I do not know what the best shipping method is Chet but I can tell you that the so called insurance that UPS sells is not worth the paper it is written on. I once recieved a rifle that was damaged. It was boxed and shipped at a UPS store and they did not do an adequate job of packing. I wasted hours trying to get UPS to pay for the damage but to no avail. I shipped a rifle yesterday and when the clerk asked if I wanted to buy the insurance I said "Why, they never pay anyway." She said that in all the years she had worked sending packages out she had only seen them pay on one claim.
As you know, I go to extreme measures when I pack a rifle, obviously you did a great job of packaging too or you would have been skirood.

Art