Rough start to the morning.

[Quoheleth]

I was awakened at 0430 this morning by my kittens who decided they were lonely and wanted company. After repeated attempts to go back to sleep, I gave up and started coffee. A friend and I are planning on hitting the range today after work, so after a cup of joe I decided to go out to the garage for an early morning reloading session. In 40 minutes, I knocked out a box of 100 .45 Colt rounds (250gr LRN, 8gr Unique, mixed brass, Win LPP). Thinking I would take my Ruger GP100 along to the range as well as my Smith 25-5 (which was already in my shooting bag), I went to my safe in the garage to grab the Ruger.

Except the door was unlocked and the Ruger wasn't in there! Four long guns were all present and accounted for but the Ruger was gone! Frantically, I hunted through the garage, thinking I had set it on the workbench (nope), on the saw table (no), on the tool chest (no), or on the shelf by the door (nope). Double checked the safe and moved the long guns around - still, no joy. I went out to the truck - checked under the seats, in the truck tool kit, and under the tarp I keep under the seat (no, no, no).

As casually as I could, I meandered into the bedroom and began digging through my dresser drawer, closet, and through a sack of clothes to be given away. Still no gun. Not in any of my usual hiding spots...

Now, I'm panicked...someone snuck into the garage and stole my Magnum! I can see the headlines now...pastor's gun used in multiple homicide and bank holdups.

Sick to my stomach, I found the receipt for the gun and was getting ready to call the cops to file a report. How would I explain this to the wife? What kind of hassle will the cops give me? Will the NRA and/or homeowners give me fair value?

After one last run back through the garage and one more hunt under the bedroom furniture, I was almost ready to go look up the NRA's insurance number when, like a whisper, I had a faint memory of putting the Ruger in a cardboard box on my closet shelf along with a couple other special items last month. Almost daring to hope, I checked the box...and there it was! Whew!!!

You ever have an experience like that - misplacing a gun, fearing it stolen, only to find it in the last place you would normally look?

(By the way...the safe was left open accidentally, I think, from two weeks ago when I was cleaning the guns. I got called away for a phone call and never went back to lock it up. Thankfully, nothing was actually missing and the safe is again locked and secure.)

Q

 

[possom813]

(By the way...the safe was left open accidentally, I think, from two weeks ago when I was cleaning the guns. I got called away for a phone call and never went back to lock it up. Thankfully, nothing was actually missing and the safe is again locked and secure.

You can stay way from your safe for two weeks, that has to be some kind of record

 

[Rail Driver]

Forget the 2 weeks that the safe was left open, how the heck do you misplace a gun for a month and not notice?! That's not just unwise, it's dangerous.

I keep track of where each of my guns are at all times (though that is getting a little more difficult as I collect more).

 

[jcwit]

Yup, I've done it also, bout drove me nuts till I found it too.

One fear I have is leaving a firearm at the range accidently. I always make one last check before I clear the gate.

Forget the 2 weeks that the safe was left open, how the heck do you misplace a gun for a month and not notice?! That's not just unwise, it's dangerous.

In my case it because of the quanity I have. When the collection gets over 200 its not to hard to misplace one. Plus the fact there's only ony one room in my house where a handgun isn't within arms reach at any time. Nope, no kids around.

 

[MyGreenGuns]

I worked with a guy who "lost" his firearm in the bathroom at a local resteraunt. In his mind it was "no biggie", but I kept wondering what if a kid found it?! I dont think he even had his CPL, even though he carried it everywhere. Some people should not own firearms.

 

[Skribs]

My Mom is "too busy" to get her CCW (she's a workaholic), but after we were leaving my condo and she forgot the keys to her car, requiring me to walk up 3 flights of stairs to get them...and finding them next to the cell phone that she also forgot...

I told her "it's probably a good thing you don't carry a gun."

 

[Dnaltrop]

Every single time that I lock my CCW up in the safe (rare but happens) I get a sudden rush of blind panic every time I notice the lack of a metal lump against my hip.

Takes a second to remember why I'm unarmed.

 

[youngda9]

My guns are only ever in 3 places. My safe. My hip. My car(on way to/from range/field).

Why on earth would leave your guns just lying around in, on, and under all of those things you mention is beyond me.

 

[TwoWheelFiend]

I dont wanna sound to critical...... but i know where everyone of my guns is 100% of the time and everyone who owns them should. I cant imagine not knowing where my guns are at all times....

 

[Mike1234567]

Quoheleth... Yeah I often drink too much and forget where I leave things also.

ETA: But NEVER a firearm because I never handle a firearm if I'm drinking.

 

[CharlesT]

I know where all of them are, all the time.

 

[Quoheleth]

OK - I realize my post made it seem like I am a totally irresponsible person and have helium for brain cells.

I had taken the Ruger to the range the last time I went shooting, a month or so ago. I had a box in the truck with some miscellaneous stuff (odds and ends, not related to shooting), and when I was unpacking from the range trip I put the gun in the box to carry it into the house. Obviously, I wasn't paying 110% attention, left it in the box, and put the box on the shelf.

As far as the safe unlocked, that is irresponsible. Lesson learned.

Had I slowed down and thought things through clearly, I probably would have remembered where the Ruger was. Instead, when I found the safe unlocked, I feared the worst and instead of retracing my steps, I started the random and almost panicked search --- where *could* it be? There have been a couple burglaries in the area and it was on my mind.

* I don't leave guns on the bench - but I checked there.
* I don't leave guns on the saw table - but I checked there.
* I don't leave guns laying around anywhere else (including under the bed, etc.) - but I checked anyway.

The gun was put away, on a high shelf, that no child was endangered. No ammunition for that gun was present in my bedroom area. It wasn't where it was supposed to be, but it wasn't in a dangerous location (other than not being able to find it).

I don't generally react this way. I usually think things through and usually don't have a problem recalling where I have left things. It was just a bad morning all the way around.

Q

 

[double bogey]

Several years ago I got a gun safe. moved it in, bolted to the floor, and began to load it. I went all over the house, closets, corners, under beds (I had long guns hidden everywhere), to this day I still cannot locate a nylon 66. Every once in a while I search again. Maybe I will find it when I move. This wasn't irresponsible, I got the safe so I could secure them and get together.

 

[TNboy]

I've misplaced guns a couple of times. Anyone who hasn't just doesn't have enough guns to keep up with. Once I lost my deer rifle for several months. I was living with a relative and had guns scattered all over the house, I usually kept my .270 in the back bedroom under the bed. It got put away in a "safer" place when deer season was over in January. Around about June I had the urge to run a few rounds through it but couldn't find it, albeit I didn't look real hard, I knew it had to be there somewhere. A few months later I found it propped up in the corner behind the bedroom door, where I had undoubtedly left it. One time I will admit I had a friend over and I had been drinking excessively, we were going to go somewhere and I wanted to put my CCW up somewhere safe, I had set it on a high shelf in the living room when I started drinking. Well I got the great idea to put it IN the bottom of the couch cushion. The next day I couldn't find it and turned the house upside down, I had no recollection at all of where I had put it. I was downright panicked and began to wonder if I had taken it with me the night before and something had happened to it (unlikely for me to be carrying a gun while intoxicated.) Suddenly a little light went off and I remembered where it was. I went to look and sure enough I had left it in the cushion. (I do not miss those heavy drinking days, or the days after them for that matter) I'm saving for a safe right now, I have too many guns not to have one. I promised myself I wouldn't buy anymore guns until I had a good safe and I have kept that promise so far. These are also reasons that I live alone and don't have kids.

 

[Freedom_fighter_in_IL]

Sig p220 .45acp in holster fastened to the underside of couch in living room, check.
Sig p226 9mm in holster fastened to inside of glassware cabinet in kitchen, check.
Beretta 92FS 9mm In holster fastened to back of Chest Of Drawers beside bed, check.
Mississippi Derringer 38sp In cabinet above porcelain throne, check.
Mossburg 500 12gu hanging above bedroom door,check.
Rest of the long guns and revolvers in the safe,check.

While brain farts are common to most all of us, the need to know where ALL of your firearms are at all times is paramount to not only your safety, but also the safety of everyone in your home.
My kids,even the 7 year old, knows where each and every one of my firearms are and, unless there is a break-in, will NOT ever touch one of them without my express permission. The other 4 are grown and STILL would never touch one of my weapons without my permission. Even the 32 year old boy! The little one expresses her interest in shooting and hunting and I take her to the range as often as she wishes (which is a whole lot lately) and knows the operating procedures of all my handguns. Lord help anyone breaking into this home when someone is here!

 

[grumpy66]

I was rearranging my living room and found a pistol in the sofa. Took me a while to remember where I got it.

Found a rifle in the back of my safe( another rearranging frenzy) that I completely forgot I had.

 

[bikerdoc]

Q
relax, I have done that closet thing once before. Never again. Guns accounted for and only in 2 secure places.

Now ammo is a different story. I recently found 500 rds of 9mm in the back of the file cabinet we use for old records. right behind the 05 tax returns.

 

[orionengnr]

I've misplaced guns a couple of times. Anyone who hasn't just doesn't have enough guns to keep up with.

I might try and use that one. "Honey, I don't have enough guns. Here's the proof--I've never lost or misplaced one!"

Not sure she's going to go for that one...

 

[mnrivrat]

OK - I realize my post made it seem like I am a totally irresponsible person and have helium for brain cells.

If that's the case you have plenty of company .

You are far, far, from alone on this type of story. All we can do is beat ourselfs up a little and move forward. If you want some one else to beat you up, you post on a forum where all folks are too perfect to have it happen to them.

 

[FTG-05]

I never lost a gun like that, but I did find one in my bedroom closet years ago and had no idea where the heck it came from. The funny thing is that it was exactly like my wife's gun (S&W 642). but I couldn't for the life of me remember where the heck it came from.

I worried about it for weeks. Until one day, my wife talked to some friends now stationed in AZ. They had given me all their guns when both the wife (USA LTC) and husband (USA CWO4) were stationed overseas. I had his M4rgy, hunting rifle, several .22's, a shotgun and a pellet rifle. For some reason I had totally forgotten about his handgun.

About a year ago, he drove here from AZ and picked them up, along with some other valuables they had given us for safekeeping, including ammo that had gone up several times in price since he bought it.



Now, having told this story, watch me go lose a gun tomorrow!

 

[Twiki357]

I've never lost a gun, but I have had one or two disapear for a while thanks to my son "Borrowing" one for a trip to the range and leaving it in his room until he got around to putting it back.

 

[skoro]

You ever have an experience like that - misplacing a gun, fearing it stolen, only to find it in the last place you would normally look?

Yep...

Coupla years back, I thought I'd lost a S&W Model 10. I was real close to phoning the locals with a lost gun report when I found it. The feeling of relief was nice.

 

[loadedround]

I had a similar experience at the beginning of Spring this year when I had planned to do some shooting. I load for the two AR-15's I have and also for a 223 Ruger 1B that I had not shot for several years. Well when I went to get the 1B out of my safe(s) I coudn't find it. Looked all over for it and it was nowhere to be found. I know it was not stlolen but probably misplaced somewhere. Finally forgot about it until I went to file a stack of old papers and came across a FFL copy and a shipping receipt...I had sold it previously and never remembered the transaction. I guess I'm at the age now that I can hide my own Easter eggs. LMAO now!

 

[20mil]

Q,

Could happen to anyone. I'm extra careful because I have a 2 year old in the house. I only have a few firearms and they are kept in one safe along with my SOG knife, taser and stun gun.

 

[Tadracket]

I have a 2, 6 and 7 year old. In the house. I know ALWAYS where my guns are.
Now my Blackhawk on the other hand was lost by it's former owner for over 15 years in the mans garage. He only found it because he noticed his garage was leaking. While cleaning the area under it, there he found the pistol, rusted and pitted pretty good. I got it cheap. Refurbished it and now it is locked safely away from prying eyes.