Mailing a firearm

Moose67

Private
Full Member
Minuteman
Apr 17, 2014
39
0
Chandler, OK
So there may be a better place to pos this but I think it falls under the "stupid question" category!

Anyways. If bought a gun from a private party, can I ship it to a gunsmith for a rebarrel and can they ship it back to me without an FFL middle man?

Thanks in advance!
 
Here are a couple stupid questions that need to be answered before anyone can give you a good answer:
Hand gun or long gun?
Are you limiting the question to "mailing" through the United States Postal Service?
 
I figured a rebarrel was going to be long gun but I suppose its possible it could have referred to a revolver or something as well.

Anyways, here is a summary of my experiences with the different carriers:

USPS - If you have someone who knows what they are doing, this is the cheapest way to ship by far and their expedited services are nice and fast. Most times you will go there and their immediate answer is "we can't ship that". Look up the rules on their website and you will see that an individual can ship a LONG GUN ONLY to a receiving FFL. They will NOT ship a handgun for a private individual without a FFL.

UPS - Very easy to work with. Bring a copy of the FFL that this is going to and present it to them with your ID. All you need to write in the description is "LONG GUN GOING TO FFL, NO AMMO INSIDE" (pistols have to be overnighted and is quite expensive). They might revise it a bit to say something like "adult signature required upon arrival". Probably the most costly option but I think they have the nicest tracking. Most gunsmiths I have dealt with use Fedex or USPS because of ease of return shipping. Never had an issue with them losing a package, closest call was sending a package from me (in MIchigan) to Seattle, WA when it was supposed to be going to California...oops. Only downside is don't expect them to pay out on their insurance, you are almost better off not paying the extra. With all that said, I use them most because of their location relative to my work. You HAVE to ship from one of their customer centers or whatever they call them, not a drop location or store.

Fedex - From what I have seen with them (or at least the ones around me), they are the carrier with the least questions asked. They used to not even ask me for a copy of the FFL, just a verbal recognition that it is going to a FFL. Middle of the road prices and decently fast services.

Anyone of them can do it for you, Fedex or UPS usually have more competent people behind the desk than USPS.
 
why exactly do they need to be declared a firearm? usps asks their usual questions of fragile, liquid, hazardous yada yada. i say no. ship it to the ffl fully insured and go on. whats the big deal
 
Yea you probably don't need to even tell them it is a firearm as long as there is no ammo in the case making it "hazardous". Sometimes when you put insurance on the package then that is when they will ask what is inside.
 
USPS, you have to declare it. FEDERAL LAW (CFR27, sec.478.31(a)) also requires that firearms be declared when using a common carrier (e.g. FedEx, UPS, et.al.)

Also, both UPS and FedEx ("common carriers") require one-day shipping by their own rules, and USPS requires shipping by Priority Mail Express (“signature required” must be used at delivery) or Registered Mail.
 
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I have shipped rifles several times by UPS and once by FedEx. Neither of them required that it be sent by one-day shipping. UPS was always easy to deal with. I just declared that there was a rifle in the box and they asked if any ammo was in there with it. No other questions asked. At my local FedEx shipping center, I had a bit of a hassle with shipping a rifle. The guy working the counter tried to tell me that FedEx couldn't ship firearms. The rifle was being returned to CZ for a recall and CZ had actually issued me the shipping label, so I knew FedEx could ship it. He made me leave my phone number saying, " My boss really hates guns, so I don't think he'll want that in here. He'll probably want to call you to come pick it up when he gets back". I never heard from them and the rifle made it safely back to CZ. However, I'll use UPS if I ever need to ship another rifle.
 
I've only ever mailed one. It was to get blueprinted and rebarreled. I could not ship from UPS. I first tried a local UPS store and they couldn't do it but helped me box it up there. I'm in a rural area and the nearest "hub" is about an hour away. I took off from work early to get there in the 1.5 hours they are open a day and just for them to tell me they could not take guns over the counter. Tried calling FedEx and they said I had to have an FFL to start the shipment or have the receiving FFL print a shipping label for me. As a last resort I went to the post office. When I inquired about it they said I had to declare and either sign an affidavit affirming it was going to an FFL or bring in a copy of their license. I did have to unpack it there so they could visual assure it was unloaded and ship it overnight (I could be remembering that wrong but shipping was like 75 dollars). All in all though the post office was by far the easier place to work with and really the only one I could get to do it. I was really aggravated with the whole ordeal and honestly I wouldn't have done it if I had already bought a can and needed a threaded barrel in the first place.
 

It is interesting that they only specifically say you need to declare handguns. CFR27, sec.478.31(a) makes no such distinction, and requires that all firearms be declared.

Also interesting is that they mention one-day shipping only for handguns. Perhaps they dropped the one-day shipping requirement for long arms. That would be great!