Father ⌖ Husband ⌖ Midwesterner ⌖ Buys American made ⌖ The woods are lovely, dark and deep, But I have promises to keep, And shitloads to mow before I sleep.
PSA: Flying with firearms is easier than you think.
Most people I've spoken to admit they are too nervous to even attempt, until they use their brain and find out how easy it actually is.
Let me first say, I do not give legal advise. I do not know you or your background. I do not know what your local laws are or the laws of the city you are flying in to. Use your brain, and figure out the legality on your own.
I travel on southwest 98% of the time (f's in the chat) and southwest is the only airline I have checked in a firearm with. So these instructions are pretty specific to SW, but other airlines are pretty darn close.
Case - Lockable hard case, if there is a hole for a lock, there needs to be a lock in that hole. The Pelican 1170 case is my go-to. Only needs 2 locks. - DO. NOT. USE. TSA. LOCKS. These locks are only meant to be opened by you, and you alone. Period.
Buy quality locks.
Ammo - You can fly with up to 11lbs of ammo. It needs to be secured in the store bought box, a cheap plastic ammo box or even a 3d printed box. As log as its a container made to hold ammo, it will work. Personally, 1 container of 50 rounds is all I ever go with. If you are traveling with 11lbs.... Choose a different storage option.
Magazines - Unload them. Inspect them. Store them in the same case as your pistol.
Firearm - Unload it. Inspect it. Remove lith-ion batteries (like the one in this TLR7) and carry them on with you.
Know the rules - I put a copy of their own rules in the Pelican case behind the padding. Ive never needed to pull it out.
Pack it into your checked bag in a manner that's easy to find the firearm case.
Declaration - When you get your boarding pass, go to the checked bag area. Put your bag on the scale --- DO NOT OPEN IT YET --- Calmly tell them "I would like to make a declaration" 99% of the time they respond with "is it a firearm" --- They deal with this every day. You are making it a bigger deal then you need to.
They will ask for your boarding pass and your ID. They will fill out a little piece of paper, ask you to fill out the front, read and sign the back. Then they tape the paper to your case.
Depending on the airport, they might ask you to wait 5-10 minutes while they run it through their screeners and say "if there is a problem we will call you, if you dont hear anything... you're good"
Some people say "Don't let them tell you to wait, you have them tell you if you are cleared or not" ok, sure.
I put an AirTag in the pelican case (under the padding) and ANOTHER airtag in the main checked bag. If those 2 airtags ever separate.. Houston, we have a problem.
Do what makes you comfortable. But for the love of god, do your homework.
@X9_redux Next year, think about trying cattle panel, fasten it to the wall and to the ceiling. Like a 10' section.
Manually assist the vines going up and the cucumbers will dangle through the cattle panel like little ball sacks. EZ pickins.
@X9_redux We tried this, left them on for at least 3 weeks. Probably more.
Results were mixed. Some healed, no feathers grew back.
But they were hilarious.
As everyone waits for the guilty verdict for murdering Austin Metcalf. People running live streams outside the courthouse..... I saw this gem when someone asked "why didnt K.A. just walk out of the tent"
Holy.... Shit.