doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com First Parker

DLFL ---- I have never had any problem shipping as I use only Registered US mail.

I also use registered mail and have only had one gun damaged none lost. Didn't have to put in a claim as the buyer said that I sold it to him so cheap he was going to pay for the stock repair out of his pocket and to forget the claim.

The sad fact is all the major carriers do a mediocre job. I have had registered packages get lost by the post office and never found. I have a nice BHE Parker 20 that needs a general internal cleanup and the only reason it stays dirty is I'm afraid to send it to DelGrego's.

I also believe most people simply fail to package a gun well enough. Multiple layers are the key. If I ever do mail a gun it will be in a length of 8" Schedule PVC pipe with additional protection inside, minimum.

That's a luvly gun. The nicest gun I have ever examined was AAHE? made by this CT outfit.

I have found that those fairly inexpensive plastic gun cases that I buy at Academy Sports work really well for shipping guns, with the guns securely wrapped in bubble wrap inside and soundly duct-taped outside around the cases. Now the cases have gotten cracked and dinged alot, but no damage to the guns at all. I have 3-4 that I keep that I can use for shipping like this. Works like a champ.

I have used this ever since a good friend of mine, and regular contributor here had a pristine, 99% Ithaca NID 20ga, beautiful gun severely damaged by the Post Office, registered mail shipping. Even though it was insured, he was not able to get the value back from the insurance or get the post office to pay the amount of damage. It was not a good situation.

Anyway, since then I am of the opinion that you cannot overkill packing your guns well enough. Greg's PVC pipe idea sounds like a good one to me under that theory.

Brad

Not to interupt this thread, but Brad, you mentioned someone had suffered damage to a gun sent via Registered USPS Mail. The part that gets me is the statment made saying that he didn't get his money back even though it was insured!

I have heard UPS, and other carriers deny their claims, but never heard of a piece of Registered USPS Mail insurance being denied. Perhaps I took your statment wrong. Please tell us more if indeed they denied his claim. Very interesting and sad indeed...

Here's the problem with insurance. Let's say you make a great deal on a $6,000 gun for $3,000 and insure it for $8,000 'just to be safe'.

The carrier (I don't care who it is) damages it - they crack the stock at the wrist. You are pissed but you still like the gun and know a guy who can fix it.

You go make your claim, and let's assume they don't contest it. Here's your choice:

They pay you $3,000 and KEEP THE GUN. This means your good deal evaporated and you are gun-less.

or

You get nothing from them and you keep the gun

They very seldom make partial claims, and they will pay you what you can prove you paid for the gun - not what you insured it for.
You might get them to do more but only after a long and protracted battle.

They do this for two reasons - first, it prevents fraud. People would otherwise insure a light bulb for $3 Million and wait for it to break. Second, they are near-criminals themselves and they know they can get away with screwing most of their customers.

I recommend Bill Alexander. Being able to deal with the smith in person would be important to me.

Yep, this is exactly what happened to my friend. He made a fantastic deal on this gun, $1500 for a $3000 gun. The seller insured it for the sale price, $1500. Then the gun was slammed muzzle-first into the ground with heavy boxes on top, compacting the long box it was in and breaking wood off the stock around the tang and receiver inletting. It can be fixed but the gun isn't original anymore at this point.

Like Greg says, the insurance would have paid only the $1500 of the purchase price AND kept the gun because it only pays what you can prove was paid for the gun. Since it was still in the 3 day waiting period, the seller kept the gun and got nothing. It was a bad deal for everyone except the shipper who didn't have to pay the insurance. I think my friend ended up buying the gun for less and having it repaired because he liked the gun and felt sorry for the seller, but all of that could have been avoided if the gun had been packaged better. Insurance might mitigate some of the loss if the gun had been completely destroyed, but it can't replace it nor does insuring it for a higher value work effectively.

Brad

Might be preaching to the choir but, whenever possible, I ship a gun broken down. A break open gets taken down, bolts and levers have the stock removed.

Less leverage and less conspicuous.