Shipping firearms legally is a little difficult these days if you do not have a lot of experience. The following are instructions, suggestions and hints will help you get your precious lead injector to me or any other gunsmith within the United States of America. Sending a firearm to a professional gunsmith is only part of the contract.
NOTE: With the firearm you must also send a note with “all” your contact points, a note detailing the work you need, a date and signature. If you sent all of that in an Email I delete all of the 200 to 250 Emails a day and do not save them so when your firearm comes in I do not know what to do with it without a signed contract for the work you need. Just because you put it in an Email does not mean I can remember it.
1. Do not ship a firearm in a case you cannot afford to lose. We cannot keep track of plastic and other cheap gun cases and cannot guarantee your case will be returned.
2. Wrap your firearm in small bubble wrap. You can tape the end of the bubble wrap, but simply placing it in a small, strong cardboard box in the bubble wrap works just fine. After you have put the firearm tightly in the cardboard box you can add packing peanuts or more bubble wrap to fill the voids. Your packing is now complete!
3. On a piece of standard 8 1/2″ X 11″ paper, either write or type out your name, address, phone number, E-Mail, fax, any other contact points you have. Also, include a detailed list of the work you need. This is the basis of the contract you are making with me. Please put the contact point most used at the top of the list.
4. On the same piece of 8 1/2″ X 11″ paper make a list of the custom work or repair you would like to be performed. This is very important since it could be several weeks before I have a chance to get to your pistol or revolver and it is difficult for my ageing brain to remember your melodic voice and gentle instructions.
5. When you are ready to ship you must follow specific rule of law. It is a felony to ship a handgun through the United States Postal System – do not take the chance! All handguns must be shipped through either UPS or Fed Ex Overnight which is expensive, but that is the world we live in these days. Handguns can be shipped through US Postal Service, but only from one dealer to another dealer.
6. Insure the handgun for at least $600 to receive special treatment. Do not take a chance here unless you are willing to take the loss. Insurance is expensive, but well worth the cost if your gun is lost or stolen.
7. Always ship with an “signature required.” This is an extra charge, but is the most important step in keeping thieves from stealing your expensive handgun.
8. Take your package to the closest UPS or Fed Ex (NEVER SHIP FED EX GROUND) store and have them ship it for you. When you tell some of the ignorant people who run these mom and pop owned businesses there is a handgun in the box they may panic, but stand your ground. If you cannot make any headway you will have to go to another store. Sorry about that, but we in the firearms industry have to live with this stuff every day due to over 70 years of democrat, socialist rule.
NOTE: The best and simplest way to ship is to get on your computer, go to the Fed-X or UPS online site, open the shipping page and fill it out, pay with your credit card, print the label and tape it to your box. I suggest Fed-X or UPS two day for safe shipping. Take the box with your shipping label attached to the closest FX or UPS shipping point such as Walgreens, Auto Zone, old Kinkos and many others, hand it to the counter person and say, “I am just dropping off.” You have already answered the question, “is there anything hazardous in the package with ‘NO” for the answer, so that is all they need to know. They do not need to know what is in the package, just that it is not hazardous.
10. Never ship Fed Ex Ground. That service is not reliable, under any circumstances, for home or business delivery.
11. Credit card use: Due to the new 2015 rules for credit card usage, liability and extra paperwork required in order to fight fraud and credit card theft we must charge 3% on all credit card purchases.