kaltesherz
03-22-11, 16:18
My old man just moved to Nevada and wanted me to come out and visit, so he "motivated" me a little more by finding a nearby public range that goes out to 300m (or so he claims). I needed a hard case to fly with my AR and Glock, so I did a little research and everything pointed me to Hardigg. Pelican just bought them, but luckily kept their line-up the same- in fact the shipping box and instructions had no mention of Pelican anywhere, the only thing labeled "Pelican" is the case itself. My AR is a 14.5 w/ perm attach FH and the iM3100 seemed to fit my needs as I wanted the smallest possible case for ease of transport and wanted to keep it on the lighter side. I found a good deal on one with shipping via ebay and a week later it showed up at my door.
I was immediately impressed with how well built it was and how smooth and easily the latches opened yet remained secure when closed. It also has two folding carrying handles, so you can carry it horizontally or pull it using built-in rollers.
I bought an electric carving knife, used a piece of chalk to outline weapons / mags / etc and went to work. It was easy and quick, but isn't as easy on the eyes as it was my first time and I'm not exactly an artist. I only cut the first layer of foam (there's two large primary layers of foam, and then a thin layer on the bottom) to try it out and found that despite all the crap on the left side of my weapon (BFG Redi-Mod, Surefire tac light, Gunfighter Charging handle, and DD QD swivel) it fit really well. I made sure I cut the foam so that my weapons could be transported with their bolts / slide locked to the rear so that they can be verified unloaded without taking them out of the case. I'm not a big fan of attention, and I'd like to avoid having to pull a carbine out of a case at a busy check-in counter at the airport. I cut some space around them for mags and then at the bottom a large space for ammo, cleaning kit, or a mixture of both. I also decided to cut the second layer in that spot to double the space available. After everything was cut and checked out to be up to my standards (I don't want to hear any more comments about fat checks...) I used a spray adhesive to glue the foam down.
After the interior was finished I decided to add a little urban camo to the outside of the case. As I already mentioned I'm not a fan of attention, I'd like to not carry a case in public that screams "gun", so I tried to disguise it as a case for a keyboard. Luckily I had a metric shit ton of old band and other random stickers I've collected over the years and decided to throw those on. Other than the 101st and Lightfighter sticker, I kept it all non-weapon or military related.
Here's some pics:
http://i165.photobucket.com/albums/u64/kaltesherz/019-4.jpg
14.5 AR, Glock 19, 8 30-round AR mags, 3 Glock mags (two G17 and one G19), and 12 20-round boxes of Brown Bear
http://i165.photobucket.com/albums/u64/kaltesherz/021-2.jpg
http://i165.photobucket.com/albums/u64/kaltesherz/022-3.jpg
Showing extra layer of foam cut for the ammo / cleaning kit area
http://i165.photobucket.com/albums/u64/kaltesherz/024-3.jpg
Urban camo
I was immediately impressed with how well built it was and how smooth and easily the latches opened yet remained secure when closed. It also has two folding carrying handles, so you can carry it horizontally or pull it using built-in rollers.
I bought an electric carving knife, used a piece of chalk to outline weapons / mags / etc and went to work. It was easy and quick, but isn't as easy on the eyes as it was my first time and I'm not exactly an artist. I only cut the first layer of foam (there's two large primary layers of foam, and then a thin layer on the bottom) to try it out and found that despite all the crap on the left side of my weapon (BFG Redi-Mod, Surefire tac light, Gunfighter Charging handle, and DD QD swivel) it fit really well. I made sure I cut the foam so that my weapons could be transported with their bolts / slide locked to the rear so that they can be verified unloaded without taking them out of the case. I'm not a big fan of attention, and I'd like to avoid having to pull a carbine out of a case at a busy check-in counter at the airport. I cut some space around them for mags and then at the bottom a large space for ammo, cleaning kit, or a mixture of both. I also decided to cut the second layer in that spot to double the space available. After everything was cut and checked out to be up to my standards (I don't want to hear any more comments about fat checks...) I used a spray adhesive to glue the foam down.
After the interior was finished I decided to add a little urban camo to the outside of the case. As I already mentioned I'm not a fan of attention, I'd like to not carry a case in public that screams "gun", so I tried to disguise it as a case for a keyboard. Luckily I had a metric shit ton of old band and other random stickers I've collected over the years and decided to throw those on. Other than the 101st and Lightfighter sticker, I kept it all non-weapon or military related.
Here's some pics:
http://i165.photobucket.com/albums/u64/kaltesherz/019-4.jpg
14.5 AR, Glock 19, 8 30-round AR mags, 3 Glock mags (two G17 and one G19), and 12 20-round boxes of Brown Bear
http://i165.photobucket.com/albums/u64/kaltesherz/021-2.jpg
http://i165.photobucket.com/albums/u64/kaltesherz/022-3.jpg
Showing extra layer of foam cut for the ammo / cleaning kit area
http://i165.photobucket.com/albums/u64/kaltesherz/024-3.jpg
Urban camo