Transport case, I did a thing.

[elcid79]

I bought a cheapy Apache case from harbor freight. The pluck n pull foam wasn't holding up, so I read that some people have success with plastidip.

5 cans later. I think it turned out nice. I am going to let it sit out for a few weeks to off gas completely. What do y'all think?

 

[Boltyboi]

I think you should have shown us that case with a rifle in it!

Porn deprivation is a cardinal sin around here.

 

[elcid79]

Will do. I just want to let it cure for a while first.

 

[trob]

You used FIVE CANS of plastidip???? Holy crap

 

[LuvDog]

Am I the only one who prefers to cut the foam with the rifle “upside” down. I like the scope side to be closer to the handle. That way when I set my case down on its edge (when opening a door or tailgate”, it’s scope side up.

 

[M8541Reaper]

Am I the only one who prefers to cut the foam with the rifle “upside” down. I like the scope side to be closer to the handle. That way when I set my case down on its edge (when opening a door or tailgate”, it’s scope side up.

Nah I do that too lol.

 

[elcid79]

That's a great idea. When I fly I will turn it around. It pops right out. I used two cans on the bottom. A can of black base coat on the top. Then the red coat. Then a top black coat on the top. Most of it soaks into the foam, which honestly is probably good. It's much more dense now.

 

[E-Tool]

Never heard of it, looks like it's working though, I'd have been afraid of melting the foam, like gasoline with styrofoam.

 

[elcid79]

I was worried about that so I tried it on a small piece first to make certain they played nicely together.

 

[Reload10]

How sturdy did it make the foam? Can you pluck a piece off pretty easy or no?

 

[PDXGS]

Interesting.....Did you weigh it before and after?
Curious as to the weight gain.

 

[elcid79]

It is much much more sturdy. Can I pluck off a piece, probably. Is it likely to pop off through normal use. No. I had one piece get stuck to the mat I was painting on. It popped of when I lifted it. However, it was a single isolated piece with only one adjoining piece. (By the bolt) This happened early also, when I painted the bottom.

I think it will hold up okay.

 

[Rthur]

Am I the only one who prefers to cut the foam with the rifle “upside” down. I like the scope side to be closer to the handle. That way when I set my case down on its edge (when opening a door or tailgate”, it’s scope side up.

Flip the foam, I'll bet it'll fit.

R

 

[Faronth]

Nah I do that too lol.

+1 on this

 

[theLBC]

dp is safe on pluck and kaizen, although it will peel off kaizen because it doesn't soak into the closed cell foam.
i have always recommended for pluck because it also keeps the foam from holding moisture.

 

[HellcatActual]

Am I the only one who prefers to cut the foam with the rifle “upside” down. I like the scope side to be closer to the handle. That way when I set my case down on its edge (when opening a door or tailgate”, it’s scope side up.

shit! now I gotta go recut my foam! (why didnt I think of THAT!)

 

[theLBC]

shit! now I gotta go recut my foam! (why didnt I think of THAT!)

because it doesn't matter if your rifle is upside down while encased in foam, unless it is a piece of crap with the scope mounted poorly?

 

[HellcatActual]

because it doesn't matter if your rifle is upside down while encased in foam, unless it is a piece of crap with the scope mounted poorly?

sure doesn't. simply an OCD thing.

 

[theLBC]

sure doesn't. simply an OCD thing.

lol, i agree,
but being another level up of ocd, i have to have it right side up when the case is open.

and why do most people seem to point the rifle to the right, even if there is no bolt? is everyone left handed?

 

[HellcatActual]

lol, i agree,
but being another level up of ocd, i have to have it right side up when the case is open.

and why do most people seem to point the rifle to the right? is everyone left handed?

mines pointing right b/c I traced my gun with a white marker on the opposite side and couldn't stay in the lines. and I can't display that level of childish arts and crafts.

 

[pmclaine]

I would have done it in melted chocolate so as to have a reserve food supply.

Difference between me and you is I think that extra step of preparation.....

 

[elcid79]

I like where your head is on this one...

 

[Nfrantz87]

What kind of Plasti-dip is it? Does it just soak in that bad you had to use 5cans? I've been looking at these cases pretty hard.

 

[elcid79]

Just the regular spray plastidip. 4 would have probably been adequate. The 5th can was just for decoration really. I ordered two cans of black and after doing one on each side decided that I needed another two cans (one for each top and bottom.) While ordering the black ones I saw a can of red and thought, cool I could do some sort of pattern. So I snagged a can of red.

Then I sprayed another whole can on the bottom. Sprayed the top red. Taped off my pattern, and then used the second can of black to fill it in. FWIW most of it does soak in. This gave 3 cans on the top, and two on the bottom.

 

[Nfrantz87]

Always have to spruce it up some right

 

[elcid79]

Since you are considering the case, I'll give you a brief review.

They are surprisingly nice. I got mine for under $100 on sale. The down side, the pluck and pull foam is very fragile. And simply doesn't hold up. I would budget for a custom foam insert, or attempt the plastidip method. In researching this I stumbled upon an astronomy forum, and they recommended not storing optics near plastidip bc it can cause the lenses to haze up due to out gasing. I have no idea if this is true,. But I have no intention of permanently storing my optics in this case, like they do. Short term transporting it to the range, on hunting trips, etc I doubt will be a problem.

The case plastic is thick and strong. Close to the quality of my pelicans, close but not quite as nice. For this rifle I have no major regrets or concerns other than the quality of the foam. If this works, awesome. I honestly think it is going to.

I would have zero concerns checking this case on an airline. I honestly think I could run it over with my truck and it would survive. But I am not going to test that.

 

[Nfrantz87]

Since you are considering the case, I'll give you a brief review.

They are surprisingly nice. I got mine for under $100 on sale. The down side, the pluck and pull foam is very fragile. And simply doesn't hold up. I would budget for a custom foam insert, or attempt the plastidip method. In researching this I stumbled upon an astronomy forum, and they recommended not storing optics near plastidip bc it can cause the lenses to haze up due to out gasing. I have no idea if this is true,. But I have no intention of permanently storing my optics in this case, like they do. Transporting it to the range, on hunting trips, etc shouldn't be a problem.

The case plastic is thick and strong. Close to the quality of my pelicans, close but not quite as nice. For this rifle I have no major regrets or concerns other than the quality of the foam. If this works, awesome. I honestly think it is going to.

I would have zero concerns checking this case on an airline. I honestly think I could run it over with my truck and it would survive. But I am not going to test that.

I look at them every time I go to HF. Just never pulled the trigger yet but figure I will they seem nice for the price

 

[M8541Reaper]

sure doesn't. simply an OCD thing.

To the point that I redid all of my cases once I discovered the sheets of closed cell foam on Amazon.

But yea, it doesn’t matter if the scope is up or down in the case.

 

[elcid79]

10 BA Stealth 6.5 creedmoor, Burris XTRII 4-20x, w. TBAC Ultra-9

 

[Longshot85]

Looks good

This case is nice. I dont fly with rifles, so its WAY tougher than I'd expect to ever need.

If I had a $10,000 rig and I was flying I'd buy a Pelican though

 

[GrumpyOleFart]

10 BA Stealth 6.5 creedmoor, Burris XTRII 4-20x, w. TBAC Ultra-9View attachment 7453844

at last, gun porn

 

[smoothy8500]

What happens if you change scopes or bipods? I'm sure you cut/trim it easily to modify or is it too rigid?

 

[Tacovrd]

10 BA Stealth 6.5 creedmoor, Burris XTRII 4-20x, w. TBAC Ultra-9View attachment 7453844

Nicely done!

 

[theLBC]

What happens if you change scopes or bipods? I'm sure you cut/trim it easily to modify or is it too rigid?

you can cut the platidip coating easily. it is flexible, like rubber.

 

[elcid79]

Thanks for the compliaments! This was my first attempt at this. I did the lines on a whim when I saw the red plastidip while getting my second set of black.

Cutting the plastidip wouldn't be much, if any, harder than regular foam. As long as the plastidip doesn't seperated and pull off. If I change it, I will try. If it works great. Otherwise I will replace it with a professionally cut foam.

 

[bghartm]

That is cool as hell. Good job!

 

[Diver160651]

I bought a cheapy Apache case from harbor freight. The pluck n pull foam wasn't holding up, so I read that some people have success with plastidip.

5 cans later. I think it turned out nice. I am going to let it sit out for a few weeks to off gas completely. What do y'all think?

View attachment 7452380View attachment 7452381

I swear, everyone works so hard to make their hard cases look cool.. THEN you guys almost always put the gun in the wrong way!!!!!

But yea, it doesn’t matter if the scope is up or down in the case.

The handles are almost always how we pick them up and set them down, if it does get handled roughly (hence the hard case) it gets dropped or set down hard opposite the handles. It's the perfect way to test your scope; a 15+ lbs rifle imparting many Gs in that 1" of foam above the turret, will be stopped hard by the ridged case. Fly enough and you might find out it really does matter.

looks good though -

 

[elcid79]

I can rotate the foam 180 degrees. It is quite literally just sitting on top of the under foam. Easy peasy. I prefer it the other way when I am using it. But will flip it when travelling with anyone else handling my stuff

 

[Herb Stoner]

I cut additional space above the scope so if the case is in a position where the rifle is upside down the scope isn't resting on the foam but rather suspended from the rifle. That said a well mounted scope shouldn't give you an issue when flying / traveling.

 

[LuvDog]

Can you flip it this way?

This is the way I cut mine.
Scope side will be up when carried by the handle.
Butt side down when pulled by the other handle and dragged by the wheels.

Again, I'm sure its fine the way you have it, it's just my preferred orientation.

 

[Diver160651]

I would have done it in melted chocolate so as to have a reserve food supply.

LOL.. Just like the Soy-based wires in cars Rats love them

I can rotate the foam 180 degrees. It is quite literally just sitting on top of the under foam. Easy peasy. I prefer it the other way when I am using it. But will flip it when travelling with anyone else handling my stuff View attachment 7461981

Now the barrel is face down, not as bad but not preferred. Just adding this so people think it through. Ideally, the wheels are on the buttstock side. Below is one of my hunting set-ups. Fully kitted the gun is only 10lbs (with a fully adjustable turreted FFP scope), The 85mm ATX is 4.2 lbs, and the tripod 4.4lbs. While the scope is still closer than it should be, it is a 1/3 to more than 1/2 as light as most PRS rigs. My binos 2nd RRS, and back up rifle go in another case. Leaving for an annual Elk hunt tomorrow. FWIW I don't use hard cases for my match rifles unless traveling.

As someone who designs packaging as part of their day job, I'm just pointing that we need to consider the mass and the deceleration of the case and its impact on what is the most sensitive.

Just something to think about. Heck, we don't store our heavy precision rifles sitting on the scopes right?

 

[elcid79]

Can you flip it this way?

This is the way I cut mine.
Scope side will be up when carried by the handle.
Butt side down when pulled by the other handle and dragged by the wheels.

Again, I'm sure its fine the way you have it, it's just my preferred orientation.


View attachment 7462038

I see what you are getting at. Absolutely. It just won't have the red lines. But when flying I don't really care about how the inside of the case looks. I will take y'all's advice on that. The orientation makes sense. Stock toward wheels. Optic up. Granted it doesn't have a lot of wiggle room so it won't move much anyways.

 

[elcid79]

Infact, I may snag a can of red plastidip and do a red side on the back, with black stripes. That way it looks cool regardless of orientation. Hrmmm...

 

[THEOZZ]

Looks great

 

[FishDr]

Infact, I may snag a can of red plastidip and do a red side on the back, with black stripes. That way it looks cool regardless of orientation. Hrmmm...

Now that's the OCD we were expecting!
Pics.... or it didn't happen.

 

[AMGtuned]

Scope to the handle, stock to the wheels. Always. My brain always thought this was the way it looked correct.

Also, your pick-n-pluck is also well covered by aerosol glue, and speaker box/automotive carpet. Spray, apply, let dry, cut your outline again. Get real cute and lay a sheet on the bottom foam, glue it to the bottom of PnP foam. Now the inset is carpeted also.

Case looks great OP