A tale to drive home the 'ammo must go by ground' point:
Couple years ago I was flying to an event in Michigan. A week or so before I'd swung by the UPS shipping desk to send my ammo - locked in a hard case, with fitted foam, locks, all the appropriate stickers and labeling in place. Unfortunately there was a holiday weekend in the mix between when I was shipping and when I needed the ammo. The package was scheduled to be there by Thursday... which given my history with the brown Santa trucks, meant I'd be lucky if I get it by Friday, which is when I needed to be on the line sending rounds down range. I asked if there was any way to get it there sooner; the clerk said "lemme look... sure we can send it 3-day express" which in theory should put it there Wednesday. If he said 'air' anywhere in there, I completely missed it. I paid the premium for expedited shipping (not cheap) and went on my merry. When I got home I forwarded the tracking info to the person who would be receiving the ammo on the other end.
Over the weekend, I was a little peeved to see the tracking info showing it still sitting in Redmond WA. I figured someone had just forgot to update the tracking info.
Thursday morning as I finished checking in at the local airport I got a text from the person who was supposed to be receiving the package that they still hadn't received the package, and it showed as being in transit to Kentucky, with an ETA of Monday PM... which was when I would be *done* and packing up to head back home. Somehow I managed not to look completely homicidal as I made my way through TSA screening and into the waiting area. Where I proceeded to call UPS customer service, and tear a strip (or three) off of them. They were very sorry, they could refund the shipping charges, etc. No they couldn't get it where it needed to be any faster once it was in the system. I explained that the entire trip, thousands of dollars out of pocket expense for air fare, hotel, rental car, vacation time from work, etc. was going to be pretty much a complete and utter waste, and that refunding the shipping cost wasn't going to make me happy. Not the CS persons fault, but still.
Got to the location, and had 90 rds in my checked luggage - enough to get me through any one day of the event. My team mates rallied behind me and were lining up powder, primers, projectiles, a place to load, etc. Then mid day Friday, the package showed up?!?
When I looked at it, everything was as it should be (there's a reason I use heavy duty lockable hard-side cases, not shipping in cardboard boxes)... but the hazmat stickers were missing. As in cut off - some of the tape was still there.
I went back and looked at the shipping history... yes, the package made it to Kentucky via semi-truck all right. And then apparently some well-meaning individual came upon a solution to get my package to me in time... they cut the hazmat stickers off, and threw it on a plane!!!
Pretty sure if I did that, I'd be looking at some serious fines, if not worse. But since it was UPS...
Moral of the story, plan ahead, ship earlier than you think you need to, even if it means it will be sitting at the location a few days. And take into account that the clerks at the shipping desks will try to help you... even if it ends up not necessarily being the right answer
