Where to buy case foam?

[Baseacegoku]

Recently came into possession of a Pelican case and need to source some foam to cut to shape for my rifle and gear. Pelican foam is pricey and I was curious to hear where yall get your foam from.

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[K-22]

Recently came into possession of a Pelican case and need to source some foam to cut to shape for my rifle and gear. Pelican foam is pricey and I was curious to hear where yall get your foam from.
[/QUOTE
Craft stores, or an upholstery shop. Craft stores B cheaper.

 

[Baseacegoku]

Craft stores, or an upholstery shop. Craft stores B cheaper.

What type do you typically purchase? High density?

 

[Member 34319]

Dumpsters of tech companies. No joke, I scored some high end foam from them a few times. They ship extremely expensive electronics then just toss the foam out.

 

[thorborg]

FYI
A serrated 8 or 10 inch Electric knife cuts most foam like magic. Not to drift your post off coarse I hope.

 

[Baseacegoku]

FYI
A serrated 8 or 10 inch Electric knife cuts most foam like magic. Not to drift your post off coarse I hope.

That was actually gonna be my next question.

 

[P7M13]

Dumpsters of tech companies. No joke, I scored some high end foam from them a few times. They ship extremely expensive electronics then just toss the foam out.

+1
Option two - the memory foam off old mattresses. No, don't use it if it's soiled.
In lieu of an electric carving knife, the ceramic blades are simply awesome on foam too.

 

[Stomper]

I ain't too proud to admit that I just scored some black high-density foam out of the dumpster behind the fab-shop of the company I work for. It'll work PERFECTLY for a couple of hard-sided pistol cases that I have.

 

[Camelfilter]

Cabelas used to have case foam at a reasonable price.

Looks as they still do:

Cabela's Armor Xtreme Double Long-Gun Replacement Foam | Cabela's

Use this Replacement Foam to update your Cabela's® Armor Xtreme double long-gun case. The foam pad is cut-to-fit. Gives you the ability to customize your Armor Xtreme gun case for various firearms...

www.cabelas.com

Mind, it's just 1 2" thick sheet, so would need another one for inside the top, or a thinner one for there.

 

[Knebel]

mycasebuilder.com

you can custom design your entire foam and have it cut. I have a coupon I'm not using if you decide to go that route!

 

[L84Cabo]

Just some general comments...

If you're going to go with foam, closed cell foam does NOT hold moisture like open celled foam does. And it's easier to cut IMO.

The thing about cutting foam, however, is that once you cut it for a specific rifle, you can't really use the case for other rifles...unless you buy additional foam sets. So some type of generic foam setup may be better.

My preference for rifle cases, however, is to skip the foam and find a soft case that will fit inside the rifle case...and especially given how much foam can cost (I'd rather spend the money on a soft case). A soft case provides ample protection, can accommodate a variety of rifles, and if you ever do travel with the case, the soft case allows you to leave the heavy hard case back at the hotel once you get to your destination. Hard cases are overkill for most situations. They're big, bulky, and heavy for most things, short of airline travel. YMMV.

 

[The Heretic]

I recommend Kaizen foam - you can buy it a number of places, including Amazon

 

[Helocat]

+1
Option two - the memory foam off old mattresses. No, don't use it if it's soiled.
In lieu of an electric carving knife, the ceramic blades are simply awesome on foam too.

Never use memory foam that has too many memory's.......

For cutting foam I have successfully used a "snap blade" box knife, since the blade can be extended for a 4" long razor. Easy to follow a sharpie traced outline in the foam doing draw cuts (pulling the knife upward slowly as you move it along the line).

This knife is $0.58 at harbor freight.

 

[6Corsa6]

Foam | Gun Case Foam | Carolina Custom Foam

Super lightweight, Incredibly Firm Foam, Replacement Gun Case Foam, Custom Cut Inlays, Soundproofing

www.carolinacustomfoam.com

That's what I used to make this

 

[Knebel]

I agree, Hardcases are a bit of a pain, I only use it for real valuable stuff. I mostly use a two rifle softcase. I have a flimsy hardcase that I throw longer guns in if I take them out.

 

[nammac]

I found Pelican case replacement foam at B&H Photo for a reasonable price. If your looking for the pre-scored foam, you'll need to do a reasonable search of the internet to ferret out the best pricing... My experience was I had to go pages deep to find what I was looking for.

If your looking just for foam, there's good advice in dumpster diving...

 

[oremike]

I bought one of those cheap closed cell Coleman sleeping pads and redid a couple motorcycle seats with it but I'd bet that would work well in a gun case. Lay one layer down cut out the second and then lay a third layer over to hold the firearm in place.

 

[P7M13]

I bought one of those cheap closed cell Coleman sleeping pads and redid a couple motorcycle seats with it but I'd bet that would work well in a gun case. Lay one layer down cut out the second and then lay a third layer over to hold the firearm in place.

These are the kind you can find at Fred's? Sleeping pads in their camping section?

 

[oremike]

Yep, I'd assume so, I got mine at Bi-Mart. They had different types of foam sleeping mats the egg shell open cell and the thinner, denser closed cell. For what I wanted to do the closed cell worked well for me.