So, some 20+ years ago, my wife had a Stainless enhanced colt 45 stolen. A police report was filed, but it was never recovered. Can anyone share the best way of doing a nation wide search to see if our SN pops up somewhere?

We appreciate any assist in advance!

VR. Jimmy

You can put the serial number into your Google alerts. Any time something with the serial number is posted online Google will send you a notice, but since it's been 20+ yrs I'm guessing the chance of ever getting a hit will be slim to none.

run it thru NCIC again by the police dept that took the original theft report....

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be safe,enjoylife,journey well

This. They are usually quite cooperative with things like this.

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Pisgah

Thanks guy,s will do today for starters. I thought since it had been so long ago, there would be a chance of it popping up.

LD, if it was put into NCIC 20 years ago and never recovered, it is still there. If LE anywhere in the U.S. has reason to run it, it will "hit" and LE will attempt to contact you. I am retired now, but we sometimes recovered guns years later and states away. We always made every effort to return them to the lawful owner.

BTW, I had some firearms stolen 30+ years ago, serial numbers in NCIC, etc. Not recovered thus far. Still in NCIC and would still hit today if run by LE......

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NRA Life, COTEP 640

Thanks Rock, I appreciate the advice. We went by the Sheriff's dept this morning and asked them to run the numbers. We'll see.........

My wife is a 15 year retired Reserve Deputy and 20+ years now retired juvenile probation officer. Now, she is a gun packing pink haired ole lady

Sounds like you know the ropes as far as checking NCIC for any hits and also to see if still listed. I get a notice about every 2-3 years on NCIC entries confirming if item as been recovered and NCIC wasn't updated. I imagine, especially on larger depts. it may get removed by accident for several reasons. There should be a unique NCIC number created when entered and that number always go in the police report.

Thanks Jack, we live in a small community, so were not 100% certain it was placed in NCIC. Going to find out ASAP

You're prolly right but strange things do occasionally happen. We've recovered a S&W M58 that had been reported stolen over 20 years earlier and a HD Sportster that had both the frame and motor numbers altered that had been reported over 30 years prior. Both were out of state matters.
The owner of the cycle was really surprised when we contacted him to come get his bike.

I had a gun stolen in 1995 , every year or so an officer would call me to verify / update my contact information and ask if it was still stolen.
In 2015 they called but this time said they recovered the gun and returned it to me. stolen in Baton Rouge , Louisiana and recovered in Arizona . It was MIA 20 years.

Don't give up hope and be sure to update your contact information with the Department the report was filed with....if they can reach you easily
there is a better chance or a return.
Also if you claimed the loss on your insurance , the insurance co. will usually get the gun returned to them and you might have to buy it back from them. Insurance companies know how to operate.

Gary

I had 23 guns stolen in 1985. One was recovered in a few days. Another in a few months. A third 18 years later. I know how you feel and I understand that you would really like to get it back, but realistically the odds are somewhere between not likely and no chance in Hell. But good luck. Miracles do happen.

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No life story has happy end.

A close friend had 3 guns stolen 20+ years ago, one being a engraved gold plated Colt SAA in 357. About 12 years later one day he got a call it had been located and did he want it back. Of course he did, but the downside was he had to pay back the insurance company that paid off on his loss when it was stolen.

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H Richard
SWCA1967 SWHF244

Since in Oregon all guns are run through NCIC as part of a transfer/background check, I've had two delays on transfers due to matching serials that alerted on theft reports in the system. Both turned out to be mistaken identities, from those lovely days of straight numerical serial numbers when "S&W revolver, .38 cal., #12345" fit half a dozen different models.

But the point I'm getting to is, one in 2013 was a hit on a theft report from L.A. in 1967. That's 46 years later. Unless they are cleared, these reports, once in there, stay forever. I made sure to get a copy of my local PD's report clearing this transfer; I'm sure if I try to sell this gun, it will pop up again.

My FIL had a 2" Model 10 stolen in the late 1960s. Over 20 years later he got a call from the Sheriff's Dept wanting to know if he wanted it back. It does happen.

Thanks to all for the replies!

So I received a call back from our local Sheriff's dept. who initially filed the theft, Shortly after my contact. Bad news, it's still listed as stolen. Good news, we know for sure it's still on the NCIC list, and confirmed our contact info. Cool part was, the contacting deputy was an old friend of my wife's who still remembered when it was stolen. Hopefully, the next time I bring it up will be to share its been recovered.

Cheers to all!

I know I'm a few days late to this (just joined up last night) but allow me share this with everyone. I'm a retired LEO and handling stolen weapon reports and NCIC entries was one of my primary duties for many years.

The biggest problem we encountered was that most people just did not have their serial number for their weapon. Only a handful ever wrote it down or recorded it in some manner somewhere, a few still had the box it came in and and a few might have had a receipt or or other proof of purchase that may have had the S/N. But by and large, the vast majority of owners just didn't have enough information to even make an NCIC entry.

The second biggest problem we had was that for those few that had the box, about 8 out of 10 gave me the UPC bar code number, believing it was the serial number. Now in some cases that may be so, but more often than not, it simply wasn't. The next problem is that a large majority of officers don't know if they're being given a legit S/N or a UPC code; they just use whatever number they're furnished with, make an entry and move on to the next case. (This was also true for GPS units such as Garmen Nuvi's, etc).

The end result is that an inaccurate NCIC entry is made and as soon as it's entered, we'd get back a hit from 9 or 10 different states on a Glock 19 all bearing S/N X 1 2 3 X X 4 5 6 X. I was fortunate that in an office with 16 investigators, about 4 or 5 of us were gun enthusiasts and could tell the difference in S/N's and UPC codes.

The best practice is to physically write down the serial as it appears on the weapon, take a photo of the weapon showing the serial, take a picture of the box end flap showing the serial (ideally with the weapon beside it, with serial visible) and save it to two (ideally more) locations. I have a paper list of all my guns by make, model, caliber and serial in the safe with my passport, will, marriage license and other important docs, as well as pics and copies of the list on two laptops, a desktop, my Iphone, and two flash drives.

Barring anything short of the apocalypse, I can provide the police with a detailed description of all of my firearms within minutes or less of a loss. I'd like to add that if you take these anti-theft measures with all of your possessions, to then sit down with your insurance agent. Give them copies of all these things and tell them you want a discount. Many agencies will do that but only if you take these steps and know to ask