Heartbreak Hotel

[Jack Stanley]

Talking about black hole of shipping ......... the Detroilet USPS facility comes to mind .

Jack

[popper]

Wait till you get a 'return' crate that had fallen off a train and run over by the train - shipper claimed no shipping damage.

[fiberoptik]

Had a box of books delivered from overseas. It shows up with 1 side ripped wide open and missing 1/2 the books. Uninsured of course.

Muzzleloader arrived with the end ripped open and most of the balls rolled away. Back sight fell out when I pulled out the rifle.
Black rubber tracks across the boxes.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[marlinman93]

I got a shipment of Lyman #2 via UPS that was dropped on my porch. When I heard the truck I stepped out to see if my package was here and the driver was running to his truck, and sped off. Picked up the box and it was empty, with a hole in one corner. I'm sure there were bars of #2 in numerous UPS trucks and conveyors as it moved from Rotometals to my door.

[atr]

When I ship rifles I build a wooden box for shipping, not cardboard. Yes it adds to the weight and cost but that small price to pay is better than having the shipment damaged.
the best cardboard shipping box I have seen came from Savage, it was a heavy cardboard box within a cardboard box.
I hope Henry does right by you
atr

[marlinman93]

When I ship rifles I build a wooden box for shipping, not cardboard. Yes it adds to the weight and cost but that small price to pay is better than having the shipment damaged.
the best cardboard shipping box I have seen came from Savage, it was a heavy cardboard box within a cardboard box.
I hope Henry does right by you
atr

Even wooden crates, well built wont stop these goons. Read my post earlier of how FedEx destroyed two glued, screwed and well built shipping crates with guns I shipped.

[Jedman]

Just since early 2020 when Covid screwed things up, USPS has lost 3 items for me. One was a single shot receiver shipped in a flat rate box from a friend that lives in my state so it didn’t need to go through a FFL.
One was a chamber reamer I bought on eBay, and one was a set of rifle sights I sent someone in a small box.
Even though they all had tracking numbers they were shipped uninsured and USPS refused to do anything about them. I filed lost package claims and called and bugged them many times but they say they are just the courier and have no responsibility for lost items.
Being I hear the same kind of troubles with UPS and FedEx what do you do to ship something and not have to take a loss when it’s not your fault ?

Jedman

[marlinman93]

Just since early 2020 when Covid screwed things up, USPS has lost 3 items for me. One was a single shot receiver shipped in a flat rate box from a friend that lives in my state so it didn’t need to go through a FFL.
One was a chamber reamer I bought on eBay, and one was a set of rifle sights I sent someone in a small box.
Even though they all had tracking numbers they were shipped uninsured and USPS refused to do anything about them. I filed lost package claims and called and bugged them many times but they say they are just the courier and have no responsibility for lost items.
Being I hear the same kind of troubles with UPS and FedEx what do you do to ship something and not have to take a loss when it’s not your fault ?

Jedman

They're full of crap. All flat rate boxes automatically have insurance on them. Might not cover the total value, but they start at minimum $50, and up. So they have to pay the minimum if your parts were worth more.

[sd5782]

Retired from 42 years at UPS. Yes, people can get careless, but 90% of the damaged stuff is from the machinery. Imagine a conveyer belt 50 yards long and loaded with packages, and then something creates a jam. All the weight of the packages behind it are forced into the front packages. Long boxes aren’t good. Separate action from stocks. The advice here on packaging are good. Packages can fall 15 feet from belts and chutes. The equipment can cause more damage than a person. It is just how the system is designed. Square, regular shaped boxes work best. Long and skinny, watch out. The workers don’t really touch the packages too much at all, and wouldn’t have much knowledge of the contents, or even much interest in abusing them as that would mean more work on an otherwise physical job. Good packaging is the best insurance, and separate the action from the stock.

[marlinman93]

The workers don’t really touch the packages too much at all, and wouldn’t have much knowledge of the contents, or even much interest in abusing them as that would mean more work on an otherwise physical job. Good packaging is the best insurance, and separate the action from the stock.

Considering the boot prints I've found on boxes delivered to me or to guys I sent to, I'm sure handlers didn't "touch" them with their hands either. More like they jumped up and down on them.

[doghawg]

I'm unable to detect any movement in the wrist of the stock and it's a .223 so the Henry is going to the range tomorrow. I dabbed some Old English dark furniture polish on the cracks and an old Japanese made Nikon 4X on a Henry rail. The replacement stock hasn't arrived yet.

A friend of mine is awaiting shipment on a rifle and his ffl told him they've had a rash of shipping damage lately on rifles.

[sharps4590]

Boy..."elegant" is hardly the description that comes to my mind on 98% of American made, break open single shot rifles or shotguns. Serviceable, iconic, blue collar, nostalgic, you betcha but, elegant? no.

[sd5782]

Marlinman, my post wasn’t to exonerate the workers at ups or fedex for that matter. I have received packages with boot prints also. Workers are careless for sure, and the quality of the part time help has gotten much worse over the years.

I was trying to point out that the equipment can probably do more damage to packages than a human can in most instances. A longer box can and does invite much worse stresses as it passes through the system.

Running the system full and fast is a cost/profit business decision. Right or wrong , that is how it is. Some things I would never ship through ups, and I would certainly keep my fingers crossed if having one delivered. I am actually surprised with all shippers that stuff I have received has been pretty good, but I am not getting volumes of stuff.

That brings me back to packaging. Pack for the worst. Most times things can flow smoothly, but if things get jammed up, it is quite often an odd shaped package that takes the massive forces of the packages behind it.

You don’t see the worst stuff because that is repackaged and returned or dealt with as undeliverable. Much of this stuff was sturdier than guns and still destroyed. I’m just explaining how the system works. The best insurance is good packaging with the stock separated, and then a prayer that your package travels smoothly through the system.

[marlinman93]

My local UPS tries to rip me off every chance they get. I ordered some auto parts for a hotrod I was building recently, and accidentally ordered the wrong bolt pattern for disc brake rotors. Seller said they'd take them back, but I had to pay return shipping. Since they came UPS I printed out return labels, and stuck them on the same boxes they came in. When I got to the UPS outlet the girl tells me the total for shipping and insurance, but then tells me they wont pay if there's damage, unless they do the packaging!
I looked at her and asked why they accepted these parts in this packaging insured, and shipped to me, but now wont let me ship them back without paying her blackmail to repackage them? She simply said, "Well we will make an exception this time."

[sd5782]

Once again not trying to make excuses. Lots of stuff like that goes on. One thing that people seldom know is that those UPS stores are private contractors and not ups employees. They ship exclusively with ups and use the name but are not ups run in any way. UPS is expensive, but they are way more as that is how they make their money along with packaging and boxes and such.

My purpose is not to argue or even to defend ups, but just to get the info out there for others so they can make their own informed decisions. UPS doesn’t really want the walk-in small guy kind of business as it is low profit or even a money loser. They want bulk supplier to business sort of stuff. Pick up 100 boxes at one place and deliver 10-20 to a business. I usually ship post office.

[doghawg]

Boy..."elegant" is hardly the description that comes to my mind on 98% of American made, break open single shot rifles or shotguns. Serviceable, iconic, blue collar, nostalgic, you betcha but, elegant? no.

Well, I guess we're all made a little different. Along with the adjectives you listed I would have to add....accurate. After dialing in the old 4X Nikon at 50 yards I went to our 200 yard swinger and ran 30 rounds of old prairie dog loads through the Henry. The dark spot on the freshly painted swinger was about the size of a tennis ball. My rest was hastily improvised and the wind was raw and nasty so it would appear the cracks in the stock hasn't affected accuracy. I'm not sure whether or not the cracked stock is going to get pulled when the replacement arrives.

It's got a nice crisp trigger pull at just under 4 lbs. and really nice figure in the wood. For a little break action single shot to perform like this and for a gun in this price range I'll stick with elegant.

[sharps4590]

dog, if I ever read of one that wasn't at least "accurate enough", I don't remember it. Most I've read of were quite accurate, as you say, for the cost. I am impressed by that. It is rather amazing to me, that today an inexpensive rifle can be as accurate out of the box as what we labored to achieve from them 50 years ago. And of course we're all made different. It would be pretty boring if we weren't, huh.

[marlinman93]

If you decide to keep the cracked stock on it and use it, I'd suggest taping off the area around the cracks and then saturate the cracks with super glue until it wont soak in anymore. Wipe off any excess on the surface, and use a Q Tip to touch up any lines with stain.
Then you can save the replacement stock for future, should you ever decide to swap it on the rifle.

[doghawg]

sharps. I've got several custom built dogging rifles with trued Rem 700 actions, after market barrels, Timney triggers, and they shoot very well. I've also got a couple of box stock Tikka's that will shoot right alongside the expensive customs so I agree with your comment.

marlinman. Thanks for the suggestion. I've already dabbed some Old English scratch cover on the cracks and they really aren't very noticeable anymore. When and if the stock gets pulled I'll use your idea. There is absolutely zero stock movement right now and on a .223 the stock will probably be intact long after I've split. Thanks again.

[doghawg]

Update...Got this replacement stock in the mail from Henry the other day. They've been a first class company in my dealings with them!