Under federal law, it is legal for you to ship a gun for repair or modification and for it to be returned directly to you. BUT you can no longer get a common carrier to accept a firearm from a private citizen. If your dealer will not cooperate, ask the manufacturer to send you a shipping label for their business account.

 

If your dealer will not cooperate, ask the manufacturer to send you a shipping label for their business account.

I've had to send guns back for warranty work 4 times. Each time they sent me a label and returned the gun directly to me. Diamondback, Kahr, and S&W

 

No need to use a FFL, just a waste of time.
S&W, FN, Colt, Taurus and Glock have all sent me a label when needed.
The only one that screwed me was Ruger back in the early 90's,
when they charged me to ship a P85 back to them for the second time.
What really sucked was they never did fix that crappy gun.

 

P85 … sigh. They probably didn’t have a high enough volume printer to produce all the labels needed. It’s the only firearm I have ever used for a door stop.

 

for the only pistol I have ever had to warranty (and not a glock) I contacted the warranty support phone number at the manufacturer and they happily gave me a prepaid Fed EX label. I boxed the gun up, stuck their label on it, dropped it off at fed ex. No one asked me what was in the box and I never said. about a little over a week later, fed ex was back at my door with an ID and Signature required package that was my fixed pistol (my state allows for this, not all do).

My local FFLs want about $80 to $100 total to pack and ship a pistol, screw that, it is way too much for a warranty claim

You can also try this service (works with FFLs)

Gun Shipping - Fast, Legal, Affordable

www.shipmygun.com

Had I not got a free shipping label, I would have used this. The total cost estimate I got was $32

contact the manufacturer first, see what they are willing to do.

I would have even been happy to pay for the manufacturer to create me a shipping label where I am only paying their discounted cost of shipping (but they just gave me a prepaid label and it worked out, I got the label in an email while I was still on the phone with them)

 

Last time I had to do this I used FFL. I get it if you got a free label. But in the future I will take any financial hit to support FFL who runs his own business. It was pretty cheap. I had to use him anyway as it involved issuing a new frame as the warranty fix, so had to re-4473 it anyway.

 

I got a replacement s&w sent directly to me. No 4473

 

I agree with shipping it yourself per comments of the others. The FFL will take their sweet time.

 

Glock normally sends a label if it’s true warranty claim. If it’s not then you have to send it from an ffl. This was a recent experience with Glock that I had. Whereas Sig lets you pay them and they provide you a label which cuts down on the hassle.

 

It's gotten complicated.

 

FFL or dealer will only complicate the process. I as that you should have the manufacturer send you a shipping label.

 

This may not pertain to your situation but this is what happened the last time I made a shipment back to Ruger. I looked up Fedex gun shipping policy, and they will accept guns for shipment but only at one of their hubs, and this is because those hubs have an FFL assigned to it. If you go to a drop and ship center and tell them you are shipping a gun back to a manufacturer, they are supposed to decline to accept it. That happened to me. The reason is those drop centers are mom and pop outfits that don't hold an FFL.

The nearest Fedex hub from me is over an hour away so I then went to an LGS and asked if they could ship it for me. They said no problem, we have Fedex pickups near daily. It then got to Ruger and came back to my house after they did their warranty repair.

UPS has set this policy: https://www.ups.com/us/en/support/s...ng-support/shipping-special-care-regulated-items/prohibited-items/firearms.page

"Shipments containing Firearm Products are accepted for transportation only from shippers who are federally licensed and have an approved UPS agreement for the transportation of Firearm Products."

 

I have used an FFL for an entire firearm. If is just parts, like and AR upper, then I ship it myself.

 

Ruger took care of me with shipping label, tracking, and return in better shape.

 

Label generated from manufacturer or ship my gun.
Slap it on the box.
Drop it off at local UPS/FedEx.
They scan it with the same disengaged apathy as the last 1000 boxes they scanned and do so with no questions asked. Hasta la vista style.

I’m sure their is always some real or imagined concern but it’s never failed me.

 

UPS and Fedex both have changed and adopted their policy as to not accept from an individual any longer. If the Manufacturer sends you a label then it is them shipping it and not and you can drop it off. CCIMAN said it is complicated. I agree and add it is a PITA.

 

Wow, that sucks. I've shipped pistols to Glock a couple of times, and it ranged from expensive to stupid expensive, but I didn't realize you can't even do that now without a pre-paid label from the manufacturer. Last time I shipped a firearm back to the manufacturer, it was a new/defective rifle, so they sent me a shipping label...so I haven't shipped a firearm on my own dime for quite a few years (>15).

 

This thread has me curious. There is a small mom & pop package store near me. They ship USPS, UPS, FedX and have the usual PO boxes and sell shipping supplies etc. Winder if they can ship handguns? Anyone know? I’ve shipped guns with them in the past but it was before the current policy changes.

 

None of them in my AO do and I live in a very firearm friendly part of the country.

 

Just sent two Colt King Cobras back to Colt. Dropped both off at a FedEx hub. Why would I take it back to the FFL? Already had the shipping label that came with the RMA.

 

as long as the manufacturer sends you a label you can ship back and then they can return it to you.

 

Interesting story. I had a S&W revolver with an alloy frame. A hairline crack developed across the top strap. I contacted S&W and they sent me a prepaid mailing label. I sent the revolver and a short time later I received it back with a new frame. After a few days and one range trip I noticed there was no serial number on the replacement frame. I called S&W and they seemed to almost panic. They sent me another prepaid mailing label. I sent it back again and a very short time later I received it back, this time with the serial number laser engraved on the butt of the gun along with an apology and a nice gift certificate.

 

I bet they appreciated that very much. I wish all the manufacturers would adopt Sigs policy on shipping firearms.

 

If not sending a gun to the factory for warranty work can the manufacturer send you a prepaid shipping label and charge you for it?

 

Sig does but Glock will not.

 

Any gun I've shipped went UPS ground. I didn't disclose it either. No issues.

 

Is it Legal ? Yes
Dies it usually work ? Yes
If your package gets lost or stolen , will you get paid ? No.
If it gets discovered what the actual contents are while in transit ( box gets damaged & needs revealing, or occasional X raying to check for hazmat or contraband , drugs , etc ) what will happen ? Currently open ended question. UPS has changed fine print to allow them to confiscate certain items against their policies , including firearms and components . They are virtue signaling about " stopping proliferation of ghost guns " . How often they will find things , and what they'll actually do remain to be seen .

 

Most LGS in my area and refusing to do it because they are getting so much heat from the alphabet police. They are not doing any extra stuff to be scrutinized on.

 

I've shipped two firearms in the past two weeks. One was a double-barreled shotgun I sold on Gunbroker, and the other was a Tisas 1911 going back for warranty work. Both were shipped out of my local USPS post office. The shotgun cost me $74 to ship to Texas from Washington. The female postal worker asked what was in the box and I told her it was a very rare camshaft out of a 1939 Lincoln Straight-Eight motor. That explained the $1700 insurance amount. It was mailed to the buyer's FFL and a copy of the FFL was in the box, as required. I just didn't want the liberal female to freak out and make me un-tape the box and verify everything.

The Tisas was shipped using a pre-paid shipping label that they sent me. The clerk didn't ask what it was, so I didn't offer that info.

I'm probably a felon now.

 

You might want to consider editing out the first paragraph of your post.🙄