Smart Advice on Shipping Gun Parts and Firearms Accessories
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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Some time back, I picked up a small roll of small bubble bubble wrap that is slightly adhesive on one side. I find that it is very handy for wrapping small pieces as a first layer. From there I tend to improvise. If I have some foam peanuts, that I saved from something that I recieved, they are my preference, but if I don’t have any, I wad up single sheets of newspaper, working toward the center from both ends. The idea is to end up with the bubble wrapped piece(s)surrounded by peanuts or wadded paper on all sides, that intermediate padding be slightly compressed as I close the box. I then wrap the box generously with clear packing tape to reinforce the box. The Postal Annex that I use for shipping, always prints the label and presents it to me for approval, so I can check it for typos, and will, if asked email me when the package is picked up, with a tracking number/link. So far, so good.
Not only is it important to ship your firearms securely but also safely. You may end up on the wrong side of the law because there are so many rules and regulations. They are there for a reason but can be quite confusing. How would you recommend packing bullets? Using double layers of material to pack your firearm accessories is a great tip. It is always better to be safe than sorry.
I have shipped many barrels in PVC tubes – I also use them for storing barrels. The suggestion of tennis balls is interesting but would almost surely result in an unnecessarily large diameter tube.
If you are shipping a 1.2 – 1.5″ diameter barrel you can use either 1 1/4″ or 1 1/2″ Schedule 40 tube. You could even use 1″ tube for a Savage barrel-nut type barrel. See ID dims here – https://formufit.com/pages/pvc-pipe-size-dimensions-chart.
Wrap each end of the barrel 1-2″ from each end using 1/16″ thick, adhesive-backed rubber (see https://www.zoro.com/search?categoryl1=Raw+Materials&variants.attributes.4114=1%2F16%22&categoryl2=Neoprene+Rubber&q=&variants.attributes.7712=Adhesive). [You’ll find this stuff has a ton of uses, e.g. strips along the bottom of a piece of lumber for use with various reloading tools.] Cut 1-2″ wide strips and keep wrapping around the barrel until you have a fairly close fit inside the tube at both ends.
Next, cut a couple of strips of the rubber wide enough to fit inside the PVC caps and tube. Role them into little balls. One ball goes at each end of the barrel tube.
Make absolutely sure that the second cap goes on such that the barrel is under pressure from the rubber balls and caps and CANNOT move back and forth.
PVC tube can be easily and quickly cut with a normal wood saw with fine teeth – no need for a tube cutter.
For threaded barrel sections, and end faces, just use duct tape.
I secure the caps with 8 long pieces of duct tape – a cross shape at 45 degrees to a cross shape – and then wrap duct tape around those pieces 3-4 ” down from the cap to reinforce the end tapes.
As with all labels, tape over the entire label with clear packing tape.
The above process has worked excellent for me shipping barrels up to 65# and 45″ long. And, when done, you can store the barrel in the tube you shipped it in.
I like the tip on using a PVC pipe to ship the barrel. Would it be cheaper to send the barrel separately or as one package with the gun? I’ve been thinking about sending my brother a gun for Christmas, but I don’t know how I should do it.
I had a schedule 80 pvc tube with plywood ends that I used (emphasis USED) to send barreled actions in for rebarreling. It worked great UNTIL a former gunsmith I used(emphasis FORMER), decided to send the assembly back in his packaging. I reused the tube for about 8 barrels up to that point.