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Last week I had my first experience with air travel with 2 firearms. It went extremely smooth. Departing from Dallas Love field on Southwest, I told the baggage check lady that I needed to declare a firearm for travel in my luggage. She asked if it was in a locked container and unloaded. (I had a few loaded clips wrappped up in socks outside the locked box) I said it was, and she had me sign a little card stating such, and I discretely reached in my suitcase, unlocked the small box (from center of mass), and she placed the card in the case. They asked me to hang around incase the screeners wanted to open it, but they waved me by with a smile.

On the trip back (from another TX town), when I told the lady I needed to declare a firearm for travel, she stumped me by asking, "for check in or carry?" I smiled and said, "Do I have a choice?" She said she thought I may be a government agent. The screener this time asked about my ammo. I explained that I did have an empty factory ammo box. He said that the rules say that I need to put it in the box because the primer on the top shell is exposed. He did also say that due to the magazines being wrapped in thick socks, that one top primer of each mag was probably better protected than the now 28 primers in the box coverered by thin cardboard. We also talked guns for a few minutes.

I didn't quite know what to expect on my first trip, but found it quite pleasant.

Welcome to the club...

Nice. I'm flying to Atlanta for a quick business trip next week. So can I just unload my gun, put it in the stock case, put a lock on it, and then carry some ammo in it's original box? If it's that easy I may just take my firearm and carry in GA instead of leaving the gun at home.

Check with your airline. They all have slightly different regs.

Nachos Libres wrote:Nice. I'm flying to Atlanta for a quick business trip next week. So can I just unload my gun, put it in the stock case, put a lock on it, and then carry some ammo in it's original box? If it's that easy I may just take my firearm and carry in GA instead of leaving the gun at home.

I just got back from Atlanta, flying American. Checking the gun in at DFW was a WHOLE lot smoother than checking it at Atlanta Hartsfield to come back. Make sure you allow extra time for the harassment factor on your return trip.

Nachos Libres wrote:Nice. I'm flying to Atlanta for a quick business trip next week. So can I just unload my gun, put it in the stock case, put a lock on it, and then carry some ammo in it's original box? If it's that easy I may just take my firearm and carry in GA instead of leaving the gun at home.

I would check the TSA web site. I believe you can keep the ammo in the mag as long as the mag is in a mag holster.

This is from the TSA web site:

All firearms must be declared to the air carrier during the ticket counter check-in process.
The firearm must be unloaded.
The firearm must be carried in a hard-sided container.
The container must be locked.
The passenger must provide the key or combination to the screener if it is necessary to open the container, and then remain present during screening to take back possession of the key after the container is cleared.
Any ammunition transported must be securely packed in fiber (such as cardboard), wood or metal boxes or other packaging specifically designed to carry small amounts of ammunition.
Firearm magazines/clips do not satisfy the packaging requirement unless they provide a complete and secure enclosure of the ammunition (e.g., by securely covering the exposed portions of the magazine or by securely placing the magazine in a pouch, holder, holster or lanyard).
The ammunition may also be located in the same hard-sided case as the firearm, as long as it is properly packed as described above.
Black powder and percussion caps used with black-powder type firearms are not permitted in carry-on or checked baggage.

pt145ss wrote:

Nachos Libres wrote:Nice. I'm flying to Atlanta for a quick business trip next week. So can I just unload my gun, put it in the stock case, put a lock on it, and then carry some ammo in it's original box? If it's that easy I may just take my firearm and carry in GA instead of leaving the gun at home.

I would check the TSA web site. I believe you can keep the ammo in the mag as long as the mag is in a mag holster.

I travel a lot, and have found printing the TSA rules and taking them with you helps. It really helps when TSA does not know their own regs, for example I was in the security line and showed the TSA agent checking ID's a Federal ID (from an agency everyone would know) along with my boarding pass. She denied me entry as I did not show a Drivers License. I thought I would be cute, while digging for my Drivers License, I showed my YMCA membership card (it has a picture on it). I was allowed in. I asked why the YMCA card was accepted but agency ID was not. The TSA agent told me she had heard of the YMCA and knew what that was, but had not heard of the three letter agency I had an ID from.

I asked for the supervisor upon entry and showed him my YMCA card, I asked if I could enter the airport with this card. He told me no that YMCA is not valid ID. I showed him my Federal ID, he told me that was valid. I explained that his agent checking ID's did not recognize my Fed ID but knew what YMCA was and let me in. She was immediately pulled from the line.

To prevent this idiocy in the future, I printed a copy of the ID check policy for TSA, and what the procedure is if the agent does not know what the ID should look like. I have pulled the policy out twice now and once the TSA agent is educated on their own rules and regs all goes smoothly.