Have you ever lost a gun but not in a boating accident? Or found one?

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scott511 said:
The wife called me at work one day and said she had signed for a UPS package from Palmetto State Armory addressed to me. Knowing that I had not ordered anything recently, I told her to open it up and see what it was. She called back and said "it's a gun" and had I bought one. Told her no I hadn't, but even if I had, it couldn't be shipped directly to me by UPS. When I got home to look at it, I discovered PSA had shipped me a 9mm AR pistol.
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What was the rest of the story?
 
Years ago a guy at work lost a 22 cal. semi auto pistol ( make & model I don't recall) one night in the dead of winter. It fell out of a holster and he was unsure where he was when he lost it. It turned up the next spring when the snowbanks alongside his driveway melted. It was snowing heavily the night he lost it, apparently in his own driveway, the driveway got plowed and the handgun got pushed into a big snowbank where it spent the winter. I heard it had some rust issues but he cleaned it up and it still functioned good anyway.
 
A friend of mine found a 1920's commercial 1911 tucked behind a dresser drawer sitting on the framework. (We were working on a house where the old dresser had been left in.) It was wrapped in newspapers from the late 1920's. Had a full mag, empty chamber. He took it out and shot it, all 7 230 FMJs (UMC) went off. The dummy sold it before I got back to him with the research I'd done. ( before the internet) He sold it for way less less than it was worth, even in 1983. It had been oiled well (the newspaper had been soaked, but had dried out) and looked almost brand new.
When I worked at a gun shop, a guy brought in a drilling guild gun made in Mainz. He'd found it in the basement of a house he'd just bought. A friend of his told him it was worth $400 (in 1991) so that's what he wanted for it. The shop wasn't interested, and I had the $400 in my wallet, but it was my rent. My boss bought it, cleaned it up, and sold it the next day to one of his buddies for $1600.
 
And then there was the plumber I knew back in the 80's who was working on the rehab of an old city house. Found an old German Ortgies pistol at the top of the basement wall between two floor joists when tearing out some of the old plumbing. It was unloaded, a 7.65 mm IIRC and looked to be in decent shape with just bluing wear. It was wrapped up in a towel and looked like it had been oiled well. He did some research and it dated to the 1920's; he never fired it and eventually someone made him an offer and he sold it.
 
old lady new shooter said:
What was the rest of the story?
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So, of course everyone I talked to said "you got a free gun!". I knew someone would be looking for it, and I did not want to have this thing in my possession. I called PSA and asked them if they were missing anything. They said nope. I told them they had shipped a gun to me and what should do with it. They said they would send a prepaid label for me to send it back, but that I would need to take it to a UPS store to ship it back.
I called a buddy at the fbi field office and explained the situation. He told me to call the atf and gave me a number. Called them and explained situation. They said no problem just send it back with the prepaid label.
I thought there might be issues with me trying to ship a gun across state lines and not shipping from an ffl; apparently not. Apparently this happens a LOT according to the atf guy.
This gun had been sent in to PSA for repair, which means it could be shipped to the owner after the repair. PSA just got their shipping messed up somehow. The atf guy said that after a firearm is not received 1 day after expected delivery date, the shipper is supposed to file paperwork with them. The atf guy also said that eventually someone would've shown up at my house looking for the gun.
 
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Several years ago I was on the tractor at deer camp for a work day and when I got back to the house that night my S&W Model 29 was missing from my shoulder holster. One of the members found it the next morning in a food plot that I had disc up. It looks like the disc blades all missed it but it was half buried and was full of dirt. It cleaned up and was none the worst for wear!
 
old lady new shooter said:
A housekeeper story, not a gun story: At one point back in the 70's I had a little side business with a friend, importing various items from Austria, including hand-painted enamel jewelry. Really dumb housekeeper stole one of the necklaces and showed up for work one day wearing it. I am not making this up.
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She wasn’t the brightest candle on the cake, eh? :rofl:

People amaze me sometimes.

Stay safe.
 
When my wife and I were painting the inside of our last house, we slept in an extra room one night and I lost one of my 45’s for about a year and a half, when I found it moving the bed out, turning it into a reloading room…
 
My brother moved into a new house, calls me to say the previous owner left a box with a gun in it and he wants me to come get it out of his house immediately.

What kind of gun? Says it's a long gun, Benelli label on the box. Okay, be right there!

Drive a little more than an hour to get there, open the box and there's an inexpensive Crosman BB rifle in it. Talk about disappointment!
 
About 10 years old "many many many years ago". Walking through a small patch of woods. Found the frame of a revolver. No cylinder or grips. Gave it to my dad. Never saw it again. 38spl.
 
I've never lost a gun but at my first Duty Station in the army one of the guys in my unit lost in M16A1 during a field problem.

We spent pretty close to a month in the field looking for that rifle but we never found it.

Same unit, different field problem.

We had occupied a firing position and the platoon sergeant had first and forth section set out OPs on our flanks. They then rotated people from each section through the OP.

When March Order was called the person manning the OP left it and went back to his gun. He assumed that whichever section had set out the op would send somebody to collect the M60. Assumption is the mother of all screw ups.

We hadn't been in the new firing position a half hour before the Platoon Sergeant (SFC Miller J. Shields (AKA THE WRATH OF GOD) came down under our net raising hell wanting to know where that machine gun was.

He took the young PFC back to the OP where Thank God the machine gun was still sitting and retrieved it.

I'm Told that he made the young man who left the M60 behind do Rifle Drills with it for a mile down the road.
 
Pat Riot said:
Years ago when I was a kid in 3rd grade my parents were looking at a house for rent. My brother and I were in a back bedroom I was looking in a closet and found a snub nosed revolver and a box of cartridges on the top shelf. My brother had to give me a boost to look up there. It was a .38 Special. The ammo box said so and I was such a cop show fanatic, I just knew it was destiny that I have my very own “Dick Special”. I am pretty sure it was a Colt Detective but I am really not sure.
Anyway, my dream and my destiny were not to be. My other brother ran and told my Dad and the owner of the house that I had found a gun. Damn! Foiled again!

It turns out the prior tenants left it behind but I never heard anything more about it.

My Mom gave me heck for even thinking I could own a real gun. She really wasn’t buying my schtick that cap guns were for little kids and that I needed a real gun…and besides, all the best cops on TV had a snub nosed revolver. I would only hold it when watching Adam 12 or Dragnet…She didn’t buy it so it was cap guns for me again…I did get a really cool cap gun that looked like a real snubbie. That was cool.
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The real life version of A Christmas story.
 
Never lost or found a gun but my BIL has done both ... with the same gun.

Late '70s. My BIL found a nickle'd Mod36 in a cleared cornfield while hunting. It had been lying in the dirt for awhile so it looked a bit sad.

He loaned it to me to use when I brought a friend to the farm for some "firearms fun training".

That little .38spc revolver surprised me in 2 ways; it was comfortable (to me) to fire and surprisingly accurate.

Years later during one of my visits, I asked my BIL about that 36. He told me that he had lost it while hunting. Probably fell out of a (too)shallow coat pocket ... just like the first time(?).
 
25-plus years ago I was driving down the road with a friend to the gun shop. He was going to pick out his first handgun. Something laying on the side of the road. Turned out to be a P89 with 2 mags in the factory case. As far as I know, he still has it.

I did lose a gun for several years but it really didn't matter. I bought a bunch of assorted milsurps for a few hundred bucks. One was an Enfield that was abused beyond recognition. I stripped all the parts from it and intended to cut the action to prevent some enterprising person from trying to rebuild it. Leaned it up in the corner of the garage and forgot about it for a decade.
 
Scott 511"s mention of UPS in his post #31 reminded me of something UPS did at the LGS back in the mid 90's. The shop owner came to the shop to open it in the afternoon and he found a UPS delivered package laying at the front door in plain sight. In a small strip mall of stores with a common sidewalk out front. Turned out to be a handgun that should have been delivered to him personally as the FFL holder there. Needless to say, the shop owner was livid and I always enjoyed his story about him calling UPS and screaming at them about it with a few profanities thrown in for good measure. Luckily nobody walked off with the gun and the shop owner assured me that the UPS driver got into big trouble with the local manager although we never found out if he was fired or not.
 
Not sure if this counts as lost but I had about a dozen guns stolen from my mother's house while I was in basic training back in 2007. Even managed to get two of them back, one of them just last year.

I've also "found" three guns in my life.

First was a 16 gauge single shot that was in the branches of a cedar tree in the woods of my grandparent's farm when I was about 14 or 15 years old, so 2002 or 3. Turns out it was my great-great grandfathers, had his name carved into the barrel under the forearm, and was lost by my grandfather's oldest brother while he was out squirrel hunting and had to make one of those urgent stops. He was out hunting while home on leave after getting back from Korea in 1952 when he lost it. Was in surprisingly good shape considering it had been there for 50 years and my grandfather let me keep it and practice some of the gunsmithing he was teaching me with it. After about two years of finding or making parts for it, I was able to get it back to shooting condition and even killed a few squirrel with it. Still have it sitting in the safe now.

Second one was a nickel plated S&W model 10 that I found laying on a hiking trail a few years later. That one I picked up, put in my pack, and kept on hiking. Ran into a guy rushing down the trail about a mile later who asked if I had found a gun on the trail. Told him I had and asked him to describe it and when he did I gave it back.

The last one was about ten years ago and I didn't so much find it as I was just there when the owner abandoned it. We were both at a local WMA range at opposite ends of the line shooting. He received a phone call then urgently packed up and left quickly, only he forgot the second rifle case laying on the bench. I went down and picked up the rifle and, when he didn't come back before I was finished, left a note that basically said "if you lost something here call and tell me what it was and I'll give it back" with my phone number stapled to the pole next to the bench he was using. Two days later he called me and asked if I had his rifle and arranged to meet to get it back. Turns out the call was a state trooper calling from his wife's phone telling him that his wife and daughter were in a bad car accident and were both on there way to the local ER.
 
My son-in-law was twice lucky finding guns. He and my daughter bought land that had an old mobile home on it. While getting it ready for removal he found a Tanfoglio .22 single action revolver under carpet in the floor. It was cruddy and frozen and missing the base pin. I got the pin and made it functional, we've fired it and it shoots straight. The second gun he found while clearing a lot, it was a mud encrusted FNH Forty Nine semiauto. The police collected it and he got it back after some time. I cleaned it up but it needs a guide spring and nobody seems to have them. I may have to buy a parts gun to get this finished.
 
I wrote this up for a letter to the editor of a gun magazine and it was published:
Was at LAX in the men's room sitting down doing what you do in the men;s room while sitting down. The stall door, next to me, opens and closes. All of a sudden a pistol tumbles under the partition and lands at my feet.
I ask "Are you with law enforcement and an embarressed "yes" replies. I slide the pistol back under the partion, finish up, stand up, zip up and immediately leave.
 
20 years ago, I worked for my little towns street department.

Once a year in late spring/early summer the city would set up 3-4 40yd dumpsters and let local residents do their spring cleaning and throw it away in our dumpsters.

Naturally, we always had an employee on site to make sure no prohibited items made it in, help folks unload their vehicles and use a backhoe to smash it all down occasionally to maximize the capacity.

One day a little old lady brought a garbage can full of "junk" that her late husband had kept in the garage.

Upon digging into it I found a barreled action (no stock) Mauser K98k from 1938 with a 243 code (Borsigwalde) on the receiver ring.

It was in absolutely beautiful condition.
I tracked down a surplus stock and a couple of small parts it was missing and shot it for years.

I might have had $100 in it.

Sold it 8-9 years ago for $600.

Kinda wish I wouldn't have.
 
I was riding my motorcycle with a Rohm .22 revolver in a gas mask bag tied to the rear seat. When I got home, no gas mask bag and of course no gun, A strap of the bag must of caught it in the chain and ripped the bag off. Luckily I live in a very rural area and was able to find the bag and gun before anyone else did. The Rohm was trashed of course after following me down the highway at 60 MPH. I still have the parts as a reminder not to be an idiot. It could have been my Colt .45 1911 or my Ruger single six. The Rohm was no great loss, piece of junk anyway..
 
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