Dumbest Thing I’ve Ever Done...

Some good points posted. Sorry to hear about you losing that gun. Whenever you go to the range do a physical and mental once over just before you leave. I noticed a very large silver gun case the type where you can store many firearms had been left behind. I hope the gun turns up.

That is a tough one to take for sure.

I feel really bad for you because I can easily imagine doing something like that. I'm paranoid that I'll leave something at the range so I double check everything before I leave and keep all my stuff on one table while I'm there. I have nightmares about getting home and finding I'm short a gun due to my forgetfulness.

Double check at the range.

After I have carried everything down to the car or truck, I go back, do a walk around and look down and up about the shoorting bench before I leave the range.

I drove off once and left an ammo can with all the ammo and accessories I had for my Mark IV Webley.The can was turned into the club lost and found.

A relative went to the range to test a 336C offered for sale, and brought his Savage Tactical rifle along for show and tell. He bought the 336C and we drove off leaving behind the Savage Tactical in its case. Before we got back to town, the seller (club official and FFL) was called. Guys had found a cased rifle abandoned at the range. We arranged to meet them and retrieve the rifle.

I drove off once and left a well-used stapler and a metal swinger target made of scrap. I assume whoever found them, figured they were so ratty they were abandoned.

Double check at the range.

After I have carried everything down to the car or truck, I go back, do a walk around and look down and up about the shoorting bench before I leave the range. I learned the hard way.

I commercial hunt nutria in a marsh that has some brushy areas, I carry 2- 22 rifles in a slanted gun rack that custom made along side of my drivers seat in my mudboat. well i usually shoot the rats with the 22s. I had the 2 rifles and the shotgun early in the day and got into a bunch of nutria and when i was done I only had one rifle and the shotgun. It was a 4 year old Rem 572 with a $100 scope and sling fell over board somehow during the frenzie .about a $650 loss!! I tried to back track and look for it but no use it sank under water!! I still carry 2 rifles and a shotgun but one of the rifles is stowed safely in a gunbox where a branch cant drag it overboard. This also happened once with the shotgun but i noticed it right away and backtracked to a brushy spot and found it floating stock up in shallow water.

Bottomline is shxx happens and I learned from it. Original Poster don't feel alone, Hope your friends rifle turns up!!

Bull

If it's found maybe the finder will realize it's probably been reported to the police as missing or stolen and turn it in. I know I would not want to be caught with a gun I "Found" on the side of the road. My luck, it would stolen or used in a crime. Hope you have the serial numbers. Without it you have no hope.

There is a Garmin GPS laying along I-10 near Jacksonville Florida that I left on the roof of a Jeep several years ago. Not long after getting up to speed after getting on the interstate I heard a noise I couldn't identify. The next day when unpacking my gear I couldn't find my GPS. It took a few minutes, but it finally dawned on me that I'd left it on the roof and the noise I'd heard was it blowing off.

marksman13 said:

Lost a really nice AR-15 yesterday. Thought it may have been stolen out of my truck, but there was only one place I went yesterday and I reviewed their surveillance cameras and nobody touched my truck that I could see. Only thing I can figure is that I laid it on top of my bed cover and drove off without putting it in the truck. I don’t remember even getting the rifle to put it in my truck. I do remember getting the range bag and ammo. Those are still on the back seat.

I’ve torn the house apart a dozen times. Ridden and walked the highways and roads I took yesterday. Nothing. No sign of it. Reported it to local PD this morning on the off chance it turns up some day.

The worst part, it wasn’t my rifle. My buddy ordered all the parts and asked me to put it together for him. Now I owe him $2K. Pretty sick about the whole deal.

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That is some really bad luck.

Insignificant bill said:

That is some really bad luck.

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Bad luck? That's a disaster! Go back and retrace all your steps and think every one through. I've not had this experience, but a fellow Firearms Instructor misplaced a Browning High Power during a house move. Not just any High Power but an engraved FN. We found it by retracing his every step in the back of a moving van he rented. GOOD LUCK!

Omg. Dude that just sux. Omg. I met a guy at the range who left his AR behind at the range. My wife left her G43 in her purse and left it in the shopping cart at the grocery store. Luckily someone turned it in and it wound up at the police station. I hope you recover it.

Coming back from bowhunting I stopped at a sign and my buddy's quiver full of arrows slid off the top of my Jeep and onto the hood.
Yeah, another time he showed up to hunt, get all the way out to the spot............and no quiver at all.
Was by his desk at home.

QD quiver. There's a good reason why a bolt on is better. Just sayin.
But then, having an MBA, he'd leave his bow on top of his truck.

Have found spotting scopes and other at the range, no guns yet.
Pops on the board, said members would turn in a gun left on the range now and then. Usually took a while before the person who
misplaced it called frantic trying to find it.

Now I would EXPECT a gun left at a club to be turned into management and given back to rightful owner.
Stuff happens.

But then I'd expect any gun left at a public range to be pilfered.
Guess on longer ranges, folks going down to check targets have come back to stuff missing.
Heard about it at a range about 1.5 hrs from Chicago.

People looking to yank stuff.

Why a buddy is good to shoot with, leave one w the gear.

Back in the day, w road near the range..........and wide open, we never thought somebody would stake a place out and steal crap.
But we didn't have stupid entitlement punks marching around back then.

The DNR ranges have ROs now, or are supposed to have. But one guy can't watch everything.
My private club doesn't allow a gun on the hip.
As checking targets would be taking a gun past the firing line.

But If I went to the DNR range toward Chicago, screw the rules. I'd have my P30L on all the time.
And it'd stay holstered, unless I had to pop some thief.

The dingdongs playing show and tell w carry gear ruined stuff for everybody else.

OP..............bummer the rifle is missing.
Maybe you left it on the truck and it took a dive.
Maybe somebody swiped it when not looking at the range.

It might turn up. You reported it quick.
That's half the battle.

Wouldn't count on it, but good things can happen.

Guy I know lost his 9mm Beretta.
Left it on his car.

Found it later, when mowing.
Chopped it in half.

Sorry to hear it, man. That kind of stuff is the pits.

I once ran over my laptop, cell phone, and a nice CAT infrared thermometer with a 57,000 lb combine. I was aligning the tracks and needed to record temp readings. The tracks made a nice desk until they didn't. A car came down the road and I went to move out of their way. Worst part is they probably watched my stuff go under

Remarkably the phone survived. It was just slightly bent but I used it for several months thereafter and was reminded of my mistake lol.



Maybe @Armored farmer knows how convenient CLAAS workbenches are

Sorry for your loss.

I've never lost a gun, but sad to say that if I had, it wouldn't rank as the dumbest thing I've ever done...

Olon said:

Sorry to hear it, man. That kind of stuff is the pits.

I once ran over my laptop, cell phone, and a nice CAT infrared thermometer with a 57,000 lb combine. I was aligning the tracks and needed to record temp readings. The tracks made a nice desk until they didn't. A car came down the road and I went to move out of their way. Worst part is they probably watched my stuff go under

Remarkably the phone survived. It was just slightly bent but I used it for several months thereafter and was reminded of my mistake lol.

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Maybe @Armored farmer knows how convenient CLAAS workbenches are

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Sitting in my barn lot right now...

I've run my cellphone through the combine also.

I came back hoping to see good news.

The only thing that I have forgotten on the top of a vehicle was a coffee cup. That is not to say that I am not capable of doing far worse, and thankfully I haven't, yet. Hope the rifle is found soon.

I don't know how large of a town you live in/near but maybe an ad in the local newspaper or something like a local company that publishes a flyer with items for sale. Sucks man, I really feel for you, not only is it personal embarrassment but the monetary loss also.

Hookeye said:

Guy I know lost his 9mm Beretta.
Left it on his car.

Found it later, when mowing.
Chopped it in half.

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Now that's a torture test. Should have bought a glock, jk. Lol. I ran over a surefire flashlight with my mower years ago and it still sits on my bedside. Overpriced for what they are IMO but its earned its rep with the mower incident.

About leaving stuff at the range, I am always very paranoid about leaving something behind even though I'm vigilant and thoughtful about what came with me. I always second guess my magazine count when I'm home though....

A buddy of mine lost his iPhone by leaving it on the trailer tongue of his truck while hooking up his boat. Filed an insurance claim and used it to get the just-released newer model. Two days after receiving it, he dropped it in the drink off a deep seawall. No recovery.

To the OP, check with your homeowner's policy, or NRA coverage if you have it. Doesn't hurt to ask.

Sorry about the rifle. Hope it turns up.

I was complaining about how thick the rubber Otterbox case on my phone was. Until one morning I set the phone on the roof of my car as I put other stuff in the back seat. Drove several miles before realizing I didn't have my phone with me; thought I'd left it at home. Started home, them remembered where I'd left it. Very happy to find that the rubber case was tacky enough that it hadn't moved, despite several stops and starts at traffic lights. I still don't like how thick the Otterbox is, but I don't complain about it. And having had the experience, I've learned to NEVER place something on the roof/hood of the car.

I got lazy and set a 2” ball trailer hitch on my bumper rather than setting it in the bed when I was swapping it out for a 2 5/8” ball hitch last weekend. It fell off when I left the storage lot and wasn’t recovered. Lesson learned.

Other than that, I’ve been lucky enough to not lose stuff in that manner. I habitually don’t set stuff on my trunk or roof, I’ll set stuff on my hood instead. That way I’ll see it before I drive off without it.

Hopefully it’ll show up soon!

Stay safe.