I had an old Harrington and Richardson .22 single shot rifle a loooooong time ago and a brick of ammo can last almost forever. And yes, I've had a 10/22 and the biggest pain was reloading the dang thing because it was so much fun to spray it at the wood chunks floating in the target pond at the range and making them bounce. 
LOL...right with you about restraining from going into a political rant. I kinda wish the forum had a small place tucked away where we could vent that kind of stuff. But I guess it would be impossible to monitor. 
Iron: I recently received another M39 SKY from Dennis Kroh at Empire Arms and a "B" Model M39 from Burns that arrived on the same day. It was interesting to compare the wrapping of both. Both came in what appeared to be identical boxes. The Empire Arms gun was wrapped in bubble wrap and the bolt was OUT of the gun and also wrapped in bubble wrap and securely taped to the gun where it wouldn't be subject to UPS idiocies or damage the stock. Newspaper was used inside the box the full length of the gun to protect it from damage. Took me 15 minutes to get everything unpacked. The Burms gun arrived undamaged. It was also wrapped a lot differently from previous orders I had placed. It had the same newspaper crunched up to prevent the gun from bouncing around inside the box. But the stock had cardbopard wrapped around it in 3 different locations in the center area to protect it. It was a VERY tight fit in the box and I really had to pull on it to get it out. The bolt was in the rifle and cardboard was wrapped around it. The cardboard around the bolt was the only thing that was the same from previous purchases. I dunno, of the two I think I prefer the way Empire wraps things. The bubble wrap gives a "full length" protection of the gun. The cardboard Burns uses protected the middle of the gun but left the buttstock and forend exposed. I also like that the bolt was removed on the Empire gun. I know bubble wrap costs more to use, but I would be willing to pay the extra $5 just to have it's protection. But that's just me.
Jolly: I don't think water-to-ice would cause that kind of damage. There was no apparent wet damage on the box or on any of the packing inside. It would have taken a LOT of water to force open the "fingers" on the stock the way it did. That amount of water would have been readily apparent on the package. Plus the water would have had to have been in a VERY specific area. Just water on the wood might have caused swelling, but ALL the wood in that area would have swelled. I just don't think that was possible.
It's over! And the guy got the gal! 