Most secure hard case

[patriot_man]

Hello guys I'm travelling soon on a plane out of state and I'm bringing the ol' AR with me. This is my first time taking an AR out of state on a plane and I am wondering what hard cases are the most secure and offer the most protection i.e. from getting stolen, being protected from drops. Thanks for all the input. :D

[ICE1811]

PELICAN or STORM

[chadbag]

PELICAN or STORM

STORM or STARLIGHT. Not PELICAN

(My data is not very scientific but I have had similar feedback from others: while selling Starlight at a gunshow a gentleman told me his company bought PELICAN and STARLIGHT cases for their equipment that they shipped around the country with their technicians. 30% of the Pelican cases went back every year to get fixed or replaced under warranty. None of their Starlight cases did. Not scientific but as I said I have had several other people tell me similar info on Pelican vs Storm or Starlight. Storm I believe was bought by Pelican but are still being made under the Storm name and are a different manufacturing process from Pelican cases. I have heard lots of good things about Storm cases as well.)

[MarkG]

Definitely Starlight...

[rob_s]

I often forget about Starlight, and then go to their site and see the prices and remember why I forgot about them!

I have a Pelican, but if buying today would prefer Storm. Truthfully though I'd be inclined to buy from whichever had the size and features I needed and the price I could live with. I think that the reason for the seemingly high number of Pelican failure reports is that they are the most common by far.

[CLHC]

I have a Pelican cast that mostly collects dust under the bed :eek: so no real-world usage outside the home. Now these Starlight Cases has caught my interest in it though!

On Magpul's first DVD release on TAotTC (Disk III), it appears the hardcase is a Hardigg/Storm(?) that C. Costa uses and in conjunction with a softcase. It looks like a < Mobile Armory FieldPack (http://www.militarycases.com/MobileArmory-FieldPak.html) > setup. Were I to go that route, the MA FieldPack iM3100 would probably be what I may/might choose.

Hope you find what you're looking for and Enjoy! :cool:

[aslink]

If I had to do it all over again. I would probably go with the Storm case due to the wheel design. Flat wheels like on the Pelican case can pick up rocks and get caught creating a flat spot when drug across the ashault. Which once removed has a tick tick tick sound when rolling through the airport. I had it happen to another piece of luggage. So when I saw the wheels on the Storm I regretted my Pelican purchase. Although I have several Pelican cases and have nothing but good things to say about them. Except for their wheel choice on the larger pieces.

I will add if I were going to be traveling by air with my AR. I would probably camouflage it with stickers from another industry. e.i. medical, music or diving anything that isn't as exciting as guns.

[Ak44]

I will add if I were going to be traveling by air with my AR. I would probably camouflage it with stickers from another industry. e.i. medical, music or diving anything that isn't as exciting as guns.

I am weary of putting diving stickers on my case, I have some diving gear that costs more than my rifles.

I really like Storm cases because of the larger button latches and better handles. Since Pelican bought out Hardigg, I assume they would have the same warranty as the pelican cases.

[Country DeVil]

I deal with a lot of cases, last time I flew my crew of 5 had 33 cases (camera equipment). most of the cases were pelican and they all did fine but its pretty common to have some of the latches open when you pick them up at bag claim. storm cases have a little button to push at the center of the latch before you can open it and they stay closed a lot more than pelican cases. on a side note pelican recently bought storm so they are the same company now, that means they both have no questions asked replacement policy.

just make sure you put as many locks on as your case has holes. most cases have a spot for 2 locks. use 2 locks, if you use one someone can pull the other side up enough to pull stuff out. when I say locks I mean master locks not TSA safe locks.

flying with firearms is a lot easier than I thought it would be. good luck

[NSR500]

In my 9yrs of Event & Trade Show experience the Storm cases we had have always held up better than their Pelican counterparts.

I just want to add that as of 01/09 Pelican owns Hardigg (Storm).

http://www.reuters.com/article/pressRelease/idUS197439+13-Jan-2009+BW20090113

I have not noticed any changes to the 2009 series Storms I've seen, but who knows what the future holds.

[whiterabbit05]

I think that the reason for the seemingly high number of Pelican failure reports is that they are the most common by far.

Great point. Many people fail to realize the reason behind the numbers.

[Turnkey11]

On Magpul's first DVD release on TAotTC (Disk III), it appears the hardcase is a Hardigg/Storm(?) that C. Costa uses and in conjunction with a softcase. It looks like a < Mobile Armory FieldPack (http://www.militarycases.com/MobileArmory-FieldPak.html) > setup. Were I to go that route, the MA FieldPack iM3100 would probably be what I may/might choose.

Hope you find what you're looking for and Enjoy! :cool:

Bought mine from some place online on sale over a year ago, I had them pull the foam and throw the soft insert inside the hard case to save shipping and I think I got both around $300 shipped. Everywhere I look now the setup runs about $400 before shipping, but definitely worth it. Its gotten $7k worth of pistols and rifles through Honolulu, LAX, and O'Hare theft and damage free a few times already.

[spamsammich]

My company does some DoD contracting and all of the instruments we develop get Pelican cases. They are rode hard and put away wet and we have yet to have any of the dozen go back for repair. I bought a 1700 for my carbines and had one issue pertaining to the weather seal which I fixed on my own with some RTV silicone. Other than that, my experience with them has been entirely positive. I will buy a Storm case in the future just to compare and contrast.

[ra2bach]

I use a Starlight for my precision bot rifles. if anything, they're too heavy duty. I tore off a piece of fingernail trying to get one of the latches open.

[andy t]

I have both Pelican and Starlight. Pelican appears to have better quality craftsmanship, and its lock holes are large enough to allow for the Sesamme padlock to fit through and are reinforced with sheet metal. The Starlight lock holes are much smaller in diameter, despite having four instead of two on the Pelican. I also like Pelican wheel design better - it doesn't stick out as much. When I flew with my AR last month, I took Pelican case. It took the 1.5 hour flight with no issues. On both ends of the flight, all the locks held. I also didn't do any "camoing" or "scaring" stickers on it. Just left it as a plain case.

[patriot_man]

I see I have a lot of varying answers here and once again thank you for all your responses. I will look heavily into Storm and Starlight. I have ruled out Pelican after further research.

[tweakmeister]

I use Pelicans but if I were doing it again, I'd just buy this: http://stores.homestead.com/Laruetactical/Detail.bok?no=350

Especially if you just have to buy one and not a half dozen of them or something I feel like its worth the slight premium.

I'd call before you order though as I'm not sure how long it takes for the order to be fulfilled.