I recently bought an antigue gun from a small auction house in Wisc. Have been having trouble with the shipping. Person there says that they cannot ship it unless they break it down, according to the USPS, so they send it to a dealer who does not have to. This I do not understand. I know a conversation similar to this has been addressed here before. Is there any updates?
Tom

If it is shipped full length there is an extra charge for an oversize package plus a greater risk of breakage. Happened to me and Fedex bought the gun in the end. The auction house probably has experience with this happening and won't do it so they put it on the dealer.

Having had a gun sent assembled and it arriving with a broken stock, the auction house is doing you a big favor if you really want the gun. This assumes it can be broken down; if not, send the auction house a full length plastic gun case, foam lined. If you have Prime, it can be sent to them with no shipping charge to you for about $25 purchase price.

I make a point of asking sellers to ship a gun broken down if at all possible. Sometimes, I've had to talk them through the process of breaking the gun down for shipping. I've had a couple that were shipped full length that arrived broken through the wrist, and a couple others that survived but showed signs of very rough handling. Both of the broken guns were shipped by Fed Ex. Another consideration is that a gun that is shipped broken down probably draws less attention to what the package contains, and is less likely to be stolen during shipping.

Like Gil I've had a stock broken by USPS sent full length. Highly recommend breaking it down before shipping.

Just shipped shotgun to WI to a FFL dealer that sold on gunbroker. Sent full length in Plano case. Shipping From NC to WI USPS priority mail $500 ins cost $42.50. Arrived in 2 days in excellent condition,,

UPS charges $10 extra if the package is over 48" long. I ship a lot of guns and I take any gun down that I can. I even remove stocks on bolt guns for shipping. I ship guns in uline 40X8X8" boxes with 2 back to back triangular cardboard tubes inside. I've never had a gun damaged in this setup.

As others have pointed out shipping a gun without breaking it down has nothing to recommend it. I always add extra to my anticipated final cost to cover professional collection and shipping as needed. It doesn't have to be hard case; that reduces damage but increases theft in my opinion, but it does need to be packed by someone who knows what they're doing.
Jeremy

The problem was the legality of it not the security of the firearm. Tom

DoubleTrouble,
I have never read or heard of any such legal requirement in the USPS regulations on shipping firearms. Go to the USPS web site and pull down the shipping regulations. If necessary provide it to the person shipping the gun and have them break it down. Shipping a rifle tomorrow that can't be broken down and besides the extra cost the size of the shipping box increases the odds of damage and makes me nervous! 😥