If everything goes as planned, I will be heading to AK next spring with the family in tow. I have read literally dozens of threads and numerous pages regarding the shipping of firearms to Alaska. Nothing I have read addresses shipping a substantial collection of guns, or a large cache of ammo. I am talking about 100+ rifles and handguns
We did this last year, large bulk transfer, FFL to FFL handguns and long guns. Came to around $100/gun UPS (total cost about $2500 including FFL fees). Careful what you bring through the Canadian border, for instance we have the extended mag tubes on our 870's and they are prohibited in Canada (5 rounds maximum in a magazine), as someone we know who was taking the opposite trip found out at the loss of their shotgun.
Retrieving from and FFL was a piece of cake, we arrived in F/Banks July 24th phoned ahead and reserved a PO Box from our local Post Office, went to the Drivers Licensing July 25th spent 30 minutes getting AK Drivers licenses (our physical address is completely random since we're not on any street in any organized borough), and plates for the truck, 15 minutes later had all of them back in our hands and the new plates on the truck.
along with 20K rounds of ammunition. <snip...> I also can't seem to find a reliable source of information on shipping ammo, powder, primers, etc. All I can find is a 5000 round limit on taking ammo into Canada, so I won't even be able to haul my ammo over the AL-Can. Any help you could provide would be much appreciated.
the 5k round limit is per VEHICLE, we brought 15K rounds of centerfire ammunition, and squirrelled away another 3k 22 rimfire with us through the Canadian border in a truck, a U-Haul and a trailer behind the truck, stretching the point I know, but customs were ok with that, much less so with the U-Haul having AZ plates and the truck having WA plates (go figure). Reloading wise, they had no issues with powder, primer, bullets or brass.
BE CAREFUL WITH PRIMERS the Al-Can is not for the faint of heart even when not being rebuilt (which is one week a year, probably in October just before it closes) we were lucky and only had one tire fail at Dawson's Creek so it was a 20 minute fix, and if you don't pack them carefully and thoughtfully then they could have issues, I'm pretty sure you're a sensible guy, and won't be packing something heavy that could fall on top of them, but it always is a good idea to remind folks. If you have any concerns then call Explosive Regulatory Division of Canadian DNR on +1 (613) 943-0206, we had a really helpful guy we spoke to about all of this, who basically said the 5k limit is arbitrary for safety in case of a vehicle fire (he suggested the trailer because of this) powder/primers are not regulated. If they ask about the ammunition remind them you are transiting Canada and it is not importation (there's some kind of treaty for movement of goods from the lower 48 to Alaska, that will not stay in Canada).
As far as selling and re-buying ammo, well, everything in AK has a surcharge for shipping, ammo prices and selection vary, and sometimes some more esoteric rounds are difficult if not impossible to come by, similarly primers, since the primers need to be surface shipped from the lower 48. So you might make anywhere between a 20-50% hit on the overall transaction to get your current ammo stock back (either 20-50% more expensive or 20-50% less ammo).
Anyway my experience, IANAL, YMMV, and usual caveat's apply.