All I know is that after I left, I never expected to go back with any of my stuff. I have heard several stories while living there though. One woman I knew, her father passed and he lived in NC. She tried to forward his collection to Los Angeles where she lived, but in the end she had someone sell it off for her because it was such a nightmare. His collection was mostly milsurps and antiques as well, so it surprised me that they were having such a hard time of it. There weren't any "evil assault rifles". I think in the current climate it isn't so much the legal issues, but the issue of trying to find a FFL who is willing to do all the leg work and in some ways risk their own ass. Good luck to you.
You could also do davidsons and run the gun genie for the zipcode youre looking for and then contact the ffl that way. It sounds like youre trying to transfer a gun to someone in that state in which case they should know an ffl in the area.
Another vote for Calguns.net, and if I am not mistaken, some FFLs there can make firearms "California compliant" as long as they are on the list of acceptable weapons...
The funny thing is, when I was in Anaheim last year I saw several rifles for sale at local sports stores. Folks there were pretty friendly when talking about guns as well, but much like the AK I saw in Germany the mere presence of firearms doesn't translate into easy ownership!
What city in CA do you want to ship to? Some FFL's out here charge up to $125.00 for an incoming transfer. Person to person FTF in state transfers here are a state law mandated $35.00 but anything that is shipped to an FFL is fair game as far as a price they can charge.
Just a note.... If it is a handgun, it has to be on the DOJ "Approved" list or can only be sold to law enforcement.