At the end of this month, my family will be travelling to Colonial Williamsburg, where my wife and kids will participate in “Under the Redcoat” - a re-enactment of the British occupation of Williamsburg during revolutionary times. (Me, I’ll be on the golf courses.) As part of his gear, my son will be bringing his musket and equipment such as cartridge box and powder horn.
I pulled info off of the TSA and American Airlines websites, and it doesn’t look like it should be too big of a deal to carry declared firearms as checked baggage. He has a hard case with a TSA lock, and one of us adults will check it. But I’m a little more concerned with other objects, such as the powder horn, which will be in his checked luggage. By their very nature, these things have been in contact with black powder, and I anticipate that it will be difficult to clean them sufficiently to remove all residue - especially on the return trip. The way they treat everyone as a potential terrorist, I am concerned about how they will react when they actually detect traces of black powder.
So I was wondering if any of you had experience traveling by plane with firearms, so I could know what to expect.
The best bet would be to either put all equipment into the same case, or buy another case for the horn, etc. Just saves trouble all around, because sure as shootin’ TSA won’t get the word about “declared” and will have a hissy at the Security checkpoint. If you bag and tag all stuff related to the musket, it will zip right through.
I’d also be sure to have a note from the check-in person to show TSA when they pick up traces of explosives from your hands after packing for the trip. My $.02.
Yeah - I’m anticipating all kinds of hassles. I just about flipped when I leaned he was storing his powder right next to where we keep our luggage, but that never resulted in any problems. Not sure what to do about something like the cartridge box, which is too big to fit in the gun case, but not really big enough to warrant a separate case of its own.
As long as it doesn’t contain live cartridges, box it up and check it like luggage. Leave it unsealed until the desk person has a chance to inspect it, then seal it and let them cover it with “Declared” tape.
Another possibility would be to ship the powder horn and other “contaminated” items back home via USPS or commercial carrier such as UPS or FedEx. Black powder arms are not considered “firearms” by the ATF, so it should be no problem at all if you wanted to ship the rifle as well.