Anyone Else Buy Something That Had A Surprise Gun Inside?

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I wish, but no.

There was a rollicking good thread here several years ago by a guy who wanted to buy some dishes from a box at an estate sale. The seller told him in no uncertain terms he had to take the whole box and everything in it. So he did.

When he got home there was a nice Chief's Special stashed among the china.

Battle lines were drawn, skirts were ruffled, panties were bunched, pearls were clutched, and indignation overflowed the forum's banks on the issue of keep or return.

I doubt this one will get as heated as its a cheap gun. I'd love to find a forgotten gun sometime. The closest I've ever come is after I chased a guy in New Orleans. I didn't catch him (I've always been a slow runner) and when I retraced our jaunt I found a MAC-10 he'd tossed under a bush.
 
I wish, but no.

There was a rollicking good thread here several years ago by a guy who wanted to buy some dishes from a box at an estate sale. The seller told him in no uncertain terms he had to take the whole box and everything in it. So he did.

When he got home there was a nice Chief's Special stashed among the china.

Battle lines were drawn, skirts were ruffled, panties were bunched, pearls were clutched, and indignation overflowed the forum's banks on the issue of keep or return.

I doubt this one will get as heated as its a cheap gun. I'd love to find a forgotten gun sometime. The closest I've ever come is after I chased a guy in New Orleans. I didn't catch him (I've always been a slow runner) and when I retraced our jaunt I found a MAC-10 he'd tossed under a bush.

Oh I got that one covered! I should have mentioned...called the executor and told them what I found, they didn't want it. He said his parents kept it around to shoot squirrels, and that the kids didn't like guns. They left a nice painting on the wall which now hangs in my living room, and another one on a shelf in the garage which now hangs on my office wall. They just wanted the cash for the house, and didnt want to be bothered removing the contents.
 
Not personally, but back in my high school days, I had a friend whose father was in the demolition business. He found many guns when he demolished buildings and houses - and other stuff too. Like cash and jewelry. He always made a point of sorting through the rubble for treasures.

I remember one interesting gun he found. A very nice .22 Walther Olympia Pistole.
 
As a high schooler I worked for my Uncle on his ranch in No. Nevada. I called myself a 'cowboy' but at that age I was a ranch gofer. I was farmed out to an elderly neighbor, 13/14 miles away, to clean out an old barn. I found in an alcove of the tack room a L.C. Smith side by side 20 ga. It was a high grade with some engraving and gold inlay quail on one side and what looked like snipe on the other. One barrel was bulged about 6" back from the muzzle. The owner looked at it and said he had never seen it before. It was in pretty crappy condition. He asked me if I would like to have it. Of course I said I would. I cleaned it up and kept it for a few years. Later while attending college in Reno, NV I brought it up and asked the owner of the gunshop where I worked if it could be repaired. We called Briley and a competitor to Briley about repair. There was no way I as a poor college student could afford that. The owner offered me $200 for the shotgun and I refused that and said I would only take $100 see'n how it was him. He sent it to Briley for a complete restore. It took them nearly a year. I never heard how much it cost my boss. It was beautiful and looked like a new shotgun.

The next Christmas the boss gave me a new Browning O/U Lightweight in 20 ga. I had that shotgun until I got serious about shooting competition skeet at about the age of 40. I traded it in on a Beretta O/U 12 ga. with a set of 20 ga. tubes.
 
Yep. First house I bought had an old Double Barreled 12g and a Remington Pump Action .22 rolled up in carpet in the attic.

Both guns were pretty dang rough, but boy was it a treat to find them.

A lot of neat things found in carpet. The house I have now used newspaper as padding under the old carpet. When I tore it up there was a 1936 paper, and I got to catch up on the Olympic news and Hitlers reaction to Jesse Owens. Also included news of the latest purges by Stalin.
 
When I was a child, I watched my father redo a kitchen pantry in my parents home. After he tore out the old wood, he noticed a deformity in the wall. Putting a small amount of pressure on it allowed it to give way, which exposed a small compartment in the wall. He pulled out a loaded Colt police positive.

We figured it was a panic gun, easily accessible, but well hidden.
 
nothing I bought... but when cleaning out my late parents house, in amongst my father's leatherwork supplies appears an H&R top break with missing pieces, no hammer/trigger... nickel in 38 S&W if I remember correctly... checked with the police to see if it was registered to anyone (city requirement) they said no and in that condition it is not considered a gun - have a nice day... that was not correct but I left without registering it anyway.. gave it to one of my father's friends that collected H&R revolvers as a keepsake... he repaired it and believe he still has it...
 
Not my story, but a former colleague and her husband bought a mini-storage business that had several units for which rent hadn't been paid for quite some time. They cleaned them out to auction off the contents, and discovered some guns (she didn't know what they were). If I was going to abandon a mini-storage unit and skip out on the rent I'd sure remove my heaters first....

Cheers,
Whisper
 
No. 4 Mk1

Bought a rough house to flip about 4 years ago and it was full of trash and junk. In the mess I found a British 303 missing part of the bolt, magazine, and trigger guard. Good news: it was a Savage, bad news: it was cut down a bit to make it a hunting rifle. Found all the parts online and it is now a shooter.

Also, found a 14k gold charm that I gave my adult daughter for Christmas after she said I was going to "bankrupt" the family buying that house! Later told her where it came from. Btw, sold the house at my price later.
 
Two years ago I went to an estate sale. It was obvious that the old dead guy had guns because there were multiple gun cases in the den, all empty.

In the basement there were 2 plastic (single) pistol cases, listed at a dollar a piece. Both were locked. Since I owned one just like it, and at a dollar, I figured it was a good deal.

One was REALLY heavy. That's the one I bought (for a buck).

When I got home, sure enough, my gun case key fit the lock. Inside was a pre-27 with awful goodyears.

My wife said I had to take it back. We live in NY so it would have been registered and probably listed as stolen anyway.

Ohhhhh Noooo, why can't I put it in a steel box and bury it in the backyard for Armageddon. No, she said.

I took it back and thankfully the other box was still there so I switched it. Got home and it was empty.

Best dollar I ever spent.
 
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