Shipping Rifles

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hi2utoo

Les Williams
Question - What type of cases are generally used for the shipping of rifles e.g. to gunsmiths for work or what they use to ship a brand new rifle to a customer or air travel in general. I've got some Bass Pro Shop gift cards that I've had sitting around for awhile and was thinking of purchasing the Pelican 1750 case they have onsale. You see a lot of times rifles that are for sale state will be shipped in a hard shell case, I assume the thin plastic Plano type cases. Do these actually work OK for shipping? I know that the Pelican cases are heavy but I've been using them for 30 years for work and haven't had any breakage with contents, ok I know answered my question buy it, but still curious as to what most actually use for shipping.

Les
 
I've shipped many expensive rifles U.S. Postal Priority Mail Insured in sturdy cardboard boxes. I do go over board on the internal packaging. For example, if I have the original rifle box I will find an outer box to cover it. Nothing that says firearm. If, I did use a hard case I would use one of the cheap/light ones, and still find an outer box. Regards
 
KAZ said:
I've shipped many expensive rifles U.S. Postal Priority Mail Insured in sturdy cardboard boxes. I do go over board on the internal packaging. For example, if I have the original rifle box I will find an outer box to cover it. Nothing that says firearm. If, I did use a hard case I would use one of the cheap/light ones, and still find an outer box. Regards
Click to expand...

Excellent point. With the conventional cases it would be pretty obvious to most that it was a firearm. No point in tempting someone with such.

Les
 
Les,
Most people do ship the guns in the cheap Plano cases, and they work OK most of the time. I shipped one gun to Va in one of those cases and UPS broke the stock. They paid for the replacement, so it all worked out but I do some major packing when I ship a gun now. I wrap the gun in bubble wrap, then place the gun in the plano gun case, then tape the case closed, then wrap the case in bubble wrap, then place it in one of Concho Bill's "Hide-A-Board" boxes. The "Hide-A-Board" boxes that his company uses to ship his hideaway ironing boards are the perfect size for shipping guns and no one suspects that it is a gun.
Now, if I ship one of my guns to a gunsmith and will receive the gun back, I use the Storm rifle cases. They are top notch just like the pelican cases. When Richard Gorham had his car wreck he had 2 guns in a single Storm case. After the wreck everything in his car was broke. The spotting scope was in 4 pieces, I mean everything was broke except the rifle case. It did not even knock his scopes off. That is a good testimony to how good the cases are. If I was you, I would take the gift cards and get the Pelican case.
 
Storm or Pelican

Thank for the reply Dan. I did look at the Pelican case and one thing that I wasn't real sure about, or should say didn't really like was the foam setup. All three pieces is solid foam, which I know can be cut to fit the rifle. In pictures the Storm case shows that it has solid foam in the case then the top piece is the egg crate foam. With such it would seem you could cut the solid piece to fit the rifle then the egg crate foam in top would hold it in place along with any other items you want to carry in the case. I know picky but if one has options why not get exactly what works best. Can you confirm Dan does your cases have egg crate foam in the top? I know already that if my memory serves me right the bottom foam is solid and you cut to fit the rifle.

Thanx,
Les
 
You are correct. Top is egg crate foam, is 2 pieces of solid foam. You cut the one piece of solid foam to fit your rifle. I think the all solid foam would work OK as well. The foam you cut is 1-1.5 inches thick, so a 3" wide stock will still be compressed enough by the solid foam to hold it in place.
 
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