Americase AT-3GUN Safari Case Special Run For AfricaHunting.com

[Badjer]

I'm in and have no problem paying in advance

 

[Buck51]

I will take one.

 

[spike.t]

I’m sure we could get it shipped to a US address so you could “walk it home” on your next trip if you need one @spike.t . Let me get the facts posted in the next day on here and then you can decide.

Looks like have a plan to get one brought here

 

[Nevada Mike]

Rookhawk,

What is the status of this deal? Any news on price/delivery?

Mike

 

[Lone Star Bluegrass]

Friends,

I called my old contacts at Americase and had a lengthy discussion about a special one-time run of the very best safari rifle case ever made, the AT-3GUN rolling gun case. This case is designed to handle three unscoped magnum rifles and still come in under 70lbs, or hold two rifles and shooting sticks and come in under the coach 50lb limit. They feature bungee tie downs so you can strap your overweight carry-on bag on top with a baggage shelf to roll through the airports. When you get to Africa, they put them directly under the high seat in the back of the cruiser and the guys all stand on them all day without crushing your guns! I believe the empty weight of the case was 31lbs which has been sufficient for me to get a 470 double rifle and a 375HH, plus sticks in it and land under 50lbs every time. Of course, they can accommodate scoped rifles as well but its sort of at your own risk if you let baggage handlers throw around your optics so that's why I always use QD mounts

Americase has agreed to do a run for me. They are getting a quote for the aluminum at present and will offer a quotation based on me "holding the bag" for full payment at either quantity 10 or quantity 25. They will drop-ship the product directly from the Texas manufacturer to anyone in the lower-48 States with freight at actual cost.

I'll have Americase's quote by EOD.

The challenges of making this a go as I see it are as follows:

1.) I'm the bag man and need to front a substantial sum of money, I'll need to figure out how to obtain and coordinate all payments without getting burned on cancellations, etc.

2.) I need to coordinate with @AfricaHunting.com to determine if AH needs to be compensated with a cut to offer this to the members here.

3.) I need to determine how I will handle the variable costs of shipping per-buyer based on destination zip code.

This would be a labor of love for the group as the logistics of doing it and the financial peril for me to do the order. I'll try to figure out the answers to 1-2-3 above and I'll estimate costs to you shortly. Americase stated they'll have the quote to me by EOD.

If anyone would like to ask questions or express interest and quantity desired, please feel free to write below. While I don't have a way to predict costs until I get the quote, the price of aluminum has skyrocketed so its safe to assume these are in that ~$500 range each plus freight to your door.

Regards,

Rookhawk


View attachment 475086

What’d they quote?

 

[Tanks]

You guys realize that he made the post only two days ago, right?

 

[Lone Star Bluegrass]

You guys realize that he made the post only two days ago, right?

He said Americase would quote by EOD (end of day, for those of you in Rio Linda).

 

[rookhawk]

He said Americase would quote by EOD (end of day, for those of you in Rio Linda).

Hi guys. Americase stated they would have pricing by end of day. (2 days ago) They then wrote back and stated they’d have it by after lunch. (Yesterday) Then last night they stated they are struggling to get material records and historic pricing to which I forwarded them past invoices to jog their memory. (Last night)

I still wait impatiently for firm pricing and lead time from them. I’ll report the info to the group as soon as its received. Sorry for the delays!

 

[Lone Star Bluegrass]

Hi guys. Americase stated they would have pricing by end of day. (2 days ago) They then wrote back and stated they’d have it by after lunch. (Yesterday) Then last night they stated they are struggling to get material records and historic pricing to which I forwarded them past invoices to jog their memory. (Last night)

I still wait impatiently for firm pricing and lead time from them. I’ll report the info to the group as soon as its received. Sorry for the delays!

Thank you for running these traps, what would they do without you!?!

 

[rookhawk]

Well, I just got the quote and about threw up. I wrote them back a polite “are you kidding me?” Email to ask if they’d like to sharpen their pencil.

The price about 3 years ago before they deeply discounted and liquidated, landed, was around $440. The price at volume they quoted me was going to be close to $1100 per unit, landed. I need to add to that amount the cost of donating one to AfricaHunting.com per their request.

If they do not come back correcting their prices, I’d say this is an abort mission. I do not think the members are going to be interested in $1200 gun cases. Stay tuned.

 

[Lee in Texas]

Yikes.

 

[rookhawk]

Postscript: Called and had a phone conversation. They didn’t even look at prior costs before they sent out the laughable quote. They are going to speak to the owners and see if they can “get real”. I also proposed a solution to leave me out of being a middle-man. They are going to see if they can just offer a one-time purchase offer where anyone that wants one can provide payment plus actual shipping as a group order directly with them, leaving me out of the unenviable task of calculating shipping charges, dealing with the public, and collecting all payments, all at no markup from me. This would be better for everyone.

The specs I suggested for this custom run are as follows: Add spare removable foam so double rifles and shotguns are better secured. Do not pop-rivet on the Americase badges so they can be engraved with owner info if they wish and self-installed.

I’ll update when they reply.

 

[Aaron N]

If there’s 20+ interested from here alone, you’d think that would be enough incentive for them to do a run of 100 or so.

 

[rookhawk]

If there’s 20+ interested from here alone, you’d think that would be enough incentive for them to do a run of 100 or so.

Honestly, @Aaron N that’s exactly why they got out of making gun cases altogether. They had 100 SKUs and were holding undesirable inventory for years on their shelves. This waste of labor, materials, and warehousing space made them negative-profit for the firm. In my opinion, they made a poor business decision to “exit” the gun case space as a response.

The correct options to become profitable should have been to cut their SKUs down to 3-4 Best sellers. They could also have increased lead times until they had sufficient demand to justify doing a large run of a select few cases.

So they are willing now to do runs of any large order just as is the case when a rock band asks for 50 roadie cases or an airline asks for 200 cargo containers. What they won’t do is do an overrun that requires them to stock inventory and then market and sell stock on hand. (They deleted their firearm and bow case section from their website to avoid this)

If they can bend the cost curve down acceptably, the wise thing to do is to have a deadline whether 2 weeks or 30 days for anyone that wants to buy to contact them and provide payment plus actual freight. At the end of the order window, they fabricate and fulfill and they’ve avoided all the woes that led them to end making these cases in the first place.

 

[slam8031]

Thanks for working n all this! Above and beyond Sir!

 

[Badjer]

Sounds to me like they don't want to do it and are pricing accordingly. Thank you for your efforts on this RH.

 

[VertigoBE]

Sounds to me like they don't want to do it and are pricing accordingly. Thank you for your efforts on this RH.

In negotiations it’s never over until you get a firm no. Once they realise there is some money to be made, they will turn around.

 

[rookhawk]

What’s the benefit of this case over a high end pelican that can handle a rifle with a scope with ease?

I'll let you stand and jump on my americase if I can do the same to your pelican. Then we can see which gun survived.

Then we can operate the hinges together, say 1000 times. The aluminum piano hinge on an americase will be perfectly operational. The pelican case which has a hinge of injection molded plastic wherein a nail serves as the hinge will eventually yield, bend, or fall out.

Then off to the baggage conveyor test. Both cases get stuck on a conveyor belt at the airport. By the time the baggage savages discover this 5 minutes later we can inspect the effective damage that occurred by creating the world's largest belt sander. The americase will have rubber burns on the aluminum that can be removed with acetone, whereas the pelican case will have lost a considerable amount of plastic.

Then we can go to the cruiser test. Inevitably after an animal is loaded in the back of the cruiser the rifle case finds its way under the high seat's feet. So we can take 3-4 African trackers and have them stand on both cases while jostling through potholes and washouts for a few hours. Whereas the plastic pelican yielded and bounced under the weight of 500lbs or more of men, the welded 10 gauge aluminum case maintained its unyielding resolve.

Proof is sort of in the pudding, if resin based cases were the most durable and longest lasting solution for air cargo then the airlines would all be using cargo containers made of resin. But they don't, they use welded aluminum. Same for rock bands moving stage and sound equipment from venue to venue.

I have several pelican cases and they have their place, as do SKB alternatives. But after 10 years of use, my pelican ammo case is literally 3/8" smaller in all dimensions from airline wear eating away at the plastic and the lock holes are all stretched with the metal clips having long since failed and fallen out. They are a lower quality product at a lesser pricepoint. But hey, for a $109 a pelican Vault V700 is a heck of a bowcase compared to an aluminum alternative for a grand, even if its useful life is considerably shorter.

 

[D-Orcutt]

I'll let you stand and jump on my americase if I can do the same to your pelican. Then we can see which gun survived.

Then we can operate the hinges together, say 1000 times. The aluminum piano hinge on an americase will be perfectly operational. The pelican case which has a hinge of injection molded plastic wherein a nail serves as the hinge will eventually yield, bend, or fall out.

Then off to the baggage conveyor test. Both cases get stuck on a conveyor belt at the airport. By the time the baggage savages discover this 5 minutes later we can inspect the effective damage that occurred by creating the world's largest belt sander. The americase will have rubber burns on the aluminum that can be removed with acetone, whereas the pelican case will have lost a considerable amount of plastic.

Then we can go to the cruiser test. Inevitably after an animal is loaded in the back of the cruiser the rifle case finds its way under the high seat's feet. So we can take 3-4 African trackers and have them stand on both cases while jostling through potholes and washouts for a few hours. Whereas the plastic pelican yielded and bounced under the weight of 500lbs or more of men, the welded 10 gauge aluminum case maintained its unyielding resolve.

Proof is sort of in the pudding, if resin based cases were the most durable and longest lasting solution for air cargo then the airlines would all be using cargo containers made of resin. But they don't, they use welded aluminum. Same for rock bands moving stage and sound equipment from venue to venue.

I have several pelican cases and they have their place, as do SKB alternatives. But after 10 years of use, my pelican ammo case is literally 3/8" smaller in all dimensions from airline wear eating away at the plastic and the lock holes are all stretched with the metal clips having long since failed and fallen out. They are a lower quality product at a lesser pricepoint. But hey, for a $109 a pelican Vault V700 is a heck of a bowcase compared to an aluminum alternative for a grand, even if its useful life is considerably shorter.

I guess it’s all perceptive I’m sure the guns that you haul in your case are worth more than mine, I’m all about buy once cry one just have never laid hands on any case nicer than a higher end pelican, the vault is the lower end case. In the marines we used nothing but pelican but price was also an issue. I was hoping this run of cases would be in the 400-500 range and I would get one but over a thousand for a case puts it out of my justifiable price range. My only africa hunt I held my rifle the whole time unless it was locked in my case in my room maybe a old military thing

 

[thi9elsp]

I don't need the 3 gun case, but as for quality. My americase 2 gun case has been indestructible. Trips to Africa, Alaska and Wyoming have found my guns to be in fine condition. And my rifles are simple Brownings and CZs.