I Got One Back!!

[zimmerstutzen]

two of the guns taken were muzzle loaders and I even had the serial numbers for those. There were also two cartridge guns. Old military surplus guns, but I did have those numbers too. It was an old 303 Enfield that I got back. My name was engraved on the under side of the butt plate.

I once purchased a old single barrel European rifle that had a scrap of paper rolled and placed in the ram rod mortise under the barrel. The paper was so horribly dog eared that I could not make out the writing. I thought perhaps it was a name,

 

[DOUBLEDEUCE 1]

I would add, the same is true for anything that has a unique number, letter( s), engraving or mark that can readily identify an item as belonging to a particular individual. That information can all be recorded and entered into the stolen property/ firearms data base.

I was able to return an antique percussion rifle, that was built probably in the 1830’s to 1840’s, to its owner. The rifle was sitting in a barrel, slated to become a manhole cover, and on its way to the smelter. The rifle had a very old candy striped ramrod. I saw the end of the ramrod sticking up in the barrel, that was filled with rifles, all going to the smelter. That ramrod caught my eye. I spoke to the officer who was in charge of destroying property, and asked about the ramrod, he told me it was on an old gun... again, soon to be history. I asked to see the rifle. He pulled it from the barrel and showed it to me, I told him I had handled that rifle many years before. I gave him information as to who the maker was, caliber, etc. And I told him the address of the victim. I informed him the owner had been the victim of a burglary, and that rifle had been stolen. The victim knew his rifle, but could not adequately describe it. I knew the rifle because I had handled it at the request of a friend of his.

Long story short, the rifle and the old gentleman who owned it were reunited.

 

[MSW]

glad things worked out for you, at least in this one instance. best of luck in recovering the rest of them

 

[Loyalist Dave]

It kinda shows the idiot didn't know they were
cap and ball. Must have thought he could sell
them

They can. Most if not all of the folks in suburban and city settings only need to see something that looks like a revolver, and the robber is successful. Airsoft and plastic guns are popular too, BUT the fact you can pull back the hammer and it moves and makes the noise of being cocked like on TV....voila the robber has a wallet!

Until recently, i.e. in the last five years or so..., in many states you couldn't charge the robber with using a "handgun in commission of a felony" because cap-n-ball revolvers are "antique firearms".

In one case we actually caught a guy with a stolen Remington 1858 that he'd managed to load..., with smokeless powder and bullets. Really wish he'd have tried to crank-off a round in the woods test firing it before he did the robberies and we caught him. :shake:

The problem is the badguys don't understand the old revolvers, so they often remove the serial number from them, and when police departments recover them, they don't spend the time to get the numbers "raised" in a lab, to then trace them, because they are repros of antiques and "not real" guns.

LD

 

[Eric Krewson]

My truck was broken into twice at a boat launch. The first time I came back up the creek to the launch just as the perp was breaking in and only had a broken window.

I wasn't so lucky the second time and came back to find my truck and tool box cleaned out, all my tools and hunting gear were gone.

I drove to the local city police station to report the theft and the only response I got from the cop on duty was " that boat launch is a bad place to put in, lots of break-ins in the parking lot". No report, no nothing, end of story.

 

[MIOutdoorsman]

Great to hear. My father in law has lost several modern guns to burglars, and has never recovered any of them.

 

[dragnetbill]

Once had a young fella for a series of robberies that had netted him about $90; he was using a 1st generation Colt SAA. Was tempted to tell him that I would have given him $2,000 for the revolver and saved him the trouble.....
My boss said he was surprised the gun wasn't in the computer as stolen; I replied, "Know doubt it's stolen; but since Bat Masterson could have taken the stolen report I'm not surprised." He didn't get it.