Glad you got your guns back.
If at all possible I think you shoulda told them to hold your gun case and/or any other affected luggage at the airline's luggage office for you to claim with ID. One less step to screw up (luggage courier service)
I frequently fly with gun(s) on Alaska/Horizon (and once or twice with Southwest). This includes flying into/out of California with multiple reg'd assault weapons & hicap mags.
Several comments about flying with guns...
1) If you're taking a multileg flight with tight plane-change connections, see if you can - upon deplaning in preparation for next leg - talk to a gate agent to ensure your guns get on the next flight. The blonde girls are unlikely to say anything other than, "I'm sure your luggage will be on your next flight", but if you tell them you're travelling with declared, legal firearms and you wanna ensure they're not cirling the carousel in the wrong airport, subject to Colombian luggage theives, they start listening and becoming helpful.
When I had a tight connection thru Portland OR the girl first blew me off til I told 'em about the guns - then they radioed to luggage ramp and got back an exact description of my luggage. It turned out it wasn't gonna go on this plane and was gonna be on a subsequent flight an hour later if I hadn't intervened. Ended up bumped up to first class to boot.
2) Ask that your declared rifle case (or luggage suite) be held at destination airport for ID-required pickup, instead of circling the carousel.
3) #2 above not always honored and your gun case could still well be on the carousel. So when you get off the flight to pick up your luggage, don't stop for coffee, pee, socialize, etc. Sometimes the luggage can get deplaned before you can. You wanna be at the carousel before it starts dumping your flight's luggage.
4) You can get "insurance" but it's not true 'insurance'. It's called "excess valuation" coverage and runs ~$10/$1K per trip (or side of flight, not sure) - last time I remember. This covers for loverall loss, but won't cover for anything but the worst damage (i.e., gun still works but stock/finish and optics damaged may not get you much payout). So pack well in spite of coverage.
5) Include multiple copies of name/address/phone# info for your home address as well as contact #s & info for your destination *inside* the gun case. Label your case well.
Bill Wiese
San Jose CA