 |
| Judgement Drill |
Last fall I flew to South Florida for Sage Dynamics’ Home
Defense class. Flying commercial meant
buying an appropriate case to transport my firearms and accessories. Considering that I’d have the monetary equivalent of a gently used Civic in the
case, I wanted to keep everything as organized and protected as I could. After fumbling with the usual DIY methods, I
discovered the semi-custom foam inserts from Eaton Tactical Innovations. I wrote about my experience with them here: Eaton Tactical Innovations - Pelican 1720 V3 Foam Case Insert
Fast forward a few months, and I had signed up for another
Sage Dynamics class. This time,
Defensive Rifle with Jon Dufresne.
Located at the Ross Lake Plantation in Georgia, I’d be making the trip
via a 7-hour car ride. I planned to pack
my dedicated practice/training pistol, my suppressed 11.5” SBR and a 14.5”
upper. I would mainly use the SBR for
night vision shooting/pig hunting and swap to the 14.5” upper for the
class. Looking at my Pelican 1720 case,
I figured it had enough room for everything to fit with the right insert. Browsing ETI’s website, I noticed a lot more
foam configurations for Pelican cases, as well as Pelican Storm and more the budget
friendly Plano cases. The inserts are
now known as Gunformz, and they have also expanded their lineup of inserts for
the bottom foam layer, for magazines and pistols. I found the 1720 V14. It features a main compartment for an
assembled 14.5” or longer rifle, a cutout for an 11.5” or longer suppressed
upper, one pistol cutout, and various pockets for accessories. This was nearly exactly what I needed.
 |
| Gunformz AR 1720 V14 |
I received the insert in under a week. I removed the insert from its black plastic
shipping bag, grabbed a thin bladed utility knife, and began freeing the
sections of foam from their cutouts.
After a bit of trial and error, I had trimmed a few sections manually to
account for my rifle rails, pressure pads, and muzzle devices. I then
filled the remaining compartments with a spare pistol mag, pistol
suppressor, sling, muzzle blast shield, and my Dbal A3. I did however run into a small snag with the
pistol cutout. I neglected to take a
close look at the position of the pistol slot.
It’s very close to the top of the insert, with no room for slide mounted
optic. This wasn’t a huge deal since I
was driving, but if I was flying commercial I’d have had to pack my pistol with
a checked bag.
Checking ETI’s website and found a 1720 bottom layer
insert, the ARBL 1720 V2. It holds 5
rifle mags, 5 pistol mags, and optic equipped handgun. Unfortunately, I was leaving in a day, but
placed the order knowing I’d need it in the future.
Once I had everything in its place, I had some difficulty
closing the case. The rifles are wider
than the thickness of the top foam.
While I did cut pockets to clear my rifle mounted lights in the factory lid
foam, having the second upper near the latches required pressing hard on the
lid to close the latches. The last thing
I did before leaving was order a replacement convoluted (eggcrate) foam panel
for the lid.
All day Saturday, the foam was exposed to the Georgia heat
and humidity. We were constantly
brushing off the loose, sandy soil from the range mixed with sweat, sunscreen,
and bug spray (OMG the gnats!). Day two
ended with heavy rain. I was thankful
for the non-moisture absorbing closed cell foam and remembering to bring a pair
of beach towels. (It always rains at
Sage classes.)
 |
| Blasters |
I returned from the class late Sunday night, and my wife
(probably rolling her eyes at yet “more gun s**t”) had left the 42” long black
plastic package in my office. I noticed one
change from my current bottom foam insert.
The rifle mag cutouts are precut for 30-round AR15 magazines as well as
larger AR10 magazines. Since I now run
compensators on my pistols, I did have to enlarge the pistol cutout, but I had
to do the same on my V3 insert. At least
with my configurations, the pistols aren’t directly under any of the wider
parts of the rifles, so I don’t have to worry about the optic buttons getting
pressed.
 |
| Gunformz ARBL 1720 V2 |
Once again, I’m impressed with not only the performance and
durability of the inserts, but at 1/5 the cost of a custom insert, the value is
excellent. At $64.99 on Brownells, the
cost is comparable to a solid replacement foam piece and a hot wire cutter
without any of the hassle. And now that
these are available for inexpensive Plano cases, I’m going to pick up a lighter
duty 36” Plano rifle case for general range and road trip use.
 |
| "Gun Bunny" pic |
