TSA gun powder residue

can i shoot my gun the same day as flying on a plane and not get in trouble

  • yes

    Votes: 18 81.8%

  • no

    Votes: 4 18.2%
  • Total voters
    22
  • Poll closed .
K

Killabee-23

New member
i am going to vegas on jan 7th with my wife to see her parents. And i haven't flown since they have put in all those new machines in. i shoot my guns about every other day and since i can't bring my gun there i was wondering if i go shooting early in the day and then go to the airport will they be able to see gun shot residue on my hands? and if so will this get me into trouble? i would really like to know the answer to this I'm very curious thanks
 
The companies that make the detectors advertise sensitivity to TNT, RDX, PETN, HMX, Semtex, Tetryl, C4, PE -4, COMP B & ANFO. Brian probably can't confirm or deny, but that's what they're selling. You can do the math.
 
thanks

thanks i appreciate it. i didn't think it would be a big deal but i was just curious because i heard somebody say that if you have shot a gun within the last 24 hours that they can tell and it looks suspicious. lol
 
Well I probably wouldn't go through security with my hands black from powder residue. Otherwise, wash your hands and change clothes maybe. If you get flagged for a pat down, close you eyes and try to enjoy it.
 
There are hundreds, if not thousands, of competitors that fly all over the country to shoot major matches. Many leave the range after 2 or 3 days of shooting and go straight to the airport. I have yet to hear of gun powder residue being an issue.

Now a round or spent case in a pocket and many other "possible" mistakes one could make under those conditions, I hear of regularly. However, other than missing a flight or the stress of being detained and questioned, I have yet to hear of a competitor actually being charged in any of these cases. Even two cases last year of loaded carry guns in backpacks, neither was charged.
 
I flew for work a lot as a photographer. My Camera Gadget bad doubled as my range bag for quite a while.
My leather bomber jacket was my usual range attire as well.
At one point I photographed artillery & machine giun fire for a client & flew home the same evening, wearing the same clothes, carrying the same bag.

Nothing happened.
 
Personally, I keep travel and range bags completely separate. No risk of ammo or guns in my travel luggage.

Then there's the matter of residue, but as others have said the powder residue isn't much of an issue. IMO, lead dust is. As a matter of health, it's best to at the very least wash your hands well after a range visit. I like to even shower and change clothes too- that way there's nothing on my person that could be a problem.
 
Killabee-23 said:
i am going to vegas on jan 7th with my wife to see her parents. And i haven't flown since they have put in all those new machines in. i shoot my guns about every other day and since i can't bring my gun there i was wondering if i go shooting early in the day and then go to the airport will they be able to see gun shot residue on my hands? and if so will this get me into trouble? i would really like to know the answer to this I'm very curious thanks
Click to expand...
I don't think it will be a problem. Just when you get home from shooting make sure to wash your hands like you should do after you shoot or handle your guns or ammo. That should get rid of most if not all of the gunpowder residue. Have a safe trip.
 
The machines are not infallible, nor are the people manning them.

Granted, it was before today's current level of paranoia, but I used to work in a very paranoid place (nuclear fuel reprocessing) which had x-ray machine, metal detectors and a bomb sniffer. The first few days, the sniffer alarmed on nearly everything. Then the sensitivity was adjusted, so that didn't happen.

Went shooting, had visible powder residue on my hands, no alarm
filled the lawn mower before leaving for work, smelled of gas, no alarm.

Typically, the residue level from shooting will not set off alarms, BUT, if it does, so what? As long as you don't have anything on their prohibited list, the most that can happen is some under informed zealot wastes your time.

There are lots of common items that contain the same base chemicals as explosives, but are not explosives.
 
Killabee-23 said:
i heard somebody say that if you have shot a gun within the last 24 hours that they can tell and it looks suspicious. lol
Click to expand...

They don't check and don't care.

You'll hear all kinds of things about what "they" do and look for and detect and who knows what, from supposed body cavity searches to inquiries about sexual activity and god knows what else.... but you'll never see any evidence for any of it.
 
There are lots of common items that contain the same base chemicals as explosives, but are not explosives.
Click to expand...
True, I'd forgotten that.

We flew to Mystic Connecticut to decommission a large photo-processing facility. The decommissioning involved breaking down film & paper processors containing hundreds of gallons of chemistry, much of which is rich in EDTA. By the end of the 2 weeks we were saturated with EDTA as were all our clothes & luggage.

Nothing happened.

Much scarier is the fact that I used to carry 2 large(ish) boxes that contained 510volt high speed strobe batteries. They were big boxes worn on a belt, very obvious. We used to wear them to security & drop them into the bin for X-ray checking & they always went through without a word. I once saw the x-ray image. I've never seen anything that looked quite so much like a TV thriller "bomb". Mysterious electronics, dark scary looking cylinders & even those "must have" curly bomb wires.
I got more problems when a co-worker stuffed my suitcase with folded rubber chickens that sprang out all over the place one time!:eek:
 
For a long time I used one of the classic curved lid (where the thermos goes) lunch buckets. For years I had a box in there (actually the box from and RCBS Powder Trickler), that I put my change in (for the vending machines).

ONE time, after it went through the x-ray machine, the guard asked me to open it up, and open the box. He looked inside, them smiled, and motioned me to follow him.

He took me to a side window of the guard post, where I could see the screen from the x-ray machine. Inside that box was the blurry outline of a semi auto pistol, you could see the grip shape, the "slide" and even the trigger guard.

It was all coins, that just happened to lay in that pattern, that one time.

We all had a good laugh over it.
 
There is some chance that something will get picked up.
My range bag caught it once, as did my flight helmet bag (jet fuel?)

They simply take the bag/article aside and do a quick test. It takes less than a minute.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top