Insurance coverage for handloaded ammunition?

[rodregier]

Has anyone ever had a discussion with an insurance carrier about insurance coverage for handloaded ammunition replacement?

Most serious handloaders have a ton of sweat equity tied up in their work product, but it's not something that appears in a retail receipt.

If you had to buy factory ammunition to replace all of your handloaded ammunition that was lost in an insurable event, how could you prove the value of all your handloads?

- or -

Would the only realistic option be to get the insurance company to replace the components? That would then require keeping very detailed receipts of purchases stretching back *many* years. Of course, those receipts would not reflect what portion of those components were consumed by actual shooting versus still present as handloaded ammunition.

I have a sneaking suspicion that the burden of proof, stock status progression and the handcrafted nature of reloaded ammunition makes it defacto uninsurable :-(

Thoughts?

 

[Sam1911]

Reminds me of the old story of the guy who took out fire insurance on his cigar collection.

At first glance this seems ridiculous -- insuring a consumable product of your own manufacture, which is produced in order to be used up. Sort of like grandma insuring her basement stash of jars of prune preserves when the whole point of making them is so grandpa can eat them later!

But I suppose if you had a truly monumental stash of ammo you just couldn't (or didn't intend?) to shoot up, it might be worth trying to insure against accidental loss.

How is this or isn't this handled by your homeowner's insurance?

 

[rodregier]

I remember the cigar story too, though of it when I was writing my thread-starting post.

re: homeowners insurance

Insurance is as much about what you can provably claim as opposed to what you would like to have covered.

If you were (for example) making a claim for expensive electronics lost in a fire the claim adjuster would want to see proof of value - video recording of assets, store receipts, etc.

The house itself has an assessed value for tax purposes.

I doubt they would provide compensation for an expensive rifle collection without documented prior independent valuation either in the form of store receipts or a 3rd party experts report on same.

A serious handloader could easily have the equivalent of thousands of dollars of factory ammunition fabricated, which would represent a substantial loss in the event of a fire or flood.

So a successful insurance claim is as much about valuation that the carrier will actually accept...

 

[rodregier]

Just so we're on the same page, imagine a year's worth of food stored.
It's a consumable, but it also represents a sizable investment.

If it was destroyed in a fire, it should be claimable under insurance.
However, the adjuster would want proof of such holdings before writing it
as a line item in a claim.

 

[Sam1911]

Right. So how would ammo be any different? You'd still have to provide receipts for purchases of those materials. Your labor to assemble them would be a loss, of course.

 

[Sunray]

You need to talk to your agent about a firearms 'Fire and Theft with replacement value' rider and what it covers. A great deal will depend on which company you bought from too.
Regular house insurance isn't enough either. Especially, here in Canada. Doesn't cover 'replacement value' for one. Plus they're usually very limited in how much 'value' is covered for contents. And insurance companies think everything depreciates in value.
Never heard of any company that would cover food or useable ammo. You might find one that would cover a cartridge collection.

 

[rodregier]

I'm starting to suspect that it is almost impossible/impractical to get household insurance coverage for anything that is a consumable. (Food, fuel, ammunition, toilet paper, etc).

Simply the challenge of proving the stock level at the time of an insurable event (fire, flood etc) alone makes it a very daunting proposition.

Ignoring the handload vs factory ammunition element for the moment,
that places an interesting spin on the advice "buy it cheap, stack it deep".

Apparently you can also have too much ammunition in the event of *any* destructive insurable event :-(

(There is another thread on "too much ammunition" which inspired me to start this side-trip).

 

[Havok7416]

I lived next to Moore, OK several years back when the two giant tornadoes came through. My apartment lost a large chunk of its roof from the 2nd tornado. By the time I got home (the tornado didn't like me very much and chased me across the state) water was pouring into my living room - right on to my press and a large collection of ammo (it dried out fine later). Ammo would have to either be blown away or catch fire to truly ruin it IMO. That said, I still try to keep somewhat accurate round counts for insurance purposes. The agents I have talked to have told me my ammo and reloading gear is covered under my homeowners policy. Hopefully I'll never have to find out if they will really pay for it!

As a slight side note, my insurance company did cover my food.

 

[grogetr]

My house has been robbed before and I made a list of what was taken with the cost to replace it and they made a check for that minus the deductible. I don't see why ammo would be any different weather it is store bought or reloads.