doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com USPS firearm shipping

Cameron and Chuck have it right. Cameron quotes ATF, Chuck USPS. Print those, and your counter agent should cooperate. You must declare it as a firearm.

You may also mail a gun to yourself. I did just that recently, retrieving my 'Florida gun' from my dad's house (not going to pay Florida shooting rates, screw 'em, I'll shoot at home!).

The interesting thing is that FedEx wants to rape you by insisting that firearms go by P-1 method, which is their most expensive service. There is no reason for this, other than greed. USPS Priority mail is a good bit less expensive, and guess what? It travels on a FedEx airplane!

What you MUST make clear to USPS is that you are shipping a long gun to an FFL holder. What you cannot do is ship a long gun to a non-FFL. A non FFL holder I believe cannot ship a handgun but can ship a long gun.
I always have a copy of the FFL I am shipping to with me at time of shipment, inform the Postal Employee what I am shipping and its condition, unloaded. I would not ship a firearm or any part without following procedure by not informing USPS.
As a private party, I have shipped and recieved back many long guns with no problems using USPS.
BTW, if the Insured value is greater than $10K, it goes Registered Mail.-Dick

You should have no problem shipping a long gun through USPS to a FFL.It is probably the cheapest way to do it as well.
However, it has alway been my understanding that it is required that you inform the shipper,both USPS and common carrier that it is a gun.Some will argue that is only for unlicensed individuals not FFL holders.
Here is a link that sums up ther different methods pretty good for the very confusing shipping rules;
http://www.thegunzone.com/ship-guns.html

Dick_dup1 wrote "What you cannot do is ship a long gun to a non-FFL."

You can ship a long gun to someone in your state who does not hold an FFL.

Best,

Mike

"11.4 Legal Opinions on Mailing Firearms
Postmasters are not authorized to give opinions on the legality of any shipment of rifles or shotguns. Contact the nearest office of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms for further advice"

http://pe.usps.com/text/dmm300/601.htm#wp1103548

Many thanks for your assistance. I truly appreciate the time you each took to respond.

If there is another office nearby, try there before jumping through any hoops. I ship or recieve guns most weeks of the year-almost exclusively through the USPS. Only had a problem with an employee balking 2 times. Once they finally figured out it was OK, and the other guy had his heels so dug in I knew it was pointless. I just went home a different way and stopped by a different offie. The took it without incident.

Even though you are having a sour experience right now, I would suggest you stick with the USPS. I have had trouble with all of the carriers, but the Post Office has been overwhelmingly the best. As a rule, the employees are nicer and more informed, and if there is a claim they will pay the insurance. UPS insurance may be cheaper, but try and get them to pay a penny and then tell me how much it is worth.

my experience echoes Marks, I use USPS as much as possible.
Steve

Depends on who's the boss of the day.
...and if you live in a chic part of towne.
These Gov't people don't want to sign-off on anything.
My place doesn't want to ship a fruitcake with out inspecting it first.

I've recovered a couple claims from UPS. Neither was a big ordeal to collect. But they consistantly are the hardest on packages of the big 3.