Rifle shipping

[WAB]

Yep, I’ve used USPS a number of times with no issue. The guy at our country post office is a serious shooter and takes very good care of firearms shipments.

 

[Rickmt]

Wow ! Lots of contradictory info here. I have sold,bought and shipped a dozen or more guns out of Bozeman Montana. The USPS does not ship guns. Only UPS andFed Ex. If you ship you must ship to a FFL Holder and you must show that FFL paper to UPS WHEN YOU SHIP.
I ask buyer to send copy of FFL to me along with payment. I do the same when I purchase . When I ship I send a copy of my drivers license to the FFL as they always want my drivers license.

 

[Mark A Ouellette]

A local Postal clerk tried to tell me that without an FFL, that I could not ship a long gun to a receiving FFL.
Right there using my smart phone I Googled the Postal Regulation pertaining to this and read it to her, word for word,
I never had any more problems at my local post office.

I usually use USPS to ship long guns. I did however recently drive 25 miles to the UPS terminal to ship two rifles to a fellow AH member. With all the trucking delays, I wanted to reduce a risk of delay(s).
UPS requires a copy of the FFL for their records.

By-law, one must have an FFL to ship via any means a handgun to another FFL for transfer of ownership.

 

[375 Ruger Fan]

@Rickmt USPS does ship long guns, but not handguns. However, I usually use FedEx.

When mailing long guns in state, you don't even need to use a FFL. Shipping across state lines does require a FFL on the receiving end.

Can firearms be shipped through the U.S. Mail (USPS)?​

Some firearms can be shipped through the U.S. mail. Whether certain firearms can be shipped through the U.S. mail depends on what type of firearms they are. Simply, long guns: yes; handguns: no. However, under federal law, a non-licensed individual may not transfer (and this would include shipping to someone) a firearm to a non-licensed resident (non-FFL) of another state. (To learn more about selling/gifting to a person in another state click: Selling Firearms across state lines) However, a non-licensed individual may mail a long gun to a resident of his or her own state, and they may also mail a long gun to an FFL of another state.

The USPS recommends that long guns be mailed via registered mail and that the packaging used to mail the long gun be ambiguous so as to not identify the contents. Handguns are not allowed to be mailed through USPS. See 18 U.S.C. §§1715, 922(a)(3), 922(a)(5), and 922(a)(2)(A). Rather, handguns must be shipped using a common or contract carrier (e.g., UPS or FedEx).

 

[gbflyer]

Wow ! Lots of contradictory info here. I have sold,bought and shipped a dozen or more guns out of Bozeman Montana. The USPS does not ship guns. Only UPS andFed Ex. If you ship you must ship to a FFL Holder and you must show that FFL paper to UPS WHEN YOU SHIP.
I ask buyer to send copy of FFL to me along with payment. I do the same when I purchase . When I ship I send a copy of my drivers license to the FFL as they always want my drivers license.

You have an overzealous Post Office there in Boze. Probably one of those snow boarding types. Used to be a nice town. [emoji16]

As said, USPS Priority for a long gun is OK for a civilian to civilian in state or civilian to FFL out of state. A FFL can send or receive using Express Mail only for a handgun. A civilian cannot.

I hate arguing with Postal or UPS Store people. They can make your life miserable, leaving your shit in the back for days and days etc. We’re lucky to have a good Postmaster right now in our little town. The last one was a pud.

 

[thriller]

Package well but I would advise 3rd party insurance (depending on value of firearm) on the part of the buyer as I have had 1 gun lost and 2 guns runover while shipping. ups or FedEx has never honored their insurance in any of those cases and basically responded with "sue us" all three times $100 worth of private insurance has been more than worth it

 

[Woodcarver]

YEP! I have been all thru this at my local PO. A new gal tried to get me to sign a paper stating I was a manufacturer in order to ship a rifle. I told her no way, not going to lie on a federal form. She got the Boss and he came out and he wasnt sure either, new guy, but let me ship that one time and they "would investigate further!"
Next time I went in butter wouldnt melt in their mouths! They were all over themselves apologizing.
Whoever it was that told you that baloney is FOS.
Takes about 2 minutes of research on the PO website to find this stuff.

Took less than 2 minutes. Thank you. I hate putting bad information out there. Another good day of learning. Hopefully this helps more than just a couple of us.

Apparently the PO revised some stuff in 2011. Might explain why some of us had been told what we were told. This is the last line in the revised regs:
12.3 Legal Opinions on Mailing Firearms

[Revise renumbered 12.3 as follows:]

Postmasters are not authorized to give opinions on the legality of any shipment of firearms. Further advice and ATF contact information is available at http://www.atf.gov/firearms/faq/

Probably added due to bad/conflicting information being handed out

Wow ! Lots of contradictory info here. I have sold,bought and shipped a dozen or more guns out of Bozeman Montana. The USPS does not ship guns. Only UPS andFed Ex. If you ship you must ship to a FFL Holder and you must show that FFL paper to UPS WHEN YOU SHIP.
I ask buyer to send copy of FFL to me along with payment. I do the same when I purchase . When I ship I send a copy of my drivers license to the FFL as they always want my drivers license.

Apparently you have a postmaster like we used to out here. Found out last night, they are wrong. Read the PO regs and some of the FAQs at ATF last night and learned I had been misinformed by a local Postmaster many years ago.

 

[sestoppelman]

Wow ! Lots of contradictory info here. I have sold,bought and shipped a dozen or more guns out of Bozeman Montana. The USPS does not ship guns. Only UPS andFed Ex. If you ship you must ship to a FFL Holder and you must show that FFL paper to UPS WHEN YOU SHIP.
I ask buyer to send copy of FFL to me along with payment. I do the same when I purchase . When I ship I send a copy of my drivers license to the FFL as they always want my drivers license.

You need to find a different office where they know what they are talking about. As you can see in the other posts its perfectly legal to ship long guns in the mail.
Only an FFL can ship a handgun via USPS though.

 

[Rickmt]

Well looks like I am misinformed. Here is another one. In my town only the distribution center for UPS ships guns. The UPS stores do not ship firearms.

 

[sestoppelman]

Well looks like I am misinformed. Here is another one. In my town only the distribution center for UPS ships guns. The UPS stores do not ship firearms.

That is the same everywhere I believe, UPS stores no, must go to a main hub facility.

 

[WAB]

That is the same everywhere I believe, UPS stores no, must go to a main hub facility.

Yes, that is my understanding as well.

 

[Challer]

When I ship stuff to Blaser for work - rifles, barrels, shotguns - the use plain boxes and bubble wrap. Most gun” boxes are to flimsy in my experience. Buy a guitar box instead