After experimenting with a number of strategic locations for hiding handguns at home, I couldn't remember where I put my Colt Gold Cup. Still can't, I've checked everywhere I think I might have hidden it, and that was some five years ago.
Have you ever lost a gun but not in a boating accident? Or found one?
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MosinT53Hunter
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Not my story, but was told of it from the neighbor down the road.
According to the story, he and my father, back in the 60's or so, was tearing down a few houses the workers used to be housed in when working the hop yards.
Ripping away the walls in the main room of one of them, they found a lever action rifle, make and model unknown. It was all there, rusty. The neighbor kept it, as my father wasn't into keeping guns around the house.
I asked if I could see it, but it was "somewhere else", so I didn't push it. I was very young when my father passed, and the neighbor has also passed in recent years.
But, I still remember the story. You just never know what is in old houses.
According to the story, he and my father, back in the 60's or so, was tearing down a few houses the workers used to be housed in when working the hop yards.
Ripping away the walls in the main room of one of them, they found a lever action rifle, make and model unknown. It was all there, rusty. The neighbor kept it, as my father wasn't into keeping guns around the house.
I asked if I could see it, but it was "somewhere else", so I didn't push it. I was very young when my father passed, and the neighbor has also passed in recent years.
But, I still remember the story. You just never know what is in old houses.
epags
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A dear (and now passed) friend of mine was an undercover cop, now long retired. He had knives and handguns stashed every where in his house, garage and automobile. Unfortunately he trusted a number of 'friends' with the information and gave a number ot them keys to his place.
After he passed, I was helping his family cleanup the premises and discovered his bedside piece was missing. I had the locks to the house and garage changed immediately. That was the only firearm that went missing. I did get a 'reward' for helping clean the house. His family allowed me to have all the ammo he had stashed. They only wanted the firearms.
We suspect who has the missing firearm but no proof and the individual is not on our Christmas Open House invite list.
After he passed, I was helping his family cleanup the premises and discovered his bedside piece was missing. I had the locks to the house and garage changed immediately. That was the only firearm that went missing. I did get a 'reward' for helping clean the house. His family allowed me to have all the ammo he had stashed. They only wanted the firearms.
We suspect who has the missing firearm but no proof and the individual is not on our Christmas Open House invite list.
epags
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Oh yes, another story about the same retired undercover cop friend who loved buying, trying and eventually selling the latest and greatest. We were at our 'out in the country' shooting range and he was showing and shooting two of his newest rifles. After we were all through we packed up to leave and a retired FBI friend showed up to shoot (luckily). We drove the 30 miles back home and were unloading our vehicles....oops no rifles. He had left them on one of the range tables where we had lunch. Sigh, another drive 30 miles each way.
Happily we got a call from our FBI buddy just before we left to go back to the range. He 'had found' a couple of rifles..."were they ours?"
Oh yea.
Next day he returned them. Only a red faced retired LEO.
Happily we got a call from our FBI buddy just before we left to go back to the range. He 'had found' a couple of rifles..."were they ours?"
Oh yea.
Next day he returned them. Only a red faced retired LEO.
Thanks. It'll turn up, I just have no idea when or where. The house is about 4300sqft and this happened just before we brought in a lot of furniture and boxes in from an estate so it's still a bit of a mess. And that's a factory nickel plated Gold Cup, no less - a semi-collectible and a very nice shooter I'd really like to find.
BushMaster-15
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I did stumble literally over one of these back in 1964 while hiking and had forgotten about that . Took it to the local PD and they tried finding the owner , never happened so I did get to keep it . It was pretty rough as well as surface rusted . I figured somebody was snooping around the Old Gold mine ,because I was I ended up collecting #14 Marbles Game getters over 50 years and sold ALL of them to another collector with #43 of them , Plus mine . I paid 100's of dollars but Never anywhere near a K ,let alone $4-6 K per .
Anybody ever see a LeMat grapeshot ?
When that Dealer Friend of mine liquidated a Browning Family members collection ( All members of the Browning family received 00one number firearms from the production run ) and boy howdy did I see some ZINGERS but Money was way out of My price range . So I drooled and looked cool.
I ended up collecting #14 Marbles Game getters over 50 years and sold ALL of them to another collector with #43 of them , Plus mine . I paid 100's of dollars but Never anywhere near a K ,let alone $4-6 K per .
Anybody ever see a LeMat grapeshot ?
When that Dealer Friend of mine liquidated a Browning Family members collection ( All members of the Browning family received 00one number firearms from the production run ) and boy howdy did I see some ZINGERS but Money was way out of My price range . So I drooled and looked cool
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BushMaster-15
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I miss printed mileage was 4,386 miles NOT 14K . That old Gal lived #7 miles outside a city and she only drove the car to the Grocery store , Bank and occasional Dr.'s appointment ; In the the 22 years she owned it . She had the tires replaced 7 months before I got the car ,she had a flat and tire shop Wouldn't fix it by law ,so she bought #5 tires including the continental kit spare . Her tires had just rotted with age . Stock 283 with automatic powerglide . She had her complete faculties at 94 but couldn't see or hear well enough to get another drivers license .
I was simply at the right place at the right time and WASN'T looking for another vehicle to own or maintain but WASN'T letting go of that DEAL !.
The ONLY TWO vehicles in MY live I've ever regretted letting go were : My 1960 Mercedes Benz 300 d Limousine that HAUNTS ME to this day . The other 1965 Dodge Polara fully suspension'd CHP 426 Factory Cross-ram Hemi with Two AFB Carter carbs . Of which I'd bought at an auction . Stupid Youth and had NO clue as to it's REAL value at the time . The pisser is I sold that car fully functioning for $1K
They normally came with the 413 Interceptor Hemi cross ram set up and less than a Handful were outfitted with the 426 . The original motor is worth $35-50K and the cross ram another $10K . I know someone who purchased an original Hemi for their 1966 Plymouth Belvedere about 10 years ago and the market for Chrysler Muscle stuff had gone through the ROOF price wise . More practical and profitable to store Gold than cars . Just wish I'd STORED MORE
FL-NC
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I "found" lots of guns in afg., either hidden away by bad guys for later use, abandoned after a fight, or "prying from their cold dead fingers". I found a Winchester model 54 in 30-06 at a range on the firing line, missing all of the bottom metal. I took it and let the range staff know about it (they didn't maintain a presence on the range) so that the owner could claim it, and also placed a notice with my ph # on the bulletin board to call me. This didn't never happen, and when I moved from NC 5 years later, the range guys told me to just keep it. I guess whoever left it didn't want it, so I gave it to a friend who likes old Winchesters, he found the required parts and got it running. When my wife's mother died and we were cleaning out the house, we found the Colt trooper that we knew was there anyway, but also found 2 H&R toppers, unfired (1 16 gauge, 1 in 410) and a ithaca single shot 22 that looks like a lever action carbine- no one (my wife and her sister) knew or recalled their dad ever owning the long guns. Their dad died over 20 years prior to their mom. I "lost" a Glock 19 in my house for a few days- I normally kept it loaded in the drawer of my coffee table in the living room, but when a friend was coming over for something with his ADD kid, I removed it and hid it in the top of my bedroom closet since the plan was to put the kid on the couch so he could watch TV while they were there. After they left, I totally spaced where I had put that Glock for a couple of days, but I knew it was in the house, so I wasn't that worried, but I still felt dumb.
An NCO in our unit recalled finding a rusty Sten gun in the bushes on a BAOR exercise on Luneberg Heath once. They turned it in to the MPs and it had been lost on an exercise in 1947 or something.
I found a rifle that had just been abandoned by the path when its soldier-owner had just wandered off to do something else. Pointed out to 'the management'.
I found a rifle that had just been abandoned by the path when its soldier-owner had just wandered off to do something else. Pointed out to 'the management'.
Rex in OTZ
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I was searching in the dump for a 4-way lug wrench so was poking around under and behind seats.
Found a AR-7 behind the seat of a rusty old 1960's era chevy pickup.
Found several .22's tossed away at the dump (Pietta PPSH50, Winchester 250, Marlin 81)
Found the top half of a Winchester 9422.
Crused along beach after a second record setting storm surge, found a muzzle of a rifle sticking out of the floatsum.
Was a pertty corroded marlin 60.
Found a AR-7 behind the seat of a rusty old 1960's era chevy pickup.
Found several .22's tossed away at the dump (Pietta PPSH50, Winchester 250, Marlin 81)
Found the top half of a Winchester 9422.
Crused along beach after a second record setting storm surge, found a muzzle of a rifle sticking out of the floatsum.
Was a pertty corroded marlin 60.
FL-NC
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I forgot about 1 a deputy I know found in Fayetteville, NC. A tornado touched down and damaged or destroyed numerous homes and businesses in town and on Ft Bragg. A civilian resident in town called the authorities after finding a gun (AK) in the bottom of his swimming pool. My friend went there and retrieved it with a leaf net. It was fully automatic and had arabic numbers (presumably for inventory purposes by the previous owners) painted on the stock. Not surprisingly, it wasn't reported lost.
BushMaster-15
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Don't feel to bad about misplacing a weapon . I had purchased a sweet NIB model 17 K-22 Smith revolver . Long of it short at a Gun show , had other shopping items there and elsewhere . I get home and put away New airbrushes and other assorted items . Go inside the house realize I'm missing that model 17 !. Well I search high and low back in the truck ,MAYBE I left it on one of the gun tables ,NOPE drove 42 miles round trip to find that out . So I blew it off as a loss . Two months later ,I'm in the shop getting ready to airbrush a detail on a plane and I grab the Paasche box ,well it's not working correctly . So I start grabbing other boxes including the Binks out of the #6 stacked in cabinet and open it .
YEP it's the 17 K-22 . At the time I hadn't realized the Paasche box was nearly identical in color to the Smith & Wesson's box . I do believe that's the ONLY weapon I ever misplaced . Too many things going on and out of sight out of mind . Still have that sucker and IF there's more than #20 shells through it ,I'm Greta Garbo
A couple of years ago I misplaced my LCP. I looked all over the house and couldn’t find it. It was gone for a couple of weeks and I was beginning to think the housekeeper took it.
Then one day I pulled out a little travel bag and it was in there. Apparently I had put it in there when I drove to visit relatives the prior month.
Thank goodness I found it because that’s the bag I take as a carry-on when flying.
Then one day I pulled out a little travel bag and it was in there. Apparently I had put it in there when I drove to visit relatives the prior month.
Thank goodness I found it because that’s the bag I take as a carry-on when flying.
DustyGmt
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I do electrical work from time to time for a guy that found an old win 94 .32 WS Carbine and a Remington 870 Wingmaster under an overturned canoe I'm the middle of nowhere. He said there was an empty whiskey bottle nearby and that the guns and the canoe had aged and been exposed to the elements for some time.
That's a good find....
That's a good find....
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DustyGmt
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I also know of a guy from town who left a Beretta 9mm on the back of a toilet seat at the local bar. He was kind of a drug dealy shady kind of guy so it's just as well. But somebody found themselves a Beretta and decided to keep it.
No, it wasn't me.
No, it wasn't me.
Many years ago our house was broken into and a lot of stuff stolen. I had a .22 and 30-06 rifle that were missing so I reported them stolen. A couple of weeks later I was doing something else and I noticed something out of the corner of my eye - yes it was the two rifles that I had (cleverly?) hidden behind a bookcase. Kinda glad I did, but it was a PITA to correct it with the insurance and police.
Seedy Character
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I found a Rem 700 7 Mag. 1983, San Juan forest in Colorado. Had hiked up the hill to an overlook across a huge valley. Sat there for over an hour. Turned to leave and there was a rifle, leaning against a tree. Nobody around. I pick it up and head back to camp.
3 days later, season over and we are headed home. Stopped at the LGS in Cortez. A guy is at the counter asking if a rifle had been turned in. I asked what and where? He says "on Monday, he was around Thomas Mountain, sat down to glass the valley. He leaned the rifle against a tree. He went to sleep. He woke up and headed to camp. Got to camp and he didn't have his 7 Mag. It was dark, so he waited to go look on Tuesday morning. Couldn't find where had been.
I found it Tuesday afternoon. Gave him his rifle and he drove off. Never a thanks. Those in the store, laughing, probably didn't help.
3 days later, season over and we are headed home. Stopped at the LGS in Cortez. A guy is at the counter asking if a rifle had been turned in. I asked what and where? He says "on Monday, he was around Thomas Mountain, sat down to glass the valley. He leaned the rifle against a tree. He went to sleep. He woke up and headed to camp. Got to camp and he didn't have his 7 Mag. It was dark, so he waited to go look on Tuesday morning. Couldn't find where had been.
I found it Tuesday afternoon. Gave him his rifle and he drove off. Never a thanks. Those in the store, laughing, probably didn't help.
JTHunter
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Several years ago, a friend of mine had a small house that was rented out. The renter passed away and we helped his relatives clean out the house. Among the things that the family didn't want were two guns, a single shot 20 gauge shotgun and a Marlin Mod. 60 (Glenfield) .22LR rifle. My friend kept the shotgun and let me keep the rifle for my help in emptying the house.
As this was IL-ANNOY, I held on to both guns until my friend got his own FOID card (this was when the ISP was still moving fairly quickly) and he later moved out of state in search of better employment.
As this was IL-ANNOY, I held on to both guns until my friend got his own FOID card (this was when the ISP was still moving fairly quickly) and he later moved out of state in search of better employment.
DustyGmt
Member
That's pretty bogus. Reminds me of a buddy who found a wallet with a thousand dollars in it in a Shaws supermarket parking lot and he called the guy and arranged a time to meet to get his wallet and all his cards, ID and $$$ and he told him over the phone how thankful he was and that he would give him $100 for being honest and going through the trouble of turning it in. The guy met my buddy in the parking lot, took the wallet, said thanks and drove off. My buddy at the time was having alot of problems and $100 would have gone a long ways to help him but he didn't have to be paid to do the right thing, it was just the principle of the thing. He didn't ask for it. He was offered it and didn't get it. SMH.
But for the guy not to even offer a token of gratitude or even a thank you for the return of his rifle, that's just wrong.....
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