Here's a story on a gun shipment. I bought a higher end restocked/vintage SxS from a fella in TX. He packed it well in mucho bubble wrap and with cardboard between the pieces. Cardboard outer box. Gun arrived as per the tracking date and with UPS packing tape on both ends and just a slight tear in the box. I opened the one end and took out the barrels and forend, unwrapped them and checked the bores, ringing etc. Good. Then I looked in the bottom of the box for the back end of the gun. Not there. What!!! So I called the gent in TX and asked if he forgot to pack the back end. Nope, he said it was in the box when it left TX and of course he was somewhat skeptical until I asked him (seller) to file a claim with UPS and also report to the BATF that the serial-numbered frame end was apparently stolen enroute, and the box was then resealed with UPS tape. At that point the "gun" was still legally his because its serialed frame hadn't been received nor entered in my record book.
Next day I got a call from an UPS security agent and gave him details of the gun and emailed pics of the box and the gent's original sale pics. Two days later he called me to relate he found the back end of the gun in UPS's facility where they keep items that fall out of boxes that aren't well sealed. The agent had it sent to me by Next Day Air and when it arrived it was still wrapped in the original bubble wrap except for a small section removed so that UPS personnel could identify what the item was. There were a few small dings in the stock but no damage to the frame. As best we conjectured the box caught on a conveyor which caused it to fall and the original UPS tape to tear, and the back end fell out but wasn't noticed under the conveyor. The conveyor operator then apparently resealed the box which was still heavy with the barrels and forend, using more UPS tape. In sum, the seller gent in TX then had to backtrack with the BATF to cancel the stolen gun report, and a later police check verified it wasn't on the then current list of stolen guns. I had a good stock man do a quote for refinishing (it was a custom English walnut stock) and UPS settled up for that $ number. Lots of consternation and rework by all involved.
Long story short ..... be sure to pack well and double seal the ends with something like filament tape if using a cardboard box.
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