Gun Case

[MT Pockets]

Hello everyone,

My son and I shot 3 position small bore this past winter and had a blast doing it. One of the things we struggled with is a gun case that would hold all of the possibles securely along with the rifle. What are you folks using?

Best regards,

Brad

[jhmartin]

My opinion:

With 3-P Smallbore you will not get all in a single case.
If you want to travel by air you need to keep in mind the 50lb limit of most baggage.
Also, if you are an Air Rifle shooter, you should plan to get that in the case as well

My shooters almost all use a Storm IM-3100 or Pelican similar.
You can get an Air Rifle,Smallbore Rifle, tube, cleaning rod & supplies, and sights in this case and come out under (but close) to the 50lb limit.
In a rolling canvas type bag you can put your suit, boots, buttplates, ammo, journal, etc and get that one at 50lb.
Most of the NCAA collegiate shooters travel in this fashion.
They may have to put some items in a backpack to keep those case & bag weights down.

RE: the bag --- plain canvas, not something like an OGIO. Those are good for car/bus travel, but the 96xx and larger series are at least 15lbs each. They look cool, but they take up 30% of your weight budget.

RE: the case ... why a 3100 versus a longer 3200? Again when you get to your destination while traveling by air, you'll want to probably rent a car. The longer cases are harder to fit in a car or small SUV. 3100's can go across the back seat or maybe fully in a larger cars trunk.
It's expensive to rent a larger SUV!!

[william]

The question and answer remind me of multiple trips to the CAGP. Being a pistol shooter, I was able to carry everything except for bottled water and shoes an an attache case. The rifle shooters all seemed to need a full general store's worth of cases, bags, etc. Watching Junior shooters, especially at equipment control, it appeared quite burdensome. But then again, they all seemed to have a most valuable accessory - a parent or two to carry / drag most of the boodle.

[MT Pockets]

Thank you both for your thoughtful responses.
jhmartin, I went to Pelican's site last night and got the internal dimensions of the Storm IM-3100. We replicated the dimensions with painters tape on the dining room table. For our modest needs we'll be able to fit rifle, butt hook, sling, hand stop, bipod, note book, tools, and ammo for our matches. As you indicated we'll need some sort of bag to carry coats and boots.

William, you address equipment control. That is an extremely important consideration, it is so easy to forget that one thing that can add a distraction to an otherwise fun outing. My hope is that I will be able to cut the foam in a fashion similar to a shadow board so it is very easy to identify at a quick glance that everything that is supposed to be in the case is.

Brad

[bdutton]

For non air travel, I use one of these:



It can hold two guns and all of the accessories (but plate, bipod, hand stop, palm rest, bloop tube, extra cheek piece, ammo).

[jhmartin]

William, you address equipment control. That is an extremely important consideration, it is so easy to forget that one thing that can add a distraction to an otherwise fun outing. My hope is that I will be able to cut the foam in a fashion similar to a shadow board so it is very easy to identify at a quick glance that everything that is supposed to be in the case is.

At EC you'll have to assemble the rifle in the highest weight configuration that it will be shot .... don't drag your case in find a spot & assemble the rifle and carry it in. The case will only clog the line
Why highest weight? Because that may be the configuration of your rifle that may get a post match EC.

[MT Pockets]

[/quote]
At EC you'll have to assemble the rifle in the highest weight configuration that it will be shot .... don't drag your case in find a spot & assemble the rifle and carry it in. The case will only clog the line
Why highest weight? Because that may be the configuration of your rifle that may get a post match EC.
[/quote]

At least for now. All of our shooting has been in a local league. Very small time venues. Perhaps one day if one or the other of us catches fire and can shoot good enough to compete in big time venues, we'll have to make changes to equipment.

[jhmartin]

At least for now. All of our shooting has been in a local league. Very small time venues. Perhaps one day if one or the other of us catches fire and can shoot good enough to compete in big time venues, we'll have to make changes to equipment.

What state are you in? ... if the "we" includes a junior (<20) plan on getting them in the state JO qualifiers.
Plan for the "Big Time"!

[MT Pockets]

We’re in Wisconsin and on a normal year there would have been a state shoot that my junior was looking forward to. Guess we’ll just have to keep practicing and be ready for next year

[stephen_maly]

In attending a couple of CISM matches across the pond, I found a way to pack that might help. Get a large Pelican-style case. Remove all the soft padding. Get a soft small case which will protect your rifle. Get a piece of PVC pipe to protect your cleaning rod. The rifle and all fittings, and the jacket and trousers (wrapped around the rifle) will likely all fit in the case and be under 50 lb. Mind you, my rifle was a Bleiker standard rifle in 6 mm BR, so it wasn't as heavy as a free rifle. You might be able to fit the boots in as well. Do a mock-up of it, and practice packing the items. Pack the sights very carefully, and by no means should you leave them on the rifle. Take photos along the way in case you forget how to pack all the items. Left over items can easily go into another bag.

[SPPcoach]

My shooters almost all use a Storm IM-3100 or Pelican similar.
... why a 3100 versus a longer 3200? Again when you get to your destination while traveling by air, you'll want to probably rent a car. The longer cases are harder to fit in a car or small SUV. 3100's can go across the back seat or maybe fully in a larger cars trunk.
It's expensive to rent a larger SUV!!

Right on! We very carefully select our cases to fit the gear we are traveling with. We have passed on the hand-me-downs because they were too big or too heavy.
The Storm 3100 is two seats wide. The 3200 is three seats wide. An important consideration with limited number of seat belts and athletes to transport.
Once we are at the car rental, packing the luggage, is a real life game of tetris.

We took three coaches and eight athletes and 17 firearms to Nationals in March right before COVID-19 shut down matches. That is a logistic challenge with people, volume and weight.

A tool to consider is a small luggage scale. Amazon has them for $20. It is cheap reassurance so that we are not shuffling gear at the airport check-in counter under stress of crowds, time crunch and impatient gawkers.

[Rednook368]

We’re in Wisconsin and on a normal year there would have been a state shoot that my junior was looking forward to. Guess we’ll just have to keep practicing and be ready for next year

MT,

Off topic, but we’re in Illinois. CIPS in Bloomington has a pretty robust shooting schedule beginning in the fall. Feels like they are shifting to more CMP matches to keep the calendar full. Worth a look if you are hunting for matches.