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New Regs?

Bigwheels

Gunny Sergeant
Full Member
Minuteman
  • Jun 16, 2007
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    Anacortes WA
    Going to be shipping my hunting rifle for the 1st time. I have a Pelican 1750 coming. Will have my rifle, & a pistol in it when it goes. The ammo will be in my checked baggage when I fly home for elk season. After looking over the regs, etc I can find (and understand) on the UPS site are there any new regs/hurdles I need to worry about when shipping my rifle to myself through UPS?
    Thanks in advance.
     
    Would I be better off to ship the rifle with my knives in the Pelican USPS, & carry the pistol in a locked case inside my checked bags? Sorry I've never had to travel with arms before other than in my truck.
     
    I was planning to just fly with it but after looking at the baggage requirements I saw that they will charge me $200 each way for the "oversize" bag containing my rifle. That's almost as much as the flight itself. This will be a round trip so I will have to ship it back to my permanent residence, & then ship it back to TX where I'm working.
    So in a nutshell. I have a pelican 1750, my hunting rifle, SBH 45 colt, & some hunting knives I need to get to WA. St. And back to TX. I can't afford to buy what effectively is a second plane ticket for the rifle case. So how to get this done with the least cost, & trouble?
     
    Just be aware, some UPS and USPS facilities don't understand the regs and laws, and let's say you're stuck in Backwoods Small Town Montana or Alaska, and trying to ship everything back home after the hunt, and the Bozo behind the counter insists it has to be shipped to an FFL, and wants a copy of the FFL, and your flight leaves in a few hours, what do you do?

    It happened to someone I know when they went to Texas, and ran into the same problem trying to ship it back to themselves in Colorado.
     
    Check with your local airport. Traveled oversea w/ a rifle 4 times and never been charged for oversize luggage. Just keep the weight under 50 lbs. sporting equipment has an exemption under most airlines rules. Bruce
     
    Check with your local airport. Traveled oversea w/ a rifle 4 times and never been charged for oversize luggage. Just keep the weight under 50 lbs. sporting equipment has an exemption under most airlines rules. Bruce
    That would make things a lot easier but I read the baggage requirements for AA, & they said nothing about exemptions, but did say that oversize, & weight fees applied.
     
    Not going to chance it. I guess I'll have to UPS the rifle to myself, & bring the ammo, & pistol with me in my checked baggage. I looked at the BATFE website, & it said pretty clearly that I can mail my rifle to myself in another state for legal hunting, or any other legal use. It said I could even mail it to my friends/guides house if I wanted to, but he isn't supposed to open the package. Either way its going to MY address both there, & back, even though the one down here is technically temporary.
    It wouldn't be a problem if the rifle case was smaller. H+W+D added together needs to be under 62" for baggage. My Pelican 1750 is 53+16+6 so its just a few inches over at 75". Bastards! I bet they got together, & measured all the "good quality" rifle cases, & said "Yep if we restrict it to 62" none will fit." I suppose I could put it in another case & hope it makes it there in one piece but this is the 1st rifle I ever bought so I want it protected. Just hope UPS doesn't get stupid...
     
    Well after several calls to both the USPS, & UPS I have found that the UPS has their own "Policy" requiring all firearms be either shipped, or received by a licensed FFL. The USPS does Not. I'm still kinda fuzzy about the law regarding bringing a firearm into a post office to be cleared, & shipped. But the guy at the customer service center for USPS said as long as its unloaded, & packaged properly its OK. This is SUCH B.S.!!! WTF!!! One stupid bitch at UPS actually hung up on me when I questioned where the "policy" came from. Was it a UPS policy or an ATF regulation. According to the BATF website it clearly isn't a federal law so the next person I talked to said it was a company policy. So I guess that's it. I have to ship it USPS. I hope I don't get arrested for bringing a firearm into a post office...
     
    Well it looks like all the airlines have conspired to screw every hunter that wants to fly with a rifle. I measured my hunting rifle, & all by itself it comes out to 61" according to the baggage requirements so I could get a case with a 1/4" cushion, & barely be under the "oversize" fee but looking at a ton of rifle cases I could not find a single one for a rifle that would comply so I guess if you want to fly with your rifle now you have to buy it its own ticket, & call it a "baggage fee". What a wonderful time we live in!
     
    I normally do as well, but this year I'm 2000 miles from there, & can't take the extra time I'd need for the trip. Of course the fuel expense is prohibitive as well. Oh well, I'll be off to the post office as soon as my pelican arrives. Still looking for a small TSA approved box that will also fit in my checked bag to get my SBH up there on the plane. All the ones I've found locally are about 1/2" too small, or big enough to pack 4 of them in it.
     
    take the stock off the rifle and sit it side by side with the barreled action might cut your length down a bit that is providing you haven't bedded the action into the stock might be an idea
     
    New Regs?

    Make it even easier.


    US POSTAL SERVICE. Making sure its not loaded is your ONLY concern with USPS. Priority Mail is a wonderful thing.

    Firearms need to be shipped Registered mail. Ironically, shipping firearms is one of the best things USPS does! Need to use the brown paper packing tape and cover all edges. Put the pistol in you bags and make sure you separate the ammo and pistol in two different bags before checking them.
     
    Last edited:
    UPS sucks donkey dicks.

    2589.jpg
     
    Yeah, why can't you just pop the BA out of the stock and set them next to each other in the shortest lockable hard case you can find?

    I've never flown with or shipped a firearm before, but if your gun is 61" long overall, then assuming a 13" LOP stock, you'd need something like a 52-58" rifle case.