Rent a U-Haul, Penske or other box truck and drive them down yourself.
The Texas Hill country is a 3 day car trip.
You should definitely be considering this generous offer—and throw in some good Texas BBQ on arrival.I might be willing to take a road trip with my SUV if my gas was covered both ways
With my CCW permits you would effectively have an armed guard the entire way down
Rent a U-Haul, Penske or other box truck and drive them down yourself.
I have recently retired and plan to move to Texas sometime next year. Need ideas on moving the collection. It is too large to consider shipping FFL to FFL. The shipping and fees would easily pay for a 1941 Johnon, maybe with K-43 thrown in.
My original plan was to tow a trailer with them packed in locked crates inside, but my SUV was recently totaled and I am looking for other options before springing for another SUV with a trailer hitch that will be rarely used. My handguns ammo and some carbine length long guns can go in the trunk of my other car when i drive it down ahead of the main move, but my alternative for the long guns (mostly WWI and WWII milsurps) appears to be letting the mover take them. Does anyone have any experience with sending guns in their home move?
While the move may be next spring it could be sooner. House is on the market now. And I Need to buy a new vehicle next week. My Mustang is too small to manage wit my disabled wife, her mother, and two large dogs. So I need to decide quickly if trailer towing is a must have criteria in selecting a new car.
The Texas Hill country is a 3 day car trip.
BTW, JHE, stay to hell away from Illinois, as well as Maryland. Illinois will confiscate your "stuff", lock you up, and throw away the key. You'll get to Texas about 2030, if then.
When my son went on AD after commissioning we had his household goods picked up here and shipped to Cali. Included with that was his personal pistol. Required a bit more paperwork at both ends of the journey, but there was not a hitch. Very specific about serial number etc.. I was concerned about it, but it made it there fine. I don't recall if it was a Cali law or the mover's but they did not ship any ammo with it..
Good Luck!
Movers packed most of my guns in Hawaii and were delivered here with zero problems. I was pretty nervous about it though. They also told me to pack my powder in boxes. I don't think they realized what I asked them. But all my powder and ammo was fine as well. I had the bottom drawer of a rolling toolbox full of shotgun shells and the drawer broke due to weight but was locked with a bar so it couldn't fall out or open.
I am not the OP but all this advice is greatly appreciated by me because I am planning to retire in FL in the next few years and was wondering what the best way was for me to get my firearm collection down there. I don't think that I have as big a collection as the OP, so I think that I can just pack them in a small rental truck and drive it down there. Thanks for all the good advice and information.
Cal68
Ok. I just moved to Florida from Maryland this summer with a collection of long guns and handguns plus lots of reloading supplies including smokeless powder, primers, and lots of ammo.
BTW, Florida is a refreshingly gun friendly state!