I have shipped several guns over time and, knock on wood, have never had a problem with damage but I am always a little apprehensive till the gun makes it to its destination.

I have been fortunate shipping with UPS Always in wooden boxes or metal gun cases they have never refused my wooden boxes, they pick up at my house, do not know if that makes a difference , Gary

I quit using FedEx years ago.They delivered a Midas grade Browning to a customer in California with tire tracks on the box. Fortunately the customer took photos of the box before he opened it.Someone had backed a truck over it and totaled the gun.It took some time but I got paid the full insured amount.I have used UPS since and so far have never had a problem.All of these companies have people who can tear up a steel ball with a rubber hammer.

From all stories like this above and similar ones that have been shared over the years here, just try to imagine how many valuable and unreplaceable guns have been destroyed by the various shippers in total and what the total monetary loss has been. Scary and sad to even think about.

Don't ship a lot, but generally use USPS. I ship my guns in an old Leg 'O Muttun case inside a cardboard box

Funny story sort of,

Thirty years ago, I was restoring a Parker Trojan 20 ga, but I had my gunsmith ship the receiver and barrels to Doug Turnbull he packaged the gun with the receiver in a separate box with Doug's address on it and then packaged the barrels and the receiver box in a shipping box. Week later I get a call from Doug and he asks "I thought you were shipping all the metal, I've got a receiver and a trigger guard what's going on?" Good question my gunsmith filled a claim and about 3 months later I get a call from Doug and he says you won't believe it, the barrels just showed up, just the barrels with a string tag with Doug's address on it, no box no nothing just barrels. I asked how bad are they, and he laughed and said considering all they went through. not bad at all, no dents some small nicks but no problem because we were planning on reblueing them anyway. So no packing at all and they arrived in one piece :shock: Oh they were found in UPS's warehouse in Atlanta which is where lost goods go to. If I hadn't raised an uproar and pestered them with weekly phone calls probably never would have found them. So sometimes you just never know :rolleyes:

Back in the early days of the last century, Parker Bros would ship gun parts to customers with simply a string tag with the customers address. No packaging, just the part and the attached string tag. I have a size O widow peaked butt plate shipped to a customer in Maine. The string tag has Parker’s logo and return address.

This is how I package barrels for shipping. After I seal the PVC tube with cemented caps and a safety-wired screw-in cap, I put it in a triangular shipping carton. I haven’t had a problem with this method.


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I sent a set of barrels just taped to a piece of wood, bubble wrapped, and inside a triangular shipping box. They were fine both ways. Man, am I feeling lucky :eek:!

Many years go I saw a $500 gun for sale online at McDonald's Gunshop in Australia. I called and struck a deal on the I. Hollis SLNE. He verified it as pre-1898 and sent it to me USPS. When it arrived in a flimsy cardboard box I opened the box to find that the gun was wrapped in several layers of newspaper, with a little more stuffed in around it. Not a scratch on the beautiful English walnut, or the metal. He hadn't even insured it.

Sometimes you just get lucky.

SRH