Movers and my gun collection

[Dnaltrop]

In 1950, maybe, but this is "innocence dead" Modern day.

Just as you don't go walking around a crowded city with a giant visible wad of cash, you don't show ANYONE you wouldn't trust to shoot your guns, where they are and how easy it is to pick up the safe, then give them a walkthrough of your new property.

The question implies that there is unfortunately No-one you trust locally with your hardware.

A local storage locker is a possibility, but best to pay a year in advance. I'd hate to think you'd misplace a bill in the mail and get your Guns sold out from under you for Postage issues.

Personally, I hate to have something as valuable and lethal, outside of my direct control.

Better to deal with the annoyance of moving them around yourself.
Don't park the car overnight with your Cache.
Don't eat in sit down restaurants where you can't watch the vehicle like a hawk.

Good luck.

 

[Boss-Saint-Tony]

I agree 100% with "move them yourself." Also, make sure you have paperwork to show they're your guns.

I don't know what the difference is in the laws, between Arkansas and Colorado, or for that matter even what kinds of guns you own, but here's a story that offers something to think about:

The counter guy at a local gun shop told me that for years the only way to import a gun into the Philippines has been to COMPLETELY disassemble the gun, down to springs and metal chunks and loose screws. This is because, he told me, guns are not allowed to be brought in to that country, but gun PARTS are still legal. This gun shop is in an area where lots of Philippino-Americans regularly host visitors from overseas. At that shop there is an excellent young gunsmith, who apparently has been paid on numerous occasions to disassemble a firearm, down to just a pile of parts, and pack it for shipping. The customer essentially buys a "parts kit" for a given gun.

--BST

 

[wishin]

Move them yourself. I had a shotgun come up missing in a moving company move back in 1964. It never showed up. Never again.

 

[cleardiddion]

I drive across country from CO-FL and back twice a year. You can make it to AK in under a day no problem even with a U-haul truck. I'm in the same boat as everyone else and say don't use the movers.

 

[Gaffer]

rogertc1 is correct. The last move I made the movers would not touch my guns or any of the reloading material they considered hazardous. Some sort of federal law they told me. I had to move them myself. several hundred miles. Took a full load in the pickup along with the gun safe. Did on a weekend and installed the safe bolted down, filled it with guns and told the neighbors to call the police if they saw anyone around but me. Two weeks later the movers did the rest of the home. I worried but it turned out all right.

 

[Warhawk83]

The last time I moved I had two department store gift cards stolen out of a jewelry box that was taped shut stolen. I guess they thought if we saw the jewelry there we wouldn't notice the cards?

I moved guns at the same time, in my own car, thankfully.

 

[GoWolfpack]

Many of the moving company employees are a bit shady.

I used to be one of those shady employees. By and large the guys I worked with were honest as the day was long and just worked for smoke breaks. The possibility of theft depends greatly on the situation. For example: door to door overnight move with the same crew on both ends? Wouldn't sweat it. Delayed for a few days, drop off at a warehouse to be picked up by another driver and delivered by a different crew? Worry a lot.

That said, move them yourself if it's at all possible. Uhaul rental will cost about $250 plus fuel. If the company will move guns, they have to be declared on the manifest. Same with booze. Against the law for a motor carrier to have alcohol aboard if it's not listed on the shipment manifest. The guys I worked for (Graebel Van Lines, if you're interested), would move long guns but not hand guns or ammunition.

In other news, stay out of the way, don't be a prick to the working stiffs, and give them a tip. Watch carefully, write down their names, report to the company later if anything shady happens. Starting a scene right then and there because they're not being careful enough with your TV won't help anything. See the movie Waiting and remember they're handling all your stuff.

The only acceptable time to make a scene is first thing in the morning after they get there. Look in their truck; if it's neat and clean, you should have a good day. Messy truck, the driver probably isn't very good.

And make sure the water is turned on. Nothing more embarassing than drowning a burrito in somebody's brand new house only to find out you can't flush it.

Oh, and stay out of the way. Really.

 

[Warhawk83]

WolfPack,I had to make a scene with one guy.He wanted to buy my original Nintendo, after being told no repeatedly.. he starts throwing my stuff around and chunked a broken piece of entertainment center (yes they broke it) off the balcony almost hitting my 3 year old.

 

[22-rimfire]

GoWolfpack; I meant no offense. I have heard that the employee turnover is quite high and they use a lot of temporary help. Some of these temps have criminal records. That in itself is not a problem as long as they don't take anything. Some look at your house and think... they can afford it.... to justify their evil intentions.

When possible, I always tried to arrange moves with the moving company (Graebel was one of them) so that it would be load and haul to destination with no warehouse storage. That is the problem point for the most part. I never had a problem, but I moved the important or expensive stuff myself in every case so far. Hopefully there will be no more moves. The last move involved storage and was only a few hundred miles. The timing between houses just didn't work, so I had an apartment for a while. I took several pickup loads to the new destination to avoid the damage and theft issue of expensive items. I just don't want to deal with that kind of stuff if I have any choice.

On one move, the delivery folks were trying to buy one of my bikes. Thought that was humorous.

 

[Dnaltrop]

Gowolfpack is right, it's all down to the working stiff in question.

Especially today, you find a lot more college degrees in manual labor. everyone has to eat. But the few bad seeds tend to stand out more than the thousands of honest folks.

It came to me, If you MUST trust the movers, and you have the gear..

A remote-activated Game camera tucked inside the load to photograph/video ANYONE entering the truck after you seal it could stop a LOT of discussions in their tracks when a moving company loses your gear.

Trust, but verify. It sucks, but that's what the world has come to.

Edit- If you try this, be sure to notify the moving company in question, if the camera is known to be there, it won't be as likely to be stolen, and you don't want to risk running afoul of wiretapping laws for a hidden camera in someone else's property.

 

[bobland]

When I moved, the movers told me in person "no guns or ammo." They also included this in the contract. However, they said nothing of components so I had them move the tons of lead bullets, cases, dies, presses and all other shooting accessories as we had packed the Jeep up to the eyeballs.

We did pack all the guns into the Jeep as well as all live ammo.

 

[heavyshooter]

So basically you are all telling me to move them myself! LOL!!! I did not expect such a unanimous decision! I did not give the details about the collection. Basically we are in the ballpark of about 20 guns and I am attached to all of them and very attached to some of them (my first gun and a gun that my dad gave me). If something happened to them I would be !!!

Now the question is, what precautions should I take in driving across 3-4 states with an arsenal (and ammo) in my vehicle!

 

[Dnaltrop]

If no safe,

I'm using an old WWII arty shell crate, padlocked and heavy as hell, and painted hunter orange (go ahead and run away with it) a few straps/chains/bolts to the floor if in your personal vehicle can keep it secure enough as long as you don't leave the car unattended.

Can you tell I've had a *few* too many vehicle break-ins?

Last Gun show here, (local surplus store always thinned out before you can get this sort of thing) there were a good assortment of long, metal mil surplus crates for under $100. Always a good choice if you don't need something you can keep inconspicuously in your living room.

Makes a great toy-box for the kids too once you get a decent fire safe.

Edit- Aim for inconveniently large and uncomfortably heavy, if it pisses YOU off, and is a pain in the ass that barely gets into your car, Imagine the frustration of someone trying to avoid detection. Bolt a screamer alarm to the bottom and have the trigger attached to the floor of the car if you have to stop at a hotel overnight.

 

[oneounceload]

I packed all of mine in a wardrobe box to move across the country. They were all cased or padded, I loaded the box myself; there was an inventory list in the box as well as one that came with me. Every seam was sealed with tape and I used a marker across each one to show if it had been opened. I told the movers what was in there, paid for the extra insurance, and had ZERO issues. The box arrived with everything else - undamaged and unmolested. The bigger PITA was moving the safe.......

 

[MinnMooney]

I second, third and forth the advise of most every other THR'r... move them yourself. Rent a trailer, ask a buddy to haul them or borrow a truck but do it yourself. Way too many things can go wrong due to extreme temptation.

 

[kevin387]

I would definetly pack them up and move them myself.

 

[22-rimfire]

How you pack them depends on how much space you have available and the mix of guns. Handguns can be placed inside book cartons quite conveniently. Long guns....If I had a pickup truck, I would place them inside soft carry cases placed inside a long box (Wardrobe box works). This can be carried inside a motel for nightime storage. It really isn't a big deal if you have the room. If that is not available, then just stack them up on the back seat unloaded and put the ammunition in the trunk. Keep your carry gun loaded if it is legal to do so in the various states.

The safe would get moved with other household furniture.

 

[Paints]

On a long distance move, local help is hired for the loading/unloading. Sometimes these are experienced movers and other times they are "any warm body" that can be found.

My son used to drive long haul for one of the major companies. He has some stories to tell about the local help he was sometimes stuck with.

Ken

 

[Deltaboy1984]

Life is too short either Store them in CO and pay up front for the year. Or move them yourself.

 

[GoWolfpack]

On a long distance move, local help is hired for the loading/unloading. Sometimes these are experienced movers and other times they are "any warm body" that can be found.

Drivers sometimes travel with their own help, although they're usually not enough for a big move. Sometimes even the experienced movers are awful. Knew people who had been moving a long time who still didn't know which end was up.

GoWolfpack; I meant no offense. I have heard that the employee turnover is quite high and they use a lot of temporary help. Some of these temps have criminal records. That in itself is not a problem as long as they don't take anything.

No offense taken. I understand that if you don't know the specific people there really isn't much that can be done. Can't exactly form a trusting relationship based on a few hours of interaction.

Turnover can sometimes be high, but the real problem as I see it is that the same people work for whatever company has work for them on a given day. We hired people for a day ("Lumpers" if you want to throw around the industry name for day labor) who the day before had worked for United Van Lines and tomorrow would work for Allied or Paul Arpin or whoever else was paying. The best employees are hired permanently by one company and only work for them. They may not be the very best movers, but they're drug tested clean and more trustworthy than lumpers.

On one move, the delivery folks were trying to buy one of my bikes. Thought that was humorous

Never saw anybody try to buy people's stuff from them. I would have strongly discouraged that by anybody working with me. In my opinion it's extremely unprofessional to ask the customer for anything other than to use the bathroom. Hopefully with the water turned on. And a plunger handy.

Gowolfpack is right, it's all down to the working stiff in question.

Especially today, you find a lot more college degrees in manual labor. everyone has to eat. But the few bad seeds tend to stand out more than the thousands of honest folks.

I was in college at the time I worked hauling people's junk. Wouldn't mind doing it some more if the hours weren't so long. Bad experiences cause customers to be a PITA and not just let movers do their job. Most of the regular stuff is replaceable if it's broken so just relax and let the professionals handle it.

Money, jewelry and other valuables need to be locked up or where you can keep an eye on them though. Keep the honest people honest you know.

And give them a tip.

 

[IN>IL]

I will move and store your guns for you! Just make sure I have the combo to the safe so I can check on them every now and again!

 

[earlthegoat2]

When I had to move about 8 hours away I ended up selling about half my collection just so I could facilitate my moving them in my Ford Focus. It was still a full car. I consider the sale of all those guns a small price to pay for being able to keep them in my sight the whole time.

Ideally you would rent a Penske truck and load all them on it while they are still residing in your safe. Properly padded of course.

 

[oneounceload]

Ideally you would rent a Penske truck and load all them on it while they are still residing in your safe. Properly padded of course.

Just makes the safe even heavier to try and easily move, let alone possibly creating issues as you go down the bumpy road -no matter how well padded

 

[35Rem]

How about shipping them to yourself? Seriously.

 

[heavyshooter]

How about shipping them to yourself? Seriously.

How does one go about doing that?