How to Ship Guns, Barrels, Scopes, and Ammo Safely
Gun guys are always shipping stuff around the country — whether it’s a barrel to be chambered, or a scope that needs to go back for warranty repair. Or maybe you’ve sold some bullets or reloading dies you no longer need. To ensure your precious packages get to their destination in one piece, it’s important to take precautions when boxing up your items. And by all means insure packages for full value — even if your packaging is perfect, there is always the possibility that your shipment might be lost altogether. Sadly, that can happen, no matter which carrier you choose: Fedex, UPS, or the U.S. Postal Service (USPS). Here are some tips for shipping gun stuff — we explain how to pack items properly and how to minimize the risk of loss.
Tips for Shippers
Dennis Haffner from McGowen Precision Barrels offers some advice on how to avoid damage when shipping gun parts or other valuable or heavy items. Dennis explains:
“First, I started double-packing the contents and in many cases double-boxing. I spend a fortune on heavy-reinforced shipping tape. If the contents are loosely packed, the package is going to get crushed. On real important items or delicate items, wrap the content in plastic and spray the inside void areas with non-expanding foam. They make shipping foam just for this. This method really works. Since I started paying more attention to packaging, I have just about wiped out my issues with all three companies (Fedex, UPS, USPS). Yes, I hate doing it, but in the long run for us, it’s cheaper.
Bullet shipments are the worst — a shipment of 500+ bullets can destroy a cardboard box. I have ordered bullets from individuals who put them in baggies and filled the remainder of the box with foam peanuts. That is not going to work. Any piece of metal, including a die, will puncture a cardboard box, or destroy a padded envelope. Just look at the tracking information and imagine your package bouncing around in the back of the shipping truck, probably under many other packages. My advice is to NEVER use padded envelopes. Barrel nuts or recoil lugs will most likely never make it.
ORM-D items are required to be shipped in heavily-reinforced, double-walled containers. The packages still get a little damage, but the contents usually survive.
How do shipments get damaged? Consider this — one of the shipping companies this year flipped (overturned) one of our new CNC machines (which rendered it useless). Maybe your small packages were in the same delivery truck as my CNC machine. I wonder how many little boxes were crushed underneath it.
As for USPS flat rate boxes — you would not believe what people try to stuff in these boxes. USPS finally put a weight limit on the boxes — they had to. I sometimes take my delicate items packed in an envelope or small box. I spray foam in a larger flat rate box and insert the smaller package, then fill the remainder of the void with foam. It works, and part usually arrives undamaged.”
Shipping Rifle Barrels (PVC Tube and Tennis Ball Method)
A new match-grade barrel can cost $350 or more, and it might take six months (or more) to replace it, given the current wait time with top barrel-makers. So, you don’t want your nice new tube to get damaged in transit. Forum Member Chuck L. (aka “M-61″) offers these tips for shipping rifle barrels:
“Packing a barrel can be a problem. Here’s a shipping method that won’t stop lost shipments but so far has stopped damage. Get a PVC pipe (of size appropriate to your barrel) with fitted caps for each end. Attach a cap to one end. Tape the barrel threads and tape over the muzzle. Then drop one standard tennis ball into the pipe. Place barrel in pipe. Next add whatever peanuts or foam you can jam in to support the barrel on the sides. Then place a second tennis ball into the opposite end of the PVC pipe. (So now you have a tennis ball on either end of your barrel.) With everything secure inside, attach the upper cap and tape it down securely. With this packing procedure, when the carrier launches the pipe like a javelin, at least the barrel will not come through like a spear and be gone. Label the pipe with very large address labels so no one suspects it’s just garbage laying around. This procedure may seem ridiculous but it has worked for me. Oh and definitely get insurance. If your item is insured, the shippers will look harder to find it.”
Editor’s Note: Fedex also makes a triangular-profile cardboard shipping box. This 38″ x 6″ x 6″ x 6″ Fedex Tube (designed for blueprints and posters) is free for the asking. For most barrels, there should be enough clearance to hold your PVC tube (with barrel packed inside tube). However, don’t ship the barrel inside the cardboard box by itself. Cap and pad the ends and bubble wrap it heavily, or better yet, use the PVC tube method described above, with the PVC tube inside the box.
For More Packing and Shipping Advice, Read this Forum Thread.
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Tags: Barreled Actions, Fedex, Insurance, McGowen, ORM-D, Packing, PVC tube, Rifle Shipping, Tennis Ball, UPS
Years go I sold my collection of 33 very old Sako rifles. Most of them by USPS insured. Two of them arrived with broken stocks. The USPO claims dept. had me jump hoops to finalize my claim. They wanted to see pics of the interior packing of both rifles upon arrival. If they are not packed very compactly, they will deny the claim. I learned to take pics of each rifle as packed before taping it up. They wanted a long list of other stuff,too long to print here. It took 3 months to finalize each claim. I had to reimburse each buyer for his cost plus return shipping, take them to the local PO for examination. They kept the rifles after settlement.
I’m an engineer for a large company that moves a lot of packages in brown trucks. I have handled a whole lot of packages that our customers have entrusted to us. We want to make sure the recipients get packages in the same condition as when the shipper entrusted to us. Many of us are shooters. We want you to have a good experience.
Ensuring that items are properly packed is crucial. Handling equipment inside shipping companies’ facilities is intended to move packages rapidly. Sometimes packages get jostled around. They get handled several times by workers who are in a hurry.
Here are a couple of good tips. Don’t skimp on tape or packing materials. Don’t use flimsy boxes. Make sure that the package is sufficiently big but not too big. Use material to fill voids. Foam peanuts are your friend. Momentum is not your friend. The advice about shipping barrels in PVC pipe with tennis balls is pretty sound, but make sure all voids are filled.
We want to see everyone succeed. Good shooting!
It is nice when you have a shipping container returned from a vendor. I used a schedule 80 PVC for shipping actions and barrels for years. The last gunsmith failed to return my goods in it. Maybe he is using it now?
I store and ship barrels in PVC tubes (sch 40). My grief with using tennis balls is that, compared to the diameter of most barrels, that results in having a grossly oversized tube – which results in the barrel moving side to side and a lot of extra cost due to added dims and weight. I always chose the tube diameter with the min ID to support my barrel OD. I use chunks of fairly hard rubber at each end BUT very well compressed paper towels work just fine. Wrap duct tape around the barrel at each end to kill side-to-side movement. The CRITICAL criteria is that, when you bang on that last end cap, the barrel does not move AT ALL longitudinally. If it does, keep packing in end material, that does NOT compress, until there is absolutely no movement. [BTW, peanuts do compress quite a bit – I, personally, would never use then for my end stops.] And quadruple tape BOTH end caps with good duct tape – cross on a cross – and then tape around those pieces of tape at the ends (as they extend over the sides) to make sure there is no surface to catch and cause hang ups in equipment and start to pull that tape off. BTW, if you use USPS click-n-ship, place the label around the tube, NOT along the length – which could be tricky if the tube is very small in diameter. You want the bar code to be in one line, NOT wrapped around. [I use large diameter barrels and have not had a problems. Those shipping a real skinny barrel…] Also, if you use USPS, always drop the barrel off with a clerk so you have a receipt of acceptance.