Which case do you suggest for my weapon?

Hard to beat a Pelican. That's my go to brand.

https://www.pelican.com/us/en/products/cases

What type of travel or use? A hard case takes up a lot of space and money

My technique is to affix music instrument decals to make it more stealthy transporting to/from residence.
Works like a charm and keeps the sheep from getting startled.
Were it an aluminum case selected, I would disguise it with Nikon or Canon photography decals.

"... affix music instrument decals on it ..."
I have a luggage style case for my M1 Carbine with very discrete Gun Guard markings that could be concealed with rock bad decals.
I also have a regular guitar case for my Kalashnikov and a violin case for my Thompson.

If you are looking at hard cases, Pelican - it is the standard. Prior to Pelican, Zero Halliburton in aluminum.

As others have said, what is your purpose? To and from the range, or to and from different countries? What is the value of what you are putting into it? A Mossberg 500 that has seen too many trips to the duck blind, or a full boat custom rifle with $$$$ glass? Do you have any expectation that it will need to float?

I think most spend too little on cases, but it is really easy to spend too much.

Just some food for thought....

Pelican. Aluminum cases are no tougher than pelican cases, and aren’t typically watertight.

Depends on the arm.
I use rugs for handguns, typically, Boyt.
For long arms, I use a mix of soft and hard cases. Mostly used for transport to/from range. An utterly random mix of stuff. (To include a repurposed bass guitar case.

Now, a resource not to be ignored are the Harbor Freight cases which are both economical and barely have that "gun case" look, if that's an issue.
If a person is meaning to travel with long arms, one of the wheeled cases can be worth looking into.

There's also no such thing as a perfect case; the standard to meet is good enough.

Andrew 25 said:

Do you suggest me a polypropylene case or an aluminum one?

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Virtually every piece of man-portable military electronics and other such things are transported in Pelican cases, or some facsimile thereof. It's the gold standard for environmental protection during transport.

If pelican level protection isn’t necessary or money is a concern, I have been very happy with several Midway USA brand nylon padded cases for everyday use and transport for hunting in my own vehicle. Often on sale and an excellent value. I use them for local area hunting transport and trips to the sporting clays and skeet range.
If you’re traveling commercial then get a serious case and insurance.

Pelican is the standard and always a good choice.

Plano has their All Weather and Field Locker lines that are also nice.

The Harbor Freight cases are also very good, particularly for the price.

That being said, depending on your uses a cheap, thinner hard case may do everything you need it to.

As someone else mentoned, the size of the long gun and any accessories would help in recommending specific options.

I've got a Pelican that is dedicated to one particular rifle. It was around $300 which I understand might be a bit expensive for some to have for just one rifle but I've got quite a bit more than that into the gun/optic. I also have a Nanuk which is made in Canada and very similar in quality to a Pelican. I use the Nanuk for multiple rifles. IMO it's money well spent to keep rifles and scopes from getting banged around/damaged.

Blue Jays said:

My technique is to affix music instrument decals to make it more stealthy transporting to/from residence.
Works like a charm and keeps the sheep from getting startled.
Were it an aluminum case selected, I would disguise it with Nikon or Canon photography decals.

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I would be hesitant to put photography decals on a case. Photo equipment can easily be more expensive than a gun, and is much easier to get rid of for a thief then a gun, since it is so easy to pawn. If the wrong person saw it in your vehicle, it might invite trouble. Stickers for something low value would be better.

brasscollector said:

I've got a Pelican that is dedicated to one particular rifle. It was around $300 which I understand might be a bit expensive for some to have for just one rifle but I've got quite a bit more than that into the gun/optic. I also have a Nanuk which is made in Canada and very similar in quality to a Pelican. I use the Nanuk for multiple rifles. IMO it's money well spent to keep rifles and scopes from getting banged around/damaged.

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I've heard good things about Nanuk, never footed for one myself, much less a Pelican. I've never spent more than $130 on a case between Plano, Harbor Freight, LAX Ammo, Sam's Club Member's Mark, and one E-Vike "airsoft" case that was a pleasant surprise since I had a good coupon. I'd love to have Pelican money, but I like to have a nice case for each rifle (and I custom cut foam for ones to hold my handguns too) so I've been a deal hawk, haha.

Citron said:

"...I would be hesitant to put photography decals on a case..."

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The goal is to dissuade casual observers from thinking, "That person is carrying a gun in that case." and not so much an anti-theft measure.

I've added another rifle case since, but this is my humble collection of cases. I actually find picking them out and customizing them almost as as fun as the firearms themselves. Like I said, plenty of affordable options out there if you don't want to spend Pelican money, just need to know where to look. It does help that I live less than an hour from (and work about a 10 minute drive from) the Plano factory and outlet store. I've gotten $150 Plano cases for $50 a couple times.



One thing I didn't touch on is the "plastic" vs aluminum case question. Personally, if protecting the firearm is the priority I'd go with "plastic" no question. The best constructed cases are pretty universally that material.

I've seen some nice looking aluminum cases, but all seem to have mixed reviews at best durability wise. If the appearance of the case is most important and you can baby the case, I could see aluminum working. Otherwise, I'd avoid them.

If you want to dissuade curious onlookers and potential thieves put your gun in a beat up old gym bag and leave a dirty jock strap and sweat sock hanging partially out of the top of the bag or end pocket.

Carl N. Brown said:

I also have a regular guitar case for my Kalashnikov and a violin case for my Thompson.

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A time-honored tradition.

Citron said:

I would be hesitant to put photography decals on a case. Photo equipment can easily be more expensive than a gun, and is much easier to get rid of for a thief then a gun, since it is so easy to pawn. If the wrong person saw it in your vehicle, it might invite trouble. Stickers for something low value would be better.

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Fact. While I don’t do photography, I know every photographer and editor that works for a particular professional bass fishing league. Just the body of some of their cameras are $4k. And a few of the lenses upwards of $12k. I had no idea till I started working for them and got to know the guys.

We were out on the water one day and a friend of mine was shooting but needed to pee. He handed me the camera and told me to take some photos to get used to the camera in case something happened in the water so we wouldn’t miss the shot. Man, NERVOUS isn’t the word. My photos looked like they were taken with too much exposure in an earthquake. He later taught me how to really use the camera and let me shoot photos fairly often. So much so that I got some photos in the magazine. But it took awhile.

Someone handing me a piece of equipment, standing on a boat in 40 feet of water, that’s worth $15k, actually made my faith in my balance falter. And I was literally raised in bass boats.

Yup... the “gold standard” for field sports photography is the Canon 1DX Mark III and a 400mm f/2.8L IS USM III - over $18,000 without any other kit, and just a single lens. And most folks aren’t shooting sports with just a single camera on them. Folks CAN and DO spend more on single firearms, but it’s pretty hard to say there’s any niche where $18,000 in single unit cost for a firearm is “normal.”

Walkalong said:

The Plano is nice, bulkier than the Pelican V770. I also have had the Sportsmans Guide case and same thing, it's nice, but bulkier than the Pelican. My kids have the Plano and SG cases now.

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I forgot about the SG cases, I think the brand is HQ Issue? They seem like one of the better deals for the price out there.

Plano phased out the All Weather cases that I have and replaced them with the AW2 line. Still nice cases but not as nice as the old All Weather ones, you can noticeably bend the side with some weight on it compared to the old ones. The Field Locker series is most comparable to the old All Weather ones, probably a little nicer actually but also a significant step up in price from them.

Can't tell which one you have in the picture for sure, looks like the older All Weather?

Plastic will look better than aluminum after banging around a bit and a plastic case making contact with dry wall is no big deal, compared to the gouge an aluminum corner can impart.

I guess you can get an aluminum case with plastic corners and even add in the handcuff to make it complete.



The one I use the most is actually for golf clubs, a trash pile rescue. Wheeled storage that doesn’t even look like a gun case. I can put a half dozen in it with ammo etc. The best “one trip” soultion I have come up with.