Recording Serial Numbers

[Freightman]

Do you take pictures and record your serial numbers? Just finished up dating my pictures and SN's of my firearms, my brother in law is a insurance adjuster and has been called out to settle many clams where firearms are involved and he said that very few people have there SN's recorded. He said that without them they can't be included in the claim! but with the SN and pictures he said he has always paid the claim.
Record your SN with pictures and put them on a CD then put it in a safe place (fireproof) it will make your life much easer if they are stolen or lost due to fire, or storm.

[mtgrs737]

That is VERY GOOD advise Freightman! It could also go for many of the other things of value in our homes and shops. Insurance companies tend to be a little gun shy (pun intended) when it comes to gun claims. Everyone should review their insurance policies for a dollar limit on guns as most only cover $1000 worth without an extra cost rider. I feel it is better to invest in a GOOD Safe that will protect your guns before the fire or theif strikes, beleive me that I have heard the sob stories (having been in the gun safe business for 13 years) from those who did not and had a BIG LOSS.

[Scrounger]

You can purchase very good gun insurance from a company recommended by the NRA. I don't have the name handy but I'm sure they have an ad in the American Rifleman.

[Navahojoe]

When digital cameras became affordable in the Deep South, I bought one and took pictures of my weapons and recorded serial numbers. Put a copy on hard disk, one on cd and one on floppy disk. Floppy disk went to sister for her safety deposit box amd my cd went to my safety deposit box. It never hurts to think ahead. Hind sight is twenty/twenty, foresight is not as accurate. I think that Freightman's advise is very good.
regards,
NavahoJoe

[Powderpacker]

Thanks for the nudge, Freightman . I started an inventory a while ago but got distracted before it was finished . It's back on the front burner now !

[Dale53]

I am a retired major case Insurance Claims Rep. I have ALWAYS recommended that people record their serial numbers of expensive items (including guns, etc). If ANYTHING is stolen and recovered the you will have a difficult time getting them back from the police if you don't have serial numbers (you will have great difficulty proving they WERE yours) not to mention a reluctance on the part of Insurance Claims Adjusters to honor the claim.

Today, you really need to follow the above advice and if you don't have a digital camera, GET ONE and photograph ALL of your valuable items including, but not limited to: guns, computer gear, photography gear, and jewelry, etc).

If you have a fire, it will be VERY helpful to you to remember everything that you had if you have pictures of every room (everything in your home) in addition to your valuables. Do as suggested and have extra CD's with the photos in a safe place away from your home.

Dale53

[454PB]

All good advice, but let me add something. Digital storage is risky, CD's degrade over time, floppy disks are a thing of the past, and hard drives do fail. Good prints on archival paper and additional storage at several "on line" locations is another form of back up.

I keep copies of serial numbers and descriptions in several places around my home plus another copy in my safe deposit box.

[Tom Myers]

This is what I use to keep both digital and hard copy records of my firearms

http://www.uslink.net/~tom1/printarms.htm

Tom Myers

[schutzen]

454PB has a very good point. I recorded our home with a video camera and had the SN of every firearm I had purchased or traded from my 16th birthday forward. I had them all stored in an expensive "fireproof" safe in our home. Our home burned in '98. My "fireproof" safe was only fire resistant. My tapes were a glob of plastic goo and my note book of 29 years of gun trading was charred paper. Keep 2 record books. One record at home and one in your safety deposit box. Update the one in your safety deposit box as frequently as you deem necessary. I do mine every 6 months with my financial records. I was fortunate that most of my firearms were stored in a fire vault. The only firearms I lost were my "decoy" firearms and my self defense pistol. My standard NRA insurance covered the majority of that loss in that I was able to recover the remains of the firearms as proof of the loss.

[mtgrs737]

schutzen,

Everytime I speak to a potential gun safe purchaser I stress the importance of buying a good quality safe over a cheap safe. Around here we have farm stores that are flooding the market with cheap safes with the help of the two biggest safe manufacturers. I tell them that if They buy a safe for $599 and expect it to hold out the bad guys or keep their stuff from burning up in a house fire that they are sadley mistaken. I lose sales to these marginal safes all the time and I understand the value of the dollar, but people just don't seem to understand that a safe is purchased to do a job and if it is not built right It can not do that job. I would not buy a safe that doesn't have bolts on all sides of the door, or a safe with less than 2 layers of fireboard on all six sides of the box 3 layers is preferred. The $300 to $500 savings just may cost them everything in their safe. Sorry for the rant. :castmine:

[walltube]

Gun safes are not waterproof. Bank safety deposit boxes are not waterproof. Bank vaults are not waterproof. This was a bitter lesson for folks living along the Gulf Coast in the wake of hurricane Katrina.

The Banks cannot be held responsible for items kept in safety deposit boxes that were\are ruined by flood waters. By 'flood water' I mean that water which comes from rivers, storm surges, tsunami. Just about every other calamity (as in an act of G-d), burglary, armed robbery, fire are afforded some guarantee of being kept whole and safe.

Thought Ya'll might want to know this.

[Ivantherussian03]

It is true floppies disks degrade over a short time.

You know, I feel inspired to take pictures and this taken care of. Thanks:-D

[Dale53]

Tom Myers' software is the "Real Deal". I can recommend it without reservation.

Dale53

[schutzen]

mtgrs737:

I too believe in "you get what you purchase", but in this case the product did not deliver. The fireproof safe/drawer that burned was purchased for right at $300 in the mid 1960's. It was billed by the selling company as a "fireproof" cash box for small businesses. However, my Mosler vault door worked like a champ and protected my firearms. As a side note, the $19.95 Sentry fire box I stored checks in was warped and had to be pried open. Surprisingly, the checks were in excellent condition. Seems as if I have had mixed results from various priced items. Expensive = bad, expensive = good, and cheap = good; I was completely disgusted with the company that sold the "fireproof drawer". I tried to contact them to discuss the issue, but found they are out of business. I wonder why?