Ar-15 factory packaging.

[BlasterBob]

The CMP curently ships their long guns in really nice OD color plastic boxes.

[bellavite1]

Good Lord, I have owned a few Barretts, and sure, we're talking $4k-7K rifles, but FFS they came in Pelikan cases that were almost as heavy as the rifles themselves!

[BPTactical]

Are you spending the money for the rifle, the box or some crappy plastic case? And I don't know anyone who carries their gun in one of those cases. I'll take the Colt and their box any day.

This!

[Ronin13]

My $2300 POF came in a hard case, but it's one of the crappiest hard cases I've ever seen. They probably added $100 to the price of the rifle and paid $2 for it. I would've rather saved a $100 on my rifle and it come in a cardboard box.

Same here- and that case ended up in my crawlspace since it rarely gets used... I have a much better case that I use for my rifle. But my AK came in a cardboard box, and that was when they were $300.

Are you spending the money for the rifle, the box or some crappy plastic case? And I don't know anyone who carries their gun in one of those cases. I'll take the Colt and their box any day.

This! I have a pretty nice soft case for my AR, and a hardcase for my Mossberg.

[Circuits]

A big reason cardboard persists is inertia - it's how it always used to be done, so that's how they still do it.

A cheap hardcase still generally requires an outer cardboard box to actually ship, but $300 AK or $3000 LMT, I'd rather have the plastic outer shell and inner foam protecting my rifle during shipping, than a series of cardboard folded spacers. Consider the cheap hardcases disposable or donors.