Customizing a Pelican Case
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- čas přidán 7. 09. 2024
- If you want the ultimate in cases, there is little doubt Pelican is among the best. For traveling on an airline you'll need something like the Pelican I feature in this video. I also show you how to customize it to fit the contents perfectly.
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Great video, I used the exact same one shown, if not a very similar case last year. I had a layover in Cleveland. When I arrived it looked like someone had tried to pry it open and they got one corner open, yet they did not get to my firearms. The airline refused to help me find out who attempted to open it and Pelican replaced it for free since the Airline refused to pay for the damages. I would advise people to buy the best locks you can afford and use every single locking point.
I had a similar occurrence while travelling through O'Hare from Little Rock to Boise. The TSA were completely uninterested in the attempted theft of a pistol and rifle but the local PD did take the time to listen and file a police report. I drive across country now. Flying is for the birds.
zack9912000, I can tell you exactly who tried to open it. Someone working ground crew in charge of luggage transfers. Those guys aren’t cream of the crop and know where security cameras are.
Wouldn’t take much for that weapon to disappear. You’re lucky the whole pelican case wasn’t snatched after a failed attempt.
You will want to load your case with the heavy side at the wheels. So keep that in mind when you cut it and flip the foam so the orientation is right.
Mac, you might want to flip your foam over so your scope is closest to the carry handle. When the handlers get rough with your case you may not want your scope close to the bottom of your case. I know it looks upside down when you open it but with a nice scope why risk it.
A great tip I seen on a popular gun forum was to spray the foam once it's all cut out with a product called Plasti-Dip. It gives the foam great grip, blocks moisture & keeps the foam from tearing when taking the gun out or putting it back.
dont forget to mention that they have a rubber o-ring seal, are water proof. and have a pressure relief valve for airline travel. I swear by pelican cases, they tend to be heavy. but offer great protection.
I'm not sure if anyone suggested this, but if you cut out the outline in one solid piece, you can put it back to fill the holes and put it under the bottom piece of foam and do another cut out for another firearm. I have one piece of foam for my precision rifle and the other for my AR. Just put what you cut out back in to switch. These cases are expensive. Why buy two?
***** wtf gun do you have, a Barrett m82? That case is huge.
*****
Tavor: 720 mm (28.3 in)
G36: 999 mm (39.3 in)
M4: 33 in (840 mm)
None of these are 20 inches longer, lol. Unless your talking about an SAW or something, your bullshitting buddy.
Good idea!
Rock Paracord good advise why buy more than 1 .200 for a case is o.k but needs a couple uses.
As usual MAC, Excellent video! The tip about using an electric carving knife is a great one! I remember years ago when I was into ATV's and ATC's I had one in particular I could not get seat foam for. I took the original foam to use as a guide, glued up layers of foam to the right height and then used the electric carving knife to shape the foam. Worked like a charm!
Another tip is place the foam so that the optic is near the handle. That way if you drop the case the weapon takes the pressure from the drop and not the optic.
I literally just did this exact same thing. I own a black Tavor and a black pelican case just like the one you have. I was going to make an instructional video, but you kinda beat me to it. Cheers!
Another great company that makes cases, is SKB. Their cases are incredibly strong, most float, and they don't look like gun cases.
I used chalk to outline my bolt fun and AR for my pelican case. They both fit. I used a razor from a utility knife and just pushed it through the foam. Once it started to dull, I just used another. Worked great. I left the chalk outline on the foam cause it looks pretty cool imo.
Great video Mac! My only point of disagreement with you, after cutting a few of those myself, is that an X-acto knife just won't do the job, at least not a job you'd want anyone to ever see! You did it the right way. Other than using a custom industrial sized hot-wire cutter ($$$), an electric carving knife is the ONLY way to go!!!!! You can also custom tailor the case to fit several different rifles by getting extra pieces of foam from Pelican, cutting them to fit all your different weapons and simply switching them out whenever you need to carry a different gun. It's really a great system, and that custom cut foam really looks cool too!
The electric knife looks like a great solution. I cut mine with scissors and it looks like a horrible hack-job with rough edges. I'm probably going to replace the foam and start over at some point. I love my Pelican case, with my only complaint being how heavy it is. But considering what it's meant to do, that's a small price to pay.
Excellent tip. I can vouch for this solution, but the hotwire in the shop is the way to go if you can sneak in to one.
This is nice. If you can buy multiple pieces of foam you can have different configurations for different rifles, etc.
Also there are often two identical foams, so keep the cutouts so you can reuse the layer as a base. This gives you two possible configs for free.
Off topic regarding that electric carving knife, back in the 80's when we had a tube TV, every Sunday we would have family suppers, and whenever that electric knife started, the TV would get static and flicker. Good memories.
WoW...that brought me way back...
For things like magazines I add notches on either side so I can pull them out easier. I use a half dollar for a pattern. For most rifles I put extra space around a couple areas to more easily pull the gun out, but the Tavor has that already.
Hot knives make for an easier job and cleaner lines, but I've done Pelican cases in several ways. You can also buy extra inserts to set up for various rifles and use with the same case depending on what you're traveling with.
A tip for if you don't have a hot knife, hot wire cutter, etc. and you want to avoid a hack job around the edges. If you cut the foam on the inside of your lines (So the cutout is actually too small) you can sometimes get away with using sand paper to smooth out the edges and shape the cutout to the exact fit that you want. This is the process I used for my first foam set and it came out pretty good. It does take a lot of time though and gets very messy, so you may want to do it in your garage or outside somewhere.
Excellent video for Pelican case beginners like myself.
You can get a thermo electric cutter for the foam that will make a very clean cut I've even used it to outline the gun and cut at the same time about half way through then remove the gun and finish cutting through the foam, and very easy to make adjustment's.
I usually do this with a heated cutting wire, as it seals the foam up much better than the ragged edges a knife leaves
Hot wire cutters work 1000% better than e-knives. Still you did a good job with the tools you had!
I actually made a die cutter for mine and used a different type of foam. I heat sealed it together, after that I beveled it 360 on a band saw to make it fit nicer in my pelican case I added velcro to make sure my stuff stayed in place.
I got one while I was in the army, I helped with maintance of the army reserve shooting teams weapons. Love mine.
Just an idea for you and anyone reading this as well to get the most out of the case.... I used duck tape and standard office folders underneath the covers foam to store targets, NFA paperwork, manuals, etc. on the hard, inside part of the cover. And to keep that foam from falling out, I used some simple Velcro strips with hot glue.
Came at the perfect time just got my Noveske 300blk build done! Thanks again!
Thanks for posting this. I'd been thinking of getting the shorter 1700 for my Tavor, but after seeing your layout in the 1720, I think I'll go for the extra space.
Great video, Tim. The tip about the electric knife sounds like an excellent idea.
A thought for your next case: Although it looks much cooler to open up a case and have the rifle sitting like that, it may not be as protected as it could be. I would recommend flipping the foam around so that your optic is is on the handle side of the case, especially with how close it is to the edge. While Pelican cases can obviously hold up to quite a bit of abuse, the rifle is still jostled around when the case is dropped, and it would be a shame to damage such a nice optic simply by dropping the case on its feet.
Other than that, an awesome video as always. Keep up the good work!
Great video on the case. I just purchased the Pelican / Storm iM 3100 for my rifle. My rifle and accessories were starting to be quite an investment. It is a heavy case, but the protection is well worth it. I bought mine with the Kaizen foam. It was very easy to work with (no electric knife needed) and provides a custom fit that can't be beat.
I clamped my down to some plywood and used a roto zip/ dremel worked very nice and easy gun fits perfect
Great Instruction Tim. Looks Good. I wonder if a hot knife would work well for that too?
An electric knife is the best way to do this in my opinion. It cuts nicely since you don't have to put any pressure on it which would squeeze the foam (see comment below "I did a cheaper case with an exacto and it looks like I hit it with a lawn mower."). A hot knife melts the foam and leaves some hard plastic pieces which looks homemade (the bad kind).
I've seen where a guy used a hot wire to cut out his Pelican. There is a Pelican case thread on AR15dotCom where he posted photos.
djay6651 Thanks for telling me; I looked at some photos in that thread and was positively surprised. In conclusion for all the others reading this: A hot wire works pretty well but takes some practice and patience (as does an electric knife). I still think though that a hot knife won't give you a nice and presentable result.
BTW, go to that forum thread, it's really inspiring if you're about to customize your own case (attention for those who don't have one yet; it might make you want one)
No problem. I agree about the hot wire. It seems a pretty labor intensive way to cut when you can just go get a cheap electric knife. There were a lot of nice setups in that thread though with some good tips.
When I do stuff like this.. I try to make sure my cg (center of gravity) is in the middle of the case. It blows trying to lug something around that wants to hang/tilt to one end/side.
Very helpful video. Plus, extra pieces of center foam can be purchased relatively inexpensively to transport different firearms.
Since you mentioned flying with a firearm, would you be able to possible make a video on flying/traveling with a firearm/ammo. I plan on traveling out of state for some classes next year and any pointers from a seasoned pro would be awesome.
Ordering one of those cases for my SCAR 17s tomorrow thanks for helping me make my choice again.
The booklet that comes with the pelican case suggests using chalk to make the outlines, then just wiping the remaining chalk marks off clean with a cloth.
I personally like to match the soft case to the hard case and vise versa. So when the time comes and I need a more secure travel option, I just throw the soft case into the hard case and off I go.
You can buy replacement foam and cut it to fit different makes the case more Versatile.
Love the channel. I would pack the optic closest to the handle instead of closest to the hinges matter. Sometimes my right side up is other folks upside down.
They are good cases and pretty tough. I did have one case that had a latch break off during shipment so they can break like anything else. But, considering the hundreds of pelican cases I used and subjected to rough conditions that is not a bad track record. From experience I would say that cutting some spots in the corners for some desiccant packs and replacing them regularly is a good idea.
Great video but one thing I wish I would have known back when I cut my first foam case was balance. If you put all the magazines and accessories on one end and the stock of the gun on the other end, because full mags are so heavy and AR stocks don't weigh much, you'll have all the weight on one end of the case.
I learned that the hard way. Now I have to awkwardly carry my case around until I buy some new foam.
Awesome case to have save those $3000 scopes!
Ops: When I do cut with the thermo cutter, I go back with a dermal cutter and take off just enough to get rid of the hard material: Which is why I like to cut around the gun because I can do it at a angle and then use the dermal to cut from the inside of the cut to the outside of the cut.
Great idea, I bought one for my handguns that had the "pick and pluck" foam squares... wow that was quite the ordeal, I think in the future I'll go for a solid piece and use the sharpie as you did.
I've found a carpenters razor knife works best for cutting the foam, super clean edges. Good vid
Great video Tim. I thought you were going to be carving us some turkey to eat at the end with that knife.
Possibly a better option is to order the Pelican without foam and then purchase Kaizen Foam. Aside from being less expensive, it is much easier to cut accurately and allows you to do 3-D cuts.
suggestion. place the more fragile components on "top" as you' would while carrying using the handle and setting it down.
I did the same thing with a firefox and some 10,000 density foam for my pistol. Felt more secure in that then cheap plastic boxes.
Contemplating this...
Nice! I put my butt stock to wheels (bottom) and optic at carry handle (top). Flipping the foam just looks better. Will be putting my two folded SCARS with optics in one case. Got the deep Pelican case at B&H at a clearance price. Very heavy build.
That is a sweet looking case, might have to break down and get one. Happy trails!
Be sure to do a short vid of Christmas dinner, where everyone is trying to discreetly spit out the tiny bits of foam embedded in the turkey. :) Great video as always - a simple project that causes much anxiety!
Thanks for the electric carving knife tip - useful!
Very cool. I don't like pluck foam either it doesn't look like it will hold up as well
Hey I've also heard rolling up the foam and freezing it makes it much easier to cut.
Great info vid and Calguns has a sticky just for cutting the foam on a Pelican case. Also that Tavor is niiiiiice!
badass. i have seen the HK MR762 LPR comes with a nice custom Pelican case.
Thankyou! Been wanting to customize my pelican case for my pistols.
Great video I'm thinking of buying this case my self
That's truly a badass setup MAC. Looks awesome.
Another option to help with the cutting would be a soldering iron with knife attachment.
There's a 48 page thread on AR15.com in the Build It Yourself section that shows how to cut the foam using a hot wire. Thread #292695 if you search for it on Google.
Thought of getting some custom foam for my 1858's hard-case. Of course, it came with that waffle stuff, so i'd have my work cut out for me fitting new foam in there. (it's am MTM case, not a Pelican)
No pistol Mac?
Very nice, congrats!
I seriously never considered using an electric knife. I always wondered how people were getting these custom fit foam inserts. Now all I have to do is figure out how to afford a pelican case haha
that Tavor is just beautiful
Nice case,easy enough to customize for your guns and accessories
thank you for making this, i was needing to see a good way on how to do that.
just got my pelican case today, really nice.
I use a sharp filet knife and it works well to get it out in one piece
Only thing, why have the scope on the bottom side of the case when it's up on side?Wouldnt you want the grip to hit the floor first, not your $2000 optic? Just a thought. Great video
You are still the best bro... nice work
The sling -- what kind? And you convinced me to get a Tavor. Now I've gotta have that Pelican. MAC is costing me money LOL
Get Kaizan Foam for your Pelican box. It's a much better option. There is simply no comparison in the finished product. It's easier, cheaper and won't look like crap. Unless you can get someone to water jet or laser cut your Pelican foam, it will probably look just OK at best. The Kaizan allows the user to cut 3-dimensionally in 18" increments. This is really good for AR platforms where the hand guards are significantly thicker than the receiver.
For a sling I use the Magpul MS4 sling. They are a little pricy, but extremely well-made and offer a single- and two-point option. The FDE version matches my FDE Tavor perfectly.
Savvy Sniper Slings.
Much easier and better to cut the foam with a heated wire foam cutter. Also available from Amazon.
I get it looks nice but just using egg crate foam is so much easier and protects better as well.
Ugh now i want a pelican case.
Great vid Mac. I've been looking for something like this for my Tavors.
Beautiful job.
I prefer to spray some adhesive onto the foam so it doesn't lift out when I take out the gun.
Could you do reviews on cheap pistols such as the Arcus, TP9 or the Canik stingray?
My dad has one for his Glock/MAC Book and it is very nice.
Thank you tim!
Heads up guys you can buy the really good foam from big commercial roofing and construction companys.
Have you consider putting the soft gun case inside of pelican instead of running around hardcase? one of the supplementary Magpul Dynamic videos demo Haley did it that way.
Nice video. A couple of other thoughts. If you put your mags in so the back of the followers are parallel to the ground, rather than perpendicular (i.e., rotate them 90 degrees), you can fit many more in the case (although it's a tighter fit). Also, most recommend putting the rifle in "upside down," i.e., have the optic closer to the middle of the case rather than near an edge (it's just more protection for the optic). Also, you've spaced your items quite far apart. While that's good for protection, it limits your ability to add more items in the future (slings, other optics, suppressor, etc.). Just food for thought. Again, I loved the video.
Now I have never been on a plane before but I have some traveling that is coming up mid-2014 where airline travel would be my preferred method.. i have heard horror stories of lost luggage.. do you know if firearms are held to a higher stringent of protection? Preventing someone from walking up and grabbing your pelican case and just walking out of the terminal? My whole point.. someone knows if they look at a Pelican case (I.E.- A felon *criminal*) that there is most likely a firearm in said case.. what is stopping them from stealing that case if they saw it?? Does it vary by airline? Can you get insurance? I ask because it seems that you have done some traveling before and might have the answers to this.. appreciate it in advance.. and as always.. thanks for the great video on a wonderfully perfect product!
Thats a nice retaining wall ya got there...
It went in this summer. It's a beauty.
Had to pick it up. To rare now of days for the FDE not to pull the trigger, pun intended! Lol
MAC -- can you just show up at the airport with that case, and check the firearm... or do you have to call and make special arrangements with them in advance?
Thank you for posting this, very helpful!
I made a bad ass wire cutter I used nichrome wire and a regulator and my case foam look like I cut them all with a laser or a water jet
looks badass! nice work!
Nice !
Pelican can also fabricate a foam piece for you, using your specs...
I just used this method on a 1700 case with two M1 Garands. It worked wonderfully, but my wife wasn't too happy about her knife being used,...
FYI, Make sure the S/N is visible with the weapon in the case
MAC, You should have your optic on the same side as the handle, so when the throwers at the airport just dump your case down on the bottom edge, you avoid damage to the optic... Seen it, its ugly.
Love all of the tavor videos you have done. What all have you done to it?
There's a place in Arizona called Battlefoam that does laser-cut custom foam for miniatures and models. I wonder why no one has started doing that for gun cases. Not that this looks complicated or anything, some people just like having someone do the work for them.
I dunno, but laser cut anything is usually way overpriced. Can you get a cut out job like Mac's for $20? I doubt it.
Some people have spare money, some people have spare time. That's why having options to do it yourself, or just pay someone to do it for you is awesome.
This video was excellent👍👍🇺🇸🇺🇸.
I can't look at electric knives without thinking of the beginning of Maximum Overdrive.
Good tutorial. Thanks.
I never see anyone use the top part of the case.
Couldn't you put some smaller items up there or would they just fall out when you close it?