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Has anyone ever found a REAL gun?

pryan67

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Jan 28, 2012
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2,576
Location
Northern Illinois
I see a few stories of people finding cap guns, replicas, starter pistols, etc.

But has anyone ever found a real, operable firearm.
 
Yes .. 9mm pistol .. 5 rounds in the clip

Interesting. I've often wondered what I'd do if I found one (btw, it's magazine, not clip :) There's a distinct difference in the terms)

I'd like to think that I'd contact the police....but it would be tempting to keep it.
 
Sight found an aks 74u in a creek while fishing a couple years back...went back and forth about keeping vs handing it in. Decided to keep it and hang it on the wall. The cops will most likely keep it and melt it down if you turn one in. Its corroded as hell and nonfunctional. I figure if its been in the creek that long theres not gonna be any helpful forensics to be had from it. If it was something fresher and more common id probably hand it in.

Sent from my LG-H872 using Tapatalk
 
I found a late 1800s single shot pistol in the mountains of Idaho last summer. Rusted shut though, but intact.
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Oldest coin- 1946 wheatie.
 
I see a few stories of people finding cap guns, replicas, starter pistols, etc.

But has anyone ever found a real, operable firearm.

Yep, better than that. When I lived in San Jose, our club's Evidence Recovery Team found a 45 cal pistol that had been used in a murder. It had been buried inside an ammo box and even though it had been buried for many years, they were able to lift fingerprints and bring the murderer to trial.

http://waipahuhaole1.tripod.com/feb2nd2002update.html
 
Yep, better than that. When I lived in San Jose, our club's Evidence Recovery Team found a 45 cal pistol that had been used in a murder. It had been buried inside an ammo box and even though it had been buried for many years, they were able to lift fingerprints and bring the murderer to trial.

http://waipahuhaole1.tripod.com/feb2nd2002update.html

Rudy, thanx for the link. That was a memorable hunt. After an hour or more of hunting, a few of us on that hunt were beginning to get the willies thinking we weren't going to find it. What an embarrassment of time and effort this was about to be ! But lo & behold, Warren Whitehead found it. :cool:

I've found several guns over the years. Eg.: ghost town and/or oldtown demolition site type finds. But none were functional. I know a prolific beach hunter in So. CA who's found several on the beach. At least one of which was functional.
 
I found a Raven 25 beach hunting. Dug it behind some lady tanning. I was scared she was gonna turn around and see me holding a gun:shock::laughing: This is the beach I hunt. Lots of guns around you. They were filming a rap video one day and I left the beach before I accidentally bumped into someone:shock: I cant post the original video since it has a lot of cussing.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QFn8oitQZBA
 
Yep, better than that. When I lived in San Jose, our club's Evidence Recovery Team found a 45 cal pistol that had been used in a murder. It had been buried inside an ammo box and even though it had been buried for many years, they were able to lift fingerprints and bring the murderer to trial.

http://waipahuhaole1.tripod.com/feb2nd2002update.html

Did you guys ever get to do this......"Their only request was that they be allowed to hold a barbecue/treasure hunt at the Monterey County Sheriff's Posse Grounds."
 
So far two and a half. A 7 shot 22 cal derringer from the late 1800's and a Taurus 357 mag from the 1970's. The half is a single shot 22 barrel that flipped up. Missing the lower part.

 
Did you guys ever get to do this......"Their only request was that they be allowed to hold a barbecue/treasure hunt at the Monterey County Sheriff's Posse Grounds."

Yes. The "sheriff's posse grounds" is a picnic site outside of Salinas, CA. It dates to the 1920s or '30s. Eg.: Weddings, company events, annual BBQ's, etc...

It's a fenced site, open by appointment only , but had been detected many times in the past. Yet I knew it still had action. So I told the Sheriff's contacts we were working with : "Get us in there, as a group, for free" (versus the normal reservation costs).

So a couple of weeks after the successful weapon recovery hunt, the San Jose club had a group outing there. The normal expected silver was found. Eg.: merc's, washingtons, a walker, etc... Even a gold ring as I recall.
 
Yep, better than that. When I lived in San Jose, our club's Evidence Recovery Team found a 45 cal pistol that had been used in a murder. It had been buried inside an ammo box and even though it had been buried for many years, they were able to lift fingerprints and bring the murderer to trial.

http://waipahuhaole1.tripod.com/feb2nd2002update.html

Great story. Glad you were able to help solve a major crime.
 
Rudy, thanx for the link. That was a memorable hunt. After an hour or more of hunting, a few of us on that hunt were beginning to get the willies thinking we weren't going to find it. What an embarrassment of time and effort this was about to be ! But lo & behold, Warren Whitehead found it. :cool:

I've found several guns over the years. Eg.: ghost town and/or oldtown demolition site type finds. But none were functional. I know a prolific beach hunter in So. CA who's found several on the beach. At least one of which was functional.

You are welcome Tom. Are you still liaising with the Monterey County Sheriff's office?

I tried to find a link to the Cold Case Files TV video that was made a few years alter by the TV show, but couldn't find it. That would have been neat.
 
Great story. Glad you were able to help solve a major crime.

Thanks. We've had some other "interesting" recoveries, but not as dramatic as that one. The Evidence Recovery Team has also found things like a knife used in a murder and buried on a beach in an area where the black sand was so prevalent an expert with an Explorer detector couldn't get more than three inches of depth (am I right Tom?).
 
Wow...seems like it's far more common than I thought. Some really cool finds, especially the murder weapon recovery. That's incredible.
 
I found a .25 automatic as a surface find once. It was rusty and had obviously been laying there for years. Girlfriend was convinced it was a murder weapon and pestered me to turn it in to the police. Shouldn't have listened to her, that pistol was a very unusual find. Oh well.... :grin:
 
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