Muzzleloader Confiscated at Mass. Airport
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BillyC
Shooting my .45 better every time
I was headed to Iowa years ago for an in-line ML hunt. TSA checked my bag and found a box of bullets, not ammo just bullets and had a fit. Said they needed to be declared. I said they are no different than a box of rocks so get me a supervisor. The supervisor had a little more sense.
BillyC
Shooting my .45 better every time
Another time headed to Wyoming for a mule deer hunt the girl at the check in tells me I have to remove my rifle from the case and show her it is unloaded. Ok says I, but are you SURE you want me to take a high powered rifle out and wave it around? She said she guesses me singing the form would be good enough. LOL
alcessapiens
40 Cal
2nd amendment doesn’t give you the right to always just do as you please. He screwed up, I’m sure he will get it back from the state police. They’re cops… they must enforce the law and I’m sure they are all shooters too so it’s unlikely they’ll steal his rifle. Play stupid games, win stupid prizes. And he’s lucky they took it given baggage throwers gentle and careful handling of luggage.
alcessapiens
40 Cal
You could have gotten shot full of holes.
BillyC
Shooting my .45 better every time
Then there was the guy at the check in counter in Ottawa that said you can’t check a firearm as baggage, he would know, he’s worked for USAIR for 27 years. I pointed to all the other guys wearing camo clothes carrying aluminum gun cases and said “what do think they are doing”? He insisted I could not check my rifle, even after I showed him I brought it with me from Pittsburgh on a USAIR flight. Fortunately his supervisor was also a little smarter.
BillyC
Shooting my .45 better every time
Never had a rifle lost by the airlines before 911, they lost it every time after 911, I stopped flying to places to hunt because of that.
Flint Striker
40 Cal
I do have to agree that if you fly, you have to use a good lockable case.
Having said that - TSA’s little victory lap over confiscating a muzzleloader is absurd. It’s not like the guy was going to commandeer a ship of the line and sail out of Tortuga with a crew of buccaneers.
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Made too many flights overseas , on long business trips. I'm finished with that , and glad of it. Greatest moment of my career , was the pin drop silence , when I told the bosses , my 41 yr. career was finished , after they had just laid out in a meeting , my list of European trips for the coming year. 
flying with firearms has always been a crap shoot. Transporting prisoners, we stopped carrying guns - even after going through ever-changing regulations. Landed in New Orleans. Whomever examined my very expensive hard-sided pistol case stole all my bullets ..except one. Shades of Barney Fife? Don't know.
Went to a N.O. PD station, told them what happened. After the chuckles, they poked around & came up with a handful of mismatched .38 specials. Good old days. Trying to get a half-stock rifle through in a duffle bag? Not me.
Went to a N.O. PD station, told them what happened. After the chuckles, they poked around & came up with a handful of mismatched .38 specials. Good old days. Trying to get a half-stock rifle through in a duffle bag? Not me.
Flintlocks, pocket knives and such aside: I am not flying commercial anywhere. Car, private plane/chopper, railroad, boat/ship, horseback, motorcycle, shanks mare, bicycle. Um do not want to roller skate either, but different reasons.
Except for a gypsy cab in the ghetto of a major city, airlines are my least desirable form of transport.
Worked for the airlines for 30 years. If I can't drive there I ain't going
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Read the part in the OP where it states "the rifle was improperly packed and undeclared". Yep, there are rules for packing firearms for travel by airplane. One must also declare the firearm at baggage check in.
Yeah, it's difficult to pack a long rifle.
Yeah, it's difficult to pack a long rifle.
You can ship it to yourself at your destination.
That won't work now.
Sad, Once walked thru LAX (or Burbank i forget) with a full length original 1853 Enfield in a box. The let me carry it on as long as the pilot (a fellow collector) got to examine it. He stowed in in the cockpit for the trip to Sacramento and I enjoyed several glasses of champagne on Western Airlines on the way. Still have the rifle and may list it on the trader soon for someone else to enjoy.
Is a bundle of plews considered carry-on or do you have to check them now, been awhile since I flew.
Guns have been prohibited/ restricted since the highjackings to Cuba in the 1960's. this isn't anything new. You'd pretty much have to live under a rock not to know that but if that wasn't enough i'm thinking that the numerous signs posted all over airports might be a slight hint. I have no sympathy for the idiots who try to take (sneak?) weapons on planes when all you have to do is pack it in a good case and declare it.
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I contacted TSA a few years ago about taking 120 pound anvil as my carry-on. Since it was not on the prohibited list, I just wanted to double check. They advised against it. I replied that if they were advising against it that they weren’t saying no therefore it was allowable. They replied that it could be used as a bludgeoning device and I could not take it. I should’ve offered them money if they could come up with an agent that actually could bludgeon somebody who wasn’t already down and out with 120 pound anvil!!
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