Sorry for asking a recurring question

[lensman57]

What is the best way of posting a PCP whose cylinder can not be detached please? Not interested in RFD to RFD, these days it can count as much as 30% of the cost of the gun.

A.G

[gingernut]

Not Royal Mail for a start!

[rancidtom]

The only legal way of sending an airgun is via ParcelForce48 or RMSD. Their exclusions list prevents compressed gas cylinders and vessels but doesn't exclude airguns. It's all a matter of interpretation, is it an airgun? Yes.
Is it a compressed air cylinder? Well that's down to the interpretation of the people in the sorting office. You could argue that all airguns work by compressed air regardless of them being PCP's or springers/gas ram guns and a gas rammer has a compressed gas cylinder that in many cases cannot be deflated.

[Jonjon79]

I've sent 2 PCPs from Swindon to Northumberland and 1 to Bradford in the last 12 months.

I wrapped the actions and stocks separately. Then wrapped them both together with a lot of bubble wrap.
The outer packaging was 2 layers of heavy duty cardboard.

Then, I lied about what was in them and handed them over to Hermes.

All of them arrived perfectly within a couple of days.

[piggy589]

Tom,With all due respect, only a spring piston gun can go via parcelforce48.

As for the counter staff,they're best kept on a need to know basis.

[rancidtom]

The way I see it is this, but this is purely my interpretation. I'm not taking issue with anyone who disagrees with me!
Nowhere in PF or RM regulations does it define an airgun as being spring powered. Nowhere can I find any specific reference to or definition of any sub-genre of airgun.
If you don't declare the contents of the parcel as being a "low powered sporting air rifle/pistol" in accordance with their regulations for carrying "controlled" items then you may suffer the destruction of the contents of the parcel as RM or PF MAY suspect that it contains a non-declared firearm and therefore not be legal for them to carry. Some parcels are shipped by air, guns of any type are not permitted to be taken through airports by either RM or PF, this is one of the reasons they ask that airguns be declared when shipped.
RM and PF exclude compressed gas/air containers from carriage but when is a gas cylinder not part of a PCP airgun?
As I mentioned earlier the compression cylinder of a spring powered airgun is a cylinder for the containment of compressed air. The so called gas ram contains a chamber which either permanently or at some point in the operation of the airgun becomes a compressed air chamber.
I have posted PCP's as a private individual to other private individuals via PF48 and RMSD (before they brought in size restrictions that exclude anything other than air pistols) having declared them as "low powered sporting air rifle" and had no problems whatsoever.
As an RFD I can send to other RFD's Section 1 firearms on my RFD account with PF, that's a different matter entirely.
As I said above, it's just my interpretation of how I read the regulations published by both PF and RM which are pretty close to identical.
As regards deliberately telling a courier company that a package doesn't contain an airgun when they publish their list of excluded items and that list clearly states no airguns or firearms then that's purely at your own risk and potentially against the law.
Have BASC ever offered any enlightenment on their interpretation of the law and PF/RM regulations? I can't recall ever having read any but I might have missed something.

[angrybear]

What is the best way of posting a PCP whose cylinder can not be detached please? Not interested in RFD to RFD, these days it can count as much as 30% of the cost of the gun.

A.G

The best way is to comply with the rules & regulations of whatever carrier you choose or are forced in to using.

[lensman57]

The best way is to comply with the rules & regulations of whatever carrier you choose or are forced in to using.

So far collection in person seems the most logical outcome. At the very least I can see to whom I am selling a gun and the buyer can have confidence with whatever they are buying.
I am not a fan of meeting up in a carpark to handover a gun either. Just imagine being picked up with a security camera while handing over a bubble wrapped gun.
Shame, but it seems that posting a pcp is not an option.

A.G

[piggy589]

The best way is to comply with the rules & regulations of whatever carrier you choose or are forced in to using.

It's the same with livestock,only thirty at a time please.

Standing room only.

[grumpygit]

The way I see it is this, but this is purely my interpretation. I'm not taking issue with anyone who disagrees with me!
Nowhere in PF or RM regulations does it define an airgun as being spring powered. Nowhere can I find any specific reference to or definition of any sub-genre of airgun.
If you don't declare the contents of the parcel as being a "low powered sporting air rifle/pistol" in accordance with their regulations for carrying "controlled" items then you may suffer the destruction of the contents of the parcel as RM or PF MAY suspect that it contains a non-declared firearm and therefore not be legal for them to carry. Some parcels are shipped by air, guns of any type are not permitted to be taken through airports by either RM or PF, this is one of the reasons they ask that airguns be declared when shipped.
RM and PF exclude compressed gas/air containers from carriage but when is a gas cylinder not part of a PCP airgun?
As I mentioned earlier the compression cylinder of a spring powered airgun is a cylinder for the containment of compressed air. The so called gas ram contains a chamber which either permanently or at some point in the operation of the airgun becomes a compressed air chamber.
I have posted PCP's as a private individual to other private individuals via PF48 and RMSD (before they brought in size restrictions that exclude anything other than air pistols) having declared them as "low powered sporting air rifle" and had no problems whatsoever.
As an RFD I can send to other RFD's Section 1 firearms on my RFD account with PF, that's a different matter entirely.
As I said above, it's just my interpretation of how I read the regulations published by both PF and RM which are pretty close to identical.
As regards deliberately telling a courier company that a package doesn't contain an airgun when they publish their list of excluded items and that list clearly states no airguns or firearms then that's purely at your own risk and potentially against the law.
Have BASC ever offered any enlightenment on their interpretation of the law and PF/RM regulations? I can't recall ever having read any but I might have missed something.

Plus my interpretation is that if the cylinder is emptied of all compressed gas and the parcel is labelled as not suitable for flying in an aircraft there should be no problem with PF48. Quite often the counter staff at Post Offices don't know what the rules are and have to ring their own helpline to confirm that air rifles are permitted to be carried. Send it by any other means or lie about the contents at your own peril.

[Logunner]

So far collection in person seems the most logical outcome. At the very least I can see to whom I am selling a gun and the buyer can have confidence with whatever they are buying.
I am not a fan of meeting up in a carpark to handover a gun either. Just imagine being picked up with a security camera while handing over a bubble wrapped gun.
Shame, but it seems that posting a pcp is not an option.

A.G

Can’t find the letter I got from RM (no longer work for them) but it stated that cyclinders that are a physical part of the airgun are not included in the T’s&C’s and can be posted. They clarified that disposable cylinders such as co2 capsules are still prohibited. To avoid any x’ray it needs to go PF48, be a mainland UK address, and only has £100 compo.

[rancidtom]

Can’t find the letter I got from RM (no longer work for them) but it stated that cyclinders that are a physical part of the airgun are not included in the T’s&C’s and can be posted. They clarified that disposable cylinders such as co2 capsules are still prohibited. To avoid any x’ray it needs to go PF48, be a mainland UK address, and only has £100 compo.

That's how I understand it and so far have had no parcels intercepted, destroyed or returned. I never ask for more than the minimum compensation level even if the counter staff mistakenly offer it.

[bighit]

So far collection in person seems the most logical outcome. At the very least I can see to whom I am selling a gun and the buyer can have confidence with whatever they are buying.
I am not a fan of meeting up in a carpark to handover a gun either. Just imagine being picked up with a security camera while handing over a bubble wrapped gun.
Shame, but it seems that posting a pcp is not an option.

A.G

i bought my .22lr in a tesco car park in inverness . and it was full of people . never had the Armed response come . went from the sellers boot to my mates boot . i would say the big green wooden crate i handed over would have raised more eyebrows as it was the size of a rocket launcher

it was an surplus army metal detector

[lensman57]

i bought my .22lr in a tesco car park in inverness . and it was full of people . never had the Armed response come . went from the sellers boot to my mates boot . i would say the big green wooden crate i handed over would have raised more eyebrows as it was the size of a rocket launcher

it was an surplus army metal detector

I drove down all the way to Oxford once to pick up a Gin-B stock. We met in the M&S car park of an out of town shopping centre just off M42. The chap was very considerate when I asked him not to pull the stock out in everyones view. He then opened the boot of his Fiat 500 Abarth and presented me with a quite a few air rifles in the most beautiful stocks I had ever seen. They were in gun bags ofcourse. One, an HW 98 SFS tuned had a walnut stock that I have never seen the like of. It was a warm honey colour with amazing grain pattern and he told me the wood was Austrian Walnut. He offered it to me at a silly price and if I had the cash with me I would have bought it there and then. He said that he was on his way to do a deal with SFS but didn't want to give the stuff away to them. I wasn't very comfortable being in that busy carpark though to be honest.

A.G

[piggy589]

Agreed,hardly ideal, but a literal car boot sale is where it's at for a good deal occasionally.