Question on insuring through the mail
 

I have to send a set of barrels for repair. If the gun is worth, say $4,000, what would you thnk the insurance value of the barrels only to be? The gun wouldn't be worthless without the barrels but would be worth significantly less obviously. They're well packaged so I'm not particularly worried about damage, but loss is always a possibility.

Phil,

I'm not sure how easy it is to get a claim approved. If you are only worried about loss, send them registered and tracked. This requires a signatures.

Ken

Be Careful!! Russ Jackson and I had a bad experience with the USPS on a gun where they bent the triggergaurd. Their process is very tedious. I have had better luck on claims with UPS and FED EX.

USPS, registered and insured---cheep money---I do it on every gun I ship.

Allan

While there may be value in an orphaned receiver, the number of people looking for that, as compared to the whole gun, is very small. I don't ship barrels all that often, but insure for the value of the gun, when I do.

Every single carrier is bad in regards to handling and in paying claims. It is just a matter of who has not upset you recently. I only once had damage using USPS and the process of getting paid was so troublesome, i had to push it up to a VP in the organization in Washington to get my claim paid.
It was then that i decided to stop giving USPS any money for insurance and i started self insuring for anything under a certain value.

Mr. Yearout:
Regardless of which carrier you use, I recommend that you package the barrels inside a section of PVC pipe, capped at each end. Use an outer box if you wish, but the pipe will resist careless handling damage very well.

As for complete loss of the box, that's always a risk. I use USPS Priority and have had very good luck.

I agree and do the same. Have two three inch PVC pipes with a glued cap on one end and a plug cap on the other. Wrap barrels in bubble wrap. My address labels all over the pipe and it does not hurt to stick a couple on the barrels as one never knows what will happen. Pipe inside a square cardboard box, USPS with tracking with no insurance since I use Eastern Insurance which covers losses. Get an estimated delivery date and call when they should be there to verify delivery.

Best Money I ever spent for firearms insurance through Eastern.
Damaged out hunting, stolen, lost or damaged in shipping for a little over $300 per year I get 100k of insurance. I ship Priority mail and insure for $50 which is free.

I've done this only once and it was to Mr. Bachelder. His recommendation was to pack the barrels in a PVC pipe (as previously mentioned) which I did. I used a length of 4" PVC pipe and enough bubble-wrap to ensure the barrels did not move inside the pipe. I glued a cap on one end of the pipe and used six small brass counter-sunk screws to hold the cap on the other end, being careful to not have the screw tips sticking into the pipe where they could contact the barrels. Then I wrapped each end in duct tape to add a level of security and hide the screws with the hope that no one noticed that they could open one end.

The advice from Mr. Bachelder was to insure the barrels for the total value of the gun which I did. I used UPS and the barrels made it there in good shape and came back in great shape.