shipping advice

[lil'feeby]

I need to ship two scoped air rifles by mail. I do not have my boxes, they mysteriously vanished during our move. What is the safest and most economical way of shipping them? All and any advice will be greatly appreciated, including good jokes.

Thanks my friends,
rashid :emoticon:

[Rickster]

That is a tough one, but first I would remove the scopes.
Plan on using UPS.

You are going to have to find some long boxes of some sort to customize and reuse.
At work they use these cardboard corners from uline for strapping stuff.
They happen to come in long boxes that are about 6x8 inches, made with really heavy cardboard.
I took one and shortened it, and then cut the box down the side where it is glued together.
Packed the gun into it, and taped it back together. I put some thick white foam in the ends of the box.
The 10 pound R1 I shipped , made it perfectly from Atlanta to Washington state.

Rick

[LongIslandArcher]

Bubble-wrap the heck out of them.  And you don't need to remove the scopes; just find a large enough box for both rifles.

[JimL911]

I would remove the action from stock and wrap individually in bubble wrap. By separating the action any ACCIDENTAL dropping won't result in a cracked or broken stock. Wrap the ends of the action with a couple pieces of card board prior to bubble wrapping to prevent it from poking through. Whether they are your babies or you are selling them over protection is what you want.

[Zzyzx]

Get the pink or blue rigid foam type insulation in a 4x8 foot sheet and cut it about 10 inches or so longer than the rifle. You will sandwich three or four of these pieces together with the middle two cut out for the rifle and scope to fit when covered with small bubble wrap or foam wrap around protectant. Then make a full sandwich of the layers. Almost impossible to drive a BIC pen through this tough foam. If you drop it the whole thing is cushioned very well and with the Pink or Blue foam it is easily identified if any misplacement happens. Wrap well with tape and you have a very lightweight delivery package that can be reused a number of times. Major protection that will last and save a small bundle on weight charges in shipping.

[arbantelope]

Got any soft cases laying around?
...probably only about $15 each for new econo.
Then what they said - box it...  
Alan - NorCal

[Zzyzx]

http://commercial.owenscorning.com/foam/products/foamular-sheathing.aspx    Will get you to info on Foamular insulation sheathing, the pink stuff from Owens Corning. Dow Chemical brand is blue. Very good, very tough, easy to cut into pieces or cut out a hole to fit a rifle or other items but difficult to pierce with a sharp object. Absorbs a lot of shock if dropped. Really lightweight. Home Depot, Lowes or similar will carry this stuff. May not be beautiful in packaging but it sure works well. I ship fully assembled glass faced picture frames in it and have not had any breakage problems. Bright Pink or Blue shipping crates really stand out. If it is dropped in water... it floats.

[lil'feeby]

thanks for the information, believe i will do just what you suggested.