Flying with firearms doesn’t have to be complicated—or risky. Rick Crawley of Achilles Heel Tactical has spent the last three years crisscrossing the country (and even going international) with a full training loadout packed into a single Pelican 1615 Air case.
In the following video, Rick walks through his entire travel setup, including:
- ✅ How to legally fly with firearms, suppressors, and SBRs
- ✅ Why he uses the Pelican 1615 Air Case (and how it’s held up through hellish airline abuse)
- ✅ The TSA rules to know—and how to handle pushback at the counter
- ✅ How he packs using OTTE Gear cubes and Magpul DAKA pouches
- ✅ The best way to conceal ammo weight and avoid TSA delays
From Apple AirTags to form 20s, Rick drops hard-earned insights for anyone planning to fly with their range kit. Whether you’re traveling for a training course or a hunting trip, this guide covers everything from gear protection to baggage claim recovery.
⚠️ Pro Tip: TSA agents make mistakes. Keep a digital copy of the airlines firearm rules on your phone, and always double-check that your case is latched and locked before it rolls away.
🔒 Case, Locks, Ammo, Mags, Guns—all in one setup.
This isn’t just how Rick travels—it’s how he rolls up to the range fully mission-ready.
📦 Featured Gear:
Watch the full video for Rick’s complete breakdown.
Drop your questions in the comments and check out Achilles Heel Tactical.
Tip: American Airlines sends your firearm baggage to a claim desk rather than to the carousel. United just puts firearms in with the other baggage. Delta sends to a claims desk also.
Having flown with firearms multiple times, I can tell you it varies by airport and day. My primary airport, for instance, I have had my firearms:
1. Come out with regular luggage
2. Be sent to the claim desk
3. Come out in the oversized luggage area
In all cases, same carrier. I usually head straight for the claim desk, advise them that I have a checked firearm, and ask them where I should wait.
One time, Delta completely crushed the aluminum brief case containing my firearm. Good thing the gun was in a Hornady steel case inside the aluminum case. No damage to the gun or ammo.
I have no idea of how they did that.
Ran over it with a fork truck
One time, my checked bag got almost completely destroyed on a Delta flight to Detroit. The damage was so bad, I could see the bag’s stuffing sticking out. It wasn’t run over by a cart or vehicle, it was just torn and shredded in places.
It had been taped and zip-tied shut after the damage had occurred, and I couldn’t tell if anybody had actually gained access to the inside. So I rolled it into the check bag office, just in case I should later find my gun missing from it. That way I could follow up with a federal firearms theft complaint, and my visit to the bag office would (maybe) be on file.
OMG, this was probably about 11 pm. I was very nice and I asked what the procedure was for making a claim because…well, look at my bag.
The lady was so nice and she said they have two brand new roller-bags the approximate size of mine, and they would comp it to me. I didn’t mention the firearm, because I didn’t want the added attention right there and then. I chose the bag that had a hard-shell exterior, and I rolled both bags to a men’s room.
Once in a wheelchair stall, I was able to confirm that the old bag was definitely ruined beyond repair, but my gun case was still in there, and by probing with my hand, I could tell that the locks were still in place on the gun case. So I had some level of confidence that only the bag’s stuffing had been sticking out. None of my contents were on display, let alone on some tarmac someplace.
Rather than try to transfer my stuff to the new bag in a cramped stall (all of the stalls at DTW are cramped; even the big ones) and also run the risk of not being able to roll the damaged bag out in one piece once all the zip-ties were removed (they really were holding everything together), I decided to get myself to Hertz and arm myself at my rental car. That ended up working out well and I ended up with about a $200 new bag.
When I was finally able to open the old bag, I could tell that nothing was disturbed, relocated, or unpacked and repacked. Everything was in order, including the gun case.
Savor – Somehow knew it contained a gun and tried to destroy it, they were likely a Leftist Scum ™ filled with hatred for us…
Tips for flying with Guns.
Cobra Gunship, AC130, F4Phantom
Funny!!!
Former Phantom weapons loader. (conventional and nuke)
Semper Fiesta
The one time that I wanted to take my handgun on a trip, I locked it in a small Pelican case and then placed that inside of a checked normal/large suitcase so that onlookers would have no idea that my handgun was in checked luggage. Of course I researched the airline and TSA rules ahead of time and ensured that I met both sets of requirements.
If I recall correctly, one of the requirements included declaring my locked/cased handgun to the ticketing agent at the ticket counter–before security screening–who tagged the inner locked case accordingly and directed me to a special airline station for that special item.
The first time I flew in an airplane the army threw me out of it. Before it landed. Then they made me start carrying machine guns when I flew on airplanes. They still made me fall out of the airplane, they just expected me to take the machine gun with me. After that I went through the FAA class “Flying While Armed” because my agency needed someone who could. I drive everywhere now because I do not leave the United States of America. And yes, I have been past the TSA check point carrying a loaded firearm. The privilege is not worth the effort.
Don’t tend to fly anymore either but more because I know how bad standards have slipped for pilots and air traffic controllers so not gambling on the both being competent. Having to deal with NY airports is just an added bonus of not bothering with flying with firearms for now.
My Springfield, spare laser battery, 3 magazines, and all ammo go in a small Pelikan-type case, which in turn gets locked with two Brinks keyed locks (the kind WITHOUT access by a TSA master key, and that is per federal law).
Then the gun case goes into my checked bag with PLENTY of room for whatever clothing, power bricks, USB hub and cables, and spare hard drives I might be carrying for that trip. The checked bag does get locked with TSA-approved locks, again per federal law.
I only carry enough ammo to fully load the gun and all magazines when I travel; usually that’s around 25 rounds of Hornady, which rides in the Hornady original packaging, which is a small plastic insert inside of a windowed cardboard box. Tiny enough to fit in the gun case.
The only question I’ve ever gotten about my firearm is if it’s loaded. No, it’s never loaded when I fly, and there are no rounds in any of the magazines either. Would you like to see it? No sir, we’re good; have a nice flight!
But if they ever DID want to see it, the case can be opened, and you’ll see the gun seated in the foam handle-down with a bright orange chamber block sticking out of it. If you were to lift the gun out of the case, you’d find a big bulky trigger lock on it.
Next to the gun, you’ll see each of the three magazines arranged in a row with the followers facing up; making it obvious that they are not loaded. The ammo box is under the laser spare battery and the slot that holds the hard plastic IWB holster and other foam. The ammo box is not visible when the case is opened, but is easily accessed.
One person who never flies has told me that the ammo needs to be in a different case than the gun. I’ve been flying since 2016 with my gun, and neither Delta nor the TSA have asked to see it or to even open the case. They just sign or stamp the bright orange declaration card and I place it on top of the gun case, then close up my checked bag.
Usually, my bag is not outwardly marked by Delta or the TSA as having a firearm. Sometimes it does get an “oversized” or “heavy” tag, even though it’s not oversized and always under 45 pounds when fully packed.
Other times, it won’t get any tags, but it WILL come back to me with big thick zip-ties preventing the bag from being opened all the way. But I’ve always been able to unzip it just enough to access a pair of nail clippers strategically placed by me during packing…that way I can snip the zip-ties in a wheelchair access toilet and arm myself before I go to the rental car place.
I’ve never had a problem flying with my firearm, but truth be told, I haven’t flown since before Covid. So things may have changed since the start of the Biden administration. That man was horrible, and he was a horrible president, too.
I’ve been bit by the “loaded” firearm TSA rule. Rounds (live or not – TSA rules state any component, eg, brass, primer, or projectile) can be in a magazine, but that magazine cannot be in the firearm. It can be in the same container. Even if you put a snap cap or chamber flag in the chamber, a loaded magazine (even if it was just spent brass casings), in the magwell, is considered a “loaded firearm”.
Also, some airlines may attempt to “mark” your bag externally to indicate that it contains a firearm. Ensure that does not happen, as baggage workers have been known to look for that.
Note, completely empty magazines can be in the firearm. That is not considered a “loaded firearm”.