I appreciate the info. It Occured to me that if I wanted to join them for a hunt, I thought I could just ship my rifle to them . I didn't realize I would have to jump thru the ATF hoops. Ah well........................
It still is MUCH better than taking your rifle on a flight. I have a metal case, with conveyor rubber coating, and the airlines still put 2, 10" gashes in it!
The odds on the gun arriving with you are 50% best.
The last time I arrived 3 hours early, told the clerk it was critical for my gun to arrive with my flight. He told me give him 20 minutes and he would call baggage and let me know when the gun was on the plane. 30 minutes later I got the OK.
When I arrived, no gun. 45 minutes with a US Air idiot did nothing. I finally got a manager that said the gun was pulled because the plane was overweight. SURE........I can see them unloading the entire plane to remove the first piece stowed.
Trying to explain to them that they COULD NOT bring me my gun went on deaf ears. They could not grasp the idea that a base camp had no address, or roads for that matter. They also could not grasp the concept that the entire hunting party was not going to delay their drive to the base camp until the next morning. Needless to say, my hunt was ruined, deposit lost.
When I got back to my destination, the gun was still there, marked with a HUGE RUSH, TIME SENSITIVE MATERIAL sticker.
Luckily for me the clerk that assured me the gun was on the flight was not there when I returned.
From now on, I ship my gun to the outfitter, and have him shoot it well before I leave. I also found lugging a gun case around an airport is not for us middle aged hunters. That alone is worth the cost of shipping.
