Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Holy [bleep]! Shipping a rifle is expensive!

Had to have been the size of the box... I've shipped rifles many times and just received one last week and shipping has never been over $40 with insurance up to $1K.... I usually use a cheap plastic gun case for protection and wrap it in cardboard to sort of hide the contents.... usually it is only about 4" deep when done.... all the USPS offices use the same shipping formula for size and rates.... never had a problem with USPS shipping either. Always get there in about 3-4 days, depending on how far I ship it....

Bob

I’ve had more trouble with USPS than anybody else. The insurance seems to be about worthless as well. Never heard anyone praise it. Only, “I got fugked” or “after 6 months of fighting.....”

Bunch of .gov fugktard employees.

The alley oop


The depth always gets Beaver10 and his very best friend too.

Depth isn’t an issue for you BrownEyeBob...You Go Girl!



LMFAO 😎

You couldn't find a bigger box? Geez.. 35X15X8? That's a big reason why it was so high..

"Seems"?? HAH! The operative word there should be 'totally' (worthless).

Set up a UPS account online. There are always UPS coupon codes floating around online that you can use for 15-40% off. Then you just print the label at home, take the package to a UPS counter, and drop it off, no questions asked. If it is high insurance there is a form they will sign for you at dropoff. Only thing UPS did a few years ago is they put a $15 surcharge on any box over 48". That was just aimed at long guns. Though sometimes you can get a long gun under that size box, if you have a shorter case. UPS says that a gun has to be in a hard case or the factory box. For guns that don't have the factory box, I just get the cheap plastic cases from Bass Pro or similar for about $18 max.

Recently shipped a CZ rifle to California from Michigan. $1200 insurance and the bill came to $52.10. They charge $1.10 per $100 value for insurance. It was at the local UPS hub for 4 days in CA before being delivered. And once delivered, the stock was snapped in half at the wrist. Hard case and box it was in was not damaged at all. Of all the guns I have shipped or received, that was the only one I have ever had damaged or delayed by UPS.

The claim process was relatively smooth. Buyer had a half-assed "repair quote" written up for the full $1200 value. I think he just used his own company letterhead. It wasn't even a gunsmith company. They will pay the lowest of A) the item value B) the repair cost or C) the insured amount. They have already issued a check for $1200 + shipping reimbursement. Buyer chose to keep the gun. I did give him the option of returning it before doing the FFL paperwork. I am charging him a portion of the claim payout, for my time and efforts. CZ has a replacement stock available and will do the work. So, he will end up with the gun for about $500 total in it.

This. That is simply a huge box in which to ship a rifle and the reason the cost was so high. The length is good; but, that depth and width could have been cut almost in half. I know that sometimes we are stuck with whatever size box we have and we want to get things shipped out. Don't get me wrong, shipping prices have gone up; but, $106 for a rifle didn't need to happen. I ship a lot and find that USPS, even though their prices have risen, to be the cheapest of the three.

35X15X8, That's about the size of some, not all of the boxes plastic hard cases come in. If the depth and width were cut to approx. 35"X8"X4" like your saying doesn't leave much room for packing/padding in that box. All shipping costs are crazy high and along with the higher shipping cost you get lower/piss poor service as a bonus.

Ship long guns using USPS registered mail. Never paid more than $50. Insurance will drive the cost up. Make sure the box is fully taped everywhere. I use the brown paper reinforced tape and never had issues. I’ve always shipped to a FFL and have a copy of the recipients FFL in the box and one on me of asked for it at the post office.

Ship handguns 2nd day with Fedex. Insurance costs drive up the shipping cost real fast.

Lost too many other items in UPS land to ever try with a firearm.

Was told that USPS register mail shipping is the most secure as items stay locked up.

I'm not an FFL and my experience has been the majority of FFL's refuse to send a copy of their license to an individual. Easy enough to verify their info on the ATF's website.

And some of you obviously can't read, the insurance was less than $18.00. Fuggin Priority Mail was $89.99.

Last week I sent a barreled action and a barrel from Texas to New York.I sent it USPS Priority Mail.The package weighed 9lbs 0.4oz.The price was $38.15.Last time I shipped a rifle I used Fed Ex from Texas to Wyoming.The price was just over $20.00.I broke the rifle down and wrapped the stock and the barreled action separately to fit the box I had.So I'd say the weight was probably about the same,the length was about the same,but the box was a little thicker and over twice as wide as the package I sent through USPS.

Understood. And, like I said, I know we are often stuck with what we have. After your post I randomly grabbed a rifle box. This one happens to be for a Tikka T3x which I would say is average size. The dimensions of this box are 48.75X3X7 which leaves plenty of room for fit/ packing and padding. An exterior box to cover that one is 52X3.75X8. I just happen to have that from a shipment I recently received. Availability is usually the problem.

You speaketh the truth my friend.

Damn, I needed a smaller box! (That's what she said)

It's mainly the depth/thickness that got him I'm thinking. I shipped a Savage American Classic I sold a while back here. The factory Savage box was pretty wide compared to most. The overpack box I put it in measured 51-1/4" x 11-1/2" x 3-1/2", 12 lbs - 8.5 oz. Cost $53 to ship USPS Priority with insurance. That's about what it costs to ship a box only 8" wide.

Look at volume: his box 4200 cu in vs. mine at 2063.

I bought a rifle from a guy in Colorado a couple years ago and I asked him to put it in a cheap hard case to protect it in shipping and he agreed. Shipping was included in the price I paid him so I expected him to be frugal and buy one of those cheap plastic cases from Walmart or someplace like that- at least that is what I would have done....

He sends me an email and is complaining about shipping costing him $200 and he lost his ass on the transaction and I'm wondering what the heck went wrong here? The package shows up at my FFL a few days later and he had it packed in one of those round gun cases that look like a hard golf club bag (must have been all he had?), inside, the gun is in a hard, two gun case that must have cost $100, and all the crevices inside the gun case, and all the rest of the area around the gun case and inside the case was stuffed full of towels, blankets, rock wool insulation, and anything he could get his hands on.... the darned package must have weighed 60 lbs and seemed like the size of a minivan... suddenly, the $200 price tag was starting to seem almost reasonable. My FFL and I had a good laugh about it, but I didn't have the heart to let the seller know he could have saved a ton of money if he had just followed my simple instructions.....

The gun case he sent it in is so nice it has become my favorite case for taking guns to the range and for hunting trips.... and it's even extra long so it handles all of my guns, including shot guns....

Bob

I started using click and ship but I ship too much stuff........

Thanks foe the tip, shipped a rifle yesterday, with insurance I saved $19.00

Well...looks like it finally landed today. Sat in a warehouse in Detroit the whole time.

The last handgun I shipped from First Stop in Rapid City, in a new plano hard case eve, and they charged me $25.