Pelican 1740 with Multiple Gun Storage Inside?

[clublights]

I dunno about the particular type of foam your using but I've used electric carving knifes on soft and harder foams and styrofoam ( making set pieces for bands)

I'd say try it on a piece of similar material and see how you feel about it first .

[BuffCyclist]

Okay, so I've spent a few days toying around with various arrangements and here is what I have come up with. In a Pelican 1740 case, I can fit 4 rifles (maximum length 39") and 4 pistols.

I have two packs of 40g desiccant, which is good for up to 10,368 cubic inches. The total volume of AIR (excluding volume taken up by guns and excluding volume taken up by foam - closed cell foam doesn't trap air) is 817 cubic inches. Therefore, the amount of desiccant that I have compared to what I need is roughly 12.69 times larger. This should be more than sufficient to take care of humidity inside the case. The closed cell polyethylene foam will not absorb moisture so I only have to worry about humidity in the air when I close the case. The left most desiccant pack has holes drilled to have access to the pistols, with a groove cut in the support rib between the two. The right most desiccant pack is primarily for the entire case since it can't easily access the pistols. But that's thinking that the desiccant packs care where they get their air from.

The following were animated gifs showing the different layers, but when I tried uploading them they wouldn't work, so I've just included the two different views: top down and cross cut.

The rifles for size comparison of the case are as follows (top rifle in picture is rifle 1, 2nd from top is 2...)

1 - AR15 SPR - 18" Barrel, 15" Troy Alpha Handguard, MagPul UBR (collapsed), 1-4x Optic
2 - AR15 M4 - 16" Barrel (rifle length gas port because I didn't feel like drafting a new barrel), JP Rifles 11" Handguard, no optic, standard M4 stock
3 - Remington 870 Shotgun...ish. Didn't draft this one, found it online and can't find a standard stock.
4 - Empty for Savage Mark II-FV whenever I get around to actually drafting it

Pistol 1 - Colt 1911
Pistol 2 - Glock 22 Modified to be dimensions of Glock 23
Pistol 3 - Glock 26

Anyways, for you rifle case experts, I would love to hear your feedback on this layout, whether it is too crammed or perfect. All layers of foam have 1" between the rifle and the case, and 1" between parts. All foam layers are 2" thick, except for the bottom layer (1.75") and the lid (1.5") if I recall correctly.

The pictures are all looking down from the top of the case, and each subsequent picture is removing the top most layer of foam. The first picture is the lid foam. The second picture is what the case would look like when I open it. Was going to put the pistols in the 4th rifle slot, but realized I had lots of unused space under the rifle handguards. Still haven't decided if I'll stretch the rifle cavity the full width of the case or not (under rifle slot 4).

[BuffCyclist]

These next photos are looking at the case from the front, showing a cross cut through the rifle slots (roughly in the middle).

[clublights]

+1

[Eggysrun]

awesome thread

[BuffCyclist]

Well, after a long wait for the foam to be delivered and having some time to cut it, I had some time last night and this morning to cut the foam.

From my experience, cutting straight lines is harder than I thought it would be, even with clamping a 1"x2" piece of wood along the cut line. The interior of the pelican cases do not have the dimensions they say. Holding the knife vertical seemed to be part of the problem. The bottom of the case is roughly 0.25-0.5" narrower than the top and the top of the case is about 0.125-0.25" wider than the specs. Sure, it averages out but when you use that dimension to cut the foam its a pain in the butt. Bamboo shish kebob skewers work PERFECTLY to stiffen up the 0.5" thick walls between the rifles. I may still add more, so they're spaced 3" apart. They also help to adhere the top 3 layers together so I can pick them all up out of the case at once to get to the pistols.

The final product yields:

Pelican 1740 - 4 Rifles, 4 Pistols, 2x 40g desiccant packs.

Pelican 1750 - 1 Rifle and space for more accessories in the future, 1x 40g desiccant pack.

All in all, I'm extremely happy with how both cases turned out. Cutting the Pelican 1750 was MUCH easier because I had a rifle stencil I could trace with the knife.

And now the part everyone's been waiting for, PICTURES!!!

Pelican 1740:
















Pelican 1750:

[Gman]

Nice job!