I make a point of asking sellers to ship a gun broken down if at all possible. Sometimes, I've had to talk them through the process of breaking the gun down for shipping. I've had a couple that were shipped full length that arrived broken through the wrist, and a couple others that survived but showed signs of very rough handling. Both of the broken guns were shipped by Fed Ex. Another consideration is that a gun that is shipped broken down probably draws less attention to what the package contains, and is less likely to be stolen during shipping.
