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Old Rusty Handgun?

kelpike

Elite Member
Joined
Dec 4, 2011
Messages
971
Location
Agawam, Massachusetts
I explained how I found this in "Stories & Pictures of Finds". Does anyone know how to tell if this was an old cap gun or real handgun?


 
My wife thinks I should bring this to my local police dept before doing anything else just in case it was used in a crime. I'm worried that they might not let me keep it. What do you guys think?
 
I recently got my Class A license. The first handgun I bought but sold just days later to upgrade was a Jennings 22 which looks very similar to the Raven.

:lol: The Raven you can shoot at a refrigerator and watch the bullet drop. Had 3 of them. I felt like tossing all 3 I had:lol:
 
My wife thinks I should bring this to my local police dept before doing anything else just in case it was used in a crime. I'm worried that they might not let me keep it. What do you guys think?

I turn them in. Dug like 3 doing sewer lines at apt. complexes. I just flagged a cop down and gave him the info where I dug it. In the 'hood it's best not to call cops out on a job you are on. Had a friend who had to move after witnessing a driveby and he went on the news describing the car while wearing his work uniform with his name on it:shock:
 
My wife thinks I should bring this to my local police dept before doing anything else just in case it was used in a crime. I'm worried that they might not let me keep it. What do you guys think?

No way man, they will probably keep it.. And there would br no way they could tell anything about the barrel at this point.. It would be no different than tossing it off a bridge, except Scuba D. Might find it again.. Lol..

<°)))>{
 
My wife thinks I should bring this to my local police dept before doing anything else just in case it was used in a crime. I'm worried that they might not let me keep it. What do you guys think?

Here if you call the police for a recovered firearm you stand zero chance of getting it back. I found a sniper rifle stashed under a storage building and I turned it in. I asked about getting it back if no one claimed it and the officer laughed. Apparently all turned in firearms are destroyed.

Sadly a friend who is on the force informed me that rifle probably never made it downtown. He told me that many officers collect guns and that it probably is part of the officer's private collection. Oh well, I didn't really need to shoot anything from a mile away.
 
Here if you call the police for a recovered firearm you stand zero chance of getting it back. I found a sniper rifle stashed under a storage building and I turned it in. I asked about getting it back if no one claimed it and the officer laughed. Apparently all turned in firearms are destroyed.

Sadly a friend who is on the force informed me that rifle probably never made it downtown. He told me that many officers collect guns and that it probably is part of the officer's private collection. Oh well, I didn't really need to shoot anything from a mile away.

Laws vary from state to state. SOME police departments also REFUSE or attempt to refuse to follow the law.

In Michigan if the person that finds the firearm is allowed to own it and it is considered abandoned property it is within the finders rights to get it back.

I have in my possession two firearms that I recovered underwater. I threatened the chief of police of a town with a lawsuit before I got one of them back.

You need to know the laws in your state and act accordingly. Even if that was a real firearm it would never fire again and it would be totally impossible to get a ballistic pattern off a gun so rusted. Most departments would not hesitate to return something that is a rusted out relic and nothing more.

One of my guns was lost in the late 1800's or early 1900's. The other was abandoned in the 70's.





If you don't know the law, it is your responsibility to learn if you want to keep something you found.
 
Doubt the police would be able to find enough detail to identify if it was used in a crime.
 
Keep the thing and clean it up with electrolysis if you feel like it. If someone had turned that in to me while I was working it would have just sat in the evidence room as "found property" until the evidence tech decided it was time to clear out the overflow, then it would be destroyed.

Evidence techs don't clean up rusted "found items" and couldn't care less where they come from or what they might be, unless it's a rusted item that was used to bludgeon someone at an active scene.... Trust me they have more than enough of a work load to not have time to mess with something like this.
 
I believe it is a potmetal cap gun. On a real gun, like the Raven shown in other posts, the grip panels (which are made of wood or plastic) would have either rotted away (wood) or would still be there (plastic) but would not be rusted solid as in the photos. Also I no distinct seperation of slide/frame at all indicating one solid piece.

Just my opinion as a detectorist and gun fanatic.
 
I believe it is a potmetal cap gun. On a real gun, like the Raven shown in other posts, the grip panels (which are made of wood or plastic) would have either rotted away (wood) or would still be there (plastic) but would not be rusted solid as in the photos. Also I no distinct seperation of slide/frame at all indicating one solid piece.

Just my opinion as a detectorist and gun fanatic.

I'm not commenting on whether it's real or not, but just want to point out that pot metal doesn't rust. Has to have iron to rust.
 
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