Today I had an issue with a guy trying to ship me a legal non-nfa shotgun through UPS. I have personally shipped 10+ rifles and shotguns from my UPS hub to an individual in state (TX) with no issues. But after today I found out that this is not UPS policy and my hub has been breaking protocol. In state or out of state if an individual wants to ship a shotgun with UPS it has to go to a FFL holder. Contrary to the info I have read elsewhere and personal history shipping through my UPS hub. Now some hubs may continue to let you ship it the UPS policy is not being followed and can not every hub will let you ship without a FFL even though it is a legal transfer.

I also work at the post office as a carrier and had been misinformed by my postmaster of many years and a clerk of many years about the requirements of shipping a rifle or shotgun with USPS IN-State from individual to individual. My postmaster contacted our district mailing procedure office for clarification. He was told the following. You can mail a unloaded non NFA regulated shotgun or Rifle from an individual in the state of Texas to another individual in the state of Texas with NO FFL required on either side. The gun can be shipped completely assembled in one box. And there are no other requirements or restrictions.

Bottom line is if you want to ship a non-NFA shotgun or rifle from you to another individual in state it is best to use USPS. Now you need to be prepared to make sure that the person working the window contacts the district office if they believe that you can not ship the way I have said. Even if the postmaster trys to tell you that you can not ship he is wrong and you should have him contact someone in his district for clarification or you contact customer service to have them clarify the rules and procedures to the postmaster or clerk on the window.

Or, you can just package it really well, insure it for the full value, and just not declare what it is inside. I'm not saying to lie to anyone. Locally Office Depot has a UPS pick up point. I have a UPS account. I can print my shipping labels, affix them to my wrapped package, then walk into an Office Depot that accepts UPS packages and drop it off. Nobody at Office Depot asks any questions so I have never had to lie about what I'm shipping.

It's rumored that some people will declare them as "machine parts" when shipping them UPS. Of course I have no knowledge of the practice.

IMO if you send it without declaring it a firearm and there is a claim they can deny the claim since you shipped it against their policy. The claims process is sometimes a nightmare with a legitimately claim much less a claim with a firearm you shipped without the companies knowledge. Just my opinion I would rather do it by the book in case something were to happen.

Not sure if it's law but I read an ATF statement that said when shipping common carrier (UPS, FedEx, etc.), you must declare that you are shipping a firearm. They did not include that stipulation when shipping with USPS.

In line with what JCurt said there is no point in insuring it if you're not following their policies.