Make your gun worthless if stolen

[xprinter]

Not sure if this is the right place for this or not but..........................

I've been lucky and have never had a gun stolen YET!!!

Where I store my guns I DO NOT store them with ANY clips and NO bolts, or the cylinder in the revolvers!

I know this can be a pain in the a$$ but why make the firearm useful to the thief!

Jim

[Bolt2bounce]

I have a friend who does the same thing, I think it is a good idea but you have to have a secure place to store the bolts and mags also... and you run the risk of someone stealing only your bolts and such...with out your guns... and that would also be the ****s... B2B

[Dave in NGA]

As a young man living in an apartment I was too poor to afford a safe and too mean to just let a thief take my guns. I had my rifles lined up in a closet and only one box of ammo on the self next to them. This box of 30-06 was loaded with oversize bullets (.311) and a case full of bullseye powder. My hope was if the thief took the guns, they'd take the ammo and maybe have a chance to test fire. I wouldn't get the guns back, but I sure would enjoy the newspaper story about an exploding gun.

[Bill D]

I wonder what ever happened to that box of ammo. It could be at a gun show somewhere. Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm! ! !

[Dave in NGA]

That box of ammo is long gone. Sanity finally arrived along with a good wife and kids. It was the advent of kids that prompted the purchase of a good gun safe. Now I rely on the safes, alarms, dogs, motion lights, and the armed home owner to protect me from thieves.

[DRB]

Those who store guns without bolts in them is why I can sell bolts on Gunbroker for so much money. Many times when someone dies the family has no idea whre the bolts are or sometimes the wife throws them out not knowing what they are. So if you store a gun without bolts make sure someone in the family knowns where the bolts are and treat them as very valuable.

[da gimp]

Those who store guns without bolts in them is why I can sell bolts on Gunbroker for so much money. Many times when someone dies the family has no idea whre the bolts are or sometimes the wife throws them out not knowing what they are. So if you store a gun without bolts make sure someone in the family knowns where the bolts are and treat them as very valuable.

well said. Also, you might make up a list of your guns, including model & serial # & their approximate value to leave for your wife & family in case something happens to you. We have two lists, one stored with the guns & 1 in another place. This might keep your wife or heirs from getting ripped off when they are sold after you pass.

[Tigre_fish]

well said. Also, you might make up a list of your guns, including model & serial # & their approximate value to leave for your wife & family in case something happens to you. We have two lists, one stored with the guns & 1 in another place. This might keep your wife or heirs from getting ripped off when they are sold after you pass.

Very good advice, I have a computer list of guns, price paid (or an estimate where I don't have documents) and "current" what I would sell for if I was selling & wanted to get rid of the thing. KEEP PRINT OUT SOMEWHERE SAFE!!!!! Regarding bolts - use a sharpie to put the "matching" SN on the thing if you have more than one of the same kind.

TF

[Rick]

Not a bad idea to photograph each of your guns with close ups of the serial numbers. Then mail the prints and negatives to yourself registered mail. Don't open the envelope when you have to sign for the package but keep in a safe place. That way if a guns are stolen you can prove that you possessed the firearms on the date of the letter to the insurance company. Myself i would have an attorney deal with the insurance company on a large loss.

Insurance Companies make money collecting money from you and are very nice when things are going their way. Then on a big theft claim you will find out what kind of company you are dealing with.

[chuckindenver]

anyone that owns more then 3 weapons, should invest in a safe..record your serial numbers., take good pictures, and store the pictures and log someplace other then your safe, maybe have a family member store them or have a safe deposit box.
a thief good enough to take a safe, is good enough to take all the stuff in it.
FYI, Harbor Frieght doesnt sell safes, or Hobart, lunch boxes mabye, Cannon, Liberty, Browning ect...even a good used fire rated safe shouldnt set you back more then 800.00
best insurance a person can have.

[Griff Murphey]

Actually, the .311 ammo may not have done any damage to most rifles. I have an SC sporter that preferred .311 until I rebarreled it. For a true ELDEST SON scenario you'd need some hot powder. Further, affiant sayeth not.

Agree this is a bad idea in general. Another reason not to shoot others' hand loads.

[Sean P Gilday]

I came up with the bright idea of taking out all bolts and boxing them when I went to Active Duty, thinking it would keep them from being worth stealing. When I came back years later I could not find the box. It took 3 years to find them under the eaves of the house where they had been moved by someone else.

Now I have each photographed,and a roster by serial number of each. Also each has my name and phone, address in each buttstock. The Pictures and Roster are on several thumbdrives along with other valuables, and on both computers. they all are in a Safe now as well

[slumlord44]

Very good advice, I have a computer list of guns, price paid (or an estimate where I don't have documents) and "current" what I would sell for if I was selling & wanted to get rid of the thing. KEEP PRINT OUT SOMEWHERE SAFE!!!!! Regarding bolts - use a sharpie to put the "matching" SN on the thing if you have more than one of the same kind.

TF
I often by guns on Gunbroker or other on line sites. I always print out the aucton info and copy all the photos with make and model to my computer's photo file. Quick and easy. Also keep card file index with all info. Son in law and best friend know where the records are.

[free1954]

well said. Also, you might make up a list of your guns, including model & serial # & their approximate value to leave for your wife & family in case something happens to you. We have two lists, one stored with the guns & 1 in another place. This might keep your wife or heirs from getting ripped off when they are sold after you pass.





good idea sir. i always tell my son. "don't let your mom sell these guns for what i told her i paid for them."

[carolinashooter]

Griff.......those .311 bullets may not have been the biggest issue. He loaded the cases FULL OF BULLSEYE. There are not enough zeros on my calculator to calculate the pressure that would have resulted. I cannot imagine a weapon that would not be destroyed by this particular load.

[John Sukey]

Maybe a type 38 Arisaka? On blow up tests done many years ago, that was the only one they couldn't destroy. Stronger than a 03 or a mouser.

[Guamsst]

Maybe a type 38 Arisaka? On blow up tests done many years ago, that was the only one they couldn't destroy. Stronger than a 03 or a mouser.

They did supposedly blow the barrel out of the receiver though the action did not technically fail and that would be atleast poop inducing.

Great ideas guys but as often as guns change hands with me I am afraid I'd report a gun of mine stolen after selling it to someone else. Some of mine that are keepers I do have annotated. As to the safe, anyone know where I can get a 200gun safe? Academy doesn't keep them in stock...LOL

A dog,....a GOOD dog is great for preventing theft. Personally, I'm trying to get my armory finished so it would take so much work and make so much noise to get to the guns that it would be too risky to steal them.

Right now, my only comfort is knowing it would take a U-haul and several people to clean me out and other than a few of the guns the really valuable stuff would be hard to move and raise allot of questions.

Thief: so you guys want to buy a couple of old pilot suits
Pawnbroker: What country are they
Thief: Uh...I don't know
Pawnbroker: Where'd you get them
Thief: Uh ya, they been in the family for a hundred years and stuff, would ya gimme $20

And then there are those little things that are worth more than the guns but look worthless to non collectors. Like that crappy looking bayonet that's worth $600 vs the new shiny cool looking one worth $25. They'd surely take the $300 riot gun over the $2,000 Jap Paratrooper.

Even worse, if they tried to get rid of it the good stuff at a local gunshow, every dealer in the show would send them to me.

[Elsie's Daddy]

I converted the "Dead Space" in the back of a walk in closet into a 100 gun safe. It can be a pain in the rump to get something out to go shooting, but the GOOD Stuff is secure. The finished sheet rock looks like it belongs there. No one but my sons know about the hide hole, or how to get into it. The sons also have a complete inventory of ALL my guns photos. serial numbers, and complete description including purchase price. If a thief can't find it he can't steal it.

[goo]

i think an ADT alarm, properly installed (which i got) is what everybody should have.i keep my rifles in a back room with sensors on the windows and heavy plywood on the inside of the windows. the door has a dead bolt and you can't get to the door without breakin' in and setting off the alarm which calls the cops. there's also a fire alarm which calls the the ADT company. they call the house and if nobody answers they call the fire dept. if the house burns down, the guns is insured.

there ain't no 100 percent guarantees.

[dave]

Actually, the .311 ammo may not have done any damage to most rifles. I have an SC sporter that preferred .311 until I rebarreled it. For a true ELDEST SON scenario you'd need some hot powder. Further, affiant sayeth not.

Agree this is a bad idea in general. Another reason not to shoot others' hand loads.

He said case filled with BullsEye!!!!

[dave]

I am like Guam---need a 200+ gunsafe. I have my gun rooms doors hung backwards, have to be pulled open, hard to kick in. Exposed hinges have hardened steel pins thru the hinge pin, can't knock them out. Many ways they can get in of course but if you can slow them down enough---they don't want to linger!

[joem]

Old fella I used to shoot with would take all the mags outof his pistols and store them in a box away from the guns. Seems almost everytime he got to the range to shoot he'd bring the wrong mag or ammo. I tried not to laugh, but it was real hard not to.

[BudT]

Dont forget to take the floor plate, follower and spring and the action screws out. I put those and the bolts into bags and store them at another location.

[John Sukey]

Now just where can I store 200 bolts plus 50 slides and cylinders???