doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com UPS Shipping of a Shotgun

Something I've started doing when I ship guns is to purchase a cheap luggage case such as a Doskocil at Walmart or such and then box it up too. I have also bought a little nicer case that will allow the gun to be taken down, since the Walmart specials are usually full-length only. I just ask the buyer to ship it back on my nickel. Cheap insurance.
JR

I have been using FedEx for the last several years, with no problems or complaints. I have a local gunsmith/friend who allows me to ship and receive through his daily pickup. The fees I pay through him are considerably less than through the Post Office, especially the insurance. I am very fortunate not to have to deal with idiot clerks at either UPS or FedEx. I do prefer either UPS or FedEx over USPS because USPS has no tracking ability.

I have only had one gun shipped to me by USPS. This gun took 18 days to travel about 1500 miles and arrived damaged. The most frustrating part was that USPS apparently had no way to tell where the gun was at any point during its travels. I find that unfathomable, and since then have only used Fedex whenever I have a choice.

I found this to be true. The post office is the best way to ship rifles and shotguns. Handguns is a different story. Just use the USPS and save yourself all the hassels and some money to boot.

Jim

I would recomend USPS registered mail. For most guns it is cheaper to send registered mail (which includes insurance) than to insure regular mail. Registered mail gets sealed and stamped and then each postal employee that touches it signs for it. At each point along the way there is a single employee who is individually responsible for the package. The system if individual accountability is why someone who sends and receives the amount of guns Ken does can go 8 years without a single problem...

If the gun had been sent registered mail ($21 last time I shipped a gun) there is no way that it would take 18 days, and they would know exactly where it is at each point.

I have shipped guns to Cole Gunsmithing in Maine several times and I have found USPS to be convenient, relatively cheap, and free from hassles. He ships back by UPS, but it is different - he ships so many guns that he has daily pickup and his local UPS people are used to handling guns and know the rules.

Always be careful not to put anything on the outside of the package that would reveal there is a gun in it - and that includes the address. When I ship to Cole Gunsmithing I address it to Cole, Inc, and when it comes back the return address is in Rich Cole's wife's name. It doesn't say "gunsmith" anywhere.

I've both shipped and received a bunch of guns via UPS. Never any problems. I take mine to the place where the brown trucks come and go (I think some people call that a UPS store, but I guess it's incorrect, technically speaking). They have a sign that says they open and inspect all packages, and I usually leave an end open in case they want to do that--but they never have. They do ask me, on occasion, whether the addressee has an FFL, which of course he always does.

The closest thing to a problem I ever had was a gun that somehow got misrouted; funny to track its progress, or lack thereof, using the UPS tracking number. But it eventually got back on track.

Have used USPS some as well. No problems there. Even received a gun from England at my local PO once; postmistress collected the duty, filled out the required forms, etc.