Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Alaska Moving to alaska

My son is moving to fairbanks(army)
What’s the best way to get his guns up there

I was stationed in AK many years ago.

I shipped my guns to myself. Coming back I shipped them to a gun shop that a friend worked at and had to fill out 4473s for all of them.

Now, I've heard that if the company will ship them, to send them as household goods, the box is sealed and tends to not get messed with.

Is your son living in the barracks? If so, they'll have to be stored in the arms room. I lived on post and had to register with PMO, off post was no issue.

Take them with you on the airlines (baggage), when you visit.

Let him buy ones up here. There is a whole racket of folks (gunshops, private sellers, small operators, pawn shops) that prey upon kids up with beautiful old rifles that come from all over the country and trade them for Tikkas or Christiansens because that what people convince them that they need for up here. Just have him come up and buy some of this buddies rifles and then sight them in with him.

Before you doubt this just know that my Steyr 1952 Deluxe in 30/06 that from what I can tell was unfired was purchased from a young GI who traded it in for 300.00 at the LGS that he used towards a Tikka T3 in 300 Win Mag. We are talking about a rifle that is worth north of 3K. Can you imagine what that young man's dad said to him when he traded it.

Hadn’t thought of that but that’s a good idea

Probbly as the son of a rifle looney he will not pass up deals
But he has some nice custom pre 64s and sakos and such one is a 338-06 That would be Perfict up there
Grandson is 15 and will need an 06
We are kinda rifle snobs to some degree we like quality old rifles.
Won’t be buying a cheap plastic rifle

I worked around Fairbanks 10-12 years ago
And really never found many deals on rifles myself
Most were beat up pretty good and priced like a nice one
I know he wants to take his customs he built himself

Is he driving up or flying?.....maybe the ferry?

Just get a P.O. Box there before he leaves and mail them there to himself
No problems
Unless it’s handguns

The military will ship guns with his personal items. He just needs to ask the questions when he has his TMO briefing. Don't trust the movers, I would either buy or construct some serious containers to put them in. Just be aware he will have a weight limit.

This. My last government move the mover’s inventoried over 60 weapons. They were all individually listed by make, model, caliber, serial number, etc. Each were individually wrapped.
Even if your son thinks he might be over the weight limit he should ship them in his move. It’s cheaper to pay overweight charges than it would be to pay shipping fees. I never had a issue with any guns being shipped either as active duty or when the government moved us when my wife worked for the Feds.

This. To include, the movers like for you to put as many as you can in your safe and lock the safe. Anything that doesn’t fit in the safe goes into a series of boxes held by security tape, as mentioned above.

At least that’s the way it worked for me in my recent move back.

Driving Penske truck

I would drive them myself.

Just take the ones he'll use and leave the rest with you. Odds are he'll only be up there a few years anyway.

The Postal Service ships "cartons" of guns constructed of 1x4 or 1x6 perimeter framing with 1/4" plywood top and bottom- all screwed together and covered with corrugated cardboard applied with staples. It's not cheap, but it's secure. Done dozens this way.

You would be well advised to research the Canadian laws first.

Made three trips up in the pickup and just carried guns in the truck with me. Claimed them at the border but Canada wasn't interested. All they cared about was cigerete's! They didn't even look at them or ask about handguns. Back in the 1980's though.

Things have changed a lot in the last 40 years.

[quote=Snowwolfe][que]

^^^^^^^^This^^^^^^^^I came through in October with one rifle and the proper paperwork and they still harassed me for 45 minutes. Move your guns with your household stuff.

I think that describes every gunshop in the state.

Fahq that! That would require traversing Canukistan.

My brother went from AK to the lower 48 about 12 years ago. He had probably around 20 handguns maybe more and 15 to 20 long guns. There were gun deals to be had at the time if you knew where to look. My brother was cheap. He had a toyota pickup with a topper that he was driving back. There was not enough room for the long guns so he shipped them to himself via USPS and took the handguns with him. He took the ferry from AK to WA to avoid the Canadian border. He had a DUI and was considered a fairly dangerous man by the Canadians. The only issue with the USPS is that the rifles arrived sporadically over a 2 month period. He was constantly contacting the postmaster. He had them insured but that was a total waste of money. They did all arrive eventually.

different story now, my son went through Canada to get to his station up there a few years ago with guns, better have all your T's crossed and I's dotted or you get detained that's all I will say.

Canada is making travel and guns/ammo shipping difficult between Alaska and the states. The U.S. government isn't helping, either. While I get pissed off when they screw me around, I'm also kinda' happy to see how well they can keep undesirable Americans out of Alaska. The covid closures piqued my attention. Given a flood of refugees from Amerika to Alaska, the Canadians and federal airports might keep things manageable for Alaska.

When my Mom passed away in California a few years ago, and I had to get all my stuff out to sell the home I was raised in, I was confronted with 11 guns and a few containers of ammo. Being pretty busy, knowing the difficulty in shipping such stuff, and also thinking of snowbirding in the future, I put them in a storage facility. A year later I went to visit my stuff to find it all stolen. The police were quite interested in stolen guns and ammo. They caught the guy. So far only three handguns have been recovered, in three different locations after crimes. I'm pretty sure the long guns ended up in Mexico. The recovered handguns are carried, so when they get busted for crimes, the guns get recovered.

That and a number of other nasty realities has convinced me that snowbirding to Amerika isn't what I'm interested in anymore. Lately, I'm looking at Japan. Okinawa. Low crime. Lots of U.S. military personnel for security. No need for a gun.

plastic works good for the abuse they receive up here. I'd not want a nice one up here. FWIW

Why anyone would want to be out of the US or where they can't have guns and shoot is mind boggling. as always YMMV

What a retard.

Ah, I suppose I should have followed your advice..........except you failed to give it. I guess you prove that jerks are like thieves.........everywhere.

PREASE move to Japan retard.

PREASE tell me you understand what "snowbirding" means. Do you have that funny red face next to your moniker because you have a habit of offensive posting?

Is he doing a full Do-It-Yourself (DITY) move or a partial DITY? Makes a difference.

If he is doing a Partial DITY move he can ship firearms with his household goods that the Govt contract mover is handling - probably best way to move handguns or any longuns that run up against Canadian prohibitions. The movers have pretty strict rules for documenting and accounting for the firearms. Make sure they are correctly inventoried and documented in the moving contract. When I did ship with movers I removed bolts from rifles and packed them separately - at least if some asswipe stole them they'd be useless. Pretty sure the contract movers will not ship ammo.

If he is doing a full DITY move he needs to really dig into the Canadian rules of what they'll allow to enter the country, and follow US Customs rules and paperwork so he can get them back into the US when he crosses into Alaska. Pretty sure handguns will be a major problem/no-go!

When I PCSd to AK many, many years ago they gave me a set of NATO travel orders in addition to my regular Army travel orders - don't know if they still do that - made the border crossing pretty easy.

It isn't worth the risk to try and hide anything that Canada prohibits or to try and skip the paperwork - won't just delay his crossing but will also royally piss off his Commander if he screws it up.

... not a real big deal IF your paperwork is in order ... the laws are changing all the time (for the worst) ... call the 1-800-731-4000 and tell them what guns you are planning on moving and ask them what you need to do

... or to Canada ... just the attitude they're looking for in immigrants ... you're a cinch for a Canadian green card

He is doing a full do it yourself move
Left yesterday
He has 2 uhauls a van/enclosed trailer
Her dad drives one truck I drive the other
He has decided to take 3 rifles 2 pre 64 mod 70 FW
And a 700 in 338-06.
He will
Just declare them At the border
Worries me more about all his reloading stuff
A lot of handgun brass primers and powder
I will mail him a 629 later along with his let commander.

Probably not. I had to jump through hoops and pay the Canadian government $1000 just to enter again after the 9/11 terror attacks. But maybe after the pardon I could get the green card? But I like where I live right now, thanks. I think I’ll stick around………

Unless you are both FFLs that would not be a good idea (mailing him a pistol...)

... good advice ... they make a practise of hiring crappy cooks to prepare inmate food at federal prisons