Posting Air Guns

[Guvnor RBM]

Afternoon Chaps,

Had a couple of people ask me about posting guns, how to package them and how much it costs.

Well, For 3 to 5 days standard parcels postage that works out at £12 and for next day special delivery around £23 with the Royal Mail. When listing what the package contains I always state 'Sporting Goods' to avoid too much interest in them, despite the fact that it's perfectly legal, some people may react badly to handling a rifle at the post office. If the post office staff they do not carry airguns, you can remind them that they have to carry guns as ruled by Postcomm.

Postcomm ruled that Royal Mail must carry airguns.

Royal Mail must carry airguns via Special delivery or Standard parcels as long as they are properly packed and within the size limits.

Parcelforce is exempt from the ruling and do NOT have to carry airguns unless you are an account holder.

Size and Weight limits for Royal Mail special delivery. W=460mm D=460mm L=610mm Some post offices enforce the length 610mm limit and some don't.

Size and Weight limits for Royal Mail standard parcels.
You can send parcels up to 20kg in weight. Parcels must be no longer than 1.5 metres, and the combined length and girth of your item must not exceed 3m.

If you use any other service than Royal mail Special delivery or Standard parcels you may have problems claiming on insurance if they find out it was a gun.

Parcelforce do NOT knowingly carry guns, although owned by Royalmail they do not have to abide by the same rules. So if you send a gun by Parcelforce it will not be insured.

No courier company will knowingly carry guns, if you send a gun via courier it will not be insured and if they find out it's a gun they won't deliver it.



To package the guns I use the following

• 1 or 2 medium sized cardboard boxes
• Bubble wrap and / or shredded paper
• Black bin liners
• Loads of heavy duty tape
• Tesco carrier bags (doesn't need to be Tesco's )

I start by packing the scope with paper or bubble wrap then cover it with a bag and tape down







Next I lay an opened out cardboard box and lay some paper in it, place the gun inside, I then fold the edges up and tape in place and fill tighty with more paper



I then get a 2nd box and fold this over the first and tape up tight



Once taped up nice and tight I place bin bags round for waterproofing and security, and tape the postage labels and the job is done






I hope this is of help to some of you guys

This is my own advice, not that of the forum, any action you take after reading this you do at your own risk.

(mods please move to where you feel this post is best placed)

[halight]

A Good post Jon

A few peopel have now asked about this i think.

Well done mate soem usefull info in there
Cheers

[i8allthepies]

Jon I think this is such a useful post that I'm sure the admin guys won't mind, I've moved it here to the sales section and made it a sticky.
Thanks

[Guvnor RBM]

Thanks guys


Just hope it makes life easier for some one

[andyhawkx3]

Sounds good to me, nice one Jon

[Carrot Cruncher]

Nice one cyrill

[fishzx7r]

Good tutorial mate! but I allways take the action out of the stock to make the parcel shorter, so as not to look like it could be a rifle.

[baronvontreffyes]

i was trying to work out post cost till i looked at photos,but i see why now i have been paying £9.80 for standard post on weihrauhs,but i see you go to town with the wrapping,i normally take scope off just in case + it makes more compact parcel,but very good thread for people unsure how to do it,i have had stuff sent to me in very poorly wraped & damaged because,great stuff

[Guvnor RBM]

Good tutorial mate! but I allways take the action out of the stock to make the parcel shorter, so as not to look like it could be a rifle.

I like to leave it whole, the idea been I know it works when it goes in the box and I dont have to worry about some one else trying to build it back up at the other end.

i was trying to work out post cost till i looked at photos,but i see why now i have been paying £9.80 for standard post on weihrauhs,but i see you go to town with the wrapping,i normally take scope off just in case + it makes more compact parcel,but very good thread for people unsure how to do it,i have had stuff sent to me in very poorly wraped & damaged because,great stuff

TBH, if I had the boxes for the scopes I would of boxed them separate, but as not I felt the safest method was on the gun with its own packing


Thanks for the feed back guys

[Garvin]

Probably worth mentioning also that you should buy insurance for a couple of quid extra when sending with Royal Mail standard parcels.

Special Delivery (next day) has up to £500 insurance included automatically but the parcel can only be 610mm long. (Standard parcels allows up to 1.5m length).

I advise you not to write "sporting goods" or anything at all relating to the contents. There is no legal requirement to state the contents at all, so probably best not to say anything that might invite curiosity.

The packaging in the pics looks good. I would just add that if you don't separate the stock from the action then it's worth putting extra padding top and bottom of the gun. The key is to make sure it doesn't move within the box if rough handled and in the event that it does that the barrel won't come through the outer box(es).