What an absolute pain.

I tend to err to the side of amazing caution when I ship guns.
Recently I shipped two out in a case I'd fortified, with the intent to get one in return.

My packaging was done with the 'worst case scenario' in mind.
Super fortified interior of an armoured hard case, set into an exterior shell of heavily padded double thickness cardboard crating.

I almost pissed when a week or so later I saw my UPS man step off the truck with *just* the hard case in his hand, with little more than a couple wraps of clear tape around the ends.

The padding inside was mostly gone, the long gun *not wrapped in padding* and with a couple new bruises in the metal from the last time it'd been photographed and shown to me.
Granted nothing was broken, but I did have to get the punches and chasing hammer out to fix the ills anyway.
With the age of the piece I'm certain I'd never get proper payback from the shipper.

One thing to remember whenever packing a long gun (or any) for shipping.
If it can come apart, do it before it goes in the crate.
Otherwise, the shipper will do it for you along the way.

The hearts of all the game my black powder rifles and guns have killed go out to you.

--Tinker