Eaton Tactical Innovations - Pelican 1720 V3 Foam Case Insert

ETI 1720 v3 with HD class gear

Next month I will be travelling to Florida for a Defense In The Home class by Sage Dynamics.  This is a live fire course that will take place in a shoot house.  For most rifle classes, I'll bring a suppressed rifle, class handgun, and EDC handgun.  Since this is an HD focused class, I also wanted room for a pistol suppressor.  Since I don't have the time to drive the 13 hours, I'm going to have to fly commercial.  This will be my first flight with firearms, and considering I'll be packing NFA items, I won't be leaving anything to chance.

The first step was to file my form 20s (permission to travel with NFA items) with the ATF.  I received my approval in 30 days.  Second was a case to secure my guns.  The industry standard is the Pelican case, and I wasn't going to risk $10k worth of equipment by saving $80 on a cheaper case.  I chose the 1720 model.  I wanted a case that was large enough to carry up to a 16" AR with suppressor and two RMR'd pistols.  Case in hand, the next step was to cut out the foam insert to keep everything from bouncing around.  I didn't want to use pick-and-pluck foam since it absorbs moisture and degrades quickly over time, leaving black dust particles everywhere.  It also looks like a Minecraft level when done.  I watched a few videos on YouTube, broke out my electric carving knife and went to work on the factory foam insert.

Pelican Foam - Functional but ugly.

Pelican Foam - My guns deserve better.

Keeping the knife perpendicular to the foam as it flexed and squished in my hands was a royal pain.  I'm normally pretty handy, but the results speak for themselves.  It would work, but considering the time and expense up to this point, it looked shoddy and I didn't want to cheap out now.  I also doubted if the soft foam would hold up long term and there was still the problem of moisture soaking into the foam.  Next I tried a Kaizen foam insert.  I found an over-sized sheet on Amazon, trimmed it to fit the case, and then cut the pattern for the guns.  But the layers didn't peel away cleanly when doing large sections like for the buttstock and pistol areas, leaving chunks of foam in an uneven mess.  The cutout bottoms looked like the surface of a cratered moon.

Kaizen Foam - from buttstock section

Kaizen might be fine for organizing tools in a drawer, but in this application it looked half-assed.  Most of the pics I've seen online don't show the cutouts up close, and they often show the finished cutout with equipment inserted, masking imperfections.  For a truly professional look, custom foam inserts are available online, but cost nearly as much as the Pelican case.

As luck would have it, a few days later, Jon Dufresne (one of the instructors who will be teaching the HD class), posted a video and write up on the ETI 1700 V3 case.  I went to ETI's website but was disappointed to find that they didn't offer a similar version for the 1720.  I sent an email inquiring about a 1720 sized insert and received a response from the owner, Frank Eaton.  He said that the insert I was looking for was already in production and would be available the following week.  He sent me a Paypal invoice and 3 days later, my insert arrived.  It was wrapped in a simple black plastic sleeve to minimize shipping costs.  $73.99 in total.  Compared to the $58 I spent on the Kaizen foam, this is an awesome value.  A .58" thick solid foam insert serves as the bottom, while the 1.15" main insert is CNC water-jet cut for the guns, magazines, and other accessories.  The larger cutouts have 1/4" sections that are left uncut, requiring the user to trim them with a razor or utility knife.  This keeps them from popping out during shipping.

ETI - Rifle Cutout and Optic Pucks

ETI - Pistol Cutout

ETI - Rifle Rail Pucks

The gun compartments have mostly pre-cut sections for longer barrels, grips, optics, lights, etc.  The sections can be removed simply by trimming away the last bit of retaining foam.  I simply laid my guns over the cutouts and removed the offending blocks.  I only had to manually trim the foam to fit the steep angled Magpul K grip and a section for the second pistol's RMR.  I removed an extra barrel section to accommodate my 14.5" rifle with suppressor, but saved that piece to re-insert when using the shorter gun.  Being able to leave the suppressor on my rifle means I can utilize the suppressor compartment for my pistol can or additional rifle mags.  The utility compartments can hold cleaning kits, NV, and IR lasers.  There is an oval shaped hole behind the pistol grip that I couldn't see an obvious use for, so I threw in my LDAG.  The last optional step is to hot glue the 1" thick cutout section to the 1/2" thick base pad.  I skipped this step since I don't know what sections I might want to remove in the future.

First and foremost, this insert just works.  All my items are well protected.  Not only is everything safe from rough handling and the elements, but the closed cell foam doesn't retain moisture.  I can appreciate that after my last rain soaked class.  The versatility of the pre-cut pucks, means I don't need another insert just to change out equipment.  The cost is only marginally more than blank foam from Pelican or Kaizen, and nearly identical to Pelican's pick-and-pull inserts.  Subjectively, the presentation value is off the charts.  Opening the case feels professional and businesslike.  As an added bonus, the foam guns make neat training aids.  My 4-year old loves them.  

"Nerf" guns

I only wish the insert had more rifle magazine storage.  I try to bring at least six magazines to a training class to minimize reloading downtime, and to have extras if one gets compromised in some way.  TSA regulations allow ammunition to be packed as long as it is stored in factory boxes or loaded in magazines.  (American Airlines does NOT allow ammo to be stored in magazines.)  Pelican cases have a 1.5" thick foam pad in the lid, and two 1.5" foam pads in the main compartment.  The bottom foam seemed like a lot of wasted storage space.  I sent an e-mail to ETI asking if they had considered producing a base insert with shallow cutouts for magazines.  A day later, I received an email stating it was being considered, followed by another e-mail with this photo asking me if I'd like one of the first runs.

Photo from ETI e-mail

A few days later, and $46.99 poorer, a familiar black bag was waiting on my porch.   To keep costs down, ETI only cut the mag compartments for 30 rounders.  Trimming them to secure a 10 round magazine was no problem, nor was adding clearance for my MagPod equipped magazines.  This brings my total rifle mag count from 2 to 9, and pistol mags from 7 to 11.  Unfortunately I can't fill every magazine with ammo since it would put me over the 11 pound ammo limit set by the TSA.  Nine 30-round mags of 55gr .223 and 100 rounds of 9mm keep me a few ounces under the limit.  Since I haven't yet glued the upper layers together, I have to remove all my gear before lifting out the upper insert, but it's a small price to pay to be able to pack everything in a single case.  Considering baggage fees, it pays for itself in one round trip.