Usually when I ship a barreled action off to my gunsmith I pack it in a cardboard box with a lot of padding. Recently I received a barreled action back from my gunsmith and it was not padded as well as I would have liked. I might not have noticed except that UPS had torn a hole in the box. I was lucky that everything inside was undamaged.

I have thought of buying a short padded(34"+-) take down type case to use solely for shipping barreled actions back and forth. The problems I see with going this route are: added cost of shipping due to weight and oversize issues, the case is bound to be sitting at the gunsmiths shop when I need to ship another barreled action off for work, and lastly I hate to spend too much on something that will see limited use.

So I am interested to hear how you guys ship your rifles off to to the gunsmith.

Jason

Midway sells a cardboard "Quick Ship" box for $14. I bought a couple of these and they work perfectly. They are just the right size and have the perpect amount of padding for a barreled action.

I like those midway boxes, mine has been handled by the post office twice and ups twice and it is still in useable condtion. It even held up to ups leaving it is the rain.
-Don

I have solved this problem an offer two tried an tested methods of packaging . Any factory Rifle box or heavy

cardboard box will do . If you don't have the Styrofoam lining that the gun came with so be it .

Substitute high density foam furniture type foam two pieces top and bottom don't cut full length too the

inside of the box . leave an 1" or 2" at each end . What your shipping max length plus 2" on each end works

the best . Now either use a hard plastic piece for each end or take wax paper or plastic sheathing and use

spray urethane foam to make nice neat hard molded ends . Now you have a shipping box near indestructible .

I have a nice Heavy card board box which came from I believe something called DMC it held a military 30/06

Garand . I simply liked the heavy box which had ear folds , that was secured by a slip over box cover .

I took plastic sheathing 2 Mil. thick laid it in the box made sure I had enough to fold over again with

plenty to spare around edges and all . I then poured expanding foam in the bottom of the box waited a

little bit for the foam to expand . I placed my barreled action in side took a board with a little weight

placed it on top of the box. Firm molded light weight shipping container .

( largest action I even added a 3" X 1" dowel on the end of the barrel to ensure it would be the longest )

I have now made #16 gun shipping containers . I used a gun box from a sporting goods store which they

sometimes throw out . Fitted plastic sheathing on the box half's made light weigh fiberglass shells .

Filled those with expanding foam placed a large O/U shotgun too mold a cavity I lengthened the barrel with

dowels again . I simply fiber tape the fiberglass shells with what ever gun or action inside , then use a

slipper box over the out side tape label ship .

I made so many for others not for myself . This is the part your going to like , the cost of shipping was .65

cents higher than plain cardboard box . Oh I'm still using my original box I made over 15 years ago .

I have had to replace the slipper box jacket 3 times but those are easily had check gun shops or home

improvement centers they give you anything for the asking . Curtain rods blinds several things come in those

types of boxes . Oh almost forgot hard plastic ends ( any appliance packaging protectors work great )

Home centers toss them and cardboard out on the loading docks or recycle bin . Hope it helps ...

I built a custom box from 5/8" plywood with two supports, one for the grip area and one for the barrel. I lined these supports with felt purchased at WalMart. The whole thing was glued and screwed together to make a nearly indestructable container. I sent my ZKK-602 BRNO fron San Antonio to AHR in Montana and the box made the the round trip with zero damage. Wayne even remarked that he wished everyone would make a box like that. It costs a little more to ship but gives me great peace of mind. Now, I still have it in case I need to send another rifle somewhere.

I've been shuttling rifles around the country to gunsmiths in the boxes that the Civilian Marksmanship Program uses to ship their riles when you buy one from them.
The cardboard they use is substantial, and they have heavy foam inside, top and bottom, to protect the rifle. There are no markings on the outside of the box that would indicate that a rifle is inside. I think they are a better alternative than the hard rifles cases for rifle shipment. Hard rifle cases signal to all who see them during shipment that there is a rifle inside, inviting theft. You can disguise the cardboard box easily.

Don

I have a couple Kalispell cases..just for shipping. Cusomer returns to me ground Fed Ex, no insurance...costs customer less than $20.00...end of problem