Have you ever just found a gun?

[Blackhand49]

In 1970 I was in 3corp Viet Nan,my buddy Terry and I went to a nearby stream to get shower water. When we got back to the red dirt road there was a shiney clean nearly new S@W model 10 lying on the side of the road.Terry was on it in a flash. I jumped back thinking it was boobytrapped, terry felt a little foolish for pouncing on it but he had a cherry handgun for the rest of his tour.

 

[italiansport]

I didn't find this myself but I bought it from the individual who found in in an old leaky trunk on a farm down South. The trunk also contained a very rusty sword and a military uniform he couldn't identify because of the condition. It is a Model 1906 Luger and was frozen solid when I received it. The take down lever was broken and the magazine release was missing probably due to half assed attempts at dis assembly. A long soak in Kroil Oil and I managed to free it up and disassemble it. Just for the heck of it I chambered a primed case and pulled the trigger. Yep it still goes bang! I've toyed with the idea of having the barrel relined and replacing the springs(the internals are in suprisingly good condition) and using it to scare the hell out of other shooters at the range but haven't done so!
Jim

 

[Brian41]

I was in the trunk of my wife's car and saw a Model 94 with octagon barrel lying on the upper step of the trunk. Since it was just before my birthday in March I figured she'd hidden it there to give to me later so I said nothing. Birthday came and went and no gift gun so I asked her about it and she had no clue it was there. About then it dawned on me that my buddy had the same gun and my wife drove him home from deer camp the fall before. I called Russ and he didn't know he'd even left it behind but glad to get it back as it had belonged to his Grandfather.

I was doing a service call once at a house in the boondocks. I saw a young boy playing with what looked to be a rusted Colt SAA. I asked about it and lady said they dug it up along with a rifle on their property and did I want to buy it. I said sure but all I have is twenty dollars. She took that and said she'd put it in the kid's college fund. Took a better look at it and saw it was a Ruger Super Blackhawk and everything rusted shut. I soaked it a week in a watch cleaning solution but didn't get it freed up. I did manage to get the serial number off it and asked an LEO buddy to run it to see if it was stolen. Still have it but don't know what I'll do with it.

 

[desi2358]

Found a rusty Ethan Allen revolver with the metal detector on a farm lot. An old shed had been torn down and it had probably been in it as that's where it was found. Have an old single shot shotgun found in the corner of a closet (firing pin was broken so it apparently just got left behind). Have a Winchester 1906 22 found in a house being re-modeled and an H&R revolver found hanging on a nail in a barn. The Winchester was in a cloth take down case on top of a heating duct covered in dust, been there a long time. The H&R was slightly rusty but still worked and was loaded when found.

Know of a number of found guns over the years, grandpa plowed up an old hammer shotgun years ago. Relic condition, still was a neat find. One of my cousins worked for the county highway department, found a couple over the years, shotgun leaning against a fence, ran the mower over a 22 rifle (ruined the stock but the action survived). Found a couple stolen guns in ditches that were returned to their owners.

One of my favorites though is a Colt 1860 army frame found in an old house that was being torn down. It was in a drawer of an old desk they hauled out to see if it was salvageable. After finding the frame they went through everything looking for the rest of the gun but couldn't find any more of it. I eventually ended up with it and restored it to shooting condition using a mix of salvaged old parts and second generation Colt parts.

 

[Retired LTC USAR]

In the mid 90's, at a motel outside Redstone Arsanal, AL, a fellow officer found a semi-auto under the couch in his room. He turned it over to the Police. That made me go back and look under my couch also, but there was not one there.

 

[jarhead1178]

Had a old scotty camper parked at a rental house I owned. When i went to use it found a hidden s&w 9mm in it. Had the house rented out to a local dirtbag. Turned gun in to local police and found the gun had been stolen from a local cops house. Found out the dirtbag was on the local cops radar suspected of local burglaries. Never did find out what happened to him, house empty after a couple of days.

 

[Mickey D]

I have a friend that tripped over a pipe sticking up from the ground while hunting. Turned out to be an old rusted up Colt SSA.

 

[Ranger514]

Nope! But I'm still hoping. This thread reminds me of a few rusty .22 bolt action rifles that were scattered around the barn my grandfather back in the 1920s . He and my four uncles stashed guns in corners of the open framed walls for shooting rats and other vermin, and they were still lying around when I was a kid in the 60s. I wonder if they were all recovered by family before the farm was sold. I'm betting there's still a few sitting around that were forgotten.

 

[wrhk33]

I found a inexpensive handgun once at a informal shooting area. Due to the holster it looked like it slipped out of a waist band. It was not a gun I would have chosen but it was free. I would like to give it back to the owner but it would be hard to find the person. My state does not have registration.

 

[billwill]

In the mid 90's, at a motel outside Redstone Arsanal, AL, a fellow officer found a semi-auto under the couch in his room. He turned it over to the Police. That made me go back and look under my couch also, but there was not one there.

Only thing I ever found under something in a motel room was a "magazine".

 

[redlevel]

Found a rg22 under the seat of a truck I bought from an individual. It was a one-owner truck, and I knew the guy real well. He, however, claimed to have no knowledge of the gun. I still have it in my safe. That was 30 years ago.​

 

[jag312]

I found an old rusty BB gun when I was a young boy. Through my job, I know that many people have found guns and turned them in to the local PD. Someone found a nice Whitney-Kennedy lever action rifle discarded on his front lawn. A park maintanance worker found a 2nd generation Colt SAA in one of our parks. It looked like it had just come out of the box. Not reported as stolen and not registered in Sacramento. It was going to be destroyed when the Santa Clara County Crime Lab obtained it for their Firearms Reference Collection.

 

[kimporter]

years ago(when i was skinny)i was a civil war re-enactor,did one "battle"down in georgia and found a 2gen colt 3rd model dragoon laying on the field,did the right thing and turned it into lost and found,whoever lost it never did pick it up

 

[redlevel]

years ago(when i was skinny)i was a civil war re-enactor,

I tried to join a re-enactment 'brigade' once.
They turned me down.
Said they already had enough bloated bodies.

 

[Mainsail]

Only thing I ever found under something in a motel room was a "magazine".

I've stayed in a lot of hotel/motel/no-tells in my AF flying days. I made it a habit to check under the mattress whenever I got into the room. I figured the odds were good that sooner or later I'd find a gun or a sack of cash. I once found four $20 bills under the mattress at a US hotel. Found a chromeish sex toy in a room on Fairchild AFB, porn in Germany, including a stash of gay porn (went into the navigator's bag. Surprise!) but never a gun.

 

[BLACKHAWKNJ]

I found a 1906 Colt Police Positive -seen better days, but still functional-in the dumpster in my apartment complex.

 

[keith44spl]

Found one under the seat of a used car once........

This is a true story,

I close personal friend show'd me an old Colt revolver one time
and told me the story to go with it,

"It was a hot Friday evening and these to young fellers come by the shop,
(my friend built varmint and bench-rest rifles)
with a big pistol wrapped up in what looked like a pillow case.

I ask em what they had in the sack, they said a gun and we want to sell it.
As that pistol came clear of the cloth and I got a good hold on it,
I had to prop up on the work bench to keep from shakin'.

Boys, where did you find this? They said, we're helping tear down this old house
and found it inside a wall....The man we're working for said we could have it.

Well, what do y'all want for it?
Both boys said in unison, a hundred bucks, we want some beer money.

I just gave em a hundred dollar bill and just sat down and look'd her over really good.....

She marked no. 125 and Co.D"


P.S. My friend was telling Turner Kirkland about it, Turner said, there was but about 10% of what was manufactured left, that was known....



That's been thirty years ago....Last I heard it was still in a safe deposit box in a bank.


.

 

[chaparrito]

I posted a while back about the relic old Colt DA41 I found in a tackle/ammo box out in the barn. Haven't soaked it in Kroil yet but it's on my list.

 

[Retired LTC USAR]

She marked no. 125 and Co.D"

P.S. My friend was telling Turner Kirkland about it, Turner said, there was but about 10% of what was manufactured left, that was known....


That's been thirty years ago....Last I heard it was still in a safe deposit box in a bank.

.

Please forgive my ignorance, but what is the signifinance or the marking?

 

[Brian41]

A co-worker was deer hunting in the north Michigan swamps and carrying his father's Ruger standard 22 in a cheap holster. He'd jumped from clumps of high ground to another trying to get through the swamp when He noticed the pistol wasn't in the holster anymore. He retraced his steps as good as he could and lo and behold he found the gun sitting on a clump of grass.
I guess in this case it was finding a gun to stay on topic here.