Can a Long Weapon Case order drop below 100?

Answer: Press time does not shrink, so 100 is sample pricing. Run the first 150 on an existing tool with new foam.

Outright tooling or amortised?

Answer: Frozen spec and one plant, buy it. Still comparing, amortise and accept that a stopped run refunds nothing.

Why quote a Long Weapon Case on interior size?

Answer: Clear interior decides what fits; outer length only changes how many ship per load.

Answer: Only with a tool in hand, a foam die and hardware in stock. Miss one and reject rate pays for it.

What payment terms are fair?

Answer: Thirty, sixty and ten after acceptance. A plant asking full prepayment rarely has room for rework.

Who pays when the first batch fails?

Answer: The release clause. Supplier covers rework and freight; a drawing change moves both to the buyer.

Minus 25°C, 2,000 km: How to Buy a Long Weapon Case

Quick answer: A Long Weapon Case is priced only after interior length, wall, loaded weight and cold exposure are written as numbers. Quantity follows press tonnage and lead time splits into four legs.

A Long Weapon Case Quote Starts With the Load Sheet
MOQ Is Set by Press Tonnage
Tooling Ownership and Sampling Fees
Split Lead Time Into Four Legs
Where a Quote Hides Money
Factory Audit and First-Batch Release
FAQ

1. A Long Weapon Case Quote Starts With the Load Sheet

In November a dealer moved 40 cases 2,000 km by road, parked overnight, and read -25°C at dawn. The enquiry said interior 1,200 mm, thicker wall. Quoted as written, plants fall back on stock tooling; the first change costs 42,000 yuan.

Loading method is the line nobody writes down.

Interior length is not outer minus wall thickness; ribs and corner blocks eat 80 to 120 mm.

Field	Written as	Needed
Interior	1,200 case	1,180 mm clear
Wall	Thicker	4.5 mm, ±0.3
Weight	Light	21 kg with foam
Cold	Winter proof	-25°C, 1.2 m drop

One blank row returns as an argument eight weeks later.

2. MOQ Is Set by Press Tonnage

Order quantity is arithmetic. A 1,180 mm interior lands on a 1,250 tonne single-cavity press, and a shot runs 38 minutes through heat, rock, cool and demould.

Long Weapon Case procurement: two grey rotomoulded cases in a white van body, front one strapped through a floor ring, wall rails behind

Two shifts give 24 pieces a day, so 320 pieces eat seven shifts. That is the line you cannot argue past.

Cavity count: a second cavity adds 60,000 yuan and cuts machine time a third, but forces one colour.
Colour: dark to light needs a purge, 40 minutes still billed, runs from 200.
Foam: die-cut sets start at 300; below that they are hand cut, 9 yuan more.
Packing: 20 cases to a crate, a partial crate bills as full.

3. Tooling Ownership and Sampling Fees

Tooling gets negotiated three times: who pays, how it is amortised, when title moves.

Structure	Ownership	Clause to insist on
Outright	Buyer pays 42,000 yuan	Tool and drawings within 30 days
Amortised	14 yuan a case, title after 3,000	Counted by shipped pieces, no refund if the run stops
Supplier holds	No fee, no rival supply	Written exclusivity and penalty

Sampling sits outside: 1,800 yuan for the first sample with one design change, 600 a round after, refunded past 500 pieces.

Most plants will not refund it, so a clean rule beats a discount.

4. Split Lead Time Into Four Legs

One total number hands all the risk to the buyer. For a Long Weapon Case: 8 working days for samples, 26 for tooling, 18 for production, 31 on the water.

Long Weapon Case procurement: close-up of a dark blue case latch, two black catches closed, fine grain along the lid seam, airport seating behind

Payment mirrors it: 30% deposit, 60% against the bill copy, 10% after acceptance.

Of the 26 tooling days only 18 involve machining; the rest is steel and heat treatment. Production is not flat: three days of setup, twelve at rate, three waiting for foam and hardware. Freight at 31 days averages East China to Hamburg, and peak season adds seven to ten. Quote a landing date on 31 and you have written a penalty clause. Splitting the quote settles blame by leg, not temper.

5. Where a Quote Hides Money

Same mould, same drawing, and two quotes for one Long Weapon Case differ by 18%.

Foam inside the price or billed at 15 yuan a set later.
Trial resin: first-off tuning burns 60 to 80 kg, charged at material rates.
Packing: carton, barrier, crate. Drop one and a humid route returns rust.
Inspection: escort and repacking, 240 yuan an hour.

Put those four on an annex; it beats shaving 5 yuan off the price.

6. Factory Audit and First-Batch Release

An audit checks three things: press tonnage against tool number, foam cut in house, hardware with incoming records.

Release rests on eight cases frozen at -25°C, dropped from 1.2 m without cracking, latch force at 180 N, and 96 hours of salt spray with no red rust.

Fail one and the batch goes back whole.

Conclusion

Buying a Long Weapon Case is not a haggle over unit price. It is four parameters, three tooling structures, four lead-time legs and three release numbers landing on one page. The cheapest quote with a vague annex returns its savings as rework. A complete enquiry sheet is the cheapest tool the buyer owns.

This article discusses only the container (case body) side of specifications and design intent, and does not cover any handling, loading or use of the contents.