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Hi I'm Steve Ledin from Optics Planet and today about how I cut the
foam out of a Storm 3300 case
for a western hunt
the Storm 3300 case is one of the strongest cases on the market i
recommended very highly it weighs nineteen pounds
it has six latches the latches are easily opened and closed
with the help of
of a button in the middle of the latch
even when the case is overloaded
too
the first thing we have to do is determine where
your firearm and other products are going to go
one of the most important
uh... reasons to
situate a firearm a certain way in this case is you want to keep the weight over
the wheels you don't want to have the heavy part of the case by the handle you
want the wheels to do the work
start with a firearm
this is a
Ruger 77
and .270 Weatherby
very flat shooting
cartridge great for western antelope hunting
and this is where i would like this gun most of the weight is over the wheels
but there's a little twist to this I really like the serial number facing up
when i'd check in at the airport and TSA has to check your baggage ideally
they will open it
look at your serial number and close the case back up
and let you go on your way
if they have to remove the gun and check your serial number takes a longer time
but the twist to this is when we cut this out
uh... we would like the
marker that you're gonna outline all the products with on the underside of the
foam it just looks a lot neater
so the twist here
is i'm gonna take this gun
and i'm gonna turn it over to the other side
and everything is kind of going to be
like a mirror image
so this will all be placed backwards and when it's done getting cut then i will
switch it over it really looks a lot neater
keeping in mind
that
you can situate these on top of the foam many many times
but you only get one chance to cut it
so make sure that your including all the products that maybe you don't want to
check in
with your other luggage or things you feel
uh... that are it too expensive or do you need to be secure to fit in this
case
situate everything nicely cut once
and remember this is a reverse image you want the serial number on the firearm up you
want the heavy parts of the case over the wheels
now you're gonna need a couple of things
i'd like to use in just a standard sharpie
and i'm gonna
just start doing this right here
i feel that
this is situated pretty nicely nothin is
too close to the edge
and i'm gonna start outlining
uh... with the with a sharpie
one thing you want to do is
as uh...
you don't have to be very very intricate
all the products are going to be nestle very nicely in very secure so
you could just see how i do this
and it's not
a real big deal
to be so close to everything because
when you cut the foam of it's really nestled in nicely
and again trying to keep
the marker
pretty much perpendicular
and you do not have to be so precise
the products are going to be
nicely secured
and it is
as simple as that
now that we have our products outlined
we can take them off
and see what it looks like
and again it didn't have to be pretty
because we're gonna cut it out on this side and the outline is going to be
underneath it's a reverse or a mirror image
so the serial number is up on the firearm and that heavy parts of it
or over the wheels
one product that is absolutely needed to do this is an electric
carving knife
they're very inexpensive this is about ten dollars at one of the big box stores
my Shirley bought this for me for the exclusive use of cutting foam
out of Pelican and Storm cases
when we
when we cut the foam out we want to make sure that the knife
is perpindicular to the surface of the foam
one of the reasons for this is
when we cut out
this firearm
if we want to go on a different hunt
we can take
all
of the inserts out
put him back in
use that as the bottom layer of foam
and now
we have
a fresh pallet to start with
for our next trip with different firearms are different products
now we're ready to start cutting our foam
and since i'm usually doing this uh... myself on show you how i do it
you need some kind of weight
on the end
of the form
in this case i'm going to use
the storm thirty three hundred case itself
okay i'm ready to start cutting the foam and again it's very important that you
keep the electric knife blade perpendicular to the foam
and try and keep
the lines showing you always want to cut inside the line it's a little
more snug for your product so here we go
and you can see when you're done if you keep your blade
at a right angle
how nicely they come out it's really the best way to do it
a razor blade or a carving
knife really doesn't do nearly as good of a job
okay we're done cutting out the foam you can see how it looks
and you can certainly use
these uh this foam like it is
but you can see the marker outline
what's nice is remember that we did the reversed image or the mirror image
and now when we put
or products in it
looks very nice and neat
we can start with our firearm
with his serial number up
nice and snug
here's our bolt
shooters ridge bipod
Smith and Wesson handgun
all important duct tape and Streamlight Buckmaster headlamp
Streamlight 6PX flashlight
Nikon Monarch binoculars
with the chest harness
fits in there nicely
one of my favorite fixed blade knives
Nikon Riflehunter 550 rangefinder
uh... this
is not going anywhere
no matter who's handling your baggage this is absolutely secure I promise you
now that our case is cut-out and we're very secure with all our products
another tip is to put some stuff underneath
the top foam piece
I always bring with me targets always bring with me
some ear puffs
here is some Sonic Defenders from SureFire
a few wrenches that I regularly use
a ballistic chart some extra targets
a bore snake
and a cleaning rod
If you are going to a place
where you might need
a rifle case I suggest
we throw in also
a very slim case
now and close everything up
and enjoy
TSA
at the airport
with very little trouble