[Twisted]

The need arrised where I need to Ship 2 kits and a 1919 repair from Cali to John McGuire in Tenn. 3 more future guns are in the works as well.

Cardboard boxes are so flimsy and there is the problem for John to ship back The finished guns undamaged. The last time I got a tripod from Joe H the cardboard shipping box cost $35 and the tripod was recieved damaged anyway.

The answer was clear. I needed a super strong "REUSEABLE" shipping crate to ship completed GUNS, kits and heavy item to ship back and forth between builds and repairs.

Problem 2 What to use that didn't cost a arm and a leg to buy or the kind of money;a wooden crate would cost to build and ship.

Quest... to the Army Surplus store we go, and there it was a Therm-mold M-62 (DRAGON) Simulator case. Case is about 18X20X48 Huge and relatively heavy but heavy duty it is. It's perfectly hinged in the middle between the upper and lower halves. So I took the hinge apart and fab new wooden plywood lids for both halves.

The top half when to John and the Other half I built a dedicated case for 2 1917's W/C and a future 1928 Colt Water-cooler.

BTW both cases cost me under $75 bucks to build. If anyone is interested the 2 kits and the 1919 body weight in with packing at 104 lbs shipped. I'll have pics in a couple of days if anyone is interested.

 

[UncleDad]

Ive had good luck getting boxes from a local appliance store. They have a lot of very heavy duty double corrogated cardboard boxes that they throw out all the time. Then you have to reshape them to make it fit your item, but as they dont cost anything, its not that bad of a deal. They also have those giant chunks of styrofoam that are good for securing items as well.

 

[Roc Rat]

In most situations when shipping something heavy, damage comes not so much from the frailty of the container, but MOVEMENT of the item. I have found that a sized piece of plywood that fits in the container tightly with the heavy item grab tied down to it will insure safe arrival of the item. How many times do we hear of an empty box arriving that was supposed to have a barrel in it. Some minimum wage dummy tosses the barrel in a long box with a few sheets of newspaper,,, DUH!
I shipped a chainsaw lumber mill to Phoenix AZ, and then on to Costa Rica,, it arrived in perfect order,, in a cardboard box,,, It was STABILIZED,, couldn't move.

Toss in a handful of grabties for the return trip.

 

[rego]

I used a CMP rifle box to ship a 1919 kit. Used the foam that came in the box and foam from a second box to wrap parts. The guy commented about great packing job,almost no way anything could have gotten damaged. Hope you have some.

 

[Twisted]

Thanks for the suggestions....

You guys are forgeting I'm shipping 3 finished guns not, one thats a 100 lbs in shifting weigth. I've asked John to wrap the finished guns in furnature blankets and then foam packing around that with cardboard separating the guns. Should be just fine.