I have to agree that the pelican cases are by far tougher than anyother case out there on the market. My step father spent $200 on a metal case similar to the case above in the picture to take on his african safari. I dont know how the baggage handlers did it, but they put a hole right through it. Luckily they didnt hit the rifles!! Now he has a case that is worthless. First if he had bought a pelican they would replace it for free....but I highly doubt that it can be punctured. I am in the military and all of our test equiptment case are going to pelican.....trust me if we cant tear it up no one can. And they also make some awesome flashlights. The cases are expensive around $200 for the double rifle case. But you usually get what you pay for. If its a double rifle case and you have $3000 worth of rifles and scopes 200 bucks really isnt much to protect your investment. Just my thought

Well, I ended up getting the Storm iM 3300. It is plenty big and seems very strong. It has a slightly different plastic that Pelican, different handles and different latches. IMHO, the Storm latches were better due to the push button release. I tried these at the range one day and they wereeasy. Pelican cases can be tough to open and close. Someone even makes a tool to improve your leverage.

The handles are not rigid on a Storm. This makes them weaker for carrying, due to the hinge pin, but then they areless likely to break the ccase if it is dropped on the handle.

The plastic on the Storm is different and they are very clear about their drop test spec. It seems like a good spec, especially if conducted at a very cold temp. Not sure the temp of the test.

The Storm is a slightly larger volume. I wanted max size.

Extra foam for the Storm is $41 compared to $60 for the Pelican, but the case was more expensive.

IMHO, Starlight, Pelican and Storm all look like top quality plastic cases. SKB also seems good, but the locks in the handles make it hard to use a TSA lock for flying and a real lock when needed.

Also, just my 2 cents. . .A person really needs to customize the foam. I believe this fixes much of the banging around issue that can be a problem with just sticking guns between two pieces of egg crate foam.

Pelican. Expensive and worth it

Just don't get $20 plastic ones and you should be set.

Pelican hands down beats everything. We use them in the military and, if they ever break, send them back and,POOF................... brand new Pelican case. Trust me man, we abused the S#$t out of those things and they kept on gettin it. If you want something metal, Impact is top notch as well. Choose wisely...... you get what you pay for these days.

VA

I won't argue with the Pelicans... They are the toughest plastic cases out there period, but that comes with a price.

I have been very pleased with the Kolpin cases which are made for ATV's. They are very durable with a snug fit so my rifle isn't bouncing all over the interior.

I have a major problem with my gun "settling" in the bottom of my cases as all my guns are bruisers 7-10 pounds.

The military also uses Storm and I believe Starlight.

Does Pelican also replace cases broken by the military? Now that would be a strong statment. Unfortunately usually military and commercial customers are not included in these deals.

Don't know about that, we had Pelicans and Impacts.





Yes.......that is if you send them straightback to Pelican. It may take a couple of monthsbut you'll get a new one unless they can fix it and if they fix it, it'll be better than when you got it the first time with all the new modifications they're coming out with now (i.e. easier to open latches, better hinges, better burp valvesand wider channels for bigger locks to fit through

I thought I would add this bit of detail to this. For just flying and stuff, my Winchester box did me well. It is a small 2 pistol case which I just flew with this week. When I bought it, the bottom foam was too thin to hold the guns well, even without cutting. I decided to replace with thicker foam and cut with a "turkey knife". I can tell you it worked great. I traced the shapes with tailors chalk, cut the foam out with the knife. Next time, I think I would do 3 things different:
1. Cut out a smaller profile of the guns. I went about .25" smaller all around the chalk line. I think I would change to about .375" smaller. The guns are tight, but not real tight like I would like.
2. I also would not cut clear to the edge of the foam. I did this where the ammo goes and that left the ammo a bit loose. Oh well, I can live with it.
3. I will also glue in the foam that I cut to depth with spray adhesive. I haven't done this yet, but I need to. This was a rush job.

Tips:
- Focus on the general shape and cut to the small side.
- Plan on adding the cut out foam back to get the proper thickness. i.e. cut the piece out with one smooth cut. No extra cuts for sharp corners.
- If you are cutting the original foam to fit the inside of the case, cut over size .25" on all sides to add some built in compression. If your foam is harder, this will be less.

Back to the Winchester case review, it has flown twice with no damage to the outside. These were both 1 transfer flights. Let's see, I guess it has been handled by the pros for 6 on/off cycles.

Also, if traveling matters to you, I'm going to start a travler's tips post. Look for it in Off Season.

At work we have to cut out foam to hold all of our tools in our tool boxes. We use a router. It is extremely fast and cuts fairly clean