My stolen mod#12-2 returned to me after about 50 years

[Engine49guy]

Neat that you got it back.
As a conversation piece think I might cast it in a block of lexan,
maybe put some sand and shells, maybe a fake dubloon on the bottom and a piece of coral to prop it up.

 

[hdfinder47]

I wonder: if we all ran the serial numbers of every gun in our collection, how many (that we bought used FTF) might come back stolen? Even when we are careful to buy from trusted sources, who knows how many previous buyers were not as careful?
Ed

 

[rosewood]

Welcome to the S&W Forums. It's incredible that not only was your stolen revolver found, but that it was returned to you!

In Commiefornia no less.

 

[Bald1]

How soon till California says registration of guns is so we can return it if stolen?

 

[SGT ROCK 11B]

I wonder: if we all ran the serial numbers of every gun in our collection, how many (that we bought used FTF) might come back stolen? Even when we are careful to buy from trusted sources, who knows how many previous buyers were not as careful?
Ed

Ed, interesting point. Lots of stolen guns out there and I am sure a few people on this Forum may have one or more.

Now firearms can solved murders but not if they are in somebody's Gun Safe.

 

[dsf]

How soon till California says registration of guns is so we can return it if stolen?

Unless someone turns it in to the police during a buyback. Then it gets trashed. No effort to get the gun back to its legal owner.

 

[S&W Fan]

In 1979 I had a model 59 stolen. With Tucson being only 60 miles from the Mexico border I would bet good money that's where it ended up. Gave up hope of ever seeing it again.

 

[MadRvr]

Mad Rvr, thanks for your reply. I am not sure of the name where it was at. From what I can remember, it was close to the railroad tracks. It was off a street close to a mfg plant that made the Die-hard batteries for Sears. I think it was in a older ground floor only industrial complex, in the area of Raymond Ave & Kimberly Ave. Let me know if you have any idea's of a gunsmith in that area. Thanks again and have a great day.

Gunsight was by CSUF near the corner of N Placentia and Yorba Linda Blvd. I only ask because I remember a friend of mine on the Fullerton PD telling me about responding to a burglary there once. They arrived to find the glass front door shattered. They went in and the owner, who must have responded to the alarm before them, came out of the back room with a 1911 in his hand. Luckily they recognized him and didn't shoot him.



Sorry. I left that area over twenty years ago, so I can't recommend a gunsmith. If the frame is damaged, I don't think it can be fixed. If you just want to preserve it, I'd soak it in Kroil and get as much rust off with a toothbrush as you can.

 

[smoothshooter]

Have any photos?

 

[Seven High]

How about encasing it in Lexan plastic?

 

[jpage]

Mad Rvr, thanks for your reply. I am not sure of the name where it was at. From what I can remember, it was close to the railroad tracks. It was off a street close to a mfg plant that made the Die-hard batteries for Sears. I think it was in a older ground floor only industrial complex, in the area of Raymond Ave & Kimberly Ave. Let me know if you have any idea's of a gunsmith in that area. Thanks again and have a great day.

Try Bolsa Gunsmithing in Westminster. By the 405 Fwy off of Bolsa. Always satisfied with their work, and they're a S&W Service Center.

 

[Rick H.]

Quick story for the crowd, well maybe not so quick. Around 1985 or so the police department I worked for converted to less than stellar 9mm semi-autos. We were given the option of purchasing our duty Model 66's back for a song. The revolvers had our department door shields stamped into the sideplates and they looked pretty sharp. I bought mine back and it came with my old holster and HK speed loaders. Mine was they very last "new" Model 66 the department had in inventory.

About a year or so later I got a call from a retired sergeant who was my first field supervisor. He was a great guy, or so I thought and asked me if I would be so kind as to sell him my Model 66 as he couldn't buy one from the department as he was officially retired. He wanted one bad and begged me to sell him mine. He had moved to Dallas, Texas after retiring and opened up a service station. I caved in and sold him my old Model 66 and off it went. He was happy I was sad. Call me a sucker...

A few months later I got a call from a still active trooper that was a good friend of the sergeant I sold my revolver to. He asked if I might still have the serial number for the gun and I said sure, but why did he need it. He told me the retired sergeant I sold the pistol to, gave it to his kid for protection when he moved out of the house and into an apartment in Dallas of all places. Sure as shootin' my trusty old revolver, my trusty M66 was stolen in a burglary. I was let's say HOT! Not just because the pistol was stolen, but the circumstances around how the kid came into possession of my pistol really added fuel to my fire. And as if this all wasn't enough, I later found out the retired sergeant managed to convince an active employee to buy the sergeants old pistol back for him. So he did get his old gun back, but he never called or wrote to tell me I could have my old pistol back. This all took place well before mine was stolen.

I haven't heard a word from that retired sergeant since he bought my revolver from me back in the 80's. I still have to wonder whatever happened to that pistol and I hate to think it made it somehow into Mexico. I was on a teaching assignment many years later and had to stay in Dallas. While I was there I popped in at the service station that the retired sergeant owned. As I walked in the front door of the place I saw someone exiting the building at a fast pace. I asked the attendant if the owner was in and he said I just missed him. I left my department business card with the attendant and asked him to have the owner call me. I never got a call from him. Like my dear old Dad used to say, be nice, but not too nice.

Rick H.

 

[ISCS Yoda]

Good story.

For various reasons I keep several guns on display as decorative pieces. None are useful but this is my personal favorite:

That gun was a mess and now it is a powder coated conversation piece.

 

[rwsmith]

You may not....

You may not want to know where the gun has been.

 

[SGT ROCK 11B]

Unless someone turns it in to the police during a buyback. Then it gets trashed. No effort to get the gun back to its legal owner.

Every city does their "buy backs" differently.

As a cop I have gone to take Burglary Reports and when I ask them for a Serial Number I got told all kinds of nonsense like "MOD 19" and its a .357. You know how many bubbas do not know the difference between a Assembly Number, Model Number and a Serial Number? Or they etched their Driver's License on it and say, that makes it easier to find.

 

[SGT ROCK 11B]

About a year or so later I got a call from a retired sergeant who was my first field supervisor. He was a great guy, or so I thought and asked me if I would be so kind as to sell him my Model 66 ...

Call me a sucker...

... gave it to his kid for protection

I still have to wonder whatever happened to that pistol

Like my dear old Dad used to say, be nice, but not too nice.

Rick H.

Rick, the sergeant gave it to his kid who traded for drugs. I knew several coworkers who had stupid children.

Dad is always right, Sarge

 

[ken158]

Something to consider is that if you had an insurance settlement on a stolen gun - you are not the owner anymore… The insurance company owns the gun.

 

[Jim Watson]

A friend said a neighbor got notice that her late husband’s stolen guns had been recovered and she could claim them.
A Thompson and a M3 “Grease Gun.”

 

[dsk]

I have a copy of a news story where a WW2 vet got his service 1911 .45 returned to him after it was stolen back in the 1970s. Only problem was... the gun they gave back was a 1990s vintage Auto Ordnance. The vet was on TV showing off the gun he got back and apparently had no clue that it was a completely different gun.

As for what the OP should do with his... I say create an aquatic diorama featuring a skeletonized foot embedded in concrete.

 

[charlie sherrill]

Fifty years is a long time to get a stolen gun back. I was a LEO for over 40 years, the last ten as an investigator for a local SO. I had a friend who worked for the state highway department. It was a hot summer and during a drought, while working on a roadway patching job, he walked over to a dried up swamp. There in the dried mud he saw the impression of a pistol. He dug it up and brought it to me. It was a Ruger Single Six and was wearing the magnum cylinder. I ran the number and it came back stolen 23 years ago from Covington,La., about 80 miles from me. I contacted the Covington PD and they still had a record of the theft and the name and number of the owner of the pistol. I called the number and the owner answered. I told him who I was and asked him if he had ever had such a pistol stolen. He told me he had and that he still had the long rifle cylinder for it. I told him to come get his gun and then took it off NCIC. The pistol had some finish problems after being in the mud for a long time but it would still cock and the cylinder would still rotate. He was happy to get his gun back and later called me and told me he cleaned it up, had it refinished, and had taken it to the range several times. I guess some mud is better than others.