I just got back from a short but nice trip to Mom and Dads. I decided to bring back my M1A and my 10/22 that Mom has been watching for me. My flight to Ohio was nice. The flight back was a fucking nightmare. Between getting the shit beat of of me with the drink and snack cart and people bumping into me going back to the shitter, stinky farts, and a big wheeseing fat dude, I was ready to flip the fuck out. Then Im waiting at baggage claim and I get all my luggage except for my brand new SKB case containing my guns. I stood there like a dumbfuck for 30 minutes and still no case. Then when I walk over to the claim office, whats sitting in the office? My goddamn case. I try to go claim it and so old bitch cuts me in line to the calim desk. I never wanted to throat chop an old person before but it seemed like a good thing to do at the time. When I finally made contact with a rep, he said, "Oh yeah, we pull guns back into the office to keep people from stealing them." I told the guy they nearly gave me a heart attack. He laughed and said its a company policy. That would have been nice to know when I checked the damn thing in Ohio. Fuckers. I fucking hate flying, I hate old people and I hate the airlines. Theres no place like home. Heres the funny thing, I have to fly again in two weeks. I'd rather be flying on C-130's again doing assualt landings into Iraq and watching the tracers and RPG's detonate off the wing than fly commerical again.

If I were you I'd just drive to Lackland.  It was a nice like trip in my Mustang  Just don't fuck around at night driving through Tx.  Never seen so many HP in my life.  Awesome to see them pull over truckers driving 90mph.  

sounds kinda like Steve Martins airport experience in Planes,Trains and Automobiles,,,,,,yours was clearly not Humorous though.I think you did pretty damn good

These days, flying is often just like being on a Grayhound bus with wings.

Got to fly on a corporate jet once. Hard to fly commercial after that. Lucky bastards.

The only time I've ever flown with guns in checked baggage was to Iowa city and I found the process remarkably smooth. I didn't have any of the problems you've mentioned. In my fact my rifle case just popped out of the baggage hole and spun around like normal bags. I guess it depends on what Airline you fly. I know that some have greater restrictions than the TSA require and some just kind of make up their own rules.

Oh yeah? Try the same thing with title 2 weapons. ALWAYS look for your gun case at the airline's office inside baggage claim... they aren't coming up on the luggage carrousel. It's a real thrill when they don't show up at all. Try explaining that they've somehow misplaced what some would consider WMDs. They'll tell you it SHOULD be on the next plane. Oh, and I suppose I'll just inform the police I waited to report the theft of multiple machine guns because you said they SHOULD be on the next flight. Nothing like giving the bad guys a little extra time to flee with my guns. I mean, here it is, Post 9-11, and the bar code on your luggage means squat. The airlines honestly don't know where you luggage is at any given time. What if the FBI had good intel that a nuclear device was in a particular piece of luggage? It was on the next flight but I wasn't an entirely happy camper although I did maintain my cool. This happened to me coming back from a match in Phoenix, AZ last October. SouthWest

I shot a match in FL in January of this year. The return flight was canceled due to very bad weather in Atlanta and we were forced to spend another night in FL. This AFTER they took my machine gun case and refused to return it. Yep, it was out my control for almost 18 hours total but somehow managed to arrive in Las Vegas the next day on our connecting flight from Atlanta. Delta

I can hardly wait for the Indiana State match in June! You guessed it.... I'm flying with a pair of title two guns.

How'd you like the part where they want you to demonstrate the weapons are unloaded? I usually explain that I have machine guns and it would be very unwise for me to whip one out of the case in a crowded airport to demonstrate to them that it's unloaded. I REALLY don't want to do this and become a potential accident. After a quick peek at them, they generally agree that they are in fact unloaded and they remain untouched in the case. I have had TFA finger-fuck them once and perform their rub test with the strips for explosive residue once several years ago. Pretty lame huh?

Explosive residue test???

I am sure it came back positive.

All of mine have been shipped as checked baggage in a pelican case. Kind of obvious coming off the carousel. Nice padlocks on the case.

Since locks are easy to pick, I made sure I did a quick peek to make sure they were there after each trip.

Quoted: Oh yeah? Try the same thing with title 2 weapons. ALWAYS look for your gun case at the airline's office inside baggage claim... they aren't coming up on the luggage carrousel. It's a real thrill when they don't show up at all. Try explaining that they've somehow misplaced what some would consider WMDs. They'll tell you it SHOULD be on the next plane. Oh, and I suppose I'll just inform the police I waited to report the theft of multiple machine guns because you said they SHOULD be on the next flight. Nothing like giving the bad guys a little extra time to flee with my guns. I mean, here it is, Post 9-11, and the bar code on your luggage means squat. The airlines honestly don't know where you luggage is at any given time. What if the FBI had good intel that a nuclear device was in a particular piece of luggage? It was on the next flight but I wasn't an entirely happy camper although I did maintain my cool. This happened to me coming back from a match in Phoenix, AZ last October. SouthWest I shot a match in FL in January of this year. The return flight was canceled due to very bad weather in Atlanta and we were forced to spend another night in FL. This AFTER they took my machine gun case and refused to return it. Yep, it was out my control for almost 18 hours total but somehow managed to arrive in Las Vegas the next day on our connecting flight from Atlanta. Delta I can hardly wait for the Indiana State match in June! You guessed it.... I'm flying with a pair of title two guns. How'd you like the part where they want you to demonstrate the weapons are unloaded? I usually explain that I have machine guns and it would be very unwise for me to whip one out of the case in a crowded airport to demonstrate to them that it's unloaded. I REALLY don't want to do this and become a potential accident. After a quick peek at them, they generally agree that they are in fact unloaded and they remain untouched in the case. I have had TFA finger-fuck them once and perform their rub test with the strips for explosive residue once several years ago. Pretty lame huh?

HA!!!  Childs play my friend!

Try deploying with all your weapons to the Middle East.  Open a crate full of M16's, AR249s and 240's.  That is an unwanted attention getter.

Uhhh Yeah, I'm pretty sure it came back positive too. In this instance, it was a connecting flight from a small town just a six months post 9-11 and in all honesty I think the guys from TSA wanted a few extra moments to look at and touch some toys they don't see very often. They really tried to act cool, but you could tell they were pretty excited about the contents of my case. They even had to call their buddy over so he could have a look too.... Didn't want him to miss anything cool! For some reason, they seemed more interested in the suppressor than the subgun.

I'm not sure I understand what you mean by "shipped as checked baggage". ALL guns must be checked as baggage when you travel by air which I'm sure you know. (I wish there was a carry on option! ) ALL guns must  be declared and demonstrated to be unloaded and a declaration signed and placed inside the case. That particular case or piece of luggage the firearm is  contained in must be walked to the nearest TSA X-Ray machine where you must wait until TSA declares there's a gun or guns in your locked case. Only then are you free to leave the area and go to your gate. As always, YMMV

www.tsa.gov/public/display?content=09000519800ac232

www.nraila.org/GunLaws/FederalGunLaws.aspx?ID=70

Quoted: HA!!!  Childs play my friend! Try deploying with all your weapons to the Middle East.  Open a crate full of M16's, AR249s and 240's.  That is an unwanted attention getter.

Are you a private contractor?

I'm sure many of us would be intrigued to hear about this interesting aspect of small arms transportation. Please fill us in! What sort of transpotation documents are required? Inquiring minds what to know!

AR249?

ANIMUS and I are Air Force Security Policemen. When we roll out to the sand box we fly with our weapons. When CENTAF directed we bring our assigned weapons from home station in 03 we drew alot of "Oh shit!" looks from the TSA guys at the airport. They made us open all of our weapons cases in front of God and everyone. Needless to say we attracted alot of attention. Yesterday at the airport I had to rack open the action my M1A to show it was unloaded. I wanted to let the action slam shut but there was a bunch of airport rent a cops around and I didnt want to make them change their undies so early in their shift.

Quoted: Quoted: HA!!!  Childs play my friend! Try deploying with all your weapons to the Middle East.  Open a crate full of M16's, AR249s and 240's.  That is an unwanted attention getter. Are you a private contractor? I'm sure many of us would be intrigued to hear about this interesting aspect of small arms transportation. Please fill us in! What sort of transpotation documents are required? Inquiring minds what to know! AR249?

AR249 (Airsoft Rifle 249)

Quoted: I'm not sure I understand what you mean by "shipped as checked baggage". ALL guns must be checked as baggage when you travel by air which I'm sure you know. (I wish there was a carry on option! )

Well, I had an exemption for awhile ........once our fed task force was over, I lost that privilege. They would only let us carry on the weapons we had on us. So, any big toys had to be checked.

Quoted: Quoted: HA!!!  Childs play my friend! Try deploying with all your weapons to the Middle East.  Open a crate full of M16's, AR249s and 240's.  That is an unwanted attention getter. Are you a private contractor? I'm sure many of us would be intrigued to hear about this interesting aspect of small arms transportation. Please fill us in! What sort of transpotation documents are required? Inquiring minds what to know! AR249?

As stated above, USAF.  We fly with our shit except the heavy fun guns like M2HB(me) and MK19(DefensorFortis) which get shipped by the DoD.  The described experience weren't my weapons, they belonged to another squad and I had fun watching the civilian pick their jaws off the floor when the belt fed toys come out.  I was only transporting my MusketA2 so that was somewhat easy.  My M2 went TMO.  Too much equipment to ship civilian airline.

The funny for me stopped when TSA tore open my 3 carefully packed bags filled with all my chem gear and stud gear.  I got the last laugh though cause they had a bitch of a time repacking everything.  Oh yeah, and one of them had me take my A2 apart due to something suspicious in the buttstock.  The IED in question turned out to be the buffer.  Fuckin' dumbass.

AR249= Automatic Rifle 249.  In it's current rendition it's no longer called a SAW.  And yes it's also called a M249.

ISHOOT2LIVE- Does that airsoft 249 jam the follower into the barrel after the last round like the real thing

By the way DefensorFortis, your beloved MK19 is a pussy gun

Quoted: ISHOOT2LIVE- Does that airsoft 249 jam the follower into the barrel after the last round like the real thing

Only when the battery dies...

ANIMUS,  them are fightin words. You're just jealous that my weapon has a 5 meter kill radius. You actually have to aim. My rounds can go over a mile and a half and blow up. What can a .50 do against tanks? Mobility kills? I think not. You have me beat in the anti aircraft side, but not much else. You have to admit though, the MK-19 is more manly than a .50 After what I saw a LAV-25 do to a tank hull I think we can both be jealous of that 25mm. Call me after work tomorrow fucker.

Very interesting stuff DefensorFortis and ANIMUS. Thanks for taking the time to answer my questions. Let's face it, commercial air travel with small arms sucks in the best of situations. It's frighting when you realize that the TSA agents are our first line of defense against possible attacks on our airports or airlines.

Now, if only we could get Air Soft to work in conjunction with Ares Defense, we might have working Shrikes by now!

My biggest gripe was that they never told me what they would do with my rifles once I got to my final destination. I appreciate what they did just the lack of commo is what irritated me. The lady at the ticket counter was cool as shit about the weapons, so was the claim office. Getting my blood up wasn't cool either. But now I know and I get to fondle my M1A when ever I want now.