Well if you were following us on IG last week (which I am sure that most of you AR15.com guys do...lol), we made a trip down to Custom Cases at Dulles Case Center to meet up with their wonderful staff and management team. Well we did more than just meet them! I personally received a tour of their facility which is state of the art to say the least, CNC machines abound with CAD programmed machines scattered here and there. The shelves lined with foam and Pelican/Storm type cases with empty cavities just waiting to be inlaid (like what I did there? I used to write for my school newspaper) with precision cut foam.

A case was picked out for our needs. Measuring tape and cameras came out to help translate all the specs to a CAD application that would later spit out a 3D PDF mock up of our custom case. I received the PDF via e-mail for approval and a few days later the entire case was at my doorstep just as I envisioned. The process was smooth and painless. The coolest part was watching how precise their CNC machines cut the foam. For some strange reason I thought they would have some guys in a back room carving shapes with a hot knife.. Lol. I was wrong and that's what separates The Dulles Case Center from the heard of at home do-it-yourselfers. Not only do they use all different density foams but the accuracy that it is cut is by far superior to anything that can be done by the average handy person. These guys have cases that have been to war and back literally! If you have some gear that needs protecting and you want it to look good while it's secure give the guys and gal at the Dulles Case Center a holler!  Thanks to all especially Frank and Donna!

There on Facebook , Instagram and have a website etc if you have any questions.  Just wanted to share our experience with everyone on the board, I figured this would be the best forum since they are in your hometown! :D


SAM_0500 by 556 Channel (HD), on Flickr



SAM_0508 by 556 Channel (HD), on Flickr

Yup.

Fear of the 'one-off' price has kept me away ... Can y'all give us readers an 'order of magnitude' idea of what the service(s) cost that you purchased, and whether or not you provided the case/foam?  By order of magnitude, I'm looking for something along the lines:



TIA.  And the job they do appears to be spot on!

Well you got me there!!  This would be ideal, but I can tell you what I know.  You can supply your own case, they do offer cases for sale so they can do everything onsite.  The foam that they supply has different densities so depending on what your storing in the case and how deep the case is they will pick the appropriate density (if your buying a case, better off buying it without the foam).  Now in reference to the price I can only tell you to give them a call or just fill this out: Get a quote .  It's one of those things that will differ from project to project so as you said you will get a "one-off" price because it is a one off type job which is specific to your needs, ergo the term custom.  Worst case scenario, you don't like the price and you don't do business with them.  From my dealings with them, I personally feel that you don't have to worry about them trying to run the price up.  These guys are class acts!

Interesting. I am in the market for foam to but in cabinet drawers to store AR uppers in. I wonder if they will just sell the foam without the work?

Give them a call. I'm pretty sure they would.

Over the years I've done 10's of thousands of dollars of business with Dulles Case.  A while back we bought some SKB cases, which Dulles Case had shipped directly to us from SKB.    We called Dulles Case and got the run around for a week since the owner(s) were out of town.  When they finally returned they directed us to call SKB.  SKB stated that since the damage wasn't noted at time of delivery (it was, thus the call to Dulles Case), they refused to do anything about it.  Dulles Case refused to assist us stating the issue was with SKB (note, we bought the cases from Dulles Case).  We shipped the cases back to Dulles Case and refused to pay the invoice they sent us.  We learned a couple of things - first - don't cheap out and buy SKB - if you need/want the best stick with Pelican; Second - Dulles Case doesn't stand behind what they sell.  Needless to say, we don't do business with Dulles Case any more - which is a real shame, because they are local to us.

You can also buy the foam online, and there are some REALLY cool guides for cutting the cutouts if you are going that route.

-shooter