That sucks.
When I ordered a QB78 from Amazon it came in a box as large as one of those old fashioned trunks. The QB was in a box like you would see at Walmart. No padding at all. Just a small airgun box in a huge box. And others had posted about the huge open space box . But I figured out they must have fixed it by now. Nope same thing. Just surviving the trip showd it's a tough little little pellets launcher .
Yes, their packaging of airgun-related goods can be gosh-awful, especially pellets, but I try to buy pellets from PA exclusively, given their excellent 4 tins for the price of 3 deal (and PA's pellet packaging is the best). Also, any time I can pair up a multiple of four pellet purchase with free shipping, PA's prices are pretty much unbeatable too. Even given the highly unlikely chance they arrive banged up, their customer service also is exceptional, so it would be no problem. It keeps me coming back!
When it comes to airguns though, I want a great price as well, so I shop around quite a bit. As a result, maybe as much as a third of my thirty airgun collection has come from sellers at Amazon (Midway, Academy and other airgun/hunting-related shops too). With Amazon particularly though, not only has the very same double-boxing thing you mentioned happened to me with at least a couple/few of the air rifles I've acquired there, it actually happened to me with the VERY SAME RIFLE, or at least the QB78s (black synthetic stock)! ;-) Still, as long as I can return the air rifle if it arrives damaged (I've sent back about four over the years with no difficulty), I can deal with the poor packaging. For example, in the case of the Beeman QB78s, when I bought it there mid-to-late last year, it was priced at only about sixty bucks, so I jumped on it! ;-) Such savings make it worth the risky packaging to me, as long as the seller has no problem processing (and paying) for returns.
