How do I ship firearms (East Bay)

[Creeping Incrementalism]

Does anyone have experience with shipping and packing firearms--long guns and handguns? Any links to instructions (BATFE, etc.)? Does anyone know a good place to go in the East Bay to do this, say an FFL that will pack it for you and mail it somewhere, or a good general packaging/shipping place?

I'm looking to send a Glock to get ported (which would be barrel and slide only, I believe, not the receiver), a Mini to get cryo'ed, and a SOCOM II to Springfield to get the long rail mount installed (not warranty service.)

Unfortunately most of the boxes my guns came in are not in good enough condition to ship.

Thanks.

[-hanko]

Does anyone have experience with shipping and packing firearms--long guns and handguns? Any links to instructions (BATFE, etc.)? Does anyone know a good place to go in the East Bay to do this, say an FFL that will pack it for you and mail it somewhere, or a good general packaging/shipping place?

I'm looking to send a Glock to get ported, a Mini to get cryo'ed, and a SOCOM II to Springfield to get the long rail mount installed (not warranty service.)

Unfortunately most of the boxes my guns came in are not in good enough condition to ship.

Thanks.

Legal to ship guns to the manufacturer or a gunsmith for work yourself...no ffl involved...long guns can go us mail, pistols via ups or fedex overnight service.

An ffl can ship pistols through the mail; balance what he charges against next-day service if you ship them yourself. He may also charge you to receive them back.

-hanko

[WokMaster1]

Ups store to get a long box, styrofoam peanuts & bubble wrap. Wrap it all up real good & have them ship it via US Postal overnite.

[ocabj]

Buy a Garand from the CMP.

Reuse the box to ship your rifle.

[brownie168]

I still have my box for my SOCOM II and I believe my mini is around somewhere... Please let me know if you are interested.

[Creeping Incrementalism]

Legal to ship guns to the manufacturer or a gunsmith for work yourself...no ffl involved...long guns can go us mail, pistols via ups or fedex overnight service.

Wait--it is okay to ship interstate to a non-FFL for gunsmith work? Because according to the BATFE:

A nonlicensee may ship a firearm by a common or contract carrier to a resident of his or her own State or to a licensee in any State.

http://www.atf.gov/firearms/faq/faq2.htm#b8

Which got me wondering--is the BATFE wrong about this, or do these cryo places have FFLs?

[Fjold]

Wrap the Glock barrel and slide in bubble wrap and put in a regular box and mail it insured to wherever it's going. It's not a firearm so you can mail it yourself anywhere you like.

Take the stock, trigger assembly and any other parts that are not going to be cryo'ed off the mini to make it more compact. If it is going to a licensed gunsmith (someone with an FFL) then wrap it in bubble wrap and put it in a regular box and mail it insured to the company.

Take the stock off the Socom and wrap the barrelled action in bubblewrap and put it in a regular box and mail it to SA, insured. If SA wants the stock with the barreled action wrap it in bubble wrap seperately and put it in the same box.

The shorter the package is the less chance that someone will break it in half.

Go to any furniture or department store to get boxes , they'll usually give you them for free if that haven't bundled them for recycling. Or you can buy some at the UPS store.

[EOD Guy]

Wait--it is okay to ship interstate to a non-FFL for gunsmith work? Because according to the BATFE:

http://www.atf.gov/firearms/faq/faq2.htm#b8

Which got me wondering--is the BATFE wrong about this, or do these cryo places have FFLs?

Gunsmiths or others that work on firearms and keep them overnight, must have FFLs.

[-hanko]

Originally Posted by -hanko
Legal to ship guns to the manufacturer or a gunsmith for work yourself...no ffl involved...long guns can go us mail, pistols via ups or fedex overnight service.

Wait--it is okay to ship interstate to a non-FFL for gunsmith work? Because according to the BATFE:


A nonlicensee may ship a firearm by a common or contract carrier to a resident of his or her own State or to a licensee in any State.
http://www.atf.gov/firearms/faq/faq2.htm#b8

Which got me wondering--is the BATFE wrong about this, or do these cryo places have FFLs?
I used "gunsmith" in the first quote, should have used "licensed gunsmith". It is NOT legal to ship interstate to a non-licensee for any reason.

Call the cryo place and ask...they're not able to cryo the receiver without the ownwer present during the entire process unless they're licensed. Option obviously there to ship the barrel only. Best option would probably be a decent barrel instead of cyro-ing the oem piece.

-hanko

[bwiese]

Creeping,

Some firearm shipment info...

• If you are shipping a firearm or receiver the recipient must be an FFL (and he really should be one to call
  himself a gunsmith.) [There are exceptions for 'mailing a gun to yourself' to get it to your destination.]
  
  
• If the cryo house doesn't have an FFL, you shouldn't ship gun or bbl'd action to them, just the barrel.
  
  
• You do NOT need an FFL to ship out/receive receive back your gun: only 1 FFL needs to be in the chain.
  (See AW exception below).
  
  
• If your gun is an assault weapon in CA it must generally go out/be received back by a CA FFL holding a
  DOJ Assault Weapons permit. However, Category III 'by feature' AWs can have sufficient evil features
  taken off that they can be treated as conventional rifles (despite registration as an AW). Enure - in
  writing, on a work order - that gunsmith knows not to reattach these evil features when sending gun(s)
  back to you. (Ideally evil features, if necessary to be shipped to/from smith, are shipped separately.)
  
  
• You can't ship handguns thru the US mail; rifles can be shipped USMail.
  
  
• Alternate common carriers may/likely require handguns to be shipped priority overnight. I believe DHL
  does not accept firearms shipments at all (someone correct me if I'm wrong).
  
  
• Shipped firearms must be declared to carrier. Ignore idiots who advise you should just call them "metal
  parts". Don't let clark mark box with "Firearms: Steal Me" labelling. Some gunsmithing or gun firms even
  have a usable 'stealth address' or name (say, shipping to BFI, Inc. instead of "Bushmaster Firearms") - ask
  your smith what works to get a box to his address reliably, without any 'gunsmithing', 'gun', 'firearms' or
  other similar terms in the title.
  
  
• MailboxesUSA UPS & Kinko's FedEx strip mall substations don't accept firearms; you'll have to go to a regular
  main office/hub. I have no idea, but I'd bet that private US Postal "contract stations" may be similar, and you'd
  have to go to a real US Post Office
  
  
• Some folks at places where firearms can be shipped from may not know their own rules: go to the website
  of the common carrier of your choice, print out & understand the info so you can guide the clerk.

[Creeping Incrementalism]

Thanks for the info everyone, especially Fjold and Bill Weise. Now I see why some cryo places list just barrels, and others, "barreled receiver". While researching this elsewhere, I saw someone else state that DHL won't ship firearms at all. It seems UPS is best, and they have a Consumer Center not to far from me.

For all the hassle this is, you'd think more FFLs would advertise shipping services.