Flight security, swipe test(?)

[joakim]

Hello,

I live in Sweden and fly in Europe and to the US ocasionally. It has happened that airport security have done some type of swipe test of the liquids bag etc.

Now I have increased my range time and started reloading and this got me thinking about future travel.

Is this an issue at all? Should I be careful about not using the same clothes, bag etc to the range as the one I fly with? Could e.g. powder residue trigger their tests?

BR

/J

[Hi-Power Jack]

Depends on the individual inspector.

I carried a range bag onto a plane six years ago, loaded with clothes, etc,

and it did catch the attention of security (who also found a spent

cartridge case in a fold inside the bag), but they understood my explanation after a

quick search.

Better not to bring anything like that to their attention to - you can't

tell how understanding they'll be, or how thorough their search

You could end up missing a flight..

[shred]

My shooting bag sometimes triggers the explosive swipe. Then they have to go get somebody else from far away in the airport to help them search every nook and cranny of your luggage. After that you are ok to go on about your travels. It takes a while to do that so be at the airport early just in case.

If that happens (and it has a few times) I wash my shooting bag and it's good for another six months to a year.

[joakim]

Ok, thanks. Used my favourite carry-on backpack to the range but realized it could be a bad idea.. better to use separate bags to keep it kosher.

A local service woman went on vacation to India over New Years two years ago, when she should fly home they found one round of ammo in her bag. She spent three weeks in an Indian jail before the embassy could bail her out..

[Hi-Power Jack]

they found one round in her bag. She spent three weeks in an Indian jail before the embassy could bail her out..

Guess that answers your question much better than I did, above.

WOW - that's a lot of jail time for 1 cartridge.

Wonder how long she'd have spent in jail if she had a box of 50 rounds?

[steviesterno]

after a buddy almost got detained for 1 round of 22lr (pre 9-11), I make sure to never allow shooting stuff into my personal bags. that way there's no chance that a lost piece of brass or extra random round would end up in it. I constantly find stuff in a "cleaned out" range bag, from cases, to loaded mags. just seems safer to never mix and get an extra bag for clothes

[LilBunniFuFu]

Take the extra tone and separate the gun stuff from the flying stuff. Powder residue will set off the swipe tester. Usually no biggie just time wasted but you never know what might happen.

[A-shot]

Ok, thanks. Used my favourite carry-on backpack to the range but realized it could be a bad idea.. better to use separate bags to keep it kosher.

A local service woman went on vacation to India over New Years two years ago, when she should fly home they found one round of ammo in her bag. She spent three weeks in an Indian jail before the embassy could bail her out..

Wow, that's some locked up abroad. It's India though, pretty crazy stuff, they cremate their dead in the same water they bathe in....

[joakim]

Keeping ammo/brass and stuff away from travel equipment is pretty straightforward but the swipe test is a bit tricky especially as you have no idea how sensitive they are. (same as other airport security and metal detectors, at some places they let you go even if you forget to unpack your laptop and water bottle in the carry-on, at other places the metal detector goes on for nothing)

Seems like its not a huge problem with the swipe test but good to not bring shooting bags/clothes if its not necessary.

E.g. I have a range close to work where the local PD leaves lots of brass, i pick it up sometimes when I pass by. And I reload in whatever clothes I happen to wear, so risk of some 'contamination'. Might just as well make sure to clean everything before flight (which I suppose would be natural anyway, according to my wife at least )

A few years ago there were some fuzz about a contractor (builder) that got caught in an explosives swipe test at a nuclear power plant here in Sweden. Took several months before they figured out that it was due to some chemical they had at home, nothing illegal at all. He did loose his job in the meantime though..

(Im working with computer security so I am paranoid.. )

Edited April 17, 2014 by joakim

[eric4069]

went through a flight and later at the hotel found an unfired 300 WSM cartridge from prior years elk hunt in my carry on camo daypack. I thought I had cleaned the daypack out (fire starting kit, etc) but missed the cartridge. lucky I wasn't going to India I guess.

Eric

[Mthomas0001]

TSA Found a .223 round in my DOB kit a few yers ago and I had to fil lout some kind of paperwork but that was about it

[shred]

Washing my range bag takes it from setting off the swiper to not-setting off the swiper for at least 6 months. I suspect it has more to do with loose unburnt powder from missing primers than actual burnt-powder residue. Clothes, even dirty ones straight from a day on the range don't seem to trigger it at all in my experience.

[Service Desk]

I have gone straight to the airport from the range after shooting two PPC matches back to back, hands covered with the residue from my revolver and gone straight through the explosives test..... Not a peep from the machine.

I think it is looking for compounds other than those in gunshot residue.

[alma]

I went through a sniffer of some kind at the CN tower in Toronto that flagged me. It blew puffs of air on me that were then "sniffed" by the machine. I had some pants on that I had worn to the range the previous week but had been washed.

[bajaholic]

I am wondering if the "tests" are subject to the security threat level designated at a specific airport or at a general country level at that given time. I have gone through security at some airports where you basically have to strip down to go through, and others they barely look at you or the bags?

I am guessing there is many derivatives that can weigh into how deeply something gets checked, where you are from, the way you look/act, and where you are going.

[danjordan78]

I'm in a wheelchair and work on a shooting range and shoot a lot. My wheels will pick up the residue from the range, which gets on my hands, and will come up on the swab tests at the airport. After a time or two of "additional screening", extensive bag searches, showing them my business card, they finally let me through. Now I check my bags in, go wash my hands and go through security. Havent had a problem since I started doing that.

Funniest one was when they swiped my hands, the alarm went off, and the TSA guy says, "awe, that things been giving false positives all day. Don't worry about it". Made me feel real safe and confident in our high quality airport security!

[Ben Stoeger]

I have failed the swipe test about 20 times in the last few years (no joke).

They freak out... call the supervisor... hand search all my stuff... I give evasive non-answers to any questions... and they always let me carry on.

I wouldn't worry about it.

[kevin c]

I've only been swiped once, but I only travel by air to matches a couple times a year. It happened on my way back from Hawaii where I shot a couple local matches while on vacation on Maui. No issues.

Given the horror stories I've read, my routine before both flying out and back to matches is to empty my range bag carry on onto the floor, taking out everything including the bottom reinforcng mat, and dumping out and then repacking each small container or bag that was inside, and then repacking each back into the range bag. It suits my OC tendencies and keeps me out of trouble.

The checked stuff, though, with the guns and ammo, I follow the guidelines, and if I have dirty laundry and shoes from the match, I don't worry about it.