Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters How Much Does it Now Cost to Ship a Gun?

Last gun I tried to ship FedEx told me the bill was over $100. I swore off shipping guns forever then and there

Fed Ex. Part ordered Oct 3. Shipped Oct 4 or 5 IIRC. Anyway early Oct. And shipped in a few days.

Got credit for lost item last week Friday, same day that item showed up. Almost 2 months later. After having been shown "delivered" appx Oct 25...

Nope. Not high on my list.

USPS remains the most reliable and cost effective. At least to AK and back for items.

Computing how much it cost to ship a rifle is not rocket science, Fed-EX, UPS, and USPS all have shipping calculators on their website.

As mentioned oversize boxes such as a rifle box can increase the cost dramatically because the size falls under "special handling". Insurance adds to the cost rapidly. Of course the distance shipped and weight run up the cost quickly.

The last couple of rifles I shipped cost near $100 each but one was to Alaska and the other was heavily insured.

The days of $45 shipping are gone - in the future if I am providing shipping as part of the sale price I will figure $75 for shipping, some may cost more and some less but at this time I think that will be close to an average shipping cost.

drover

In my opinion, they're just building it into the price. It's like when someone is selling "x" on here for $750 shipped. It's not that their shipping cost is zero. They would sell face to face for an amount less than $750.

I, like others, have discovered that it is cheaper, and quicker, to ship rifles via USPS. Note that I did not say "cheap". As to handguns, the price of shipping via FedEx and UPS is so exorbitant that it is cheaper to find an FFL who can ship via USPS priority mail. My FFL's fee with me paying the cost of priority mail insured is much cheaper than me using FedEx or UPS.

Last time I shipped one, the UPS lady said they required 1” of internal clearance in all directions to qualify for insurance. That adds up when calculating the size.

drover,

That's exactly what I do when shipping a rifle I've sold, add approximately what it will cost at USPS to the overall price. If the rifle is expensive enough I also usually ship in a hard case, because that in itself is a form of insurance.

Part of the reason I use USPS is simple handiness. There is no UPS or Fedex outlet in our small town, and the people at the post office are used to me mailing guns, which makes the process easier. Otherwise I'd have to make a 60+ miles round trip to the closest "big" town, where there are UPS and Fedex offices that accept guns. But guns have to go through the major UPS office, which is only open for 2 hours at the end of the day for people shipping guns, and only four days a week.

Also, as previously noted I haven't had any mishaps with USPS when mailing at least 200 guns over several decades. Also use my PO Box for receiving them, if possible, when somebody ships something to me. That way it's not sitting on my porch. One Fedex delivery when to the wrong house, just down the street, but luckily the guy who lives there figured out the mistake and brought it to me--after Fedex left an obvious rifle case on his porch.

I’ve been able to get several sellers to pack guns in cheap hard cases for me at nominal cost. As you said, extra insurance and the cases are handy to have around.

I did not know if he USPS would let you ship guns. Is this something new?

Nope. As far as I know, legal adults have been able to ship LONG guns (NOT handguns) thru the US MAIL since it existed.
Here's a link off GunBroker with gun shipping info: https://support.gunbroker.com/hc/en-us/articles/222836508-Firearms-Shipping-Guide

Now none of what I just wrote doesn't mean that you won't run into a mail clerk that doesn't know the law or the postal service regs...

It's in the postal handbook. Print out the appropriate pages to take with you if you live somewhere weird.

Until last year, Walmart sold a decent hard plastic rifle case for under $10. I shipped a number of guns USPS in them. Alas, the cost of the case has now doubled. One gun shop also sold such cases used for $5 and I'd buy them when I was there. FWIW, I had USPS severely damage a Marlin 356 I was shipping. As it was insured, they bought it from me for the full sale price of $1200. I see others have had problems collecting from them, but my one instance was no problem at all.

Take note of these. It also matters which carrier you use. From what I can surmise after shipping multiple boxes of various sizes and shapes, UPS and FedEx go by the total cubic inches of the box.

I used to use standard 48x6x6" boxes which would weigh around 9-10 pounds with a rifle inside. With $600-800 of insurance that would run anywhere from the upper $40 range to over $60. Take the action and barrel out of the stock and ship in a 36x6x6" box, same weight and insurance amount and the cost would go down to the mid $30 range. Just shipped a Model 700 in late September in the shorter box and it was $37.61 FedEx. Fwiw, USPS would have cost $40.85 (not too much more) but UPS would have charged $50.10 for the same box.

A Montana 1999 in their huge ass factory box surrounded by an equally huge cover box would run about $100 shipping.

Depends on where it's going, what it weighs, size of box and how much insurance is needed.

The FFL that I’ve used to ship (I think 3 guns my whole life) never insures any firearms he ships. And he ships quite a few. Said he’s never had any problems. I made him get insurance for the ones he shipped for me. He uses USPS.
The one gun I had shipped, the mailman just dropped it off at the door and didn’t get a signature. Luckily everything worked out.

Just shipped one today, ups. From Casper to College Station,TX. with insurance was $65.00

I agree with this 100%, I had a gun package lost for about 4 months and went through the entire USPS insurance claim process..................ZERO chance that I would ever even get a dime !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Luckily the package showed back up after being lost but

NEVER,NEVER,NEVER pay extra for insurance, every penny spent is wasted.

ALWAYS,ALWAYS,ALWAYS get a tracking number.

I go to the local gun shop and get Ruger bolt action boxes with the outer cardboard sleeve tough boxes and on the small side.

This^^^
I used it the first time last year for an expensive, heavy firearm and it saved me almost half if I would have taken it to the UPS hub myself.

This was fleshed out a few years ago on the Campfire and it was determined that every post office had different rules - regardless of what the manual says. Most PO supervisors don't care and they just refuse to do it. If you have an FFL - no issue. There is very little accountability with the PO - I know all too well.
I quit fighting and give UPS my money. I use $65 for my shipping number.

Dimensions, weight, and destination make a huge difference. I use USPS exclusively, and prices on long guns typically run anywhere from $30-65 shipping (with insurance). I just shipped a barreled 700 action from Georgia to Oregon, and it came to $41.60. I've always heard that insurance through USPS is a waste of time, but I still buy it.