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.

Does anyone have any experience collecting for the full insured amount (= to total value of gun) when only barrels are damaged or lost? It would seem to me that would greatly complicate an already complicated process. I have pondered this when shipping a rifle bolt that is likely irreplaceable and really leaves only salvage value for the bbl and stock if the bolt is lost. It seems that insuring for full value of the gun in either case is really an attempt to insure for ancillary value and I question how the shipper would treat such a claim.

I have in the past ,shipping barells only, have insured
For the value of the gun. I sent of some 20 ga dhe
Barrels and it was 40 each way insurance .
Well I called Eastern ins and they said their insurance
Covered my guns both ways. So no claims but I
Just about pay the 300 plus premium out of insurance
Savings

THATS WHAT THEY SAID, BUT COLLECTING MAY BE ANOTHER MATTER

Ups broke my pvc pipe in half but did not damage barrels??? That's when I started shipping usps. I would use the thick pvc schedule 80 anyway.

And I put the pvc tube inside a triangular shipping box.

I my experience, anything that looks like you're trying to protect the contents is taken as a challenge by some of the gorillas handling it.





.

Broke the PVC??? :shock: I was considering a 4" diameter, thick-walled PVC pipe that is only 36" long to be indestructible. Breaking it suggests, to me, specific and malicious intent. Dean's suggestion is well worth the extra expense.

I can attest to Claims handled by Eastern Insurance. The say what they will do and Do what they say. First class all the way.

Just signed up for the Eastern plan; have had the paperwork on my deck for a while but just hadn't done it. What the insurance would cost through USPS will pay 1/3 of the yearly premium. Just wish I'd done it before I shipped and insured a couple guns this past summer; with what I spent for insurance on those I would have paid the whole premium by now :cuss:!

Shipping after Christmas maybe the best insurance of all.

Insurance
 

It surprises me about how many people do not have gun insurance through Eastern or Collectibles or a company like them. Home owners riders are prohibitively expensive and difficult to collect on. Once you have that insurance you do not need nor should you buy carrier insurance. The carriers will fight a claim every step of the way. And if you're shipping a lot of guns, like most of us do, the savings on carrier insurance will pay the premiums as mentioned above. A few years ago I shipped a very expensive Merkel in a hard case for a trigger repair. UPS broke the stock off at the wrist. How? I don't know, but with good photographs of the before and after condition of the gun Collectibles paid the claim with no questions asked. You must have good photographs of the gun to help your plight. Beyond the advantages of shipping insurance just having some type of insurance on your collection is a must. People who don't have a good policy have a giant hole in the protection of their assets. A home owners policy will only cover about $3,500. In a lot of cases that's not even one gun. A fire or a burglary could cost several hundreds of thousands of dollars with no chance of recovery.

I signed up with Eastern Insurance several years ago. It's probably one of the best things I've done. "if for nothing else a good peace of mind" I haven't had to worry about loss on my guns from fire , burglary, & it's made shipping a lot less stressful. Let alone knowing that the guns are covered when I travel with them whether it's to a gun show, a hunting trip or traveling abroad with one.

I have a good friend who lost a nice model 21 20ga & a Sterlingworth ejector 20ga when flying back from Argentina. The airlines mistakenly put his guns on a flight to Mexico city. He was never able to get his guns back from the Mexican government. If he had an Eastern policy on them he would have at least been compensated financially for the loss.

I have been with Eastern for 15 or more years. I've never had a claim but I have never worried about my guns that I take to a shoot, buy at a gun show (covered as soon as you buy it) guns don't have to be scheduled unless over 50K, covers damage, as if I fall and break a stock, shipping, travelling out of the country (NRA insurance doesn't cover out of the country) as I know people that have made claims to them and didn't encounter problems. And Jack is a collector and gun guy himself. Sometimes it nice not to have to worry :)

I just sent for a quote from Eastern to get this process started. Thanks for the information, everyone.

Dave

I am guessing I am not the only one who doesn't know of Eastern Insurance - Anyone care to share contact infor for them?

Here is what I have, see my PDF file I scanned for you... I hope it helps.

Jack Richardson 800-545-9326