Gun shipping details
You don’t need a dealer to ship your long guns. Send from yourself to yourself, c/o a state resident, and declare shipping your own long guns at the post office. One in fifty postal workers don’t know their own regs and will say you need a dealer—go to another postal worker or another post office. If you don’t have friends or family in Alaska to whom you can ship your long guns, we will be happy to receive them for you. Most long guns, other than assault rifles, can come with you through Canada in a locked case with Non-Resident Firearm Declaration (form RCMP 5589)
Handguns must ship from yourself C/O a dealer to yourself C/O Wolfhawk Shipping. If you transfer, you can’t get your own handguns until you establish and prove residency. You are not transferring your sidearm; you’re not giving it to someone else, and you’re not selling it, so by definition and by the law, it is not a transfer when you ship personally owned firearms from yourself to yourself. However, in the US Mail, handguns MUST ship between two Federal Firearms Licensed (FFL) addresses as C/O.
click here => Example label
Most dealers won’t do this and will treat your shipment as a transfer, and only Alaska residents can receive handgun transfers—I can rarely get an FFL dealer to verify our method with the ATF, even when I assure them it was an ATF inspector who taught us our method. A few dealers are familiar with our procedure, but treat all shipments as transfers anyway. We will refuse incorrect labels done as transfers.
You can choose your own dealer from whom to ship, but I don’t recommend this. Most gun dealers willing to help you ship your gun to yourself will say they understand your label instructions, agree to do it, and then don’t do it properly. This results in a major hassle, potentially doubling or tripling your costs and significantly delaying your shipment.
If you plan to use your own dealer, CONTACT US FIRST, then YOU TELL THEM we need a confirmation email from them clearly stating that they will not treat your shipment as a transfer and will not enter it in the A&D Book. A simple statement saying they understand is not good enough. DON’T GO TO YOUR DEALER FIRST AND HAVE THEM CONTACT US BEFORE WE KNOW WHO YOU ARE AND WHAT YOU PLAN. Surprise FFL requests from unknown FFLs receive delayed, low-priority replies. Advice: Use one of our Preferred FFLs unless you enjoy time-consuming hassles. It’s usually best to plan your trip through a city where one of our preferred dealers operates, even if it’s four hours out of the way from your planned route.
We have a list of Preferred FFLs on our website who will treat your pistol(s) as yours and not a transfer, some of whom we have worked with for many years. Please check our list. We don’t know their fees, which vary from business to business, but USPS shipping costs can be found on the USPS rates calculator website, and USPS insurance can be figured on the USPS Extra Services page. Our fees can be found under our website’s Cost & Info tab, or click this link => Gun Shipping Costs.
When we ship handguns, we use Flat Rate boxes, which are about one-third of standard Priority. Most, but not all, of our preferred dealers do this as well. Sometimes a customer will have extra ‘stuff’ that won’t fit in a Flat Rate package—this can increase the cost.
You can ship your handgun directly to us without an FFL dealer on your end via UPS Hub, or UPS pick-up online, but not a UPS Store. UPS now requires us to make a label through our UPS account for shipping your handguns. UPS requires handguns to ship Next Day Air, which to Alaska will run about $250+ for one or two medium handguns—perhaps more since inflation is at a new high. USPS is much less expensive but requires using one of our preferred dealers. If you choose to send via UPS, let us know, and we’ll email you a copy of our FFL and a UPS label after calculating your package weight and dimensions and receiving payment.
You cannot mail ammunition, but you can carry up to 50,000 rounds through Canada without a permit. However, Canada prohibits tracers and hollow points. Apply to Canada at least two weeks in advance for an ammunition permit for greater than 50,000 rounds or primers. Don’t take spare magazines into Canada—ship them, or risk confiscation and fines.
Note: There have been a few reports of a Canadian Customs agent at Sweetgrass who has been making people fill out transporter forms for ammunition. In my 30 crossings, this has never happened to me, but it would only cause a slight delay. Common caliber ammunition can be purchased at Three Bears Outpost in Tok.
Please let us know when and with whom you ship your guns, your mobile phone number, and your estimated date of arrival (EDA) in Tok, Alaska. We’ll put you on the calendar and watch for your package.
Also:
Please call our business line—907-251-1216—or email when you are a day out from Tok, like Whitehorse or Haines Jct. to update your EDA and schedule a meeting time.
Our business does not have an ‘open’ occupied shop, hence the need for appointments.
Just showing up can have significant wait times unless you have scheduled an appointment.
Our office trailer is on the left as you enter Tok Community from Canada at Mile 1313 Alaska Hwy and next to Jorgensen Realty and 40 Mile Air; it’s diagonally across the highway from Fast Eddie’s Restaurant.
Winter hours will be shortened, and our office may have periodic closures from mid-October to early May, requiring a meeting location at one of our residences or at a local business.
We are available by phone 10-4 Mon-Sat.
Office appointments for pick-ups and drop-offs are scheduled from 10-11 and 3-4 Mon-Sat.
Tok Post Office is closed on weekends and holidays.
An off-hours call-out for $50 can be pre-arranged during business hours.