case so I'll have something to carry them at the match. If I do that, then it looks like I may need a larger hard case, which in turn may trigger the extra baggage fees. Not looking forward to it, but I don't want to drive 20 hours either! Can you put the ammo in the same checked case as your firearms?

[Bryan 45]

I flew twice this season via Southwest and was not charged excess baggage fees. I used a whopper of a Starlight case, inside is my soft sided double long gun case, pistol in a separate pistol rug, and my shotshell carriers. I think I threw a few rifle and pistol mags (empty) in there too. Since I was over the max size, I stayed under the 50# weight limit. I figure if I was pushing it by being oversized, I wouldn't also push it with weight. Any ammo in this case would have been overweight.

I packed my rifle and pistol ammo in my other checked bag with my clothes, belt, mag carriers, etc.

[jk_nh]

I flew Southwest to both the Rocky Mountain 3G and Blue Ridge Mountain 3G this year.

They allow you two checked bags without incurring any fees. One of my bags was

a Pelican 1750 case loaded w/all three guns; it had to weigh more than 50lbs.

TSA regs permit you to put boxed ammo in the same case as your long arms. Southwest

didn't have any issues with that either.

I folded two soft cases and put them in my checked bag.

[Dan Sierpina]

I've flown out to Rocky Mountain and the He Man matches in Raton, N.M. Southwest is convienient for me, and have good policies to fly with checked baggage.

I ship my ammo ( I have a friend that lives in N.M) and put my Brownell's 3 gun case into a SKB hard golf bag case. Bruce Piatt suggested the SKB case. Golf clubs fly all the time, so, the case isn't screaming "GUNS". The case allows some other gear to be put in besides the gun bag.

Just keep to 50 pounds and you'll be fine. Pick up a portable luggage scale, it's worth the few dollars that it can save you.