Long range rifle takes a beating

After seeing the Knuckle Draggers that pass as luggage handlers throw my gun case, ( thankfully a penguin), 10 yards out onto the tarmac, I have taken to carrying two identical scopes with QD rings already sighted in as carry on baggage on all international and domestic flights.
Also a torque gauge. Have not as yet needed the spare but it's there if I do. To much time, effort and dollars put into a hunt to have it stuffed up by busted optics.
I made the mistake of loaning my brother a .375 Ruger for a trip to Idaho last year and a case to fly it in.

They managed to destroy the case, a very solid old case guard fiberglass/aluminum pretty well bomb proof case and ruin a good scope as well.

It looked like they'd dropped it onto the tarmac out of the plane three or four times just to make sure the job as thoroughly done.

They did do us the courtesy of taping what was left of it back together before he picked it up at the baggage terminal.
 
I made the mistake of loaning my brother a .375 Ruger for a trip to Idaho last year and a case to fly it in.

They managed to destroy the case, a very solid old case guard fiberglass/aluminum pretty well bomb proof case and ruin a good scope as well.

It looked like they'd dropped it onto the tarmac out of the plane three or four times just to make sure the job as thoroughly done.

They did do us the courtesy of taping what was left of it back together before he picked it up at the baggage terminal.
Good thing you have a few dozen backups.:eek:
 
I am sure everyone has a story flying but a prominent airline "lost" my Sendero and ALL my gear on my return trip for approximately 12 hours. When I was boarding for final leg, I happen to casually mention to the handler at the door of plane to try not to beat up rifle case too much. What a nice surprise to have him say "What rifle case?" and go on to say there is not one on board nor my gear bag which I described to him. That was a very nice flight home knowing my rifle wasn't on plane. I know it got to connecting airport cause I saw it go up the conveyor onto plane. The lost baggage claim wasn't very helpful so I politely asked them to contact the Senior VP of Customer Service to advise that person my next call was going to media. This was a few years ago but still had same impact. I did get a call pretty quick and discussed how a firearm can be lost with all the bar coding and so on. The VP actually took charge and gave me their mobile number and said they would track it down if they had to search every room in airport. After a few hours, I did get a call they found it. Someone moved it to secure room since flight was over weight and did not log it into system. OK, but I was premium Gold so this should never had happened which was immediately agreed. My Gold tags etc on everything. I probably have flown about 1.4M miles total from my career across quite a few airlines. So the next flight they could put it on was quite a wait but it arrived about 1AM in morning. Here is one of the best parts of story. The bag van arrived at my home, dropped off rifle case and gear bag on my front porch and started to leave. I ran out stopped the van and asked WTH? Asked if he knew what was in case and he said rifle. So I asked why leave it without personally seeing I got it? Didn't want to wake me up. Which I asked if he thought OK to leave firearm on a porch? No intelligent answer. I called the VP and explained what happened and couldn't believe their ears. So to make it right, my freq flier miles used for the trip were refunded to account. That was least that could be done since I was literally frantic over potentially lost firearm. Although my rifle kept zero, I dang near lost it due to one simple oversight of recording a bar code. BTW my rifle case is a SKB with rollers which has protected my rifles pretty darn good.
 
I am sure everyone has a story flying but a prominent airline "lost" my Sendero and ALL my gear on my return trip for approximately 12 hours. When I was boarding for final leg, I happen to casually mention to the handler at the door of plane to try not to beat up rifle case too much. What a nice surprise to have him say "What rifle case?" and go on to say there is not one on board nor my gear bag which I described to him. That was a very nice flight home knowing my rifle wasn't on plane. I know it got to connecting airport cause I saw it go up the conveyor onto plane. The lost baggage claim wasn't very helpful so I politely asked them to contact the Senior VP of Customer Service to advise that person my next call was going to media. This was a few years ago but still had same impact. I did get a call pretty quick and discussed how a firearm can be lost with all the bar coding and so on. The VP actually took charge and gave me their mobile number and said they would track it down if they had to search every room in airport. After a few hours, I did get a call they found it. Someone moved it to secure room since flight was over weight and did not log it into system. OK, but I was premium Gold so this should never had happened which was immediately agreed. My Gold tags etc on everything. I probably have flown about 1.4M miles total from my career across quite a few airlines. So the next flight they could put it on was quite a wait but it arrived about 1AM in morning. Here is one of the best parts of story. The bag van arrived at my home, dropped off rifle case and gear bag on my front porch and started to leave. I ran out stopped the van and asked WTH? Asked if he knew what was in case and he said rifle. So I asked why leave it without personally seeing I got it? Didn't want to wake me up. Which I asked if he thought OK to leave firearm on a porch? No intelligent answer. I called the VP and explained what happened and couldn't believe their ears. So to make it right, my freq flier miles used for the trip were refunded to account. That was least that could be done since I was literally frantic over potentially lost firearm. Although my rifle kept zero, I dang near lost it due to one simple oversight of recording a bar code. BTW my rifle case is a SKB with rollers which has protected my rifles pretty darn good.
Lucky man, that could have gone badly.
 
I do not hunt Africa but do fly to Asia, Middle East and Far East at least once a year and have been using a "Tuff Pack" to transport my firearms for over 20 years without resulting damage during transport. All the damage that takes place happens after I remove the firearm from the Tufr Pack! Of note is the fact that there is sufficient room in the Tuff Pack to also pack most if not all of my hunting cloths which also cushions and protects the firearm during transport.
 
I do not hunt Africa but do fly to Asia, Middle East and Far East at least once a year and have been using a "Tuff Pack" to transport my firearms for over 20 years without resulting damage during transport. All the damage that takes place happens after I remove the firearm from the Tufr Pack! Of note is the fact that there is sufficient room in the Tuff Pack to also pack most if not all of my hunting cloths which also cushions and protects the firearm during transport.
Good idea.
 
Just got back from the Wyoming back country on a solo hunt, my rifle came back with the zero still holding. I did take the action and barrel out of the stock and noticed some wear around one of the action screws and the aluminum pillars. The stock was new this year.

I will do a little write up. I got an elk 340 ish.
 

Attachments

  • IMG_8050.JPG
    IMG_8050.JPG
    2.2 MB · Views: 130
Just got back from the Wyoming back country on a solo hunt, my rifle came back with the zero still holding. I did take the action and barrel out of the stock and noticed some wear around one of the action screws and the aluminum pillars. The stock was new this year.

I will do a little write up. I got an elk 340 ish.
Great news. Sounds like you need to torque the action screws but the bedding is doing it's job.

Congrats on a very nice bull.
 
Washington Whitetail season opened up.

I took a buck at 650 yards but not without issue. I was having some issues with the trigger. The wear I was talking about eventually made the trigger assembly touch the sides of the inletting. The trigger wouldn't engage, it would just stay locked in the firing position no matter how many times I racked the bolt.
I sanded the sides a little and we are good to go now.

Here is the buck!! Had him on camera this summer.

Ohh
My gun tipped over and the scope has a nice scratch. I need to check my zero.
 

Attachments

  • IMG_9653.JPG
    IMG_9653.JPG
    2.4 MB · Views: 126
  • IMG_8138.JPG
    IMG_8138.JPG
    971 KB · Views: 116
So my zero was off, 2 moa high and 2 moa right, everything torque wise is fine. I have to assume that the rifle tipping over onto a rock and falling about 5" is what knocked the zero off. I would assume with a 2500$ optic I could fall down the mountain with this thing. I did take the action out about three times trying to take some material out for the trigger assembly. The gun is currently at the gunsmith to figure this out. I am surprised I harvested the deer with a zero off that much. It would explain why I hit it in the spine.
 
Warning! This thread is more than 5 years ago old.
It's likely that no further discussion is required, in which case we recommend starting a new thread. If however you feel your response is required you can still do so.

Recent Posts

Top