Gunsmithing Shipping Your Gun

BearNaked

BearNaked

Beer Saved The World
Full Member
Minuteman
Feb 13, 2017
609
217
Texas
#1
What is the best way to ship your rifle to a smith?

i was thinking of putting it into my pelican case and then putting that into a box that fit it.

It would be heavy to ship but at least it would be protected. i am taking the optic off before shipping it.
 
#2
I use a hard Plano case taped shut with shipping instructions taped to it just in case the outer wrapper gets ripped off, then i wrap it in cardboard, then cover the cardboard in fiberglass shipping tape. I then insure it out the wazoo and 2nd day air it. And i try to never ship around Christmas.
 
#3
The best bet is to talk with the gunsmith, they will give you pretty good direction on the best methods. Some will tell you not to ship in a case so they don't have to keep up with it, other will tell you to ship it as your heart desires.
 
#7
I contacted the smith and they said to use a soft shotgun case without all the accessories (scope, lights, etc) and then pad the shit out of it in a card board box to insure that it doesnt move around during shipment.
 
#8
Some times your damned if you do and damned if you don't!
years ago i sent a Remington Rolling block off to have the barrel blued and some action work done on it. I spent a day building a plywood box around a soft gun case to ship it in. It made it to the smith just fine, and he shipped it back to me in the same fashion. When i unpacked the rifle there was a big shiny gouge in the freshly crowned and blued muzzle! I found one of the screws that i used to secure the lid to the box had migrated its way into the soft gun case when the rifle was unpacked at the smiths. When they slid the rifle back into the soft case it ended up rubbing against the crown the whole trip back to me.
 
#10
I've shipped mine in a pelican box with zip ties to keep it shut. I usually ship via FedEx to the smith I was using because it was cheaper and closer to my house. He'd shipped them to me the same way. Never had an issue with damage.
 
#11
BearNaked said:
I contacted the smith and they said to use a soft shotgun case without all the accessories (scope, lights, etc) and then pad the shit out of it in a card board box to insure that it doesnt move around during shipment.
Click to expand...

^This. Just sent another rifle of to my smith a few weeks ago and that's exactly how I did it. That's always how I do it and it works fine.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
#12
UPS ONLY for me! They don't give you the 9th degree. Hard case, optics removed. Typed up word document stating what you want done (be very specific). I always include my name, phone number and return address on letter as well as making a reference to model of gun and serial number on letter for no confusion and ask smith to call if anything comes up that might be an issue so we can discuss. Insure the hell out of it and don't ship around holiday times! Never had a problem with UPS. Very friendly and my returned gun boxes don't appear that they were handled by a warehouse full of gorillas!
 
#16
GottMitUns said:
I use a hard Plano case taped shut with shipping instructions taped to it just in case the outer wrapper gets ripped off, then i wrap it in cardboard, then cover the cardboard in fiberglass shipping tape. I then insure it out the wazoo and 2nd day air it. And i try to never ship around Christmas.
Click to expand...

What is the thinking with shipping it 2nd Day Air? Just less time in transit to get damaged? I only ship Ground - otherwise, you can top $100 in shipping in a hurry.
 
#17
CMH said:
What is the thinking with shipping it 2nd Day Air? Just less time in transit to get damaged? I only ship Ground - otherwise, you can top $100 in shipping in a hurry.
Click to expand...

^^^ that is what i was starting to get worried about. granted, look at how much i have in the rifle and it starts to be a smarter choice. the less idiots touch it the less of a chance it has to be damaged.
 
#18
Interestingly, 478.31 prohibits any label indicating there is a firearm inside when shipping via common carrier- but I often receive firearms in the hard cases...guess a gun case, doesn't make it obvious there's a firearm inside? Just sent custom rifle back to the customer in a Pelican case, the tab was somewhere north of sixty bucks.

Both USPS and the common carriers are equally destructive IMO. The boxes/cases get thrown around, they're run/sorted on conveyors and shit happens. I had a barreled action in a heavy cardboard shipping tube delivered a few days ago by UPS and the tube was smashed in the middle (they made an attempt to tape it up) and one end was completely trashed and unraveled. Inspected it best I could...my UPS driver told me it's the conveyor system, they drop down chutes and can get stuck and smashed by an automated arm that's supposed to shove them forward.

My recommendation is to package well- the Pelican is great if you don't mind the weight/cost; and you can secure them (like the Plano cases) with zip ties to make it a little tougher to get into them. I always recommend double boxing if possible.

 
#19
BearNaked said:
^^^ that is what i was starting to get worried about. granted, look at how much i have in the rifle and it starts to be a smarter choice. the less idiots touch it the less of a chance it has to be damaged.
Click to expand...

The reason I ship 2nd day air is to keep the time in transit to a minimum, less time for damage.

The reason i insure for a high value is that it makes a supervisor sign off on the package at each UPS location the box goes thru. I was told once that insurance clams are paid out of employees profit shearing but i don't know if that is true or not.

I try not to ship around the holidays because of the volume going thru UPS and the part time help they use to move that volume at that time of year.

 
#22
Just shipped with UPS in cardboard box with foam strapped and tapped. Note with information in plastic ziploc bag wrapped around rifle and taped. All went smooth no issues received tracing info. Gunsmith received in a few days.
 
#23
I use US Postal Service Priority Mail for the bulk of our shipping requirements. It's proven to be very reliable and you do not have to put up with behind the counter bullshit with regards to someone's personal agenda. It is perfectly legal for a private citizen to ship a firearm (rifle/shotgun, -pistols are a little different) across state lines and not have to provide any sort of additional documentation.

The only requirement is that the transaction has an FFL present in some capacity. Either coming or going. That is a BATF thing, the USPS aren't the police. If you get friction, you demand to speak with the Post Master and you have your poop in a group. Educate yourself!

The DMM Revision 603 covers this.

A little known fact about USPS Priority Mail. It's actually FED EX for the bulk of the commute. USPS subs the work to them. USPS handles the parcel up to the regional disbursing office, then FED EX takes over. It's delivered to the next area where USPS again takes control.

IF you ever ship a gun via USPS and it goes MIA, contact the Fed Ex hub in Memphis, TN and be a persistent shit head until you get someone to go into the cage and physically look for the item. This happened once about 5 years ago. The label was torn off the box somehow. KNOW YOUR SERIAL NUMBER as it will be asked. They WILL breach the seal and verify the contents. It's a good idea to package things well, but know that when looking for shit they won't be nice. Making the SN easy to find works in your interest.

This is a very rare occurrence. It happened to us once as stated. I spend close to $35K annually on shipping. That's a whole lot ah' stuff...

UPS can suck a dick far as I'm concerned. We use them only as an absolute last resort. I've had terrible experience with them over the last 20 years.

Good luck, hope this helps.
 
#24
hoguer said:
Amazon Plano PillarLoc case, comes to your door for $25 if you have Prime, and it's in a fresh new cardboard box. It's the only way I ship rifles that I sell and I have yet to find a better way.
Click to expand...

Stealing this idea!

ive always had to construct my box to go over my Plano cases I ship them in.
 
#25
OH58DViper said:
Stealing this idea!

ive always had to construct my box to go over my Plano cases I ship them in.
Click to expand...

just be aware the amazon doesnt always use the best boxes but a little duct tape will fix it. the case is nice for what i am using it for. i took a marker and wrote my return address on the outside of the case just in the chance the box is torn and the case falls out.
 
#26
BearNaked said:
just be aware the amazon doesnt always use the best boxes but a little duct tape will fix it. the case is nice for what i am using it for. i took a marker and wrote my return address on the outside of the case just in the chance the box is torn and the case falls out.
Click to expand...

Yeah I usually place a taped placard on the Plano itself and tape the box like I don't want any cardboard showing. I bet gunsmith hate getting my boxes ha.
 
#27
hoguer said:
Amazon Plano PillarLoc case, comes to your door for $25 if you have Prime, and it's in a fresh new cardboard box. It's the only way I ship rifles that I sell and I have yet to find a better way.
Click to expand...

Man! I just paid $30 at Cabelas for that and I didn't even have to leave the house for the Amazon one!!!
 
#28
USPS here

And to add on to LRI comment, I flat HAD IT OUT with my local post master. She refused to ship ANY firearms, and several people here locally think you can't ship them after talking to her. I literally spent two hours in a closed office with her before she shipped my first one. Since then, the postal tellers have learned who I am, and literally the post master now says "he can do whatever he wants" but she tries to object to people shipping from there. She even tried telling me "look it says right here you can't ship a short barrel rifle" apparently my 18" AR looked short to her.

Pelican case

No cardboard, I leave it so they can use the handles. No markings on the outside of the case. My old case had "long range imagery equipment within" on it though... I thought it was funny

Cut resistant style combination locks
https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00H...0_1?ie=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=T1JDCH8WAE631WJJ65HS

I send the Smith a message with my combination to the locks, and my contact info is on the pelican case plates. And I tape the to/from labels right to the box with packaging tape to laminate it to the case

They wrap around the case with "priority" tape as well

I have two out right now, just over $90 to ship them across the country with little under $3k in insurance
 
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