A Budget alternative that is as good as Pelican?
Pelican cases are widely known to be the best of the best when it comes to any sensitive equipment storage, including and especially firearms. However, most of us don’t have hundreds of dollars to throw down on expensive gun cases.
A cheap alternative can be purchased surprisingly from Harbor freight of all places. Their Apache line of gun cases isn’t as good as Pelican, but it is more than adequate for most hobbyist and shooting sports enthusiast use cases. Let’s face it, we might LARP, but we aren’t actually jumping out of helicopters with these things.
Which Cases to Buy?
Apache 9800 For Long Guns
- The only option for transporting long guns. If you plan to travel with rifles or shotguns, this is your best choice.
Apache 5800 (For Pistols and SBRs)
- The 5800 is a good size for packing pistols plus lots of equipment. It isn’t dimensionally large enough to carry long guns effectively, but depending on barrel length you could fit a disassembled upper + lower for an AR-15 in these potentially.
Apache 4800 (For Multiple Pistols and Magazines)
- I’m able to carry 4 pistols in one of these plug tons of magazines and ammo boxes, perfect for cross country pistol shooting classes
Apache 2800 (For single full size pistol)
- If you just want a quality case for a single pistol, the 2800 is your best bet.
Apache 1800 (For subcompact and small equipment)
- This case is ideal for traveling with a subcompact concealed carry pistol (e.g. Glock 26) or for sensitive equipment (e.g. PVS-14)
Apache gun cases have an advantage for the average civilian
I would actually argue that the Apache gun case is better for the average civilian then pelican because it is quite a bit lighter than its pelican counterparts. This is a real consideration when it comes to flying with guns, with airlines having fairly low weight limits.
Apache Gun Cases are Affordable
The cases themselves are extremely affordable as compared to pelican, especially if you get catch one of their frequent sale prices. I got this Apache 4800, which is perfect for transporting multiple pistols, for only around $40.
Apache Gun Cases have a Similar Quality Hard Exterior
The Apache 4800 has a really solid plastic exterior. The plastic doesn’t feel cheap. It is heavy, but not as heavy as a pelican case. Still yet, it beats out anything you can buy at most big box sporting goods stores.
Apache Gun Cases have heavy clamps with reinforced eyelets
The Apache 4800 features heavy duty clasps with reinforced eyelets for locking. This is extremely important as it prevents someone from breaking open the case very easily. That is a must have feature for any kind of air travel with firearms.
The carry handle is rugged, and it feels well made. This isn’t going to break any time soon.
Apache Gun Cases have a huge amount of storage space
The Apache 4800 interior is very spacious. The height is perfect for storing handguns vertically, even full size handguns with optics mounted, meaning that you can cut the foam in such a way that storing many pistols is more than possible.
Apache Gun Cases are Water Tight
The case itself is supposed to be fairly water tight, but I haven’t tested this myself and can’t speak to that.
Apache Gun Cases have Sub Par Foam without Modification
The foam included with the 4800 isn’t great, and its easily the worst thing about the case. It can be improved with a can of plastidip, which I’ll show you in the above video.
Let’s talk about how to make the most of this case however. As I just mentioned the foam itself isn’t great. Its very soft and won’t last for very long, so we’ll treat it with plastidip later to give it a little more toughness and rigidity.
Planning the Layout of your Gun Case
Before we do that though, we want to plan our general layout into the foam of the case. I am going to be transporting up to 4 pistols in my case, so I roughly planned out how I wanted to lay this out. I decided to cut 3 slits vertically through the foam that would fit 3 full size hand guns, and a more compact slit horizontally at the top of the foam for a sub compact handgun.
I then wanted to cut a few squares that could either optionally hold ammo boxes, or magazines.
What you end up doing here is going to largely depend on your gear and your personal needs. For me, I set this up to be ideal for competitve shooting matches and cross country training classes.
Many people suggest marking the foam with a china marker in order to ensure clean lines. I didn’t do that because I didn’t have one on hand, and to be honest, it shows in the final product.
It’s just a gun case, so I don’t care if its not a beauty queen, but the job I did definitely could have been prettier had I taken the time to do that.
Cut the Foam down Layer by Layer
The foam comes in multiple layers so you’re going to have to cut down into it. I would keep the top and bottom thin layers in tact, and only cut the middle layers. This way you have padding on the top and bottom of the case still.
I ended up cutting as I went, without marking the outlines, so things turned out a bit crooked. Just the same, I cut the foam in the wrong place at one point and had to glue it, so I’m not super proud of the job, but the case is still very functional even if not pretty.
Use Plastidip to Add Rigidity to the Foam
The final step is to plastidip the foam inserts. This adds regidity to the foam and it’ll extend the lifetime of the foam itself. I would spray as many layers as you can until you run out of plastidip in the can. The layers have to cure for 30 minutes before you can lay another layer down. For the Apache 4800, I was able to get around 8 layers out of the can. Let the foam inserts cure for another 24 to 48 hours after the last layer is applied.
Conclusion
Your gun case is now good to go. Just like that, you have something comparable to a Pelican gun case at likely a quarter of the price.
If you liked this video, your going to love our next one, where I’ll go over the other best gun deals you can get at harbor freight.
