Is it possible for a rifle (ak47) to be damaged during shipping?

JerryHN · May 9, 2011, 04:08 PM

I just bought a SA M7 Arsenal Ak47. Despite the high price tag, the gun came in a cheap cardboard box. During shipping the charging handle poked through the box and has blemished on the edge.

Anyone else had this happen to them? Should this even be a concern?

Thanks,

J

bassfishindoc · May 9, 2011, 04:30 PM

Yes it is possible for any type of rifle to be damaged during shipping. I ordered a rifle from a guy one time and he shipped it in one of those cheep plano "hard plastic" gun cases. Well I will tell you those cases were not designed for shipping and when the rifle arrived the case was so badly damaged it was unusable and the buttstock of the rifle was exposed causing the wood and metal buttplate to be scratched up. Plus there was some rust from where water had entered the case. Come to find out the guy did not actually purchase shipping insurance on the weapon like I payed for so I received a full refund. Did your weapon have shipping insurance? If it did and the weapon is damaged you should be covered. If not I would contact the seller and explain the situation. If all you have is a blemish it should be okay as the AK can stand up to a lot worse than that.

Skadoosh · May 9, 2011, 04:35 PM

Its an AK...what's the concern?

chasep255 · May 9, 2011, 04:35 PM

Buds Gun Shop shipped me a mosin nagant. They packaged it by just putting the rifle in a cardboard box. When it arrived the bolt handle had broken through the side of the box.

rr2241tx · May 9, 2011, 04:46 PM

For the price Arsenal charges for their AKs, I'd be on the phone looking for an RMA tag and a replacement rifle shipped with adequate packaging.

From my own experience I doubt there exists such a thing as completely adequate packaging if the shipping gorillas decide to play with your rifle. On a good day it would be entirely possible for a nuclear waste containment vessel to be breached in a cross-town move it seems.

If it's not too bad you might just touch it up a little bit and then go put a couple of spam cans of ammo through it to see if you like it or not.

Drummer101 · May 9, 2011, 04:47 PM

Maybe if you take a photo of the box and the damage they could send a new charging handle.

smoakingun · May 9, 2011, 06:28 PM

You did not purchase an AR. You can repair your rifle with a big hammer and a swift kick. Your rifle can be used by any two bit nation's most illiterate conscripts to fight elite forces worldwide. A little scuff on the charging handle just adds character

Dfariswheel · May 9, 2011, 06:55 PM

You paid for a new rifle in perfect condition......you didn't get it.

Contact whoever sold it to you about getting a replacement.

JerryHN · May 9, 2011, 07:10 PM

Yes, I thought about contacting the distributor and the manufacturer to have it replaced. It is a $2000 rifle after all, and I am a little disappointed. But the damage is actually very minimal and I'm sure the gun works fine. Do you think they will still replace it?

Has anyone ever dealt with Arsenal or K-Var and their AK rifles?

Thanks

RT · May 9, 2011, 08:37 PM

All of my Arsenal rifles came in the cardboard box with a hole worn by the charging handle. I don't care because I am just gonna shoot the hell out of them.

Mike38 · May 9, 2011, 08:53 PM

$2000 for an AK? Wow, does it reload it's own ammo?

Ok, seriously now. Is there a 1 MOA guarantee with it? What makes an AK worth so much?

Come and take it. · May 9, 2011, 08:54 PM

I wouldnt worry about the shipping damage. I would worry about the poor quality control and lack of effort in protecting their product during shipment. Especially US or Canadian companies that do such a poor job of putting parts kits together that they have faced lawsuits over customers who have injured themselves firing guns with out of spec actions.

chasep255 · May 9, 2011, 08:55 PM

Maybe instead of sending back the rifle you could just have them send you a new bolt carrier.

JerryHN · May 9, 2011, 09:51 PM

RT. Interesting, so you're saying that all Arsenal AK's come that way? What were the extent of the damage to your charging handle? Mine came with a red rubber protector that has been worn out causing the finish on the charging handle to wear off as well.

chasep255 · May 9, 2011, 09:57 PM

Now that I think about it my AK's charging handle is slowly tearing through its soft guns case. All the foam around it has been worn off and now I think it is working its way through the fabric.

dsa1115 · May 9, 2011, 10:08 PM

I just got a new Arsenal SGL-31 last week, and yes it came in a rather plain white box. When I opened the box however, covering the charging handle was a red rubber cap.

RT · May 10, 2011, 05:14 AM

I think it is common for Arsenal rifles to wear a hole in the white box during shipping. Mine just had a little blemish on the charging handle. Didn't matter to me since they are all shooters. However, if I had a sweet milled rifle like yours, then I think I'd be a bit more OCD.

BlueTrain · May 10, 2011, 05:49 AM

I thought they were usually shipped in wooden crates marked "farm equipment" on the outside.

JerryHN · May 10, 2011, 02:38 PM

So i guess im being too picky. I'll just keep the rifle and see if I like it. Just bothers me why they can't at least put foam in the packaging for a high-dollar rifle.

HKFan9 · May 10, 2011, 08:46 PM

$2000 for an AK

I like AK's but never saw one worth that much.

Mike38 · May 10, 2011, 10:30 PM

Quote:

$2000 for an AK

I like AK's but never saw one worth that much.

That’s what I was trying to figure out, so I Googled the model number. I saw prices any where from $850 to $1998. Must be different grades to have that large of a price range. Wow. I paid $425 for mine......

I wonder what makes an AK worth $2K.

RT · May 11, 2011, 05:13 AM

Milled receiver. However Arsenal are some of the best Kalashnikovs money can buy. I guess they are like the Noveske or Nighthawk of AKs

BlueTrain · May 11, 2011, 06:31 AM

Now here is one of the oddities of AK type rifles. The original Soviet made AK rifles had milled receivers. Only later they used stamped receivers, as I believe most "foreign" made copies were. Soviet weapons had this reputation, perhaps deserved, of being crude, cheaply made weapons, yet the first AKs were anything but. They did not have the finish of a commercial sporting rifle but why would they? It is always something of a problem with military small arms about how good to make them when they are going to receive very rough use and have a good chance of being lost or destroyed in combat. But take a look at any soldier, any army, who is actually on active service and chances are, his rifle would not pass anyone's inspection.

Jeff F · May 11, 2011, 08:31 AM

It's possible for anything to be damaged during shipping. I used to work for Frontier Airlines air freight way back when, ask me how I know.

May 9, 2011, 04:08 PM	#1
JerryHN Senior Member Join Date: October 31, 2010 Posts: 124	Is it possible for a rifle (ak47) to be damaged during shipping? I just bought a SA M7 Arsenal Ak47. Despite the high price tag, the gun came in a cheap cardboard box. During shipping the charging handle poked through the box and has blemished on the edge. Anyone else had this happen to them? Should this even be a concern? Thanks, J

May 9, 2011, 04:30 PM	#2
bassfishindoc Senior Member Join Date: January 19, 2010 Posts: 166	Yes it is possible for any type of rifle to be damaged during shipping. I ordered a rifle from a guy one time and he shipped it in one of those cheep plano "hard plastic" gun cases. Well I will tell you those cases were not designed for shipping and when the rifle arrived the case was so badly damaged it was unusable and the buttstock of the rifle was exposed causing the wood and metal buttplate to be scratched up. Plus there was some rust from where water had entered the case. Come to find out the guy did not actually purchase shipping insurance on the weapon like I payed for so I received a full refund. Did your weapon have shipping insurance? If it did and the weapon is damaged you should be covered. If not I would contact the seller and explain the situation. If all you have is a blemish it should be okay as the AK can stand up to a lot worse than that. __________________ 2LT United States Army NRA Life Member GOA Life Member East Tennessee State University Quillen College of Medicine

May 9, 2011, 04:35 PM	#3
Skadoosh Senior Member Join Date: December 13, 2010 Location: Virginia Beach Posts: 2,016	Ummmmm.... Its an AK...what's the concern? __________________ NRA Life Member USN Retired

May 9, 2011, 04:46 PM	#5
rr2241tx Senior Member Join Date: August 2, 2007 Location: The Great State of Taxes Posts: 267	For the price Arsenal charges for their AKs, I'd be on the phone looking for an RMA tag and a replacement rifle shipped with adequate packaging. From my own experience I doubt there exists such a thing as completely adequate packaging if the shipping gorillas decide to play with your rifle. On a good day it would be entirely possible for a nuclear waste containment vessel to be breached in a cross-town move it seems. If it's not too bad you might just touch it up a little bit and then go put a couple of spam cans of ammo through it to see if you like it or not. __________________ rr2241tx

May 9, 2011, 04:47 PM	#6
Drummer101 Senior Member Join Date: October 22, 2009 Location: DFW Posts: 943	Maybe if you take a photo of the box and the damage they could send a new charging handle. __________________ "I would say that we have to make up criteria." OK, which is better for 2 Bantu, 5 Hottentots, and 3 pygmies playing a war march on a calliope at 3 a.m. during a monsoon? Show your work and round to the nearest decimal. -Mike Irwin

May 9, 2011, 04:35 PM	#4
chasep255 Senior Member Join Date: December 21, 2009 Location: NJ Posts: 727	Buds Gun Shop shipped me a mosin nagant. They packaged it by just putting the rifle in a cardboard box. When it arrived the bolt handle had broken through the side of the box.

May 9, 2011, 06:28 PM	#7
smoakingun Senior Member Join Date: April 12, 2009 Location: melrose, fl Posts: 634	You did not purchase an AR. You can repair your rifle with a big hammer and a swift kick. Your rifle can be used by any two bit nation's most illiterate conscripts to fight elite forces worldwide. A little scuff on the charging handle just adds character __________________ Hundreds of years from now, it will not matter what my bank account was, the sort of house I lived in, or the kind of car I drove... But the world may be different because I did something so bafflingly crazy that my ruins become a tourist attraction.

May 9, 2011, 06:55 PM	#8
Dfariswheel Senior Member Join Date: May 4, 2001 Posts: 7,478	You paid for a new rifle in perfect condition......you didn't get it. Contact whoever sold it to you about getting a replacement.

May 9, 2011, 07:10 PM	#9
JerryHN Senior Member Join Date: October 31, 2010 Posts: 124	Yes, I thought about contacting the distributor and the manufacturer to have it replaced. It is a $2000 rifle after all, and I am a little disappointed. But the damage is actually very minimal and I'm sure the gun works fine. Do you think they will still replace it? Has anyone ever dealt with Arsenal or K-Var and their AK rifles? Thanks

May 9, 2011, 08:37 PM	#10
RT Senior Member Join Date: September 9, 2000 Location: San Antonio, TX Posts: 2,194	All of my Arsenal rifles came in the cardboard box with a hole worn by the charging handle. I don't care because I am just gonna shoot the hell out of them.

May 9, 2011, 08:53 PM	#11
Mike38 Senior Member Join Date: December 28, 2009 Location: North Central Illinois Posts: 2,710	$2000 for an AK? Wow, does it reload it's own ammo? Ok, seriously now. Is there a 1 MOA guarantee with it? What makes an AK worth so much?

May 9, 2011, 08:54 PM	#12
Come and take it. Senior Member Join Date: May 16, 2009 Location: Kentucky Posts: 999	I wouldnt worry about the shipping damage. I would worry about the poor quality control and lack of effort in protecting their product during shipment. Especially US or Canadian companies that do such a poor job of putting parts kits together that they have faced lawsuits over customers who have injured themselves firing guns with out of spec actions.

May 9, 2011, 08:55 PM	#13
chasep255 Senior Member Join Date: December 21, 2009 Location: NJ Posts: 727	Maybe instead of sending back the rifle you could just have them send you a new bolt carrier.

May 9, 2011, 09:51 PM	#14
JerryHN Senior Member Join Date: October 31, 2010 Posts: 124	@RT RT. Interesting, so you're saying that all Arsenal AK's come that way? What were the extent of the damage to your charging handle? Mine came with a red rubber protector that has been worn out causing the finish on the charging handle to wear off as well.

May 9, 2011, 09:57 PM	#15
chasep255 Senior Member Join Date: December 21, 2009 Location: NJ Posts: 727	Now that I think about it my AK's charging handle is slowly tearing through its soft guns case. All the foam around it has been worn off and now I think it is working its way through the fabric.

May 9, 2011, 10:08 PM	#16
dsa1115 Senior Member Join Date: March 10, 2010 Location: Illinois Posts: 444	I just got a new Arsenal SGL-31 last week, and yes it came in a rather plain white box. When I opened the box however, covering the charging handle was a red rubber cap.

May 10, 2011, 05:14 AM	#17
RT Senior Member Join Date: September 9, 2000 Location: San Antonio, TX Posts: 2,194	I think it is common for Arsenal rifles to wear a hole in the white box during shipping. Mine just had a little blemish on the charging handle. Didn't matter to me since they are all shooters. However, if I had a sweet milled rifle like yours, then I think I'd be a bit more OCD.

May 10, 2011, 05:49 AM	#18
BlueTrain Senior Member Join Date: September 26, 2005 Location: Northern Virginia Posts: 6,141	I thought they were usually shipped in wooden crates marked "farm equipment" on the outside. __________________ Shoot low, sheriff. They're riding Shetlands! Underneath the starry flag, civilize 'em with a Krag, and return us to our own beloved homes! Buy War Bonds.

May 10, 2011, 02:38 PM	#19
JerryHN Senior Member Join Date: October 31, 2010 Posts: 124	So i guess im being too picky. I'll just keep the rifle and see if I like it. Just bothers me why they can't at least put foam in the packaging for a high-dollar rifle.

May 10, 2011, 08:46 PM	#20
HKFan9 Senior Member Join Date: May 3, 2008 Posts: 3,057	$2000 for an AK I like AK's but never saw one worth that much.

May 11, 2011, 05:13 AM	#22
RT Senior Member Join Date: September 9, 2000 Location: San Antonio, TX Posts: 2,194	Milled receiver. However Arsenal are some of the best Kalashnikovs money can buy. I guess they are like the Noveske or Nighthawk of AKs Last edited by RT; May 11, 2011 at 05:20 AM.

May 11, 2011, 06:31 AM	#23
BlueTrain Senior Member Join Date: September 26, 2005 Location: Northern Virginia Posts: 6,141	Now here is one of the oddities of AK type rifles. The original Soviet made AK rifles had milled receivers. Only later they used stamped receivers, as I believe most "foreign" made copies were. Soviet weapons had this reputation, perhaps deserved, of being crude, cheaply made weapons, yet the first AKs were anything but. They did not have the finish of a commercial sporting rifle but why would they? It is always something of a problem with military small arms about how good to make them when they are going to receive very rough use and have a good chance of being lost or destroyed in combat. But take a look at any soldier, any army, who is actually on active service and chances are, his rifle would not pass anyone's inspection. __________________ Shoot low, sheriff. They're riding Shetlands! Underneath the starry flag, civilize 'em with a Krag, and return us to our own beloved homes! Buy War Bonds.

May 11, 2011, 08:31 AM	#24
Jeff F Senior Member Join Date: September 4, 2005 Location: Silver Springs NV Posts: 187	It's possible for anything to be damaged during shipping. I used to work for Frontier Airlines air freight way back when, ask me how I know.