Shippers to ship guns between the here and the lower 48

[Chrispc]

I'm moving back to the lower 48 this summer, and wanted to ship my guns via freight with a shipping company...I'll be driving through Canada and don't want a hassle/run around w/ customs. I've been told that if I use a shipping company and the guns go down the ALCAN through Canada that they "are in" transit/secured, and won't be scrutinized by Canadian Customs (along w/ the rest of my household goods).
Has anyone used a shipping company to ship between here and the lower 48?
UPS/FEDEX/USPS gets very expensive real quick with one gun, not to mention when you have significantly more than that. Need a freight company idea. Thanks, Chris....

[Mobius]

When I looked at shipping things up here, no one would ship them through Canada by road. I'm not saying it can't be done, or it's illegal, I'm just saying no one I contacted would.

A suggestion that might ease some pain. And might not. The firearm as defined by the US is the serialized receiver. So, if you want to ship your firearms, strip every thing you physically can strip off the receiver. The heaviest parts are usually the barrel and the stock. If you can remove them you can lighten the load considerably. USPS will ship long guns. So package all your long gun receivers into a box and send it to your self. All the rest of the parts are just parts. No receiver, no firearms. You can drive through Canada and not declare them because they aren't firearms. If they do search or whatever, be sure to have the shipping label/receipt for the receivers. You can drive parts through canada, just not guns. I wouldn't do that with anything that resembles a scary black military killing death ray like an AR. They get twitchy about those. But shotguns and other long guns it's fine.

[sweepint]

You do not have to break the rifles or shot guns down, ship from yourself to yourself USPS. Do not write on the outside that its a firearm USPS rules. Pistols are another story all together. There are several threads on this and they have all the postal rules attached. Mobius did have a good point on the mail receipts to show that you mailed the firearms I did the same thing as well and the border agents were good with that. I however carried a good bunch of these firearms when I drove through Canada and did not have a bit of trouble doing so.

[ph21]

I'm leaving next Monday, going back to the lower 48. I will declare my rifles with Canada at the border. I called them and made sure they were not prohibited. My AR15, I shipped to myself. My handguns will go with my wife on the airline. They are all locked open and in a hard case with padlocks. She will check them in with her checked bags. This is actually a question of mine that I will start a new thread with.....

[Mobius]

You do not have to break the rifles or shot guns down, ship from yourself to yourself USPS. Do not write on the outside that its a firearm USPS rules. Pistols are another story all together. There are several threads on this and they have all the postal rules attached. Mobius did have a good point on the mail receipts to show that you mailed the firearms I did the same thing as well and the border agents were good with that. I however carried a good bunch of these firearms when I drove through Canada and did not have a bit of trouble doing so.

Just to clarify, I didn't say you HAD to break them down. I said it might ease some of the pain of the cost because of the reduced weight. For instance, you can break a ruger 10/22 down to a small aluminum box. That box is the gun. Then wrap that box in bubble wrap and send it in a priority mail box. It's a lot cheaper that way than sending the entire rifle with all the heavy parts. The rest of the parts are just parts which do not need to be declared. But, if they search you and find a disconnected barrel, you have the receipt to show that the gun was sent by carrier. A barrel without a receiver is just a metal tube, not a gun.