Rights to the Box?

[JayFramer]

Hey yall, this is sort of a mini rant/question.

So you know when you go to your FFL dealer and get a new rifle or shotgun? Well I don't know about you, but sometimes they don't give me the original cardboard shipping box. I'll ask for that box, because as anyone who's ever had to find the right box to ship a rifle/shotgun in, you know how hard it is to find one out in the "wild". Hardly anybody local sells boxes of the right dimensions. And besides, I'm about where if I sell a gun, I buy one so it works it... if they let me keep the cardboard box!!

I'll ask for it and they'll say "oh we threw it out bro" and stuff like that. The heck?? It begs the questions... since YOU bought the gun... isn't the cardboard shipping box TECHNICALLY yours as well? Or does it belong to the FFL?

Sorry for the rant, but like I said go out and just try to get the right size box to ship a rifle. Just try!

 

[Muss Muggins]

I sit in my LGS on a lot of days when his deliveries occur, and I help him go through the various boxes. We always toss the cardboard over wraps. I'm surprised anybody would keep them . . .

 

[pawngal]

And just where is the LGS supposed to store those boxes?

 

[zonker5]

.....It begs the questions... since YOU bought the gun... isn't the cardboard shipping box TECHNICALLY yours as well? Or does it belong to the FFL?

Nope, the box is not yours.

The entire package, box and gun, was sold to the FFL by the distributor, not to you. The FFL now owns the entire package and can elect to sell only the gun if he cares to.

Now if you purchased the gun somewhere else and only had it shipped to the FFL to do paper work, then you might make a claim for the box.

 

[coltle6920]

And just where is the LGS supposed to store those boxes?

They don't throw away the hardshell cases that hanguns come in and they have more of them than they do long guns.

Just saying...

 

[timn8er]

If I don't get the box with a brand new gun then I won't be getting the gun, at least, not at that LGS...to me, it is a package deal.

 

[steveno]

as far as I'm concerned the box comes with the gun and that makes the box mine to do with whatever I choose. if the LGS wants it they can buy it back from me. I guess around here I have never heard of the LGS keeping the box.

 

[Fishinfool]

Any S&W's in the blue plastic case I have seen delivered to the local gun shop came with just the plastic case, usually stacked in a larger box with 5 or 6 other similar plastic cases / guns. Yes, I'd say the plastic case is part of the package, but any overwrap is just excess, and not suitable as a shipping container. Those blue plastic cases may be boxed differently if shipped as a single, but I haven't noted how they ship.

Larry

 

[coltle6920]

The box for my Colt AR15 has on the label...model #...serial #...caliber and barrel length.It has pretty much the same info as the boxes that S&W used to use.

If a box (or case) for a handgun can command a few extra dollars when resold why wouldn't the same hold true for a rifle?Nobody is talking about "overwrap".They're talking about the actual box the rifle is put in and that box is suitable for shipping.

I don't have a safe but I have four rifles that I keep in their box and they stack up real nice in a closet.

But what the hey...I don't know anything.

 

[chief38]

Another EXCELLENT container to ship a long gun in for service is a cardboard tube. These can be purchased or scrounged in many different sizes and usually come with plastic or steel caps that can be stapled and taped on. I find that many of these tubes are about 1/4" - 3/8" in thickness and will support the weight of a 200 + pound person! They are much stronger than any gun box and will protect a gun so much better than a standard gun box will.

These tubes are common in reams of paper, metal, or any materials that come on huge rolls. I can usually find them for free and I also use them to store assorted pipes, threaded rod, steel and aluminum angle iron etc. in my workshop. If you don't want to be bothered scrounging them, they can also be purchased from packaging supply Companies - DON'T get them at Staples as those are cheap thin and not very strong. Anyone who has ever ordered a rifle cleaning rod from Brownells knows what I am talking about - except in a larger diameter obviously. They come ALL diameters and can be cut to proper size with just about any saw or hacksaw.

It's NICE to also get the original box (as you said) but these tubes are just so much better IMHO for the rough handling they get when shipped. Most Company's that get tools, parts or equipment parts in these tubes just throw them out and they are very happy to give them to you. LGS's are always getting in shipments and just can't save every box. If you special order a gun that is not in stock just ask them to save all original packaging for you in the future. Personally even if I had the original packing box I would not use it to ship out a firearm as they are not all that strong IMHO.

 

[pawngal]

I think we are talking about 2 different "boxes" I understood the OP to mean the outer plain brown cardboard box, you know the one that UPS or FedEX put the shipping label on. Not the gun manufacturers box with the model and serial number.

 

[Arik]

What about the truck it came in?

I think the OP means the brown cardboard box that just about everything gets shipped in.

My LGS tosses them. If I'm shipping something I'll come in and ask. If they haven't tossed it yet they'll give it to me. If they threw it away theyll say I'm welcome to go dumpster diving to my heart's content!

That being said.....I ship handguns through them so theyll box it up anyway. For rifle shipping I just use the plain cardboard boxes from Uline

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[American1776]

Nope, the box is not yours.

The entire package, box and gun, was sold to the FFL by the distributor, not to you. The FFL now owns the entire package and can elect to sell only the gun if he cares to.

Now if you purchased the gun somewhere else and only had it shipped to the FFL to do paper work, then you might make a claim for the box.

So by this logic, since the FFL owns the entire package, he can elect to sell you NOTHING if he cares to and just keep it to a higher bidder in the store?

The FFL CAN do a lot of things. I think what the OP is asking is whether it's right for the FFL to keep certain things to which one has a (moral) right.

 

[Rule3]

I always get the shipping box or dumpster dive for it.

Any new gun I ever buy has to go back to the factory for some defect.

My LGS always has boxes for stuff or the dumpster if full, no biggy.

 

[Arik]

I think we need the OP to come back and explain which box he's referring to

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[desi2358]

After re-reading the original post it seems clear that he was referring to the shipping box not the firearms box itself. He specifically refers to "finding the right box to ship" a firearm in. As a dealer I would keep some shipping boxes for re-use but I certainly didn't keep all of them! Now on a transfer gun I would hold on to it till the customer was satisfied with what he received. Then he could have it or I would toss it.

One more thing, often shipments are combined so instead of a single shipping box for a gun there may be an oversize box that held several. Not much use for reshipping an individual firearm.

 

[Muss Muggins]

I think we need the OP to come back and explain which box he's referring to

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I agree. I think people forget or don't know that firearms are generally shipped in two boxes. The inner box is the original firearm box, like the plastic S&W or Glock boxes, and the outer is usually plain cardboard. As at least one poster has suggested, oftentimes more than one rifle is shipped from the distributor in one big box.

Unasked is why is this nice fella' shipping so many rifles?

 

[chaparrito]

I can see it being a reasonable request to ask the gun shop to save you the shipping container on a gun you ordered, but certainly not on an in-stock purchase.

 

[timn8er]

For clarity's sake, I was referring to the box that the single pistol is packed in from the factory, not the box that several units might have been shipped together in.

 

[Ben_hutcherson]

The one exception I see to the outer shipping box being desireable is in the case of the 1970s S&Ws in wood presentation boxes. The shipping box on those carries the label that would have otherwise been on the blue cardboard box.

Granted we are a long time removed from those, but if I were buying a 29-2 or such and the shop had the shipping carton but wouldn't give it to me, it would be a no-deal.

Aside from that, I want the "retail" package(or plastic box with a lot of handguns now) if buying new but don't really care about any other boxes they may have come in.

I don't buy that many long guns period, much less new ones, but the new ones I've bought have always included the retail box. When I've agreed on the purchase, the shops have usually either gone and pulled an unopened one form inventory or gone to the back and found the box for the gun I was buying. One shop actually insisted that I wait for them to find it, even though I didn't really care much on that particular gun.