shipping question

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adkmountainken

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i will be shipping a rather expensive flintlock. i do have a custom made wood crate for it fits good but what do you put as filler/buffer so there is absolutely no movement side to side? also what do you wrap the rifle in? this is a very long one gun blanket will not work was thinking about picking up a couple wool/fleece blankets to wrap gun in?
 
i will be shipping a rather expensive flintlock. i do have a custom made wood crate for it fits good but what do you put as filler/buffer so there is absolutely no movement side to side? also what do you wrap the rifle in? this is a very long one gun blanket will not work was thinking about picking up a couple wool/fleece blankets to wrap gun in?
Harbor freight sells inexpensive packing blankets, movers blankets. They work great.
 
Pipe insulation and bubble wrap plus what ever can be stuffed around the rifle to keep it from moving. Be sure to pad the ends for no movement. A lot of breaks occur from the box hitting on its end. The pipe insulation can be cut with scissors. Just snap sections along the foreend and wrap it around the muzzle and butt. I use that blue painters tape to hold it. Rock Island Auctions uses bubble wrap in a cardboard box for their flintlocks.
 
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I have wrapped guns to ship in bubble wrap, then laid the gun in the wood box with tyvek under and over the gun and a few styrofoam blocks under the gun to raise it up off the bottom of the box. I then use the canned foam insulation to spray in all the voids and over the top of the well protected gun. Once the spray insulation dries, I cut off any excess with a razor knife, and fasten the top to the wooded box. I have never had a problem when shipping U.S.P.S. with this set up.
 
I use styrofoam insulation panels that you can get from Lowes or Home Depot. Cut 3 pieces to fit inside the box. Lay 1 piece on the bottom of the box. Lay another piece that has the rifle shape cut out on top of that. Put the rifle in that piece. Lay the other piece over top of that. You just make a styrofoam/rifle sandwich.
 
I tried the spray foam, but it dried so hard that there was no give. There might be softer varieties with some give. Track of the Wolf uses a type of softer spray foam in their rifle shipping boxes.
 
How expensive is it? How far is it to drive there yourself? They DO get "lost", and some shippers take the word "fragile" as a challenge. If I had a thousand dollar gun and the distance to travel was less than 200 miles, I would drive it there myself and pick it up as well if it was a repair.

Looking at some guns from Dixie Gun Works and thinking about making a two-day road trip out of it.
 
The amount of work and worry if it is a days drive or less just go for it. I guess I will never make it as an internut business because I like to hand deliver the stuff I make
 
Pipe insulation and bubble wrap plus what ever can be stuffed around the rifle to keep it from moving. Be sure to pad the ends for no movement. A lot of breaks occur from the box hitting on its end. The pipe insulation can be cut with scissors. Just snap sections along the foreend and wrap it around the muzzle and butt. I use that blue painters tape to hold it. Rock Island Auctions uses bubble wrap in a cardboard box for their flintlocks.
Padding the ends is key. I like rigid foam. A rifle barrel, or the toe of a stock, will break through a cardboard box in a heartbeat.
 
I use styrofoam insulation panels that you can get from Lowes or Home Depot. Cut 3 pieces to fit inside the box. Lay 1 piece on the bottom of the box. Lay another piece that has the rifle shape cut out on top of that. Put the rifle in that piece. Lay the other piece over top of that. You just make a styrofoam/rifle sandwich.
that method is foolproof if it is inside of a wooden lockable case I have three of these as a frequent Traveller
 
Black powder TV on YouTube has a good video about shipping s gun. Check it out for good information
 
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