Comments on: How to Ship Guns, Barrels, Scopes, and Ammo Safely

By: ELR Researcher

ELR Researcher — Fri, 10 May 2019 14:25:21 +0000

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.

By: Kenny

Kenny — Fri, 10 May 2019 14:18:03 +0000

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?

By: js

js — Thu, 09 May 2019 23:56:53 +0000

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!

By: tenring

tenring — Thu, 09 May 2019 19:56:14 +0000

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.