Shipping Firearms

[slopeshunter]

Hey everyone,

So as far as private sales of firearms goes, it sounds like Canada Post does an awful lot of shipping of firearms. The following is taken from the Canada Post website:

3.3 Firearms (including imitation and replica firearms)

Please contact the Canadian Firearms Centre at cfc-cafc.gc.ca or by calling 1.800.731.4000 to determine whether it is permissible to ship your firearms.

When it is determined permissible to ship firearms, they must be shipped as follows:

Customer Type Service To Be Used
Non-contract Customer: Regular Parcel with Signature option
Contract Customer: Expedited Parcel with the Proof of Age (18 or 19) option using EST. Visit section 4.3.2 “Mail Addressed to Children” of “Policies” for an age of majority by province or territory listing.

There cannot be any ammunition in the firearm or in the package. Bullets, cartridges and other ammunition are dangerous goods and cannot be mailed. These items fall under Class 1 (Explosives) of the Canadian Transportation of Dangerous Goods Act.

Customers who wish to ship firearms must :

• unload the firearm
• attach a secure locking device to the firearms
• lock the firearm in a sturdy, non-transparent container and
• remove the bolt or bolt carrier from any automatic firearms (if removable).

Firearms cannot be shipped via air and cannot have any markings on the outside of the packaging. The Customer is solely responsible for meeting all Canadian Firearms Centre regulations.

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Ok, so here's what I'm wondering. Are they serious??

• Do guys really phone the CFC to see if they can ship firearms via Canada Post?
• Secure locking device? So let me get this right. I'm going to sell a firearm to someone, then I'm going to put a trigger lock on it & may as well leave the key in there so he can open it when he gets it.
• Lock the firearm in a container? Last time I bought a rifle from someone he just shipped it in the box he got it in. The only thing securing it in the box was the couple wraps of duct tape he put around it.

Seriously, what's with this stuff from Canada Post???

Thanks guys.

[220swifty]

It isn't there business if you are shipping guns, golf clubs or gouda, so long as you satisfy the law.

Put it in a box and ship it.......nuff said.

[Big Racks]

Originally Posted by sheephunter

Put it in a box and ship it.......nuff said.

X2!! I've shipped, and received, enough rifles and shotguns I'd be hard pressed to name a tenth of them and 99% have been through Canada Post and not adhering to any of that extra verbage they've added to their site. I will say there is a benefit to signing up for their Venture One program. Expedited Parcel forthe same price as regular post is a bit quicker plus gives you the first $100 insurance for free.

[209x50]

Originally Posted by sheephunter

Put it in a box and ship it.......nuff said.

Ayup!

[MountainTi]

Sounds to me it's pretty cut and dry that shipping a firearm in it's original cardboard packaging is illegal. I certainly wouldn't condone doing it on a public forum.

[209x50]

Read careful, those aren't cfc laws they are Canada Post rules. Big difference.

[MountainTi]

Originally Posted by 209x50

Read careful, those aren't cfc laws they are Canada Post rules. Big difference.

The Canada Post Corporation Act falls under the Department of Justice. You really wanna mess with their "rules"?
I can pass along a link if you would like

[eric2381]

I have sent and recieved many rifles through the mail.

When guys get rifles shipped to them from a bigger store, like WSS, how is it packaged??

[tchardy1972]

I just sent my brother in law his rifle yesterday. They required that it be shipped priority post so you get a signature at the other end. It cost one hundred and fifty dollars for shipping with 1000 dollars worth of insurance. Expensive but otherwise painless.

[220swifty]

Originally Posted by tchardy1972

I just sent my brother in law his rifle yesterday. They required that it be shipped priority post so you get a signature at the other end. It cost one hundred and fifty dollars for shipping with 1000 dollars worth of insurance. Expensive but otherwise painless.

for a couple bucks extra, you could add insurance and a signature to a regular parcel. The person at the counter had your lunch.

[Big Racks]

Originally Posted by 220swifty

for a couple bucks extra, you could add insurance and a signature to a regular parcel. The person at the counter had your lunch.

X2

coast to coast, signature and $1000 ins. shouldn't cost you more than $45, maybe $50, depending if they get you on the overlength surcharge. Most rifles I ship are in the neighborhood of $30 unless they are going extreme distance or are high value/heavy on insurance. Get a Venture One account if you plan on shipping much, it's free and saves you some $$$.

[elkhunter11]

coast to coast, signature and $1000 ins. shouldn't cost you more than $45, maybe $50, depending if they get you on the overlength surcharge. Most rifles I ship are in the neighborhood of $30 unless they are going extreme distance or are high value/heavy on insurance. Get a Venture One account if you plan on shipping much, it's free and saves you some $$$.

I have been charged from $40 to $140 to ship firearms within Canada by Canada Post.The $140 was to ship a shotgun with two sets of barrels to Nova Scotia.

Originally Posted by Big Racks

X2

coast to coast, signature and $1000 ins. shouldn't cost you more than $45, maybe $50, depending if they get you on the overlength surcharge. Most rifles I ship are in the neighborhood of $30 unless they are going extreme distance or are high value/heavy on insurance. Get a Venture One account if you plan on shipping much, it's free and saves you some $$$.

Yup, my experience too and great advice on the Venture Card.

[slater24]

Originally Posted by MountainTi

Sounds to me it's pretty cut and dry that shipping a firearm in it's original cardboard packaging is illegal. I certainly wouldn't condone doing it on a public forum.

I brought in a bare rifle to the post office,(bolt removed) and they boxed it up for me and sent it away for a mere 30 dollars.But I do not condone illegal activity,hmmmm,sounds complicated kinda like a rolladex of gun laws the government has been spinning for years.
opps did I say that or think that?
my2cents

[209x50]

Originally Posted by eric2381

I have sent and recieved many rifles through the mail.

When guys get rifles shipped to them from a bigger store, like WSS, how is it packaged??

In the same cardboard box box the manufacturer sends the gun to store or distributor in. The "lock" on the box is packing tape and while some brands of guns ship with a gun lock of some sorts in the box none are affixed to the gun.

[Mulestalker]

Remember, shipping insurance is ONLY good if the gun is lost, doesn't cover any damage incurred while shipping,as I found out the hard way when mine come to me in 5 pieces...pics on here somewhere....

I would recommend double boxing,just had a gun shipped and received it with the scope ring poking out of the box...not good.

[eric2381]

Originally Posted by 209x50

In the same cardboard box box the manufacturer sends the gun to store or distributor in. The "lock" on the box is packing tape and while some brands of guns ship with a gun lock of some sorts in the box none are affixed to the gun.

That's what I thought. I have gotten rifles in the mail with trigger locks. the sender usually hides the key in the packaging somehow. I've never trigger locked or hid the identity of what I'm shipping. Never had a problem.

[Big Racks]

Originally Posted by Mulestalker

Remember, shipping insurance is ONLY good if the gun is lost, doesn't cover any damage incurred while shipping,as I found out the hard way when mine come to me in 5 pieces...pics on here somewhere....

I would recommend double boxing,just had a gun shipped and received it with the scope ring poking out of the box...not good.

Sounds like you may have been sold a bill of goods. I've had 2 items damaged in transit that have been paid out as insurance claims. I haven't even had to produce the item, just forward pictures of the original packaging, along with pictures of the damage to the packaging and to the item itself. Also, you have to produce the original receipt showing proof of insurance. CP website itself says the insurance is against loss or damage. There are certain items that are not insurable but can't find where it lists firearms as one of them.

[32-40win]

I shipped one to my brother in law in western BC last year, did all the transfer papers, recorded the numbers on a pce of paper taped to the cheapie plastic gun case I put it in, put a lock on the case and put the whole case into another plain cardboard box. With insurance on it---- shipping 56.00, case was 36.00, lock was 6.00 all incl, sent registered mail. They will likely never look inside of it, but, the paperwork has to be there, and the plain box to me was insurance that no one would have a plain sight reason to look in it. Don't need anything on the outside except the addresses.

[twofifty]

Nylon zipstraps make perfectly good trigger or action locks, for shipping purposes.

[twofifty]

quoting from slopeshunter's post, re: Canada Post regs.

"There cannot be any ammunition in the firearm or in the package. Bullets, cartridges and other ammunition are dangerous goods and cannot be mailed. These items fall under Class 1 (Explosives) of the Canadian Transportation of Dangerous Goods Act."

So then, Canada Post considers bullets to be dangerous goods under Class 1 (Explosives) of the Canadian Transportation of Dangerous Goods Act.

I guess if Canada Post says that bullets are explosives, then they are!

[6.5 shooter]

PLEASE ,PLEASE send your rifle with signature required. We came home after a long weekend, on Sunday evening and the post office had left our rifle, on our doorstep, we live on a fairly busy street. That rifle could have been there for days, for all I know.
Also had a scope dropped of just yesterday, same thing, left it on my door step.
Just darn lucky,I didn't lose both of my purchases.