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by Draskuul
Fri Aug 19, 2011 3:39 pm
Forum: General Gun, Shooting & Equipment Discussion
Topic: For those who've checked a handgun
Replies: 33
Views: 5402

Re: For those who've checked a handgun

I checked my XDM45 going out of San Antonio International recently.

Get a lock with a much smaller hasp on it. Something the airline sometimes check is opening the latches then trying to touch the gun inside without removing the lock. If they can then it's a no-go. With a long hasp like that you might even be able to get the gun out with the lock on.

And just to share my experience going out SAT (Southwest)...

I had my XDM in its factory case--very nice, I might add--with two cheap Wal-mart non-TSA locks with very small hasps. I heard the horror stories about the DFW passenger who had his XDM stolen, case and all, from his luggage, so I took an extra step. I used the cable lock included with the XDM, ran it through both padlock hasps, then through a very large reinforced portion of the duffel bag. If they wanted to steal it, they'd have to take their time cutting stuff up (leaving obvious evidence in the bag) or take the whole bag (leaving me with a tracking number for a lost bag with a firearm in it, which reports say are magically found far faster than ordinary luggage).

I told the baggage counter clerk that I had a declared item. She gave me a card to fill out with my personal info and signing basically an affidavit on the back declaring the weapon safe, unloaded, etc. She then had me open up the gun and display that it was empty. I was nervous as hell opening this thing up in the airport given all the horror stories, so I kept the case in my duffel bag, opened it up facing her and showed her the empty magwell and pulled the slide back to show an empty chamber without lifting the gun into view of anyone else. Satisfied, she put the card inside the case and told me to lock it up again. She then directed me to follow a baggage handler to continue checking the gun in.

The handler took me back through a locked security door in the next terminal over. It was a large room, maybe 10x20, with a small steel table and two locked cabinets with TSA marked all over them. He said to just leave it locked and wait for a TSA agent.

After 3-4 minutes an agent came in, opened the cabinets (which contained gloves and their explosives sniffer gear, etc), and put on his nitrile gloves. He opened up my duffel bag, glanced around in it (nothing much else in that bag other than the gun case), then asked me to come over and open the case then back away again. I did so, and this time he took out his testing wand and proceeded to swab down everything in the gun case and ran it all around the duffel bag. It tested clean apparently, because he threw one of the 'inspected by the TSA' flyers inside and had me lock it up. He told me to leave it with the baggage handler and I could proceed to the gate. The TSA agent did make a comment about my cable lock being a good idea.

It arrived at my destination in good shape on the normal baggage carousel.

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