Crazy find at the local public range.

[redneck1]

Many years ago I bought a ruger sp101 , the only way you could hit a barn with it was to stand inside it .
After a few months of trying tonget it to shoot I finally got disgusted with it and flung it off into brush .
I found it twice afterwards with the brush hog . I didn't pick it up either time .

Sometimes you just have enough ....

[RED BEAR]

I must say there would be a place in my safe for it if I were you. Some people have all the luck.

[country gent]

To these young shooters cosmoline is a permeant sealant they don't know to or how to remove it. The rifle and things strewn around do sound like a disgruntled new shooter. Ive had a lot of newer younger shooters bring a rifle to me and ask How do I remove this stuff? Its cosmoline. I give them a quart of kerosene a brush and rag. One shooter at the club was shooting a SKS ( back when they were $109.00) and he removed the cosmoline from bore and action but left it on the outside, was he a mess after handling and shooting that rifle.

[fatelk]

People do funny things out of irritation and frustration. There was a guy on another forum who bragged about having an M1 carbine that he smashed up with a sledge hammer, because he determined that it was unsafe (brand new). Sounds idiotic to me, but whatever; it was his own property.

[Winger Ed.]

People do funny things out of irritation and frustration.

Oh yeah. When I was a kid, there was a place where people came and flew some real high end model airplanes.

One guy had a beautiful 4 engine model B-17.
It wasn't doing right, and he was jumping up and down mad.

He finished his mad dance on top of it.

[Stewbaby]

It’s about as cheap to buy the PPU ammo and shoot it to get the brass (though you may not care for the J word shooting).

Brass, $0.50/rnd
https://www.grafs.com/retail/catalog...roductId/73074

Loaded PPU, $0.79/rnd
https://www.grafs.com/retail/catalog...roductId/77024

Basically getting the powder for free ($0.50 case, $0.04 primer, $0.25 bullet)

[Cheeto303]

Many years ago I bought a ruger sp101 , the only way you could hit a barn with it was to stand inside it .
After a few months of trying tonget it to shoot I finally got disgusted with it and flung it off into brush .
I found it twice afterwards with the brush hog . I didn't pick it up either time .

Sometimes you just have enough ....

Next time you find it throw it in a box and mail it to me. At the very least it would make a good snake gun!

[km101]

Wonder if he got over his “mad” and went back to get it? Bet he was shocked to find it gone! Sometimes you have to pay for your stupidity. Great find, and it will really be sweet if you can make it shoot!

[Bookworm]

SGAmmo is cheaper.
https://www.sgammo.com/product/prvi-...sive-prvi-part

The 150gr isn't in stock, but the 182gr is.

I purchase the 200 round case, pull the bullets and sell them. I reuse the powder in a reduced load.

I neck size the brass, and end up with primed, new brass for maybe .40/each.

[Texas by God]

Can you come find the Hi-point C9 in the Ruger soft case that my dog carried off?

[blackthorn]

A few years ago I bought a cute little Timberwolf pump in 357 Magnum at a gun show. The price was more than reasonable and I had been wanting one for awhile. The guy selling it said "its in real good condition and has hardly been fired at all, and oh yes here is a box of ammunition that goes with it." So, I took it home and left the next day for my cabin at the lake. I took my new gun along and a couple of days later I went to try it out. Loaded it up, pointed it at a tin can, pulled the trigger and---"click"---nothing! Looked at the bases on my box of included ammunition and all of them had a real faint impression. I took that rifle back to the cabin, cleaned the Cosmoline out of the bolt and it works just fine. Good deal for me!

[Randy Bohannon]

My best find at a rifle range , walking back from the target to the bench I had been looking down and saw an shiny silver glint poking up through a little snow.I reach down and pick it up, it’s a two carat chocolate diamond ring with six white diamonds set in platinum,perfect condition. I think who ever lost this might want it back,or she took it off and tossed it ? Who knows ?. I do a couple of lost and found ads,report the find to local P.D. They say give it a few months,see if anyone claims, not one single call. Still have it,appraisal is $ 5600.00,it’s been two years.

[Petrol & Powder]

I have to agree with JBinMN's suggestion.
I'm not sure what type of unhinged individual tosses a rifle into the creek and leaves the accessories strewn about, in a public space, but I surely wouldn't want a connection to people like that, without a police report.
that's my 2¢

/\ I'll also agree

Another possibility is the person was a convicted felon and heard the OP approaching. OR the items were recently stolen property that the possessor didn't want to be linked to. Fearing potential discovery by law enforcement he abandoned the accessories and held onto the rifle until he got to the creek and distanced himself from the rifle at that point. He may have been in the vehicle the OP encountered OR he may have still been hidden nearby when the OP recovered the rifle from the creek.

In any event, I would not keep that rifle in my possession without a police report.

AND, at this point after disclosing the details of the event on an internet forum and riding down the street with the rifle slung over your back - I think there is little benefit in trying to remain anonymous.

Take photos of the rifle and write the serial number down. Take the rifle to the Sheriff's office. Take a witness with you if you like. Make a report. See if they want to hold onto that rifle for awhile. Under those circumstances they are NOT going to steal something surrendered to them for safe keeping. If that rifle is later reported stolen, you WANT a solid record of your lawful actions and you want that report FIRST.

I don't know why the OP fears the rifle will disappear if it is in the custody of the sheriff for a period of time (I think theft in that situation is highly unlikely) but if that's the worst thing that could happen it is still better than the alternatives.

At this point in time, with the multiple witnesses and the disclosure on the internet - I see keeping the rifle without a police report as exceedingly dangerous.

[KCSO]

All the guns we ever fish out of the creek are either hot or have been used in a crime. I would have the serial numbers run just in case, It would be hard to convince a cop later that you Found it in the creek.

[Petrol & Powder]

All the guns we ever fish out of the creek are either hot or have been used in a crime. I would have the serial numbers run just in case, It would be hard to convince a cop later that you Found it in the creek.

".........It would be hard to convince a cop later that you Found it in the creek"

I would replace the word "hard" with the phrase "nearly impossible"

AND requesting the police "run" the serial number and receiving no hits does NOT mean the gun is not stolen - it only means the gun was not REPORTED stolen, BY THE SERIAL NUMBER, at that time.

You are FAR better off with a found property report that listed the date, time and serial number of the gun when you presented it to the police for inspection after you found the abandoned or lost property.

Take the gun to the local police and make a report.

[Texas by God]

Probably a temper tantrum by a brat that thought it would look cool. I'd keep it and not worry. I don't think a thief would take a MN with accessories to a public range to shoot. Enjoy it.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G930A using Tapatalk

[Petrol & Powder]

Probably a temper tantrum by a brat that thought it would look cool. I'd keep it and not worry. I don't think a thief would take a MN with accessories to a public range to shoot. Enjoy it.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G930A using Tapatalk

That's a plausible explanation but not the only explanation.

Why take the chance ?

The ONLY thing one would stand to lose by taking the rifle to law enforcement and reporting the found property is the very small chance of losing a rifle that you didn't pay for in the first place; verses later coming under intense scrutiny for possession of a rifle that was stolen or used in a crime.

The risks verses benefits balance of that equation is tilted far to the risk side with NOTHING on the benefit side.

AND, if early recovery of stolen property helps to make a crime VICTIM whole again, wouldn't you want to assist with that effort?

Let your conscience be your guide.

[fatelk]

Many years ago I had guns stolen out of my truck. The police found one of them a few days later. I went in and positively identified it. I didn't have the serial number but it was pretty distinctive and found in the possession of a known thief in the area where it went missing, so there was no doubt at all. The detective told me that they would contact me as soon as they were done with it.

Some months later I was pulled over late at night for a dim license plate light or some such minor thing. I think he was bored and just looking for drunks. He saw I was sober, and recognized me because he had been the officer who had taken the initial report for the stolen guns. He asked if I had gotten my .45 back yet. I told him what the detective has said, and that I was waiting patiently. He looked surprised and told me in no uncertain terms that I should go in and ask about it ASAP, otherwise they might "lose" it.

I went down to the Sheriff's Office the next day, and sure enough they had a hard time finding it. They said they had been done with it months earlier because the thief had plea-bargained for a slap on the hand. They sent me from one place to another and back before it turned up. I did get it back though, and still have it.

A friend of mine found a Hi-Point .40sw pistol in a cloth bag in the bottom of a pond in the mountains camping a couple years ago. He turned it in to the local Sheriff's Office, and they told him they had no record of it being stolen, lost, or connected to a crime. I asked him if he could claim it after a time, and he said he didn't even ask, didn't want it.

I have no strong opinions about what the OP should do with his found gun; that's up to him. Are there any laws pertaining to found goods that clearly appear to have been abandoned?

[Petrol & Powder]

The issue is not whether or not the gun the OP found is abandoned property - it clearly is.

The issue is WHY was it abandoned? A very plausible explanation is the owner threw it in the creek in some type of tantrum. HOWEVER, that's not the only possible explanation. Another possibility is the gun is stolen property or connected to some crime.
Because the risk of later being found in possession of a stolen gun or a crime gun is coupled with a lot of easily prevented scrutiny, it would be easier to prevent those future problems by making a simple report. PLUS, if the gun is stolen, it would good to help the investigation early and possibly get the property back to its rightful owner.

All of this effort to avoid presenting found property to law enforcement is unnecessary. Take the gun to the police. It's a win - win.

[am44mag]

I would at least try to get a police report. Your freedom and your rights are not worth risking over a Mosin. If you lose it, then oh well. You'll still have your rights at the end of the day. You have no idea if that gun was stolen, used in a crime, or was tossed as the result of a grown man acting like a child. It's all a guess.