I waited too long to get a gun safe

[brotherdarrell]

Rem 700 .223
Rem 788 22-250
Rem 788 308
Bushmaster Varminter
Savage 23b 25-20
Swedish Mauser
Yugo m48
Rem 30s 7x57
Mauser 30-06
Norinco em332 22lr

all gone

[Sweetpea]

Ouch!!!

Guess a good safe is gonna be high on your list now...

[MtGun44]

Sorry you lost your guns. Hope they are recovered.

Bill

[blindeye]

Sorry for your loss.
Hopefully you have serial numbers on a slip of paper somewhere like a bank lock box. You could post them, never know where things might turn up. Glad you realize you need a safe. I know a guy who's been robbed three times now; each time about the same quantity as your loss. He still doesn't think he needs a safe and that he can depend on his neighbors to "watch the place". They Have watched the place...Get Robbed 3 times and counting.
When I bought my safe (from a good-looking woman at the Grand National Trap Shoot) she told me to pick a larger one. I only owned 3 long guns at the time. She asked if I planned to only own 3 long guns for the rest of my life? And said having peace of mind was worth more than the cost. She was right on both counts.
Better luck in the future. Sometimes there's no winning, but you can better your odds.
I don't have any NRA or other gun-related stickers on my pickup, and don't discuss what all I own with Anybody. Not at work, at the range, at a gunshow; not anywhere. And no one I know does either. Word gets around. Doesn't mean not talking guns; I do plenty of that. Specifics of what I own are nobody's business.
Hang in there, guns can be replaced. The important thing is you and your family are ok.

[Swamp Man]

Man that bites,sorry to hear you lost your guns.

[Liberty'sSon]

I feel your pain. Happened to me about 2 years ago. I have a safe now.

[alleyoop]

Sorry to hear that. Any chance for recovery, or are they already over the border?

[leeggen]

Been there then the guns were found in Dade co. Fl. 90 days later they destroyed them along with 2000 other guns that were recoverd at the time. You feel raped from the theft then in my case raped again by the pd. Really hope they are recoverd and returned to you. NOT a good feeling in that happening.
CD

[longusmc]

That has to be one of the worst feelings! Sorry to hear about the loss of your guns!

[Bzcraig]

That sucks....being a 'victim' is awful.

[SP5315]

Sorry to her about this. I hope the police catch the thief and recover your guns ASAP. When you do get a safe make sure it is fire rated.

[FLINTNFIRE]

Insurance adjuster on firearms claims remarked to me that even with safes , nothing is really safe as he had claims come across his desk for safes and there contents , he said the most common entry point on the safes was through the top, over christmas a good friend lost all his firearms, safe included when he was visiting family . I believe they pretty much cleaned his house out of belongings while trashing the place , coincidence his neighbors moved during that very time.
Hope you get your firearms back , my case I have never seen any of mine returned , and the response by the local law , left a lot to be desired .

[Boyscout]

Same thing happened to me. One gun gun could not be replaced. A 20 gauge Wingmaster my grandfather gave me in 1973. My neighbors watched the guys unload our house through the front door and didn't want to get involved. Nine guns stolen and one recovered. Cops were here in 3 minutes, spent 40 minutes with us and told us to call them back if we noticed anything else. The crooks made a telephone call to their fence (we had it on the redial) and they left a backpack with a citation for possession of weed from the Sheriffs department (with one of their name and address).

I called immediately and it took the detective three weeks to show back up. The woman at the number I was give on the police report told me I didn't exist until she entered the report and she probably wouldn't get that done until she got back from vacation.I had to borrow guns for Deer Season and they were arrested during another break-in a week later and out of jail before I could get the one recovered gun back. I had an aquaintance on the sheriffs department look up the name and he said it was good we were not home as they also had numerous assualt convictions.

One year later of the thieves tried to do it to a Indiana State Trooper: Theodore Hixenbaugh took 2 rounds from the State Trooper's 40 S&W as he kicked his way through the front door of the house.

[DLCTEX]

I share your pain, been there three times. I guess if they load the safes they will get them all.

[HighHook]

Yep! Happened to me 20 years ago. Serial #s are a must have in a separate place I found out not that it helps the pain.
Time also heals... Sorry to hear this...

[KAF]

Use your homeowners coverage, then if a NRA member contact them and they will cover the amount homeowners do not. Scopes, sights anything that is or can be added is personal property. Ammo, carry cases, holsters etc are also personal property.

[bobthenailer]

Its hard to buy a gun safe , i allways thought of all the guns i could buy with the money, about 11 years ago my wife nugded me into buying a gun safe, you have enough guns allready she said ! so i thank her for that PUSH ! I used to keep them stached all over the house as well as a small 7 gun wooden gun cabinet where i kept less expensive bait guns. my new safe was a little under $1,700 .
Now what do you buy first ! a safe or guns ?
I havent had any problems in my house but i did have a pistol stolen from my car at work, I think it was one of the three guys that i car pulled with , they left the door unlocked and took it at brake or lunch time. i did however have NRA firearm insurance and i got replacement.
I guess the best way is to buy a safe & hide or desguise it from view !

[LUCKYDAWG13]

i had a pistol stolen from me back in 1990 i got a call from the police in 2008
that they found it in a crack house in chicago got my gun back so one day
you just might get a call right out of the blue
best of luck to you

[cajun shooter]

Being a gun owner since the age of 12 in 1959 and a Police Officer in the 70's-90's I have seen and been a victim. No matter what you hear from others the hurt never goes away. It is really bad when you are not of great wealth and you had to sweat and bleed to purchase each gun.
I had loaned my father a few guns and they were taken from his home.
If you just purchase a safe and do not secure it to the floor then you will also lose your guns and the new safe you just purchased.
Here in Louisiana the crooks just take several small pieces of electrical pipe with them. They lift the safe and place the pipe under it and roll it out of your home. They then have more time to by pass the lock system.
Don't give out your safe combination to no one as you have no idea how they will secure it. My two sons who both have teenager boys and their friends in the house at all times don't have my safe's numbers. I told them that if something was to happen to my wife and I at the same time they can contact a safe company or locksmith to open it. Kids talk to others at all times and may not even know that the best friend they have may have outlaw family members.
I have a Liberty safe and if it is broken into they will replace it free of charge.
As was posted earlier, make sure you purchase the best safe you can afford and with the longest fire time that is available from that company. The rough texture finish that I see on some safes may serve some purpose but it will also not give the Police a good surface to lift prints from if someone attempts to open it. I have worked several home burglaries where the safe took a beating but held up. We were able to lift prints and arrest the persons involved.
If I was the OP I would go as fast as I could to any Pawn shop in the area and even those 50 miles down the road. Guns are usually stolen to sell and get quick cash. Check the local bars in the area to see if anyone has come in to sell any guns of late.
The police will do these things if you have a good department, if not then they will just write a report and do no follow up as they are not trained to investigate crime. It also takes valuable time for the paper work to reach the Detective Division if your department is large enough to have one.
Make yourself flyer's with the description and S/N's of all the guns and hand them out to everyone you speak with. Best of Luck David

[41 mag fan]

Man than sucks. I hope you find out the names of the crooks, and give them what they deserve. AND get your guns back

[garym1a2]

I keep mine in several locations. They may hit one place but probally not all of them. I also take pictures of all of them and their serial numbers and keep them online where I can always find them.

P.S., ditch the NRA decals and bumper stickers. The first time I had one on my car it was broken into. It was good at the time the gun was not in the car. Only lost a Radar detector.

[smokemjoe]

Feels like you been raped.

[lka]

Wow, that sucks!

I keep most of mine in a safe in a vault with number pad lock, I then have small wall safes hidden around the house in closets with HD guns in them

Sorry for your loss, I hope they get the ******** and get your stuff back, did they take anything else or were they just there for the guns?

[MBTcustom]

When you buy a safe, buy a good one, and bolt that sucker to the floor.
I installed 3/4" lag bolts 5" into the concrete floor, carpet be dammed.
I have been ripped off several times, (matter of fact, I just got a 1911 stolen out of the truck yesterday) every time it's because I didn't think it was worth locking up my stuff. No more. a gunsafe is cheap compared to the value of what you put into it.
Real sorry to hear about you getting ripped off.

When you go safe shoping, remember that you are making a bet with every thief that will ever consider your property for theft: I'll bet you everything of value that I own, that you wont be able to get my safe open, or get it off the property.
Think about it.

[Boerrancher]

Sorry to hear about you loosing your guns. I have several safes around the house for valuables and Tim is correct. A safe is bet against the thief's. I am currently having another built and it will be installed around the 4th of July. I plan on storing my reloading components and ammo in it. With the shortages of ammo, it has become a valuable commodity that in some cases depending on the amount is worth as much as a gun.

I also have multiple photos of every gun that I own with the serial numbers of the guns. I have done this for two reasons. The first being that some LE agencies in the area have a habit of "loosing guns" or not returning them unless you can provide a bill of sale for them. The photos are kept in different locations and even off site, as well as electronic copies of them in various locations. when it comes to the security of your guns you can never be too redundant.

Best wishes,

Joe

[km101]

The advice posted by Cajun Shooter is right on the money. Especially the part about the flyers and contacting pawn shops and gun shops. Don't rely on the PD to do it, as that may take days/weeks if they ever get around to it. You need to be proactive and contact these businesses yourself. The owners may be more cooperative with an individual than with an officer, as they may have had stolen property seized by officers in the past. Cover the pawn shops and guns stores as soon as possible as the thieves are going to sell the guns quickly for cash. Get to them before they disappear. If possible, offer a reward for the return of the guns, or information leading to them. This will sometimes get more/faster information.

Circulate information about the guns and serial numbers as widely as possible, and as quickly as possible. This is your best hope of recovering them. So get busy and get the info out.

[oldred]

I had a friend that his guns stolen recently and the perps used tools they stole from his garage to cut into his new safe! Actually if you look those things over, at least the ones I have seen, they really are not that hard to get into with just basic tools often found right at the home or garage. I was looking at some of the safes at Lowes a few weeks ago and thinking that if I had a reason I could get into one in a matter of minutes using only the tools I could carry into a home, but then I have been a metal worker my entire adult life so I know a few tricks but probably nothing a thief would not know.

[Silver Eagle]

If the local police department is being slow and with a "when I can get to it" mentality, keep pestering them about it.
Call every few days to get an update on the report. Escalate to the Supervisor (or higher).
Way too many crimes get shoved to the back burner. Make sure yours does not.

[schutzen]

Make sure your firearms are listed on the NCIC Computer as stolen. This needs to be done immediatly. I was robbed in 2011 and my sherrif was very diligent. My firearms were listed on NCIC less than 10 hours after being stolen. 72 hours after the robbery the ist gun was recovered in a traffic stop. Within 96 hours 6 of the 9 stolen were recovered.

Finishing the report and uploading the serial numbers to NCIC after someone gets back from vacation is not acceptable. The police are public servents and you deserve service in your time of need.

[pipehand]

Although I've primarily made a living as a pipefitter for the last 15 years, I've also done some time as a safe and vault technician- a.k.a. professional safe mover and opener. I still maintain my bond with SAVTA, and do some side work on openings and service calls.

One poster's insurance agent told him about a safe that was opened. Another poster wrote about safes being taken using electrical conduit. A good portion of my calls are to open safes that are attempted to be opened by burglars- they generally try to beat/cut off hinges, and break off combo dials and handles after the crowbar attack on the door doesn't work. 90+ percent of house burglars are crack/meth addicts with minimal skills, and minimal tools. If they had tools, the tools would be sold/pawned for more crack. Generally, they will use what you have in your toolshed to attack your safe.

I've always told people that I'd rather have a 500 pound safe bolted down to a slab than a 5,000 pound safe not bolted down.

Always buy a safe bigger than you need now, because you're going to buy more guns.

Any decent safe is better than no safe. All safes can be gotten into- given time and technology.

Bro Darrel, I'm sorry for your loss.

[Hogtamer]

Me too....found 3 of 9 in local pawn shops and bought them back. I hate a !*!#** pawn shop. Traced 2 others through pawn shops that had already been sold and bought them too. I told the police but of course the pawn shops had the paper trail, all nice nd legal. I didn't know my guns were gone until several weeks after the fact. The only good news was that I put some righteous fear into those pawners and go in to show my face every once in a while, and so do some deputies.

[daniel lawecki]

Sorry for lost I think everyone on this site should take pictures write serial #s down keep these records some where safe and have two copies of everthing.

[mroliver77]

My buddies uncle had 3 safes. The nasties opened one, pulled another through an outside wall and failed to open the third. They did steal his riding mower and set the house on fire before they left.

Police were pretty sure they knew who did it. Found one gun a few states away. He got no joy. No names.

Mebbe it is good that I have had to sell all mine to pay taxes and med bills.
J

[wgr]

Some years back someone broke into a guys home near gere. the safe was bloted to the floor, so they just ran a chain to it and jurked it out of the house. sorry for your loss

[FLINTNFIRE]

Hate pawn shops too , had not wrote down numbers on a 700 remington , saw it a few years later in the pawn shop across the street from the cop shop , told the owner , you could tell by his reaction and the price on it at the time that he bought it knowing the scumbag could not unpawn it ,, oh the police were so helpful , I told them where I bought it and that as the dealer had went out of business the atf would have his records in there out of business repository , they were of the decision that if atf would look it up for me , they would do something.
ATF will only trace or look up for LEO and perhaps for a dealers request , not a private person, No use for them or that dirt bag pawn shop .

[smoked turkey]

When I saw the subject line on the original post my heart just sank. I literally hurt for you and the loss. A while back my car was broken into and lost my CCW weapon (yes I should have kept it on my person). It is a terrible feeling. I hope you get a break through on getting them back. I sort of gave up on the LEA. I know they have a lot bigger fish to fry than my deal. Doesn't make it any easier though.

[wallenba]

I have a good safe and still worry about it. I try to be discreet when loading up the truck on range days. I back the truck up to the gate next to the back door, lift the hard, locking lid up on the bed, and before I bring the long guns out, I look around. The lid blocks the view from the front, my garage blocks the rear. Handguns go to and from the house in a cardboard box. Range bags and handgun cases advertise. Only my immediate neighbors even know I'm a shooter, and they don't know how many I have. When I return home from the range I watch for cars leaving that area that might be following me. Some local home invasions targeting gun owners seem to have been targeted that way. Things are a bit different in the Detroit area compared to a lot of you guys here. My neighborhood is a good one, and the Police are just two blocks away, I'm sure that intimidates some criminals.

[freebullet]

Man sorry for your loss. Reminds me of a song- I'd like to spit some beachnut in that dudes eye and...

[lka]

Sorry to hear about you loosing your guns. I have several safes around the house for valuables and Tim is correct. A safe is bet against the thief's. I am currently having another built and it will be installed around the 4th of July. I plan on storing my reloading components and ammo in it. With the shortages of ammo, it has become a valuable commodity that in some cases depending on the amount is worth as much as a gun.

I also have multiple photos of every gun that I own with the serial numbers of the guns. I have done this for two reasons. The first being that some LE agencies in the area have a habit of "loosing guns" or not returning them unless you can provide a bill of sale for them. The photos are kept in different locations and even off site, as well as electronic copies of them in various locations. when it comes to the security of your guns you can never be too redundant.

Best wishes,

Joe

Good idea with the photos, a good app is called Gun Log, it's secure and Encrypted you put the gun, price, SNs pics and a bunch of other info, in fact I need to update mine with the 101 and m-4.

[brotherdarrell]

Thanks for the comments and encouragement.

The last couple of days have been a little rough but life must go on. All the serial numbers are turned in with pics soon to follow, just have to get them off the computer. I am fortunate in that the Sheriff is a close personal friend and that while he wont get in the middle of it he will make sure due diligence is followed.

Being a victim sucks!!! Get a safe!!!

Darrell - thanks again

[willie_pete]

If it's not prying, can you tell us how it went down and what you would do differently for next time. It may help some of us look for things to do.

WP

[brotherdarrell]

If it's not prying, can you tell us how it went down and what you would do differently for next time. It may help some of us look for things to do.

WP

Don't live in a mobile home and expect to keep people out.

[willie_pete]

Fair Enough, Thanks. Sorry you are having to go through this.

WP

[TXGunNut]

A safe is a great investment in peace of mind. Any safe can be defeated but there's no sense in making it easy for them.