tell us about a firearm you found, not bought, not given to you...simply found.

[green mountain boy]

i cannot wait to hear the stories !!

[Winger Ed.]

During the Civil War, the Potomac River & area around Quantico, VA was a pretty busy place.
We used to go metal detecting with a GI issue mine detector we'd borrow from the Combat Engineers over the weekends.

On the bank of the river, we found a old percussion revolver that looked like it was made completely of solid rust.
Our best guess was that it started out as a .36 Cal. Navy Colt.
My buddy kept it in a display case with other assorted glass bottles & things we'd found.

[Alstep]

I've never been that lucky. If I did find something, it would probably have been stolen & used in a crime.

[desi23]

Found? A dug up rusty old Allen revolver found with a metal detector after an old farm shed was torn down would be the only really found one. I did end up with the parts to a couple old guns when helping a friend clean out an old workshop that was part of an estate he was handling. Found the box full of parts in a pile of old lumber and he told me to keep it............. The good part was the complete rear half of a Stevens Favorite. Just the rear half but @ a year later he was sorting through tools he had pulled out of the garage and found the rest of it in a capped tube and brought it to me. I have had a few other guns given to me that someone else found but didn't want. Mostly people cleaning out a family members stuff and who weren't into guns but knew I was.

[farmbif]

oh the stories it could tell, well found this old sears semi auto 22 in the wall of attic in old house I was helping to putting insulation in. the home owner said something like yah eek its a gun get it out of here and don't bring it back. I would have been much happier if it was something like an old Ballard or even Winchester but its a sears and roebuck special and it still looks and works great.

[Der Gebirgsjager]

I've found none personally, but had a solid chunk of rust Winchester 1886 rifle brought into my shop by the guy who did find it. This was a very small community in the Oregon Coast Range Mtns. The finder was plowing up a small field that many years before had been a vineyard. The owner at that time had been murdered by a gunshot, but the weapon was never found.

Another time my son-in-law the deputy brought two badly rusted guns to the shop to be identified. One was a Mossberg 500 shotgun and the other a Savage 110 rifle. A little judicious scraping and sanding revealed the makers' names and serial numbers. They were found in a culvert wrapped in an old tarp and had no doubt been subject to running water for (?) how many winters. Neither had been reported stolen... so...?

DG

[JoeJames]

Once when creek fishing years ago I found the barrel of a 12 gauge muzzle loader in the middle of the creek. Must have been in there for 150 years or so. Nothing else remained.

[Sig]

While fishing for fluke (summer flounder) in the great south bay, I caught a pneumatic speargun. Not knowing anything about it(pre-internet), I cleaned it up & started taking it apart. I was lucky when I removed a cap that it was pointed away from me. It still had plenty of pressure.

[skrapyard628]

When I was about 20yrs old one of my friends moved into a new house with his mom. We were cleaning up and refinishing the basement to make it into a bedroom for my friend. Hidden on top of one of the hvac ducts we found a single shot bolt action .22 and a bolt action 12ga along with a box of ammo for each one. I didnt have much of a chance to figure out what models they were though. My friends moms scummy boyfriend took them away almost instantly.

This guy was a total scumbag with a rap sheet who was constantly drunk. And he didnt have a FOID (we are in Illinois) so he couldnt even own guns. My friend and I tried explaining this to his mom but those words fell on deaf ears. At the time both my friend and I had FOID cards and would go trap shooting regularly so we werent really new or unsafe "kids" around guns.

Shortly after that my friend joined the Marines and when he finally came home his mother was no longer with that man and the guns were gone.

[Pressman]

I cleaned up my shooting buddies property three years ago after the cancer took him. I knew he had a few guns left, but I was surprised at the ones I found hidden in nooks and crannies all over the house. A nice 12 ga pump gun, short barrel type and a 44 replica 1856 Navy. There were others too numerous to mention. And I didn't know he had any of them.

Ken

[memtb]

I’m still looking.......for the one I misplaced! :groner: memtb

[Minerat]

I was doing a home inspection for a new buyer where the home owners had been transfer to another state. When I was in the attic I found 3 rifle cases and a camera case with a big Nikon single reflex and telephoto lenses. I left them there and let the sellers agent know when the buyers were not around. She had me get them down after the buyers left and got them back to the owners. I got a gift card from them a week later with a nice note. They had totally forgot them.

[georgerkahn]

My bestest best friend all through public school went on to become a Methodist minister. A bit after "getting" his own parish" he was driving his auto, to come upon a very recent automobile collision. He egressed his vehicle to ascertain injuries, if any; render comfort; and -- police having been already rung -- reckoned he should stay, at least until they arrived. *BUT*, "nature" began calling quite loudly, and he adroitly managed to get behind a bunch of shrubs about a light pole not too far away, while discreetly being out of sight. However, looking down, he spied a revolver!
David picked it up after relieving himself, and attempted to give it to LEOs who had just arrived on scene. He ended up getting unceremoniously handcuffed and got a free ride to local station. I know very little about "the rest of the story" other than the moral: *TELL* LEOs about a found/seen firearm; do not touch it, much less pick it up. While he eventually ended up with a clean record, David did comment that it cost just about one thousand dollars (lawyers) so to do.
My story re a found firearm...
geo

[jimlj]

My father in law had a single action 22 revolver he lost. He thought he had set it down in the barn. My son and I looked for several days for the missing gun. After he passed away my wife sold the ranch to a friend who has several small grand kids. We didn't want one of the kids to find it so we told him about the missing revolver and he looked through all the out buildings for several weeks to no avail. My father in law had a Honda 4 wheeler that hadn't been started for at least 8 years after his stroke. After he passed I brought into town to get running. While cleaning it up I looked in the "trunk" and found the revolver rapped up in an oily rag. It had been missing by this time for at least 10 years.

[ravelode]

1886 Winchester. Found in the side of a gully in NW Nevada saw the lever sticking out of a gravel bank. Figure it was lost in a flash flood as there was 5' of gravel above it.

[frkelly74]

I found a box of 12 ga 7 1/2 shot shotgun shells with one round missing in a house we bought once. no gun though.

[hpbear101]

One time I was fly-fishing Chamberlain creek in western Montana. The creek was overgrown with berry bushes along it's banks so you had to hop in the creek and stay in the creek to fish. I had fished up the creek a ways and was fishing my way back out when I spotted a revolver lying in the gravel underwater. I pulled it out and it was a nice Cimarron 1851 Colt conversion about like one that I had. Sad to say it actually took about half a second or so to register that it was the one I had :)

[Outpost75]

A family friend had spent a full career as a clandestine services officer in the agency and in his later years before retiring he served as an instructor at Camp Peary, near Toano, VA and also did rotations at Langley as a case officer answering the over night OMG phone. When he passed away his widow asked us to sweep the house to remove anything necessary so that the home and barns could be prepared for sale. My assignment was site assessment as safety officer and to facilitate removal and proper disposal of any toxic or hazardous materials. I was assisted by a state fire marshall who was also trained as a military EOD, an Electronic Countermeasures Technician, two drug and bomb sniffing dogs and an intelligence agency document security officer. We spent two full days in the sweep.

No classified materials, illegal drugs or explosives other than sporting powder and primers were found. The team did remove a pickup truck load of guns, knives, ammunition, reloading equipment and components, 12 passports and over $100k in cash. You would be amazed at the hiding places where we found stuff. The list not for public distribution, but an official report was prepared which is still used as a training document for conducting searches at FBI National Academy at Quantico.

After the items were examined and cleared by FBI, ATF and agency reps, the knives, sporting firearms, handloading equipment, components, ammo and most of the cash was returned to the attorney probating the estate and was sold at auction. I bought several pre-war Colt revolvers at the estate sale.

[beechbum444]

A family friend had spent a full career as a clandestine services officer in the agency and in his later years before retiring he served as an instructor at Camp Peary, near Toano, VA and also did rotations at Langley as a case officer answering the over night OMG phone. When he passed away his widow asked us to sweep the house to remove anything necessary so that the home and barns could be prepared for sale. My assignment was site assessment as safety officer and to facilitate removal and proper disposal of any toxic or hazardous materials. I was assisted by a state fire marshall who was also trained as a military EOD, an Electronic Countermeasures Technician, two drug and bomb sniffing dogs and an intelligence agency document security officer. We spent two full days in the sweep.

No classified materials, illegal drugs or explosives other than sporting powder and primers were found. The team did remove a pickup truck load of guns, knives, ammunition, reloading equipment and components, 12 passports and over $100k in cash. You would be amazed at the hiding places where we found stuff. The list not for public distribution, but an official report was prepared which is still used as a training document for conducting searches at FBI National Academy at Quantico.

After the items were examined and cleared by FBI, ATF and agency reps, the knives, sporting firearms, handloading equipment, components, ammo and most of the cash was returned to the attorney probating the estate and was sold at auction. I bought several pre-war Colt revolvers at the estate sale.

Where do I sign up to get that guys job/career??

[pete501]

When I was 10 years old there was an escaped convict that was running from police. It was in our neighbor hood, and we were watching the sheriff's helicopter shining it's flood light a few blocks away. My brother hear some leaves rustling under one of the avocado trees. He told dad to call the police, which he did. The convict had climbed the tree and had fallen out right on a chain link fence, breaking his ribs. Cops arrived and arrested him. The convict was reported to have stolen a pistol while on the lamb. The next day the police came with metal detectors to no avail. We were told that if we found the gun, not to touch it, but call police.

About 30 years later we were clearing the dirt around the gas meter and un-earthed a 1911 style hunk of rust. Grips were rotten away and you could see it had 38 super rounds in the magazine. We called the police but they were not interested. I still have the pistol as a momentum.

I have found several guns while working as a range officer. These were all claimed a day or two later by embarrassed range members.

[Butzbach]

One time I was fly-fishing Chamberlain creek in western Montana. The creek was overgrown with berry bushes along it's banks so you had to hop in the creek and stay in the creek to fish. I had fished up the creek a ways and was fishing my way back out when I spotted a revolver lying in the gravel underwater. I pulled it out and it was a nice Cimarron 1851 Colt conversion about like one that I had. Sad to say it actually took about half a second or so to register that it was the one I had :)

Can you say “hammer thong?” Thoughtchacould.

[azrednek]

Back in the late 80’s I found a Randall 45, two mags and carry case laying in the street. I had cop friend run the numbers about a week later. It wasn’t reported lost or stolen.

[imashooter2]

I found a Remington #6 boy’s rifle in the basement of my late Father In Law's old place years after he had passed. Thread with pictures here:
https://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?15413-Looky-what-I-found

[Walks]

Back in the 1960's My Dad bought a small 2 bedroom house in Los Angeles. Going through the garage rafters I found an old Pre-War radio, about 12" X 20". We plugged it in, dial lit up but no sound. Took off the back and found a Colt SAA 5 1/2" bbl in .38-40 with Hard Rubber grips. It was wrapped tightly in oilcloth. Dad checked the SN, it was made about 1910.
About 85% finish with perfect bore and chambers. Dad didn't want to mess with loading. 38-40, so it was converted to .45Colt.

And We did get the old radio working too.

[SciFiJim]

About 25 years ago, my wife and I bought a foreclosure house. The word was that the previous owner had been a drug dealer. After we fixed it up and moved in, the kids were playing in the back yard when they noticed that our dog was digging something up. When they checked it out and finished digging it up, it was a sealed ammo box. Being little kids, they thought "Buried Treasure"!!! Luckily, they couldn't get it opened and showed it to me when I got home from work. When I opened it, it contained a Ingram MAC10 9mm submachine gun without serial number, a well crafted homemade suppressor and 200 rounds of Black Talon 9mm ammo. I called the cops, who came and got it. They also swept my backyard with a metal detector looking for more.

If my kids hadn't seen it, I might have been tempted to keep it for myself. However, I couldn't be certain my kids could keep that kind of secret. It is just as well that the cops took away the temptation.

[azrednek]

A former but now deceased shoe string relative found two WW2 P-38’s in original boxes with capture papers in his fathers garage after his death. Long story short he lost the P-38’s as they were confiscated by Chicago Police and he was charged with possession of unregistered handguns. Charges were dropped after a night in jail and he agreed to give up the pistols.

[Winger Ed.]

I almost forgot--- Years ago, back in the 80's, I'd taken the family dog to the horse Doctor.
I decided to hang around and wait for some blood tests instead of going back later.

The office was on an old 2-lane humpback blacktop road a few hundred yards on down from a busy city street & stop light.
As I was walking around, I found a new/unfired looking Stainless Colt Mustang .380 in the grass.

It was in the right place for someone to have panicked if a cop got in behind them while in the big street's left turn lane,
as they went around the corner, made a blind spot to the car behind them, and threw it out.

I called the Police and asked if it was stolen. They said it wasn't.
Not being a .380 guy, after awhile, I sold it.

[Thin Man]

One of my friends had luck of the find when he was helping tear down a barn several years ago. Stacked inside some of the framing was a rusty, half lever single shot rifle that no one could identify for him. When the next local gun show arrived he took it there for ID and perhaps to sell it. After getting several "I think that is a ..." answers he met a vendor who happened to be Turner Kirkland (think Dixie Gun Works). Mr. Kirkland took a brief look at the rifle and identified it as a Ballard, named the cartridge caliber, pointed out all of the rifle's challenges of rust, broken forend, on and on. Then came Mr. Kirkland's offer he would pay for the rifle. With that offer he said for the owner to carry the rifle around the show until he was ready to leave. If he got a better offer for it, sell it. If not, the offer would stand until the end of the day. This finder got no better offers and accepted the offer a few hours later. I am sure both of them were happy with this sale.

[ericp]

I was doing survey work up in the White Mountains of New Hampshire and had a first gen LCP in my back pocket. While crossing a swollen stream (May) I fell and was swept about 30 yards downhill before I got hung up on rock. Got pretty banged up but nothing major broken. While spreading out my gear I realized the LCP was missing. Spent 6 hours up there looking for it until I had to hike back out and came back the next day to look some more. I reported the gun as lost to the Lincoln PD and showed them on map where it was.

3 months later I was back in the same area so I headed over to the river and found the LCP in 15 minutes. The water was way lower and just the barrel was sticking up out of the gravel. Took a while to get it stripped as it was full of coarse sand and grit. Ended up getting a new barrel and the finish on the slide is ruined but otherwise it works fine. All of the ammo fired too. Went to the police station and the Sergeant's jaw about bounced off his desk when I showed him I had found it.

Now I carry an old 38 Special Colt Agent in my front pocket but I keep the LCP around for the story.


Eric

[Gator 45/70]

I'm not the lucky one in the family...But a younger brother worked for a moving and storage co up in AK.
At the time the un-paid rental unit's were auctioned off in a public sale.
The owner of the company would allow lil brother to go thru auction units prior to the public sale.
He found in 1 unit a Spencer, Possibly civil war era?
Another a couple of very old swords, Looked like Union army swords.
The owner keep the Spencer and the brother got the 2 swords.

[bedbugbilly]

When I was a kid, we went to my Aunt and Uncle's which was about two hours away from us - my uncle had passed away and my Aunt was going to sell the house and move into a townhouse. My uncle was a "gentleman hunter" - i.e. he went deer hunting every year up in Northern Michigan at a deer camp that he owned with four other guys. All of hi9s hunting stuff was stored in the attic by him and I was assigned the task of going up through the access hole and hand things down to my Dad. My Uncle stored his hungitn clothes in suitcases and there were other things he had put up there as well - boxes of business records, etc. I took a break and came down to help my Dad and Aunt go through the suitcases and lay out the hunting clothes and in one of the suitcases full of wool hunting clothes, I found a "bank bag". In the bag, wrapped in wax paper was a nice 32 caliber hand ejector S & Wesson revolver. My Aunt knew nothing about it but she said she would give it to her son.

When we got done with the suitcases, I went back up into the attic and handed the rest of the things down to Dad - mostly boxes of business records. I told my Dad that everything was down and he handed me a flashlight and told me to look around carefully and make sure nothing was left up there. My Uncle had floored a section of the attic and everything had been placed on it, but my Dad told me to look around the edge fo the flooring to make sure something had fallen in between the floor joists. The attic where there things were stored was over the garage and the ceiling was not insulated. I worked my way around the edge of the floored area and about half way around it, I shone the light into the space between the floor joists and I spotted the end of a small leather satchel like case - I pulled it out and it was definitely old - it looked almost like an old time Doctor's bag but a small one. I finished looking and when I was done, I handed it down to my Dad. We set it on a table and when I opened it up, there was something wrapped up in what looked like an old square of torn linen sheet. Inside of the cloth was an old British Bulldog revolver. It had surface pitting all over it and the bore was pretty much done in - but all the stampings were legible. My Aunt had no idea about why it was up there or where my Uncle wold have gotten it. They had built the house so it obviously was from him. She told me that she wanted me to have it and while my Dad had reservations about it, he agreed to let me eep it. I never knew anything about where it had come from but I kept it for many years until I gave it to a young fellow a few years back that had a great interest in collecting Saturday Night Specials. He was just getting started in collecting and I knew he would appreciate it and enjoy it.

It is interesting to read about other's "finds". I have done a little "treasure hunting" with a metal detector but have never found much other than I did accumulate a collection of old nails! LOL But I have always enjoyed seeing some of the "finds" by those who have had the opportunity to relic hunt on Civil War sites - especially those that "magnet hunt" in old rivers. It must be a real thrill to find the things they do.

[Ithaca Gunner]

First of all, I never found a gun, just spent cartridges, what was left of a bayonet, and canister/grape shot in unlikely places. The canister/grape shot was in a creek where we were cooling off as boys. Not far from the creek a very minor ''action'' happened during the Gettysburg campaign, (it was about as close to Harrisburg as the Confederate army got). Though I've read the story and some artillery was present, no mention of it being used and if it had been, it would have been a ball that flew over the heads of whom ever it was fired at to end up where it was. It's the real article, I've seen matching balls the same size and type in museums and collections and showed it to the guys at, ''The Horse Soldier'' in Gettysburg who assured me it was a grape shot ball.

The bayonet was in the same creek, but several miles down stream close to the mouth where it empties into the river close to where the old Harrisburg Nail Works factory was. I was exploring what was left of the nail factory, mostly just some brick work, (it burned in 1911) had gotten away from the factory itself a ways looking at the aqua-ducts in the creek and started seeing nails, a lot of nails in the creek of all sizes. I grabbed a few hand fulls as keep-sakes and saw a strange looking object sticking out of the bank, it looked like a stick, but it didn't look like a stick. Freeing it and washing it in the creek I had about a 5'' shank stub of a Civil War Enfield bayonet. What they called, ''Ft. Washington'' was on the other side of the creek, down river from where I was about a mile. I figure some soldier, (militia) from there had been at the creek, maybe fishing and lost his bayonet. Ft. Washington was across the river from Harrisburg to defend the bridges leading to the city during the Gettysburg campaign.

The cartridge cases are still a mystery, .45-70 Gov't issue found under ground while digging a trench on land that was, ''Camp Curtain'' during the Civil War, a major training center for Northern troops and closed at the end of the war. No record of P.N.G. using it for training or a range in the later 1800's, all their old armories are at least a few miles away. I guess it's possible they used it during the Spanish-American war, but I've not found any record of it, as far as I know, it reverted back to farm land after the Civil War. Maybe somebody just shot there at one time having a cash of Gov't ammo.

Not the coolest stuff I've ever found, but the only gun related stuff.

[Shepherd2]

Almost 40 years ago I was insulating the attic of an old house we owned. I found a nickel plated pin fire .22 revolver with genuine ivory grips. It was in about 95% condition, really nice. I gave it to my son a few years later.

More recently we sold our farm and most of our possessions at auction and moved to a new home. When I put the firearms away I came up 3 handguns short, 2 of which were pretty valuable. I looked all over many times and couldn't find them even though I was sure they had been moved. We hadn't brought much with us and there wasn't a whole lot to look through. About 6 months after we moved I was getting something out of a tote that I had been in several times before. I got curious about what else was in there and started digging. The 3 guns I had been looking for were on the bottom. You can imagine how happy and relieved I was. Then I remembered that those 3 guns were in a separate cabinet and were packed as part of the last minute rush.

[blackthorn]

Went to a yard sale years ago at the end of the day. There was a five gallon bucket of junk and on top of it was a heavy duty, stainless steel, swivel type object designed to be used between two chains to prevent the chain from kinking up. I asked how much for the swivel and he said he wanted the whole bucket gone so, two bucks for the lot. I brought it home and as I went through it I found a fair amount of useable stuff along with a hand forged tomahawk head and the complete lock from a flintlock. A few years ago I went to the local gun show and just for giggles I stuck that old flintlock mechanism in my pocket. While at the show I came across a table selling some old percussion firearms and I asked them if they could tell me anything about the mechanism I had and he said it was from an old Hudson's Bay trade gun. He said it was worth up to two hundred dollars. He only worked with percussion fired guns but there was another dealer there who might be interested. He introduced me to that guy (warning me the guy would try to low-ball) and after some negotiations, I wound up with $175.00. I put a handle on the old hawk and I still have it. Pretty good return on a $2 investment.

[GOPHER SLAYER]

When I was about 12 years old my friend's dad was helping someone move. They did a last walk around to make sure and while in the basement my friend's dad saw a rifle leaning against a wall and asked, are you going to take that? The man said no, take it if you want it. He brought the rifle home and gave it to my friend to play with. The rifle was a 1873 Winchester carbine in 38-40. I traded my friend something for the rifle and played with it for a while. In the mean time my father had returned from California where he had been working in a shipyard. He had found a cigar box full of all kind of cartridges, mostly Japanese. I found one of the cartridges would fit in the chamber of the rifle. I forced it all the way in with the lever. Being young a stupid, I pulled the trigger. Once again my guardian angel was on the job, [how do any of us boys reach adulthood] the gun did not fire. I found a metal rod that would go down the barrel but I could not get the live round out. I was afraid to hit it too hard. I traded the rifle off still loaded. I lost track of the gun and never heard of any accident with it.

[hpbear101]

Can you say “hammer thong?” Thoughtchacould.

It had a hammer thong :)

[labradigger1]

Found a Gwen and Campbell Union grapevine rifle last year while metal detecting in a civil war hut. Right around 4000 made. They were issued to Calvary and they hated them. Found a sword scabbard in the same hut also.

[d4xycrq]

I was a Range Safety Officer at a Air Base in Germany. U S Army COL came in with a pristine K98 to shoot. Like new. Well, it was, as he found it in a barn in Belgium. Wrapped in some sort of preservative wrap. Think of all the others out there, as well.

Me, never found nuttin’.

[Texas by God]

My "found" H&R 20 ga 490 Jr. It had fallen from the tractor and got "disced" the round before.....fixed it and gave it to my girlfriend then married her to keep it[emoji16]!
I hope to "find" my Hi-point 9mm that my Blue heeler probably carried off in a Ruger pistol rug....
I'm not a gun finder, apparently!https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20210827/6d6499c94eacc3f88fef49dabffbdff0.jpg

Sent from my SM-A716U using Tapatalk

[Outpost75]

Where do I sign up to get that guys job/career??

I'm now retired and trust me, you DON'T want to TDY to Astan.....

[358429]

My "found" H&R 20 ga 490 Jr. It had fallen from the tractor and got "disced" the round before.....fixed it and gave it to my girlfriend then married her to keep it[emoji16]!
I hope to "find" my Hi-point 9mm that my Blue heeler probably carried off in a Ruger pistol rug....
I'm not a gun finder, apparently!https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20210827/6d6499c94eacc3f88fef49dabffbdff0.jpg

Sent from my SM-A716U using TapatalkIs that a lanyard strap on the back of the slide?

Sent from my SM-G930T using Tapatalk

[fatnhappy]

20 or so years ago I was walking down a railroad bed on land I used to hunt. On the far embankment I saw a sleeping bag that was unrolled with rope tied around it. I said a few expletives think I was looking at a body before it occurred to me I should be smelling it

It was full of long guns stolen during a burglary. The cops started to give me the 3rd degree. I called my lawyer right then and there.

[Harter66]

I don't find things like that .......

My Dad found 2 95' Mauser barrled actions in a bucket of rebar that was about 20 minutes from going to the scrap yard . One of them made a pretty nice 257 Roberts . The other a test bed for a rimless 45-70 class 45 Raptor .

My Grandmother gave me Grampas Model 10 38 Special .
I traded my Dad an 1894C 38/357 for Auto 5 Mag made in Belgium . Unfortunately I got the 1894 back about 15 yr sooner than I expected .

I don't remember now what the chain was but I was given an 1866 Chessipot with an 1871 issue stamp on the butt stock .

Mom has given me most of the guns now with a dated letter 6/75 as a receipt for them all . Makes me a little sad while bringing joy in knowing that I might get to shoot my Grandpa's bought brand new in 1957 1957 M70 with my grandkids .

[Sasquatch-1]

I found a lot of them. The problem was I was a D. C. Police office and they all had to be turned in as evidence.

[Ed K]

My brother purchased a car in the Miami/Ft Lauderdale vicinity and flew south to pick it up. Traveled home via 95 through the unfriendly states of NJ,NY,CT,MA on his way home to NH. Got home, began detailing the car the next day to find a loaded Glock 17 under the driver's seat. Reported it to the police and despite living in a good state the entire interchange between NH and FL turned into a big hassle. Having read all the posts in the thread I think I detect a trend in this regard and would think hard about what to do about anything I may "find".

[Idaho45guy]

I've never found a firearm, but have a couple of great stories of folks that have...

First was my buddy in Prescott, AZ. He and his brother used to explore the old mines in the area when they were young and dumb. He told me that once they were way deep in a gold mine with timber shoring and his brother stopped to rest and put his hands on a horizontal shoring timber. He felt something cold and metallic and it turned out to be a Colt pistol. Single-action and smaller caliber from the 1800s. They took it home and played with it until their dad found out and confiscated it. He had a very nice new deer rifle that hunting season...

Other story was of a Sharps rolling block rifle that was discovered in Wyoming in 1918. It was wrapped in a buffalo hide and stuffed in a tree trunk on the plains. When it was found, there was not much left of the stock, but it wasn't rusted too badly. The individual who found it brought it home and stuck it in the attic as a future project.

His grandson was a friend of my dad's and eventually inherited the rifle. My dad bought it in the 90's and had it completely restored. All he could use was the action, as the barrel was too far gone.

I thought that rifle was the coolest thing I had ever seen and hoped to inherit it someday. Talked to my dad last week about it and he said that he sold it a year ago or so. Made me sad.

[Wisest.fool]

In college i bought a couch for 25$ from a yard sale. it had seen better days but i needed something to sit on in my dorm room and it didn't smell tooo bad. hauled it up several flights of stairs to my room. later i lost my remote for the tv and started diggin in the couch for it and found a loaded 25 acp semi-auto(With one in the chamber). I dropped that couch several times trying to get it up the stairs! and been sitting on a loaded gun for a couple months.

Being as I wasn't allowed firearms in the dorms and it was not something i cared for i turned it into the police. they didn't give me any hassle just asked that i write a report for them.

[Win94ae]

Found a bolt action shotgun in the trash, the bolt was missing. It is high on the wall of our camping cabin, with a few dowel rods serving as a fake bolt.

[Kraschenbirn]

Back in the mid-1990s, I inherity my grandfather's house in a small town down in southern Illinois and I took a coupld guys from my remodeling crew down there to prep it for sale. During the cleanout, on back of an upper shelf in the attic, I found a S&W break-top .32 wrapped up in an oily rag. Gun was in fair shape but nothing to brag about and, eventually, I traded it off for something I don't even recall but I've occasionally wondered about it. My grandfather had been a railroad policemen for the old Illinois Central line for a while in the 1930s but had a preference for Colts and generally looked upon any .32 as a "pop-gun" so I can't really imagining him buying one. One the other hand, if he picked that one up in a trade or, maybe, on the job, why did he hang on to it all those years?

Bill

[jonp]

Found 2. One was a 1911 in a ditch not far from a bar notorious for shootings. Figured the gun was thrown out a window so called the sheriff.
Second was not long ago. Driving my route one morning on a major road i looked over at an enterance ramp and saw an AR15 lying on the shoulder. Locked my semi's brakes and waited till the sheriff showed up.

I did find a hand grenade on the kitchen counter of a house I was buying on final walkthrough. Lady real estate agent saw it and let out a squawk then ran into the yard which i thought was a bit much

[David2011]

My brother purchased a car in the Miami/Ft Lauderdale vicinity and flew south to pick it up. Traveled home via 95 through the unfriendly states of NJ,NY,CT,MA on his way home to NH. Got home, began detailing the car the next day to find a loaded Glock 17 under the driver's seat. Reported it to the police and despite living in a good state the entire interchange between NH and FL turned into a big hassle. Having read all the posts in the thread I think I detect a trend in this regard and would think hard about what to do about anything I may "find".

The concern in understandable but I would NOT want to be caught with a stolen firearm or one that could be traced to a crime.

[Outpost75]

The concern in understandable but I would NOT want to be caught with a stolen firearm or one that could be traced to a crime.

And trust me, you don't want to explain the explosive ordnance, tins of gold Krugerands and multiple passports either....

[fastdadio]

And trust me, you don't want to explain the explosive ordnance, tins of gold Krugerands and multiple passports either....

Nothing illegal about ordnance tins or Krugerands...... Multiple passports might take some splainin though.

[NEKVT]

In 1969 when I was 15 our basement flooded from unusual heavy spring rains. When the rain stopped and the basement got pumped out we started cleaning up the mess. Under a mattress against a wall I found a Winchester Model 60A single shot 22 rifle. It belonged to my father who got it in the mid 1930's when he was a teen. I had last see it about ten years earlier when he shot it off our picnic table in the backyard at a spoon stuck in a dirt pile. Apparently some time after that my mother hid it there and it was forgotten about. All the metal was orange with surface rust which I cleaned off and cold blued and then refinished the stock with Linspeed. The bore was in good shape for being under water which I figured was from being coated with the wax lube on the 22 bullets back then. I shot it for about a year or two taking a few squirrels and woodchucks with it.

Then one day a friend and I were plinking at some cans in woods behind some houses and a guy walked up and asked my friend to hand it over saying the bullets were ricocheting by his house. He gave it to him and I wondered how I was going to explain the rifle going "missing" again and under these circumstances. Luckily the subject of the rifle never came up but it ate away at me until I moved out on my own a few years later and I never really could forget about it.

And then out of the blue about 15 years later another friend showed up at my house and said he had something for me and pulled the rifle from his car. A friend of his was the nephew of the guy who took the rifle and was given it at some point and somehow my friend made the connection and it was given to him to return to me. For the past 35 years I've had the rifle in my possession and still shoot and hunt with it occasionally but it will never be beyond my reach when out of the safe until it gets passed down.

[Ed K]

The concern in understandable but I would NOT want to be caught with a stolen firearm or one that could be traced to a crime.

Agreed, however you could "unfind it", destroy it, other...

[fastdadio]

I was doing a boiler inspection for a home owner that had recently bought a typical turn of the century farm house. Half basement, half crawl space under the house. I put my ladder up and used a flash light to peer back into the crawl space area to check the piping and hanger condition. I happened to look directly down, and right under my nose was an Ithica M37 12ga. Sadly the gun had been cut down to minimum at both ends. Barrel and stock both hacked off. Some gangsta wannabe ruined a nice gun. It had a light patina of rust from laying in the dirt for years. When the home owner came back down stairs we discussed the boiler condition, then I asked him if he knew about the gun. He did not. I got it down and showed it to him, and then explained the federal penalties for possession of a short shot gun, and the fact that it would cost more to repair than it was worth. He said I could have it. I removed the barrel right there, crushed and folded it in half in my vice, handed it to him, and told him to throw it away.
My daughter is a Dallas LEO, so I called her and had her run the serial number. It came back as 'no record'. So, I basically ended up with a free receiver.
Cash was tight at my house, so I bought an Ithica 18" cylinder bore barrel and a cheap pistol grip for it, cleaned and loobed it up, took it out with a box of game loads and found it to cycle them all without a hiccup. figuring it would make a dandy house gun, I leaned it in the corner behind my desk and it sat there for years.
I ended up needing knee surgery last summer and had 8 weeks off. Loves me some Ithica M37, so I decided that would be a good time for a project. I ordered a replacement stock set from the new Ithica Co. and gave it a make over. It had a Bubba job weaver rail drilled into the receiver, so I removed and filled the holes and polished it out to 800 grit. Despite the external abuse, I was pleasantly suprised to find the action to have little wear. I painted the metal with Brownell's Aluma-hyde and reassembled it. I think it came out pretty nice and it's a fine shooter.
288019 288020
https://shop.brownells.com/gunsmith-tools-supplies/metal-prep-coloring/paint-finishes/air-cure-aerosol-paints/12-oz-matte-magpul-fde-aerosol-sku083002014-1117-138799.aspx?cm_mmc=PPC-_-Itwine-_-Bing-_-083-002-014&msclkid=69a72e53ed2f16b8d7074f789e38134c

[Gator 45/70]

I was doing a boiler inspection for a home owner that had recently bought a typical turn of the century farm house. Half basement, half crawl space under the house. I put my ladder up and used a flash light to peer back into the crawl space area to check the piping and hanger condition. I happened to look directly down, and right under my nose was an Ithica M37 12ga. Sadly the gun had been cut down to minimum at both ends. Barrel and stock both hacked off. Some gangsta wannabe ruined a nice gun. It had a light patina of rust from laying in the dirt for years. When the home owner came back down stairs we discussed the boiler condition, then I asked him if he knew about the gun. He did not. I got it down and showed it to him, and then explained the federal penalties for possession of a short shot gun, and the fact that it would cost more to repair than it was worth. He said I could have it. I removed the barrel right there, crushed and folded it in half in my vice, handed it to him, and told him to throw it away.
My daughter is a Dallas LEO, so I called her and had her run the serial number. It came back as 'no record'. So, I basically ended up with a free receiver.
Cash was tight at my house, so I bought an Ithica 18" cylinder bore barrel and a cheap pistol grip for it, cleaned and loobed it up, took it out with a box of game loads and found it to cycle them all without a hiccup. figuring it would make a dandy house gun, I leaned it in the corner behind my desk and it sat there for years.
I ended up needing knee surgery last summer and had 8 weeks off. Loves me some Ithica M37, so I decided that would be a good time for a project. I ordered a replacement stock set from the new Ithica Co. and gave it a make over. It had a Bubba job weaver rail drilled into the receiver, so I removed and filled the holes and polished it out to 800 grit. Despite the external abuse, I was pleasantly suprised to find the action to have little wear. I painted the metal with Brownell's Aluma-hyde and reassembled it. I think it came out pretty nice and it's a fine shooter.
288019 288020
https://shop.brownells.com/gunsmith-tools-supplies/metal-prep-coloring/paint-finishes/air-cure-aerosol-paints/12-oz-matte-magpul-fde-aerosol-sku083002014-1117-138799.aspx?cm_mmc=PPC-_-Itwine-_-Bing-_-083-002-014&msclkid=69a72e53ed2f16b8d7074f789e38134c

Very nice make-over, What's the deal with the head shaped rock?

[fastdadio]

Very nice make-over, What's the deal with the head shaped rock?

Thanks, it's now one of my favorite guns. The rock is an original antique, experts date it at about 22,000 years old, it's very unique, and is one of a kind. Came with the house along with a few others scattered about the lot. Too big to move, so there it sits.

[funnyjim014]

Found a 22 revolver when I bought my house . A high standard. With a box of 22 shorts. Turned it in to the police. I tried to get it back but required to many hoops ( NY) it didn't quite work right either. I suspect the timing was gummed up

[Idaho45guy]

I was doing a boiler inspection for a home owner that had recently bought a typical turn of the century farm house. Half basement, half crawl space under the house. I put my ladder up and used a flash light to peer back into the crawl space area to check the piping and hanger condition. I happened to look directly down, and right under my nose was an Ithica M37 12ga. Sadly the gun had been cut down to minimum at both ends. Barrel and stock both hacked off. Some gangsta wannabe ruined a nice gun. It had a light patina of rust from laying in the dirt for years. When the home owner came back down stairs we discussed the boiler condition, then I asked him if he knew about the gun. He did not. I got it down and showed it to him, and then explained the federal penalties for possession of a short shot gun, and the fact that it would cost more to repair than it was worth. He said I could have it. I removed the barrel right there, crushed and folded it in half in my vice, handed it to him, and told him to throw it away.
My daughter is a Dallas LEO, so I called her and had her run the serial number. It came back as 'no record'. So, I basically ended up with a free receiver.
Cash was tight at my house, so I bought an Ithica 18" cylinder bore barrel and a cheap pistol grip for it, cleaned and loobed it up, took it out with a box of game loads and found it to cycle them all without a hiccup. figuring it would make a dandy house gun, I leaned it in the corner behind my desk and it sat there for years.
I ended up needing knee surgery last summer and had 8 weeks off. Loves me some Ithica M37, so I decided that would be a good time for a project. I ordered a replacement stock set from the new Ithica Co. and gave it a make over. It had a Bubba job weaver rail drilled into the receiver, so I removed and filled the holes and polished it out to 800 grit. Despite the external abuse, I was pleasantly suprised to find the action to have little wear. I painted the metal with Brownell's Aluma-hyde and reassembled it. I think it came out pretty nice and it's a fine shooter.
288019 288020
https://shop.brownells.com/gunsmith-tools-supplies/metal-prep-coloring/paint-finishes/air-cure-aerosol-paints/12-oz-matte-magpul-fde-aerosol-sku083002014-1117-138799.aspx?cm_mmc=PPC-_-Itwine-_-Bing-_-083-002-014&msclkid=69a72e53ed2f16b8d7074f789e38134c

Great story! Thanks for sharing! That shotgun turned out awesome.

[fastdadio]

Great story! Thanks for sharing! That shotgun turned out awesome.

Thank you Sir. I was really happy about the way the Aluma-Hyde coating turned out. Easy to use. I baked it in the oven, and the out gassing wasn't bad at all. I did it when Fastlady was gone for a few hours. When she got home, she was none the wiser about what I had been up to. That's why I posted the link. I highly recommend it to anyone who has an old beater and would like to gussie it up a bit.

[Outpost75]

Nothing illegal about ordnance tins or Krugerands...... Multiple passports might take some splainin though.

OH Yes they do, especially the Cold War era GDR, USSR and Albanian and Bulgarian ones. 8-)

[fatelk]

My wife’s cousin told me about losing his old High Standard .22 revolver one year while hunting way out in the sticks in the snow. He looked for a while but gave up as he had covered a lot of ground in a really remote area.

A few years later he was hunting again in the same region, with his RV parked in a campground. He happened to strike up a conversation with a neighboring camper, they talked about hunting and guns, and he mentioned losing his High Standard revolver. The guy got a funny look on his face, and asked him if there was anything unique about it. He says yeah, I hand made some one-of-a-kind custom grips for it, and described them.

He said the guy got a pained look on his face and stepped into his own RV for a minute, and came back with the revolver! He had found it the following year, hunting the same area. The only damage was some rodent had chewed on the grips.

He said the guy clearly wanted to keep it, but his conscience clearly wouldn’t let him. :)

[Der Gebirgsjager]

Two more tales come to mind, but once again not my finds: First, a customer who was a regular in my shop came in with a late model Colt Police Positive .38 Special that he had found on a deer hunt in Eastern Oregon. The soil was very sandy and he said that he was walking along looking for deer tracks, and spied the corner of the butt sticking out of the sand just a bit. He kicked it with his foot, thinking that it was just an unusual rock, and more of the revolver was revealed. It was rusty but salvageable and he wanted it reblued. I put some effort into it, and it became very presentable. However, I had trouble with just the cylinder which turned plum color. I re-polished it and ran it through the bluing tanks 3 times with the same results. The customer liked the job overall, but not the color of the cylinder so much. Then, with a little research, we found that some of the new-in-the-box Colts were the same way, so there wasn't much to be done about it. He ended up being happy.

Next, true story and verifiable as it appeared in the Roseburg, OR, newspaper, two fellows were fishing in the South Umpqua River. A special kind of row boat is used to travel down the river from pool to pool, where the water is crystal clear. In one such pool the guys spotted what appeared to be a tripod mounted machine gun sitting on the gravel bottom. They hauled it up and it turned out to be a German WW I Maximum complete with tripod. They took it home and over the next couple of months cleaned it all up to where it was very presentable and appeared functional. Then they phoned the ATF and told them the story and asked if they could keep it. Answer: "We'll be right over."

DG

[Handloader109]

Got a found and one intentionally lost one story.
Brother and I were going through my aunt's home after she had gone into nursing home prior to her selling it.
She had inherited the house from her sister about 10 years before, after her sister had killed herself after being diagnosed with terminal cancer. Well, he had put his hands on the old revolver that we expect she had used, and he found elsewhere in some of her husbands items a colt 1908 25 caliber vest pocket semiautomatic. He kept the revolver, and I ended up with the colt. My uncle had most probably bought that pistol new and had carried it around for decades in his pocket while working. It had been well used, finish is gone and barrel worn. But after getting a new spring for the firing pin, it does shoot.

For the one intentionally lost, my dad was in army in Germany at end of the 2nd World war. He had take a couple of trophies, on being a nice luger which I passed on to my only nephew a couple of years ago. I've no sons and daughter isnt interested in firearms to collect. But my dad had found and taken possession of a Belgian 12g shotgun and had carried it for several months. As he described, was a beautiful engraved browning. at any rate, as they were readying to depart back to US. orders came down that only one gun could be taken back, and it seemed that there were indications that the officers were taking for themselves the best weapons and trophies. He got pissed and went out and buried the browning. So somewhere in France there is a nice browning rusted away. As a master sgt, he had no respect for a lot of the middle officers.

Sent from my SM-G892A using Tapatalk

[fatelk]

A friend of mine was camping with the family by a remote mountain lake on the Oregon coast. As he waded into the lake, his foot bumped something in the mud. He found an old sock containing a Hi-Point .40 pistol and a box of old 30-06 GI match ball ammo. He turned it in to the county sheriff but they said there was no record of anything like that being stolen anywhere nearby.

It amazes me how many people have something stolen from them and don’t bother to report it. I always have a little hope that someone someday will find my 4” nickel model 29 that was stolen from me back in ‘99, and do the right thing and turn it in.

[jimlj]

Dad was in the navy on the USS Portland during WWII. One day while in port he went into a captured Japanese sub, and came out with two rifles. He got them home somehow and after the war he traded one to his brother who was in the army. My uncle had been exploring a cave in Belgium and found a stash of guns. One was a 16 gauge double barrel shot gun he gave dad for one of the rifles. Dad used that shotgun hunting pheasants and ducks all through the 60's and 70's while I was growing up. One of my nephews (sisters boy) ended up with the remaining rifle, and my older brother snagged the shotgun. I would love to have either one today. I'm guessing the nephew sold the gun for drug money, my brother carries on the hunting tradition.

[Butzbach]

My Dad was the driver for the CO of the 66th Field Hospital 1944-45. (Think M.A.S.H. without the helicopters) Somewhere in France they came through a town before marshal law was declared. My Dad found an abandoned factory making Browning pattern .25 and .32 autos. He collected two duffle bags full and sold them for $5.00 each on paydays. He gave one of the .25s to his Colonel. One night they were driving under blackout conditions and must have missed timed a turn or mis read their speed. They could see they were approaching a large object which they thought was a hill. It was a French tank. Instead of ten minutes behind the front line, THEY WERE ON THE FRONT LINE! My Dad had a laugh later because when he looked over at the Colonel (a surgeon by trade) he had the little .25 auto in his hand.

When it came time to head back to the states he still had one duffle full. There was a gap in the gang plank and when he went to swing it over he lost his grip and it went into the drink. Easy come, easy go . . . .

An “acquaintance” from Kansas headed back with two MP-40s. My Dad remembered reading later on about a bank robbery in Kansas committed with the same weapon.

[shooterg]

A former but now deceased shoe string relative found two WW2 P-38’s in original boxes with capture papers in his fathers garage after his death. Long story short he lost the P-38’s as they were confiscated by Chicago Police and he was charged with possession of unregistered handguns. Charges were dropped after a night in jail and he agreed to give up the pistols.

And 2 cops had P38's !

[richhodg66]

I was doing a boiler inspection for a home owner that had recently bought a typical turn of the century farm house. Half basement, half crawl space under the house. I put my ladder up and used a flash light to peer back into the crawl space area to check the piping and hanger condition. I happened to look directly down, and right under my nose was an Ithica M37 12ga. Sadly the gun had been cut down to minimum at both ends. Barrel and stock both hacked off. Some gangsta wannabe ruined a nice gun. It had a light patina of rust from laying in the dirt for years. When the home owner came back down stairs we discussed the boiler condition, then I asked him if he knew about the gun. He did not. I got it down and showed it to him, and then explained the federal penalties for possession of a short shot gun, and the fact that it would cost more to repair than it was worth. He said I could have it. I removed the barrel right there, crushed and folded it in half in my vice, handed it to him, and told him to throw it away.
My daughter is a Dallas LEO, so I called her and had her run the serial number. It came back as 'no record'. So, I basically ended up with a free receiver.
Cash was tight at my house, so I bought an Ithica 18" cylinder bore barrel and a cheap pistol grip for it, cleaned and loobed it up, took it out with a box of game loads and found it to cycle them all without a hiccup. figuring it would make a dandy house gun, I leaned it in the corner behind my desk and it sat there for years.
I ended up needing knee surgery last summer and had 8 weeks off. Loves me some Ithica M37, so I decided that would be a good time for a project. I ordered a replacement stock set from the new Ithica Co. and gave it a make over. It had a Bubba job weaver rail drilled into the receiver, so I removed and filled the holes and polished it out to 800 grit. Despite the external abuse, I was pleasantly suprised to find the action to have little wear. I painted the metal with Brownell's Aluma-hyde and reassembled it. I think it came out pretty nice and it's a fine shooter.
288019 288020
https://shop.brownells.com/gunsmith-tools-supplies/metal-prep-coloring/paint-finishes/air-cure-aerosol-paints/12-oz-matte-magpul-fde-aerosol-sku083002014-1117-138799.aspx?cm_mmc=PPC-_-Itwine-_-Bing-_-083-002-014&msclkid=69a72e53ed2f16b8d7074f789e38134c

Question, not really related to found guns. Ithaca 37s below 855000 serial numbers barrels are not supposed to be interchangeable and that looks like an old one. Did you have to do any special fitting to make it work?

[Ithaca Gunner]

Question, not really related to found guns. Ithaca 37s below 855000 serial numbers barrels are not supposed to be interchangeable and that looks like an old one. Did you have to do any special fitting to make it work?

There are nearly two million Ithaca Model 37s already in the field, and many of their owners would like to outfit them with a new barrel. Just how that aim is achieved depends on the serial number of your gun.

Model 37® firearms with a serial number below 855,000 have barrels that are removeable but not interchangeable with our currently manufactured barrels. If your M37 was made before the 855,000 mark (which occurred in 1963), we will be able to furnish you with a replacement barrel for it, but you must send your gun to us for the barrel to be fitted. The process includes machine removal of existing threads, insertion of adapter and re-threading of receiver and re-bluing. Please note that once this is completed you will not be able to reuse your old barrel. Cost for this process is $750.00 for the adapter, the barrel, and re-bluing. This also includes a choke tube kit.

Model 37s® with a serial number above 855,000 have interchangeable barrels (except for some Deerslayers), but often still require some custom fitting by our gunsmiths.

The thread pattern that we utilize on our interchangeable barrel field guns is the same pattern that was used by Ithaca in New York after 1963. However, Ithaca in New York used manufacturing methods that created differences between their firearms that made their barrels less than truly interchangeable. So, while some of our barrels may fit post-1963 guns off the shelf, others will require at least minor modifications to fit correctly. You may send your gun to us for the barrel head spacing to be checked and tested, and there is no additional charge for this service, or have your local gunsmith perform this fitting.

[.45Cole]

Dug Up Gun museum in Cody - probably better than the Buffalo Bill Firearm museum all things considered.

[fastdadio]

Question, not really related to found guns. Ithaca 37s below 855000 serial numbers barrels are not supposed to be interchangeable and that looks like an old one. Did you have to do any special fitting to make it work?

The short answer is no. See the above post from Ithica Gunner. My found gun was mfr'd around the late 70's, and the replacement barrel fit perfectly.
Since we're on the subject, I would like to plug the excellent service I received from Ithica Gun Co. while pursuing this project. When I called to order my stock set, the gentleman on the phone asked me many questions about the gun I had, to make sure I was getting the right items. He also took the time to explain some of the quirks I would encounter during disassembly, things to look for, and the best ways to get it back together. That phone call and the advice that was offered goes beyond the level of service we are used to in this new age.
Thanks Ithica Gunner!

[jonp]

I was doing a boiler inspection for a home owner that had recently bought a typical turn of the century farm house. Half basement, half crawl space under the house. I put my ladder up and used a flash light to peer back into the crawl space area to check the piping and hanger condition. I happened to look directly down, and right under my nose was an Ithica M37 12ga. Sadly the gun had been cut down to minimum at both ends. Barrel and stock both hacked off. Some gangsta wannabe ruined a nice gun. It had a light patina of rust from laying in the dirt for years. When the home owner came back down stairs we discussed the boiler condition, then I asked him if he knew about the gun. He did not. I got it down and showed it to him, and then explained the federal penalties for possession of a short shot gun, and the fact that it would cost more to repair than it was worth. He said I could have it. I removed the barrel right there, crushed and folded it in half in my vice, handed it to him, and told him to throw it away.
My daughter is a Dallas LEO, so I called her and had her run the serial number. It came back as 'no record'. So, I basically ended up with a free receiver.
Cash was tight at my house, so I bought an Ithica 18" cylinder bore barrel and a cheap pistol grip for it, cleaned and loobed it up, took it out with a box of game loads and found it to cycle them all without a hiccup. figuring it would make a dandy house gun, I leaned it in the corner behind my desk and it sat there for years.
I ended up needing knee surgery last summer and had 8 weeks off. Loves me some Ithica M37, so I decided that would be a good time for a project. I ordered a replacement stock set from the new Ithica Co. and gave it a make over. It had a Bubba job weaver rail drilled into the receiver, so I removed and filled the holes and polished it out to 800 grit. Despite the external abuse, I was pleasantly suprised to find the action to have little wear. I painted the metal with Brownell's Aluma-hyde and reassembled it. I think it came out pretty nice and it's a fine shooter.
288019 288020
https://shop.brownells.com/gunsmith-tools-supplies/metal-prep-coloring/paint-finishes/air-cure-aerosol-paints/12-oz-matte-magpul-fde-aerosol-sku083002014-1117-138799.aspx?cm_mmc=PPC-_-Itwine-_-Bing-_-083-002-014&msclkid=69a72e53ed2f16b8d7074f789e38134c

I'll second all the "that turned out great" comments

[fastdadio]

I'll second all the "that turned out great" comments

Thank you kind Sir. I owe it mostly to the Aluma-Hyde coating. Good stuff and easy to use.

[Three44s]

M1 Carbine found at the dump!

A guy several years ago found a Mil. issued M1 carbine at the dump. It lookEd rather tough. He brought it home and put it his closet. He totally forgot about it.

Years later he was moving, he brought the rifle to me and I started cleaning.

After while, I got a round fired in it and it did not blow up. Another friend brought me a magazine and I loaded three or four rounds and it cycled those right through.

I spoke with the finder of the carbine and he expressed an interest in selling it. His price ...... $150. I told him he could do better than that and he said that’s his price. I gave him 24 hrs to reconsider, but that price stuck!

After I paid him, the friend with the magazine took his blue book and looked what an EARLY INLAND was worth and I about fell over. I reminded him it was a rough looking one, mainly the stock and he said that WAS FOR A ROUGH ONE!

Later putting my Inland on paper and it’s golf ball accurate at about 30 yds with its iron sights.

Reminds me of the saying that even a blind hog finds an acorn now and then!

Three44s

[clintsfolly]

Found a rifle and two other thing one day deer hunting found a near new Marlin 30-30. About 200 yds later I found one very drunk so-called hunter. After rolling him on his side and making sure he was no going to drowned in his own vomit. I headed to the truck to go get help to get him out of the woods.was all most to the truck and I found a very scared 10-12 yr old boy. His first question was have you seen my Dad?. Put the kid and gun in my truck and drove him home where Mom called some family to retrieve dear old Dad! As we waited for them I gave his rifle to her. Her comment was “ It will be a long time before he see,s this again!”

[farmbif]

Clint, that's one of the saddest stories I've ever heard, that poor kid's got a father more interested in getting drunk than to have memorable , meaningful hunting trip with his son. makes me realize just how blessed I was to have a dad who taught me how to shoot, reload and hunt even though the hunting we did was to eliminate critters that were destroying our crops and not to put food oil the table, starting when I was about 10, never ever thinking about getting drunk or stoned or anything like that

[richhodg66]

Clint, that's one of the saddest stories I've ever heard, that poor kid's got a father more interested in getting drunk than to have memorable , meaningful hunting trip with his son. makes me realize just how blessed I was to have a dad who taught me how to shoot, reload and hunt even though the hunting we did was to eliminate critters that were destroying our crops and not to put food oil the table, starting when I was about 10, never ever thinking about getting drunk or stoned or anything like that

Agreed. It's a good thing you showed up, no telling what might have happenned to that boy.

[Brassmonkey]

Was magnet fishing a creek from a bridge, found a shotgun with the barrel folded over no wood left and very rusty.

[higgins]

When looking for arrowheads in a corn field years ago I found a gob of rust that turned out to be a barrel and a bit of the hinge and frame of an ancient top-break revolver. When I cleaned the dirt off of it I found out that it had been in the "open" position when lost or thrown away, and it was probably broken at some point by a plow or harrow. It's amazing what I found looking for points; two old gob of rust pocket knives and two old mercury dimes come to mind. I'm sure whoever lost those dimes and pocket knives figured they would never be seen again.

[ebb]

I don't know if this counts or not, but when i was 12 I found an H&R 20 gage single shot under the Christmas tree.

[armoredman]

Now that's the best kind of "find"!

[Ithaca Gunner]

The short answer is no. See the above post from Ithica Gunner. My found gun was mfr'd around the late 70's, and the replacement barrel fit perfectly.
Since we're on the subject, I would like to plug the excellent service I received from Ithica Gun Co. while pursuing this project. When I called to order my stock set, the gentleman on the phone asked me many questions about the gun I had, to make sure I was getting the right items. He also took the time to explain some of the quirks I would encounter during disassembly, things to look for, and the best ways to get it back together. That phone call and the advice that was offered goes beyond the level of service we are used to in this new age.
Thanks Ithica Gunner!

You're welcome, but to clear things up, I don't and never have worked for Ithaca Gun Company. I copied the statement directly from their site. I do like and use their products, and their service is top notch!

[jaysouth]

On the last night of the Christmas truce with the NVA in 1966, my parachute infantry company was dug in extra deep on the crest of a small hill in Bong Son in the central coast of VN about 5 miles inland from the South China Sea. Around 3 AM, I heard some sounds directly in front of my position. I threw a frag grenade about 20 feet and dived down. Then the whole world came alive with trip flares, claymores, grenades and machine gun fire going out and AK fire and grenades coming in. This went on for another hour. As the sun began to come up, there was a body in front of my position that my grenade had taken out. As it got lighter, we went out of the perimeter to take count. When it was full sun up, I tied a piece of commo wire around the right wrist of the body and paid about 20 feet so I could flip the body over in case it was booby trapped. It was not. But under the body I "found" a Tokarev pistol (which I still have), a chinese grenade which I disposed of, and an officers belt buckle which I cut off his belt (which I still have).

[green mountain boy]

thank you for your service.

[kerplode]

I've found two in my time:

First was when I was hunting rabbit with a buddy of mine on some private property many years ago. We came across a single-shot 12ga resting against a tree. It had seen better days for sure, but was in surprisingly good condition for having been out in the elements for a while. Guess the dry desert air was pretty forgiving.

Anyway, after we finished our loop of the property, we swung back by the tree, grabbed the shotgun, and took it to the lady who owned the land. She thanked us for returning it, said it was her sons gun, and that he had "misplaced" it the previous summer. We had a standing invitation to come hunt whenever we wanted after that, but there wasn't much action and to be honest, I don't think we ever returned.

Second was maybe 10 years ago. Walking down to the cluster mailbox at the townhome complex I was living in, I spotted a black something sitting in the entrance to the circle drive that serviced the garage entrances of the homes. When I got closer, it was a Springfield XD45 in a holster...Just sitting there. I called the city police and waited with it until they showed up to collect it to make sure some kids or a weirdo didn't find it. Eventually got word that it belonged to a neighbor who lost it when he got out of his car to get his mail. Kids these days...

[jimlj]

I don't know if this fits the intent of the OP's question but...
Some time before Mark Hopkinson (google him) became the thug the state of Wyoming executed him for, he was a small time trouble maker/thief. On a Sunday when my father in laws parents were at church, along with several of their neighbors, Mark went into their houses and stole any valuables he could find. Amongst them were several guns. After several weeks someone found the guns stashed in a culvert, and they were returned to their rightful owners. When my father in law died, I inherited his guns, which included 3 of the guns mentioned above. One was a 1890 Winchester 22 WRF, a 1894 Winchester 30 WCF and a single shot 16 gauge shotgun. All of the guns suffered some rust issues from time spent in the culvert, but the two Winchesters cleaned up good and were used by my father in law, his brothers and dad. Not a lot of effort was put into the shotgun, but other than it being quite ugly it still shoots fine. Growing up my son spent a lot of time with his grandpa, and he shot both of the Winchesters quite a bit. He told me he would like to have some of grandpa's guns some day so I gave him the two Winchesters which he still shoots (the WRF not so much since ammo is tough to find). I still have the old shotgun. I think it is a "hardware store" gun, marked Electric City.

[Mal Paso]

Apologies for the drift but...

I was in the boat of a real fisherman off La Jolla, we had the ocean to ourselves, drifting across the La Jolla Trench with the current. He had the first strike of the day and landed a really nice Fishing Pole with a almost new Penn Reel which worked great to reel in the 3lb Yellowtail still trying to get away.

[jonp]

Clint, that's one of the saddest stories I've ever heard, that poor kid's got a father more interested in getting drunk than to have memorable , meaningful hunting trip with his son. makes me realize just how blessed I was to have a dad who taught me how to shoot, reload and hunt even though the hunting we did was to eliminate critters that were destroying our crops and not to put food oil the table, starting when I was about 10, never ever thinking about getting drunk or stoned or anything like that

Been there, it sucks

[lksmith]

Actually have a few.
When cleaning out my Grandpa's house after he died, we found an old Remington bolt action 22, apparently my great grandfathers. Been in the garage for who knows how long, for years I though it was a pellet gun because nobody would leave a firearm out to rust and have dirt daubers get into. Well no dirt daubers but plenty of rust. Turns out all it needed was a good cleaning (oil had turned to varnish) and a new extractor. Got the extractor but lost a pin while the bolt was in my ultrasonic cleaner. Apparently fell out though the basked and I threw it out with all the gunk in the bottom.

My sister had borrowed my dad's cab tractor, and when it was brought back, there was a cricket 22 in it. nobody knows where it come from, and i was missing the bolt. Bought a bolt, hydrodipped the stock pink/purple camo, then stripped to bare metal and reblued. Topped that off with a coat of glow in the dark glitter clear coat for when my 3year old daughter is old enough to shoot it.

Was cleaning out a storage unit that had gone delinquent, found a Marlin store branded (revelation) 22 bolt action, a rusted camo stocked CVA muzzleloader and a H&R pardner single shot 20gauge with a makeshift pistol grip (barrel and fore end in original condition) all three are rusty, but the shotgun has the least rust. On the 22 the stock had been partially sanded on one side and then drawn on with a sharpie. got the sharpie bleached and sanded out just gotta refinish

[Sasquatch-1]

Actually have a few.
When cleaning out my Grandpa's house after he died, we found an old Remington bolt action 22, apparently my great grandfathers. Been in the garage for who knows how long, for years I though it was a pellet gun because nobody would leave a firearm out to rust and have dirt daubers get into. Well no dirt daubers but plenty of rust. Turns out all it needed was a good cleaning (oil had turned to varnish) and a new extractor. Got the extractor but lost a pin while the bolt was in my ultrasonic cleaner. Apparently fell out though the basked and I threw it out with all the gunk in the bottom.


If this was a 514, did you ever get the replacement pin? If it was the one behind the extractor Numrich Gun Parts Corporation had them in stock about a month ago.

[lksmith]

If this was a 514, did you ever get the replacement pin? If it was the one behind the extractor Numrich Gun Parts Corporation had them in stock about a month ago.

it's a 341. Can't remember which pin it is but numrich is where I got the extractor. I generally only get to tinker on guns every so often so it's been several months. I put all the pieces in a ziplock bag and write what they go to so I don't lose them or get them mixed up. Right now i have about 5 or 6 guns in my shop that are in various stages of assembly