Quick survey for those privileged few who received their orders:
1) Did your box have a foam or Styrofoam insert, or was it just zip ties through the cardboard?
2) In particular, if you only ordered the rifle itself with the standard 2 mags, what was the packaging?
I'm trying to figure out if the rifles arrived in Canada with packing materials in the boxes, or if it was the Chinese that zip tied the rifles in place. If anyone has foam packing, it would be nice to see the layout of the foam and what cutouts are present.
My suspicions:
1) TI is removing the foam to make room for "extras" like spares mags anyone ordered, a cheese grater forestock, etc. to lower their shipping costs to us.
2) That the rifles shipped from China with foam inserts, just like the picture floating around of the sample T81 with black foam packing.
3) That ALL the rifles shipped from China with the items TI was touting as a "pre order bonus" in each box - that is to say, they all shipped from China with THREE mags, an oil bottle and a sling.
4) That the importer removed the third mag from everyone's order to get the extra $29 and the sling for the same reasons. Removing the packing disguises this choice they made to maximize return on their investment (yes, I know, it was us that invested - not necessarily them, for most of the costs).
Again, these are suspicions - not based on fact - just curious if anyone got packing materials that might validate this theory. The importer can do whatever they like and I'm not condemning them for this if true, I just want to know how Poly ships the guns from the factory. All the youtube vids of Americans with "time capsules" of Polytech AK's, SKS, etc. from the early 1990's arrived in boxes with foam packing, 3 mags, and oil bottle and a sling. When I used to buy Polytech SKS's from Lever Arms for $89 back in the 1990's, they also had foam, an oil bottle, a sling and 3 charger clips in the box. I haven't seen a pre-1994 Canadian Polytech AK box in years, but I seem to remember they also had foam, 3 mags, a sling and the oil bottle included.
If TI did get packing, I would have paid the extra shipping to have my accessories shipped separately to get the packing materials and keep everything together for the future.
1) Did your box have a foam or Styrofoam insert, or was it just zip ties through the cardboard?
2) In particular, if you only ordered the rifle itself with the standard 2 mags, what was the packaging?
I'm trying to figure out if the rifles arrived in Canada with packing materials in the boxes, or if it was the Chinese that zip tied the rifles in place. If anyone has foam packing, it would be nice to see the layout of the foam and what cutouts are present.
My suspicions:
1) TI is removing the foam to make room for "extras" like spares mags anyone ordered, a cheese grater forestock, etc. to lower their shipping costs to us.
2) That the rifles shipped from China with foam inserts, just like the picture floating around of the sample T81 with black foam packing.
3) That ALL the rifles shipped from China with the items TI was touting as a "pre order bonus" in each box - that is to say, they all shipped from China with THREE mags, an oil bottle and a sling.
4) That the importer removed the third mag from everyone's order to get the extra $29 and the sling for the same reasons. Removing the packing disguises this choice they made to maximize return on their investment (yes, I know, it was us that invested - not necessarily them, for most of the costs).
Again, these are suspicions - not based on fact - just curious if anyone got packing materials that might validate this theory. The importer can do whatever they like and I'm not condemning them for this if true, I just want to know how Poly ships the guns from the factory. All the youtube vids of Americans with "time capsules" of Polytech AK's, SKS, etc. from the early 1990's arrived in boxes with foam packing, 3 mags, and oil bottle and a sling. When I used to buy Polytech SKS's from Lever Arms for $89 back in the 1990's, they also had foam, an oil bottle, a sling and 3 charger clips in the box. I haven't seen a pre-1994 Canadian Polytech AK box in years, but I seem to remember they also had foam, 3 mags, a sling and the oil bottle included.
If TI did get packing, I would have paid the extra shipping to have my accessories shipped separately to get the packing materials and keep everything together for the future.
The wood was such trash it took me forever to fix. Thin, Cheap wood with a ton of hairline cracks. 
