Airport security check

W

WE0H

New member
So I am sitting in the San Francisco International airport on my way home and get a complete security inspection. They say my carry on bag tests positive for explosives :) Cool but I don't have any ammo or even a pistol in it. The only thing that has been in that bag in the past was a few used revolvers I packed in there over the last year while driving around the country buying C&R revolvers :) Do you guys think there was powder residue that they were sniffin or what? Of course once they had my bag empty and could not find a thing, they gave up and let me load my cloths back in and go on my way :) Strange...

Mike
 
Could have been powder. There are also other things, like some kinds of lotion, that can give a false positive.
 
Sometimes it's even just something that looks weird. Once I had a little beanbag mount for a GPS in my carry on and the TSA wanted to open up the bag so they could swab the thing. I guess the material looked strange in the X-ray.

But this is one reason why I don't EVER do anything firearm related with the bags I use for airline travel. Just too much likelihood of some residue causing security delays at inopportune times (or worse, something left in the bag that should not be in there).
 
My only guess is some powder residue from one of the revolvers. Oh well, got to chat with a cool security lady for a while. My wife was flippin out though over the whole deal ;) At least my flight is running late so I was in no hurry. Can't wait to get home to run to the range :) been a while now...

Mike
 
I don;t think I own any luggage that would pass the sniff test. I used to get pulled over regularly because of the metal pin in my left arm. Since I was always going to or coming from rifle or pistol matches I was one of their favorite people.

Being in uniform didn't help so I started wearing t-shirts sweat pants and slip on canvas deck shoes, no metal on me anywhere. All luggage checked, the only thing in my hand was my ticket and wallet. If they are looking to get you they will, just roll with the punches, at least you didn't get caught wearing a NRA sticker or with a pair of knitting needles. You would still be there talking to them while the dark swarthy bearded fellows get a pass to prove we aren't racial profiling.
 
Powder residue, lotions, soaps with glycerin (ya think!), and any number of other things will set off a sniffer or swab test. Heck if you happen to break wind, it might even pick up on the methane:D
 
Imagine it would have been fun if I was at the range this morning and came strolling into the airport to go home with my powdered cloths ;) Sir your cloths test positive for explosives :( Your dang right they should :)

Mike
 
Stressfire said:
Powder residue, lotions, soaps with glycerin (ya think!), and any number of other things will set off a sniffer or swab test. Heck if you happen to break wind, it might even pick up on the methane:D
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He he, smell this ;)

I did warn them about my dirty cloths bag :)

Mike
 
Powder residue and gun powder itself will not set of the explosive machines. They're searching for high-grade explosives not gunpowder. I have tested ammunition and firearms directly and got no alarms. Tested the hands of people who had been shooting less than an hour previous.
Most alarms are "false".
They say that grandmas nitro pills will set them off but I've tested nitro pill bottles and got no alarm too, so...
 
Guess they were bored this morning :) Oh well, the plane got delayed some more so looks like I had all morning for a shake down ;)

Mike
 
Post 9.11 Im unpacking at my destination and find shotgun shells I left in there. That's pathetic on TSA. Needless to say I didn't take them back on the return flight.
 
My luggage always throws a positive, when swabbed.

I plan on being delayed, any time I fly. If I, somehow, manage to just get the quick visual search (after the positive hit), it gives me some time to do some reading before the flight.


Just another reminder from an incident I've detailed before:
Don't wrap a cell phone charger around a rifle scope in your carry-on bag...
Don't call it a "rifle scope" in a NY airport...
Don't tell them the reason you have it, is because you're on your way to hunt camels, but the rifle is at your destination (with a boarding pass for a flight to Utah)...

I wasn't thinking about what it would look like in an X-ray, and things got worse from there... :rolleyes:
I still don't know how... but I made the flight (with just seconds to spare).


The TSA agents think anything they don't like is a reason to detain you, and tell you it's illegal to take on the flight. And, since they can't take a joke... FrankenMauser + TSA = bad combination. It doesn't help, that I was investigated as a suspected domestic terrorist in October 2001 (road-raged jerk thought it would be funny to report that I was trying to blow up a dam that would flood several cities -- When the authorities took 18+ hours to locate me, it got blown out of proportion -- but it made for a fun exchange with TSA, when I had a wire-wrapped rifle scope in my bag -- or the time I had a computer in my bag, stuffed with Nintendo game cartridges -- or the time I had a full case of Big Red Gum next to bag of LEDs and resistors... ;)). Sometimes, I wonder if I am subconsciously trying to get them worked up. It is fun to watch them get anxious, though. :D
 
blume357 said:
Steel toed boots packed in your checked luggage will get it searched everytime.
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Not every time... Tons of airports don't have X-ray machines for checked baggage. The actual contents of your bag are irrelevant to the search procedure at any/all those airports.
 
Modern smokeless powder uses Nitrocellulose and Nitroglycerin as components...
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Seams like both of those would show up on a swab test. They are both fairly simple explosives to make. Particularly nitrocellulose, nitroglycerin is not hard just very low tolerance for mistakes.
 
It's not a matter of what "shows up". The machine could detect silly putty if they wanted.... It also knows the difference between nitroglycerin all by itself, or as part of dynamite, and nitroglycerin as part of gunpowder or gunpowder residue.
Trust me. The machines don't alarm for gunpowder. They don't. Really. I used to do the job.
I tested guns, gun cases, ammo, magazines, ammo boxes, hands of shooters, gun CLEANING kits.... no alarms.
Then you get an alarm for RDX on a baby rattle.
Most alarms are false and of unknown cause.
 
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