Home Forums Gear Free Classifieds EVERYONE SHOULD READ - UPS and Shipping Long guns

The last one I shipped was a O/U shotgun..From the post office.. I told them it was martail Arts equipment..lol $18

depends on where you live. UPS here in South Carolina is very anti-gun, and will only ship to the ORIGINAL manufacturer, per them. If they are out of busines...so are you.

Fred-Ex (spelled it as I meant it) will only ship a gun from a 'SECURED SITE" and that means you go to one of those places and pay out the ass.

I use USPS, charge appropriately, and it is all good.

USPS told me here OHHHHHH no only between FFL dealers

AFTERUM - I bet he used parcel post. Only bad idea with USPS. Priority all the way. Hardly any more $$ and 2-3 days. If you compare Priority to UPS or Fred-Ex 3 day it's about the same coin.

PPosey- I guess it just depends but I have printed off the information from the ATF website, just in case, the first time I shipped direct within WA state. They kinda started to say something and I said "I have the regulations right here, wanna see" Nothing more said.

www.ATF.gov is your friend.

Dave

One other note regarding UPS:

My FFL called me earlier this month asking for help making an insurance claim against UPS. He ships about 100 rifles per year and knows how to pack a rifle in the box. The rifle arrived at the buyer's with a one-inch hole punched completely through the box. Whatever punched through the box broke the wood rifle stock at the wrist, completely snapping it in two. The FFL made a claim with UPS and they went and looked at the rifle. They denied his claim due to inadequate packing! It was in a standard rifle box with some filler in the box to take up the extra space. In my experience, that�s packed better than firearm manufacturer�s package rifles fresh from the factory. My FFL called me to help, because I�ve done some legal work for him in the past. After a huge runaround from UPS it came down to the claim still being denied and the shipper�s only remedy was to sue UPS in Federal Court! (Like any average guy would ever do that over a $500 rifle�which is exactly what UPS is counting on.)

So, UPS will sell you insurance, knowing that they can/will deny the claim. You have no remedy other than Federal Court.

In the future, I don't plan on using UPS for anything that I can send via USPS.

David,

I just had that same argument last week with UPS here, and I laid the regulation in front of them, and they backed down and shipped my two rifles.
So far, Fed Ex has been excellent sending rifles for me, as has the Post Office.

USPS broke a stock of mine and refused to honor the insurance. No more of my business. AND every other time I try, I have to insist that a USPS manager read the USPS regs to the idiot clerk with an anti service-to-the-public 'tude. Welfare reform went to far -- these slugs need to get back to their daytime TV....

I now use FEDEX on rifle shipments w/o hassle or problems at about 2/3 cost of the USPS.

1B

I like usps but it is about twice the price of fedex.Shipping to alaska though fedex is twice the price of usps...LOL

Anyone know the UPS regulation for shipping my own muzzleloader form NY to CO. to myself care of my outfitter.Want to ship my muzzleloader ahead of time rather that fly with it?

He may have sent it registered mail as well. I once shipped a gun registered priority mail from Maine to the midwest, and it took 14 days to get there. Aparently if you send it as 'registered' mail, every person who touches it has to sign for it. I also had to use paper tape, which was stamped at every seam to ensire it wasn't opened along the way. Now I just send them priority, insured with delivery confirmation. Seems to work just fine, and it is a lot quicker.

hwgtyd - +1

Now I just send them priority, insured with delivery confirmation. Seems to work just fine, and it is a lot quicker.

Small rant, since we're on the subject...

A few years ago UPS ran over one of my rifles with what had to be a LARGE forklift, delivered it to the gunsmith that way - tire tracks and all - and refused to honor the insurance I paid for even though I had it insured at full value. Gunsmith took pics, went out of his way to work with UPS, and nada. Needless to say they don't ship anything for me anymore. Same gunsmith had to track down one of five prototype weapons shipped to military for test and eval, it was found removed from all packaging and stashed at a UPS site.

USPS around here is spotty; you can wind up arguing all day with staff who are unaware of their employer's regulations.

Seems like whenever the topic of shippers comes up, everyone's got hassle/horror stories. The market is wide open for a decent shipper to step in.

I ship USPS Priority on guns and everything else.Have never had a problem.The clerks here generaly don't care what you're sending,as 98% of them are lazy.The other 2% just don't want to know what you're shipping.

WB.

About a year ago the same thing happened to me. I walked into the UPS place to ship a rifle to a gunsmith in another state. This was about two months after shipping a rifle with them, and the clerk looked at me like I had lobsters crawling out my ears. She said, "We have never shipped firearms!"
When I got home I called UPS with the intent of reporting the employee for her snotty attitude and her obvious error in stating that they had never shipped guns, etc.
Well, I get somebody on the phone and start whining about my little problem...next thing you know I have a UPS truck coming to my house to pick the rifle up!!!!
Obviously my experience was the result of an employee that didn't have a clue, but also UPS did not give a snot that the error had been made. I have not had to ship any guns since then, but I will within the next few months and I am not looking forward to it.

Your UPS people you talked to are all up in the night...

This is my first time receiving from USPS. Their tracking system is a joke. I guess they update it whenever they remember too. So far ive dealt with UPS and had no problems except that it seems that my package is at the bottom of the list.

I always tell them it's going in for repair and never have a problem and I'm in SC.

The only question I have gotten from UPS is "is is loaded?" Dealing with USPS here it depends on the clerk, some don't ask, and some have to be educated. I always take a copy of my 03 FFl to prove "I'm a dealer." Never had to use it and if I do, hopefully they won't notice it has CURIO and RELIC at the top.......

Here's the link for the UPS regulations. Print them off can keep them handy if you ship via UPS.

http://www.ups.com/content/us/en/re...rms.html?srch_pos=1&srch_phr=firearm

Highlight the relevant parts and keep fighting it if you have time. Every time we give in is a little more of our privileges being stomped on..