No, you can't ship black powder pistols or handguns via the USPS.

[Nor Cal Mikie]

Not too long back, tracked a BIG (6 foot long heavy box) to our rural PO. It showed Out For Delivery. Told them ahead of time to hold it when it showed up.
Didn't want it riding around in the mail truck all day on our Country roads. Stuck my head in the PO door and heard "I've got something for you". Flintlock Fowler back from the builder. Shipped First Class Priority Mail. Not one question asked and not one mark on the box either.

 

[GYJ]

The Federal statute:
"Pistols, revolvers, and other firearms capable of being concealed on the person are nonmailable and shall not be deposited in or carried by the mails or delivered by any officer or employee of the Postal Service."

The USPS says if an antique firearm meets the definition of a handgun, it's prohibited.

It's all right there in print.


View attachment 243810

Wrong. A percussion revolver does not fit the legal definition of "firearm" as outlined in federal law. You're conflating two different concepts. Which is my point.

While it may violate a shipper's policy to use their service to send a percussion pistol, it does NOT violate any federal law. Period.

 

[azmntman]

We are all felons in the eyes of the current admin anyway so ship away. Perhps a bail/legal fund is in order?? A small part of membership to assist us criminals?

 

[BuffaloSoldier]

I purchased a "non-firing replica" Baker rifle from Canada. It shipped to my residence in Missouri with no problem, other than my wife's comments on cost!

 

[springfield art]

I shipped a rifle the other day and the clerk (nice guy) nonchalantly asked, “What do we have going to Alabama?” I said “This box and what’s inside it.” He just laughed and said “fair enough”. I’ve never had an issue with shipping, but I don’t make it an issue either.

Wow! I know they just ask if anything that list of hazardous stuff. I sent a couple cut off barrels (pistol size) to guys a couple years back, and the Staples UPS guys insisted upon a "contents" list; I said machine part; had I said "short length of rifle barrel" they'd of plotzed!

 

[zimmerstutzen]

The Federal statute:
"Pistols, revolvers, and other firearms capable of being concealed on the person are nonmailable and shall not be deposited in or carried by the mails or delivered by any officer or employee of the Postal Service."

The USPS says if an antique firearm meets the definition of a handgun, it's prohibited.

It's all right there in print.


View attachment 243810

he was rferring to the post about non-mailable firearms in the Federal law, not the postal regs. Please keep the fact that there are various laws and definitions, and BTW, important sections of the postal regs LEFT OUT of the OP. Further, we don't know if any court has already addressed the validity of the postal regs. There is still a 1930's law on the books in PA that was over turned by the SCOTUS in the 1980's. the same is true across the country. Since we only have the printed regs, but no annotations to judicial decisions that may have altered the regs.

I recently received a matchlock (lock only) in international mail from India through USPS certified, It was even labeled as such on the outside for customs.

Lastly, we have to wonder if the person answering the OP's inquiry was actually a person who actually knows or is just anti gun, etc. After 55 years as a lawyer, I have seen far too many cases where even the police and District Attorney did not give true answers about things and even defended people in court who were charged with violations that did not apply to what they admittedly did. In one case even an attorney in charge of the law enforcement section for the state game commission was wrong and issued conflicting advice three times in less than two weeks.. I came home from a three day weekend to find a neighbor put a fence up about ten feet into my property. I called police who said it was a civil matter. So the next day, I backed the tractor up and pulled the fence down. Neighbor called the police who came and said he was going to charge me with malicious destruction. I handed him a copy of a court case that said a landowner has an absolute right to remove things placed by a trespasser and warned him that any charges would result in a civil rights action against him personally and the state police for intentionally interfering with my property rights/punishing me for exercising my rights.. He got on the phone with the DA, gave him the case name and 5 minutes later, just left. Never heard another word about it..

 

[springfield art]

Not too long back, tracked a BIG (6 foot long heavy box) to our rural PO. It showed Out For Delivery. Told them ahead of time to hold it when it showed up.
Didn't want it riding around in the mail truck all day on our Country roads. Stuck my head in the PO door and heard "I've got something for you". Flintlock Fowler back from the builder. Shipped First Class Priority Mail. Not one question asked and not one mark on the box either.

Great! Good to hear! Speaking of things in the back of trucks, I was at a re-enactment once and some old guys had 1917 Enfields in back of a vehicle for an American Legion thing, I think, and some goof-ball re-enactors were practically "slobbering" as they leered at the rifles, which could have been taken by a baby.

 

[zimmerstutzen]

Wrong. A percussion revolver does not fit the legal definition of "firearm" as outlined in federal law. You're conflating two different concepts. Which is my point.

While it may violate a shipper's policy to use their service to send a percussion pistol, it does NOT violate any federal law. Period.

Again, the hassle comes between the definition of handgun in federal criminal statutes and the definition of handgun under a totally different Postal regulation. Don't automatically assume that one controls the other. Just as states often have different definitions of handguns and antiques than what is in the federal statute. In PA, antique firearm does not include anything that is actually concealed on the person or possessed by a person statutorily barred from having firearms. So a person convicted of a felony may not have a muzzle loader in PA, while the laws in many western states, and under Federal law are different.

In this case, the USPS regs have a more restrictive definition. Whether it is valid under the 2nd amendment or was pre-empted by the federal statute concerning mailing firearms is a different issue.

 

[64Springer]

IMHO…. 431.1 a where it says “to propel a projectile by means of explosive……” says you can’t. Just because some folks have been doing it doesn’t make it legal. People were brewing their own beer before it became legal.

Now brewing beer at home is illegal???

Nothing illegal about brewing beer at home.

Operating a pot still to produce spirits is a problem if you haven't paid the taxes.

But beer is GTG.

 

[Splitear]

Wow! I know they just ask if anything that list of hazardous stuff. I sent a couple cut off barrels (pistol size) to guys a couple years back, and the Staples UPS guys insisted upon a "contents" list; I said machine part; had I said "short length of rifle barrel" they'd of plotzed!

I don't want to overstate this question, it's a guy that I ship with regularly. The question was asked in the same manner of inquiring how the Cardinals did at last nights game. My PO is great to work with.

 

[Shiloh]

Now brewing beer at home is illegal???

Nothing illegal about brewing beer at home.

Operating a pot still to produce spirits is a problem if you haven't paid the taxes.

But beer is GTG.

Read it again carefully this time.

 

[64Springer]

Read it again carefully this time.

I stand corrected, Sir.

 

[zimmerstutzen]

Read it again carefully this time.

Knew a guy that used a stove top coffee percolator to make "spirits" Talk about small batch whiskey

 

[64Springer]

Knew a guy that used a stove top coffee percolator to make "spirits" Talk about small batch whiskey

American ingenuity.

 

[AlexB]

The Federal statute:
"Pistols, revolvers, and other firearms capable of being concealed on the person are nonmailable and shall not be deposited in or carried by the mails or delivered by any officer or employee of the Postal Service."

The USPS says if an antique firearm meets the definition of a handgun, it's prohibited.

It's all right there in print.


View attachment 243810

It says at the bottom that black powder muzzle loaders are excluded.........lolz.

 

[2 shots]

this is getting worse than a stuck ball, READING COMPREHENSION is the key here, like it or not. popcorn please

 

[Columbus]

THERE IS NO PROBLEM, WHATSOEVER, SHIPPING BLACK POWDER PISTOLS VIA USPS.

STOP DOING THE WORK OF THE GUN GRABBERS.

THANK YOU.

432.2 Handguns
Handguns and other firearms capable of being concealed on the person are nonmailable unless mailed between the parties listed in this section, after the filing of an affidavit or statement described in 432.22 or 432.24, and are subject to the following: a. Firearms meeting the definition of a handgun under 431.2 and the definition of curios or relics under 27 CFR 478.11 may be mailed between curio and relic collectors only when those firearms also meet the definition of an antique firearm under 431.3. b. Firearms meeting the definition of a handgun under 431.2, which are certified by the curator of a municipal, state, or federal museum that exhibits firearms to be curios or relics of museum interest, may be accepted for mailing between governmental museums without regard to the restrictions provided for handguns in 432.21 through 432.24 and Exhibit 432.25. c. Air guns (see 431.6) that do not fall within the definition of firearms under 431.1 and are capable of being concealed on a person are mailable, but must include Adult Signature service under DMM 503.8. Mailers must comply with all applicable state and local regulations. d. Parts of handguns are mailable, except for handgun frames, receivers or other parts or components regulated under Chapter 44, Title 18, U.S.C. e. Mailers are also subject to applicable restrictions by governments of a state, territory, or district