About five years ago I put eight double packets of Black Cat firecrackers in a small Pelican case (one of the smaller cases, with the transparent plastic lid) and forgot about them. I found them New Year's Eve and me and some friends set them off in the back yard (expired firecrackers are always a good time). I now have a new case I'd like to put dupes of various electronic accessories and cables in. I was going to scrub the case out and put stuff in it, but I'm worried there will be residue from the firecrackers that would make my life really difficult if I ever traveled with any of the gear I was going to store in the case. Does anyone know how likely it is that I'll get popped at security checkpoints? Is this something I should worry about? How should I clean the case out, or is that impossible?
if I go to the gun range up to three weeks before I fly my wheelchair gets wiped and checked at security and test positive for explosive material (real fun). I try not to go shooting a couple weeks before I fly and wipe my chair down with alcohol and it seems to work. I wouldn't even bother trying to clean and fly with it, it's not worth the hassle.
I suspect that Crippletron is right. It will probably retain a residue. If you do want to try cleaning the case out, I would recommend a few cycles in the dishwasher (when your wife is not home).
BUY a new case if the stuff that you are going to store is more valuable than the cost of a new case. Firecracker propellant is fundamentally the same stuff as that it in gunpowder. You don't want to be "splainin" to a DHS agent why you have gunshot residue (GSR) ON something you own while traveling on commercial aircraft.
LOL. you guys crack me up. i've flown with dozens of items covered in pyro dust, gun smoke residue, white powdery dust,etc. It's never a big deal, they're just as likely to be s to the soccer mom who left a water bottle in her purse.
Agreed, wash it and call it good. I have been going through TSA security 3 to 4 times, every three weeks for the better part of the last 10 years. One of my bags I flew with was a regular range bag for me. I guarantee it had more gunpowder residue then your pelican case does. They never looked at it twice. Hunters fly in and out of Alaska all the time with gear that has had rifles fired near or on, bullets reloaded near and powder carried in. They travel through security all the time. If you are worried about it throw it in your checked bag.
By the way, I do not recommend flying with your range bag. Guaranteed you will forget to thoroughly check it one time and then you will be explaining why you are trying to go through security with bullets in your carry on. Never happened to me but it did to several people I worked with. One lost his job because he was put on the no-fly list after his second time being caught with bullets in his carry on.
I saw a dude get detained in the Singapore airport for stopping off on a layover on his way back to Australia from vacation in Africa. Apparently he'd picked a crusty old rifle round on a WW2 battlefield, put it in his camera case to keep, and tried to get through C&I in Singapore with "live" ammunition (it was an unfired round that had been buried for ~70 years, clearly not a fresh round to be fired). I was in the "passport problems" line with him (for other reasons), so I got the whole story while we waited. They sent his wife to a hotel to wait, since apparently it was going to take a while to get cleared. I was cleared and moved on as he was being taken away. You definitely want to be careful about flying with bags you may or may not have remembered to empty out before taking them to the airport!
