Hi Folks,

I've got to send a set of 28 ga. SxS bbls. out for some barrel work, I've never shipped any bbls. before and was wondering what the best materials / method of packing might be.

I'll be insuring for replacement costs, but am unsure on what to pack them in i.e., box, PVC pipe etc..

Appreciate any advice you may have to offer.

Thanks,

YB

quote:

Originally posted by Yankee-Bill:
Hi Folks,

I've got to send a set of 28 ga. SxS bbls. out for some barrel work, I've never shipped any bbls. before and was wondering what the best materials / method of packing might be.

I'll be insuring for replacement costs, but am unsure on what to pack them in i.e., box, PVC pipe etc..

Appreciate any advice you may have to offer.

Thanks,

YB

Ship them in box. Oil the barrels inside and out and wrap them in a couple of layers of newspaper and then bubble wrap. Use wadded up news paper to fill the voids and to keep the barrels from shifting around.

Vapodog has a unique and effective method of packaging that works extremely well. He custom makes a small crate using 1 x 2 and OSB that is just big enough for the parts and some styrofoam insulation. Front and back of crate is screwed together with short drywall screws and then screws and seams are covered with duct tape. I believe that if I'd taken the time to build such crates the two rifles I had stolen while in the US Postal system would not have been lost to thieves.

Wrap the barrels in foam and stuff them into a heavy piece of 6" PVC. Glue a cap one end, put a plug on the other and tighten it with a wrench (tight).

I recently had a Fox Sterlingworth 16 ga barreled action mailed to me. It was bubble wrapped in a stiff 3" dia. cardboard tube. Worked pretty good.

FWIW, I work at a rebore shop and have seen about every variation of ¨shipping container¨ used for barrels including doubles. My experience with PVC has convinced me it is a poor choice. We have received several such packages with the end cap shattered during transit. Once we received an empty tube. The barrel was never recovered. If you make up one of these PVC tubes and drop it on end from about 18 inches high onto a concrete floor you will see why its a poor choice. The cap will shatter, releasing the contents. A heavy walled cardboard tube with tight fitting wood plugs screwed or stapled in place is hard to beat. A fitted wooden crate as described in an earlier post is also excellent. It is imperative that the barrels are unable to move around inside the box. If they can slide back and forth, chances are that the muzzle end of the barrel will be sticking out through the hole it punched in the box when it is delivered. If you use a cardboard box, cut a piece of 1x4 lumber that is a perfect fit end to end and use strapping tape to attach the oiled and wrapped barrels to it. Fill all extra space with wadded up newspaper, foam peanuts ( I call them ghost turds), bags of air or whatever. When packed well the survival rate is excellent. This is not the place to scrimp.

Thanks for all the helpful replies Guys.

well, I ended up using a thick walled cardboard tube that I bought at the Store and cut end plugs out of a 2 x 4.

Wrapped the oiled bbls in newspapper, then in bubble-wrap. Filled extra space in tube ends w/ foam peanuts and used several 1" drywall screws to secure each plug, then wrapped plugs/screws in packing tape.

Thanks again for all the suggestions.

YB