I can go on this for hours. I was fortunate enough to have provided the UPS shipping label prepaid for a gun that was destroyed last year. As the shipper and the receiver, I was at no one else's mercy,and I was able to provide all proper documentation from both sides. ( the seller would not take the gun back and said there was no way it could have been damaged with their packing job- it was average at best) However it took 3 months and a full time shipping claims guy in my office to get them to pay. I was foolish enough to only insure a 4k gun for 2k though so I did still eat it, but getting the full 2k was some victory.
$30 case ??? I received a once beautiful Kimber 82 22 this fall in a plastic hard case stock broken clean in half at the bolt.
It takes effort to pack one well enough to combat transit abuse.
Here's a real piece of divine intervention though. Two years ago when I found the crown jewel of my collection, I asked the shipper to please disassemble it and send barrels not attached to the frame.
The gun arrived assembled sleeved in an old canvas sock in a 60x12x5 box with ONE PAGE of newspaper floating in the box with the gun. The box barely held its shape, the barrels had poked through but miraculously the gun sustained no damage.
