Very sad news for me...

[2Ais4U]

I had all but 4 of my firearms in storage at my brothers house. It caught fire while he was at work last night, the guns were in a safe, but it (for them) was not safe. I went to his place in Lincoln county this morning and we could not get the safe open (keys were lost in the fire). He just gave me a call, he got the safe open (with the help of a cutting torch and a crowbar), all of our beloved guns are now unfortunately deceased. and the horrible part is that his homeowners insurance will only pay to replace his firearms. We had the ammunition in another safe it looks like swiss cheese now.

my losses include

Marlin .35 cal. given to me by my father before he passed away.
marlin 45/70 Gov't
Yugo sks
Stevens bolt action .22
2 CVA .50 cal. black powder rifles
winchester 30/30
98k mauser
Remington M710 30/06
and tons of ammo for all.


So after my brothers house fire the only guns I have left are as follows.
1. Ruger 10/22
2. ERA single shot .20 gauge.
3. Cva .50 cal. black powder rifle.
4. Mosin Nagant M44
4 1/2. upper receiver assembly for a Beowulf .50 cal. I still haven't bought a lower assembly.

All together between my brother and I we lost 21 firearms in the fire (a few of which were not in the safe, but on a gun rack:banghead many of which were passed on by my father, and around 5,000 rounds of ammo.

 

[BOONER]

Sorry to here....

are you an NRA member

 

[garymc]

See what your homeowner's insurance says.

 

[2Ais4U]

No, my paycheck wont support food, rent, guns, ammo, girlfriend, gas AND the NRA. and i dont have homeowners insurance, i just got my first appartment.

 

[bluestarlizzard]

so sorry about your losses. that sucks! especially the marlin given to you by your father.

 

[2Ais4U]

I will post pics of the losses soon.

 

[ischoll]

that sucks man, sorry to hear it.

 

[yenchisks]

Is it possible to restore the stocks on some or is the iron warp?

 

[2Ais4U]

my brother said from the looks of them the steel was ruined, there wasnt even a floor left under the safe, I knew they were ruined without even seeing them, but i wanted to keep my hopes up. My brother lost 2 AR 15s, one was an armalite, the other was a colt SP1. He also lost 2 glocks and a barretta 92 that my father gave him.

 

[siglite]

Man, that's awful. Sorry to hear about that.

 

[WinchesterAA]

DUDE! GET INSURANCE!

My dad did the same thing "we'll only be here for a little while"

bam, apartment burns down to the ground. The homeowner's insurance we had on our OLD house 400 miles away paid 12k of the 65k estimated losses we had in our apartment.

I lost my m1 carbine, and my 870 didn't enjoy the ride. The 870 is still, and always will be my workhorse shotty that goes where I go, specially now that I know it'll survive a housefire and come out only a little worse for the wear.. Atleast I got to refinish it for <10$ with a couple of cans of krylon.

but, insurance.. get it, it can't happen here.. then it happens.

You think those people were saying "My, it surely is a good day for my house to catch on fire, maybe I should gather my things?"

Nah, they prolly thought "I'm hungry, I'm gunna go grab a snack and head to work"

 

[Linda]

Sorry to hear about this. Major bummer, especially your Dad's gun.

The reason you were asked about being a member of the NRA, is because they give you automatically $1000 gun insurance with your dues. Annual dues are only $35. A small price to pay for $1000 insurance.

 

[Bazooka Joe71]

Sorry buddy...Especially that marlin.

 

[wyiel]

That's horrible to hear!
Hopefully you'll be able to put together an even better collection in the future.

But that really sucks to lose items handed down from your father.

 

[dave_pro2a]

Look into renters insurance, for future protections.

Post some pics please, of the guns and safes.

I'd like to see the swiss cheese safe

Were either safe fire rated? Details please.

 

[LAK]

Sorry to read this. Take heart; while you won't be able to replace your inherited pieces as such, with perseverence and discipline with money - perhaps some good fortune as well - you can rebuild your collection some at a later time.

 

[Kind of Blued]

Sorry to hear about the misfortune, especially in regard to the more sentimental items. If nothing else, be grateful that nobody (I assume) was injured or worse in the fire. I bet that ammo put up a good fireworks display... Yikes.

 

[blackhawk2000]

We had the ammunition in another safe it looks like swiss cheese now.

You had loose ammo in another safe and it cooked off, and went through the safe walls?

 

[Eric F]

Hey old friend how you been I just got that letter you sent me the other day "you know the one with the receipt for the guns you just sold your brother" I will be ha[[y to send the receipt back to you so he can get the insurance setteled out:banghead:

 

[2Ais4U]

i wouldn't call the ammo safe an actual safe, more like a lock box of sorts. The safes weren't fire rated, just a good way to keep our fav. peices from getting stolen.

 

[22-rimfire]

Sorry to hear of you an your brother's losses. I would imagine that the firearm losses only tell part of the story. It is pretty easy to accumulate a lot more value that you would ever believe until you loose it and you begin looking at replacement. My brother went through the same thing a year ago. Your whole life goes up in smoke pretty darn fast. You just thank your lucky stars that no people were hurt and start over. Insurance helps. Get rentor's insurance on your apartment contents. Go through your auto insurance company. Not real expensive.

 

[REPOMAN]

Look @ your insurance.... not a cure for sentimental woes but, is some calming salve for your finance and replacement... sorry, guys

 

[Ash]

I bought my safe/container for its fire resistance more than thief resistance (though it is safe against thieves given location and placement of vulnerable sides). For the future, if you cannot afford a fire-resistant safe, you can build fire-resistance into it. Type X sheet rock (the same stuff in fire safes/lockers/file cabinents) can be had at Home Depot and is not very expensive. You can use it to create multiple layers on the inside or outside of any box. You can upholster it with cheap fabric to keep the dust from going places, or you can paint it/tape it like any sheet rock.

I, too, was surprised that ammo cooking off was able to penetrate anything.

Ash

 

[Kimber1911_06238]

that sucks, sorry to hear that. When you say that your guns are destroyed, do you mean that they need new finishes and stocks, or are they completely melted?

If they aren't melted you may have a chance at saving the guns that your father gave you. A local gun shop burned down, they had everything salvageable reblued and put new stocks on them and hung them all over the walls of the new shop.

Just don't give up hope too soon, you may be able to salvage something

 

[OAKVILLE SHOOTER]

Sorry to hear about your losses. As others have already said, some of the guns may be salvaged. Maybe not. But the main thing is that no one was injured or worse in the fire. Guns can be replaced. Family can not. Best of luck.