There are gun lovers all over New Zealand, and chances are you’re going to want to trade with them at some point. Whether it’s purchasing from a small engineering shop or gun importer on a different island, or buying a second-hand rifle off trademe, there’s always going to be an occasion when you need to buy something that your average courier doesn’t like shipping.
Rifles not powder
No, I’m not talking about explosives like powder or primers. Hazardous goods is a whole other story, and realistically you are better off going to your local retailer 9 times out of 10.
No, I’m talking about rifles and their parts. Accessories aren’t a problem, and usually parts like triggers or suppressors aren’t an issue. It’s the barrelled action that causes consternation.
It used to be that you could get your local Hunting & Fishing to transfer a rifle to the buyer’s local branch for a fee, but they no longer do this.
Who to choose
The only courier I have found that will consistently deliver rifles and parts is Fastway Couriers. The last time I had a rifle shipped with them it cost $27. If you have the bolt shipped separately, it will cost more. And of course there will be differences depending on the location of buyer and seller. I guess you could figure on spending between $25 and $50.
I have tried other couriers as well, but none have been as reliable and easy to deal with. Most of them just won’t ship your gun for you. I’m not paid by anyone to promote Fastway, just hoping to share the benefit of my experience.
Aside from that, I would always recommend getting a gun shipped signature only. I would also get it sent to your work in a nondescript box, so that you can be 100% sure it won’t be left lying around in your driveway.
Hi, I just went to courier a firearm via fastways, the website says $40, they took one look at it and said that firearms are $65. I absolutely hate that sort of false advertising and corruption.
I ended up sending it through hunting and fishing for $50
However after I sent it I asked a local gunsmith company, they are able to sent guns through pbt, for a lot less than your 27 minimum! I am not sure if pbt does consumer stuff, I think they just do trade deliveries.
Hi Matt,
Thanks for sharing your experience – it’s certainly helpful.
It seems it’s different depending on where you are and who you talk to. My local Hunting & Fishing won’t send on behalf, however others have reported success through them.
I’ve just bought a rifle in Wellington, so it’ll be interesting to see who the seller chooses to send it with.
Perhaps it’s time to update this article!
Cheers
Hi Geoff, my gun never showed up! after some digging on my part it looks like you were right, the H&F store was happy to send but the receiving h&f store wouldn’t accept it, apparently it only happens these days if one store owner asks a favour from another store owner, I ended up getting the store to send it to a local gunsmith as a favour, I will pick it up from the gunsmith.
In the future I am going to try PBT, because they seem to deal in a lot of trade items, all you have to do is obtain the correct ticket, go into pbt, dump it on the ground in the reception area (in my local branch there is normally a small pile of other peoples packages) and leave. Because its all trade stuff they normally don’t ask any questions – you just drop and go, it could be a pair of hockey sticks for all they know. I can get a ticket for about $15 so I will let you know how I get on. $15 is the retail price for a nationwide ticket – I don’t know the wholesale but I think it would be about half that! There are a lot of people out there being ripped off, as a gun owner I am a bit over paying 3 times what something is worth because I don’t have any choice.
I really do wonder if the $65 for a gun experience with fastways was the office persons way of pocketing the difference.
Hi Matt,
Thanks for sharing your experience – it’s always helpful for readers to know what’s going on out there!
I recently bought an old .303 for a project rifle and the seller sent it from Palmy to Auckland for $15.50! He sent via Fastways and their Parcel Connect agents. I’m guessing he simply didn’t tell them it was a firearm – it was in a rectangular box with great packaging. Or perhaps Parcel Connect was less fussy?
Another strange thing – on my mail order purchase form from the police, I put the depot as the address for delivery – I didn’t want a firearm sitting in the driveway if the driver decided he couldn’t be bothered getting a signature. The Arms Officer called me up and said it had to be delivered to my address, as it has been security checked by police. I find this a bit strange as picking up from the depot guarantees signature/safe delivery and it goes through the depot anyway!
Glad to hear you were able to get your rifle in the end!
Cheers
Hi guys we courier a lot and always find Fastways to be good , PBT are happy to transport fire arms but are not as close for us.Our Fastway driver (Tauranga) knows the contents and keeps on the van floor up front and the depot always red flag them and puts them in the office. Nothing gone astray so far .NZ Couriers wont do it knowingly without a lot of paperwork and wont cover insurance if they don’t know what’s in the box . We never ship Friday so packages never sit in the depot over the weekend if they miss the last pickup ,that was Fastways advice as a few have disappeared
Thanks Darren! Always good to hear from others’ experience.
Cheers,
Geoff
Now Fastways are $75. As at the end of February 2018…
Yup, I got charged a $75 flat rate by Fastways for my last shotgun sent from Christchurch to Auckland. Ouch
At the end of the article:
” I would also get it sent to your work in a nondescript box”
Unfortunately this is against the law unless your work is also your registered and nominated
address for the secure storage of your firearms, as checked and verified in your firearms licence
application process.
If the package requires a signature then it will be returned to the depot not left unsecure
on your driveway while you are away, and the depot is considered secure storage
under the mail-order obligations.
Hi Johnathan,
You’re absolutely right on that count – as you can see from my reply to Matt’s comment below, last time I had a rifle shipped, it had to be to my registered address that had been security checked by the police.
Interestingly, when I wrote this article, I had had ordered several firearms to my work (over a long period of time), and never had that feedback from the AO (up until last time).
The reason I did that, was because unfortunately I do know people who have had ‘sign only’ packages with firearms in them left unattended at their residence. I’ve never had this myself, but I have had regular parcels that are ‘sign only’ left at the house when no one was home. Most of the time this wouldn’t be a problem, but it does happen. Maybe less so now that most couriers and parcels are GPS tracked and electronically signed for??
Thanks for reading and contributing!
Cheers,
Geoff
Just an update on the Fastways pricing, they now charge $75 for a firearm, bolt separate for $8. still only depot to depot or to a registered business address.
Poste Haste have just quoted me $20 – $40 for the rifle (depending on the weight) and $8 for the bolt,
we’ll see how they go…
Excellent, thanks for sharing Rob.
It’s getting quite good having everyone’s comments on this article, so everyone can keep up to date and what’s happening in the industry.
Cheers
Much has changed since this thread started!
Fastway Couriers will still move firearms around the country, but in the case of dealers they have to be sent to one of their Depots! This can be a real pain for rural customers and overall it is a disaster – but is, yet again, a totally anti-firearm move, as is the blatant nonsense that lead shot and lead projectiles are a contaminant!
We went to the official opening of the new Wairarapa Gun Club range last Saturday – two years later than scheduled; because the Great Wellington Regional Council had been instructed by Nick Smith to ban lead shot on shooting ranges!
But once the NZ Clay Target Association got involved and employed the country’s best legal environmental brains the problem with lead usage disappeared! And Nick Smith with it!
NEIL HAYES
I’ve just tried to sort a courier company to transport a rifle anywhere in NZ. I called NZ Couriers, Fliways, PBT, Mainfreight and others. They all said they no longer transport Firearms.
TOLL was the only company that said they would. I’m in Nelson so to transport a gun from here to anywhere above Rotorua would be around $40 – $45. South of Rotorua and down to Christchurch from here would be approx $30 – $35. Anything south of there I guess would go back to $40 – $45. The cost is based on weight and my estimate was for 10Kgs or less.
Cheers
Paul
Hi Paul,
Thanks very much for sharing this – good to know TOLL is an option!
It sounds like there is a lot of variation from location to location, so it’s really great that we have people from all over NZ sharing their experiences here.
Cheers,
Geoff
Had a terrible experience with Fastway Couriers in the past, mishandling a firearm as a normal parcel, they handed it over to NZ post, who left it on the ground by the mailbox!. Its a 30-06 semi auto im talking about here and it got stolen! nobody owned up to it, the Fastway Chch branch manager was rude over the phone and didnt even apologize, a terrible experience overall and would never use Fastway for anything again, they’ve been in the news already for dropping firearms on the wrong address and left them there to be picked up! I did recover the rifle with the help of a witness and Police. Glad I found this thread and now know I have Toll as an option. Thanks!
Thanks for letting us know Fernando. Even as this article has become quite out of date the comment section has really become a great resource.
Thanks for stopping by!
Fastway now only deliver to people with a ‘d’ category. Dealers. Gun city now advertise 5hat they can no longer do mail order. There are comments out there on trade me that Hunting and Fishing have tried to get all on line sales of firearms banned as a ploy to promote their 33 shops. Really now it is not safe to use couriers. Fastway got to the stage where they r3fused to carry ammo and just started naming a silly figure for firearms.
Hi Jim,
Thanks for the comments! Yes, things have become very difficult in recent times. I know PBT is still shipping ammo and gun parts / accessories. If you want to ship a whole firearm, you should check out the firearm dealers network on Facebook. It is a group of good buggers around the country with dealer’s licences that will allow you to ship from or to their stores.
https://www.facebook.com/TheFirearmDealerNetwork/
I’ll try and write another article soon, as this one isn’t relevant anymore!
Cheers,
Geoff