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Thanks everyone!

I called USAA and asked for a copy of their standard Homeowner policy, so I could get a heads-up about what it insured and excluded.

Considering it is general military personnel based as customers, I was REALLY SURPRISED to read that the limit of coverage for firearms is ONLY $2,000 !

God Lord, I've got $5,000 plus in handguns alone...not even counting 5 rifles, like family airloom antiques, including an original Winchester 1873 !!

Ask them about a rider policy to cover all your weapons. They should do this with no problems.

daddySEAL wrote:I called USAA and asked for a copy of their standard Homeowner policy, so I could get a heads-up about what it insured and excluded.

Considering it is general military personnel based as customers, I was REALLY SURPRISED to read that the limit of coverage for firearms is ONLY $2,000 !

God Lord, I've got $5,000 plus in handguns alone...not even counting 5 rifles, like family airloom antiques, including an original Winchester 1873 !!

The NRA offers fairly reasonable firearms insurance.

You are an NRA and TSRA member aren't you?



Anygun

From the NRA's member's website I found their coverage for my estimated $10,000 coverage would be $166 per year.

I checked with a USAA rep. and was told that along with the $2,000 already included coverage of their homeowner's policy, an additional $8,000 gun coverage would be about the same ($170) annually.

So, I guess I'll just put them on a "rider" with my USAA home insurance.

Thanks Guys,
dS

Saulnier wrote:I don't know that it should matter to your insurance co if you reload or not.

Did they ask if you own a lawn mower and a gas can?

I would be much, MUCH more worried about Gasoline than powder.

Just my opinion.

Saulnier

Yeah, or even the four propane bottles I have in there for the grill...

If you do have that much powder in you house. If it ever goes off. I really dont think you will be making a claim. Just my $.02

From a risk point of view, if you keep a gallon of gasoline in your garage, you are more at risk from this than powder.

Bob

Bob Wolff wrote:From a risk point of view, if you keep a gallon of gasoline in your garage, you are more at risk from this than powder.

Bob

Smokeless powder is safer than gasoline, propane, aerosol cans, paint thinner, a lot of gun cleaning products and any liquid hydrocarbon you may have on hand. In a fire a factory container of smokeless powder will just burn a gas can, propane cylinder etc can explode. Black powder and BP substitutes, that's another story.

The powder in it's original container will NOT explode. The containers are designed to burst with very low pressure and to not create static electricity. You will get a huge hot flash generating lots of leathal gas. Never transfer powder out of it's original container. Not only for the pressure reasons, but it's also a great way to end up with rifle powder in a pistol or shotgun. It's just not worth the risk. If you store your containers in a larger container (Like a cooler) make sure it's made out of a material that would be consumed by fire or will burst under low pressures. Otherwise your just creating a large bomb.

As a property adjuster since 1992...

90% of the home owners policies have coverage afforded for firearms (I say 90% cause there is a few carriers that do not)

Now they do set sub limits

Most are either $1500 , $2000 , or $2500 for theft of a firearm
Most do not have a limit for other causes of loss.

The reason for this is simple
1 - If you have a fire there are items left that can be identified as a firearm and thus they know what to pay for
2 - If they are stolen how do you stop people from stating that they had 5 AR-15's and 20 shotguns

Thus the limit on the theft of firearms especially since a lot of older ones do not have SN's

Now All insurance policies have a clause in them that state you have a duty to report an increased risk to the carrier.

I as an adjuster do not see reloading supplies as an increased risk, unless you have enough supplies to reload 10,000 rounds
this is because I see it as normal and common. Now If I was working in Chicago and an Insured had supplies to reload 500 rounds of 45acp I would consider that an increased risk as handguns are basically outlawed there. I would not however report it to the carrier, nor would I recommend to the insured they claim the damaged supplies.

I do see the 4 cylinders of propane and the 2 oxy acetylene torches sitting in the garage as an increased risk

As for informing your carrier, I would not tell them anything.
As for your firearms, to protect them from a theft loss you need to do a few things

1 - Photograph and record the make model serial number and keep the info separate from the guns
2 - Insure them through the NRA policy
3 - If you do not want to go through the NRA you need to get a "Scheduled Personal Property" endorsement on your policy.

To get the endorsement you will be required to do the following
provide the carrier with a list.
The list must have;
Make
Model
Serial Number
Appraised or Agreed Value
photo - optional as per the carrier

This information must be updated annually when the policy renews or your collection changes.

I went with the NRA policy and not my Farm Bureau policy.
Farm Bureau wanted $600 to insure my collection the NRA policy was half that and I do not have to provide them with any documentation.

Hope this helps.

I was an agent for 5 years and we never asked anything about powder etc stored in the home.

We were more interested in what kind of dog you had. The bulk of liability claims are dog bites and they usually involve a child getting bitten. We had 3 while I was there.

We had 2 house fires while I was there. One was electrical and not a total loss. One was thought to be started by a roofer throwing down a cigarette on a wood shingle roof. It was a total loss and the fire also spread to 8 other houses.

Speaking of how hot a Texas garage can get, I solved that problem a few years ago. I went to Home Depot and bought the second smallest window a/c unit they had for about $125.00 which stated on the box that it was good for a room a bit larger than my garage. Cut a hole in the garage wall and installed the unit. Also put up fiberglass insulation on the walls & celing for less than $100 more.

Now my garage stays at a comfortable and DRY 78 degrees all summer (there are no windows and the big door is insulated). As near as I can tell my electricity bill went up about $20 per month during the summer for the garage a/c. It's a lot more comfortable to work in there now and the tools don't rust now that the humidity is controlled.

Try it, you'll like it.

daddySEAL wrote:I called USAA and asked for a copy of their standard Homeowner policy, so I could get a heads-up about what it insured and excluded.

Considering it is general military personnel based as customers, I was REALLY SURPRISED to read that the limit of coverage for firearms is ONLY $2,000 !

God Lord, I've got $5,000 plus in handguns alone...not even counting 5 rifles, like family airloom antiques, including an original Winchester 1873 !!

After 30+ years, I quit doing business with USAA when the 30.06 signs appeared at the Brick and Mortar locations. Sent a letter asking why. Got no response. So, I send them no money!

daddySEAL wrote:I'm closing on a house at the end of the year(being built right now).
And need the Insurance to satisfy the mortgage co. before signing final papers.

I wasn't planning on "volunteering" the info that I'd be storing a few pounds of powder, and will be very very careful reloading. But I would tell them, if there was a company that would allow it with a small bump in premiums(not a huge one, or prohibit it)....or make my ins. voided, if an accident happened.

You are doing what my wife accuses me of all the time.... stop over-thinking. I guess if an insurance company wanted to argue they could claim the gallon of gasoline for the mower may cause a fire, or the quart of mineral spirits.

Just be prudent, buy a metal industrial cabinet to store powder and primers in, or do like the military and the rest of us and store the powder and primers in a 20mm or 30mm ammo box.