Our Tucson home was burglarized in September and I lost 35 rifles and shotguns. Several of them were unique.

One was an unfired Ruger No. 1 in .270 Winchester. One side of the action commemorated the 100th anniversary of Wyoming's statehood; the other side told of the 50th anniversary of the Lander One Shot Antelope Hunt. I was president of the One Shot's past shooter's club that year, and we ordered only 50 of these rifles from Ruger.

Another was a Mannlicher-style .257 Roberts built on a Japanese Arisaka action by Frank Wells. It has his name stamped on the barrel. The stock was a light-colored walnut with a maple foretip.

Another was a Charles Daly (Miruku) 20 gauge that had a slightly bulged barrel and a chip missing at the toe of the rear stock. (Both thanks to my son-in-law).

Another was a very early .303 Savage Model 99 Savage. It had been drilled and tapped for a scope and its half-moon-shaped rear stock had been replaced with a later model with a flatter buttplate. I bought this rifle in 1947 with money I saved selling newspapers, and killed my first deer with it a year later.

Another was an unfired .357 H&H push feed Model 70 Winchester. The right side of the stock has my name and an inscription (professionally done by laser) commemorating my retirement after 17 years as director of Safari Cl;ub's publications.

Still another was a .45 caliber caplock Dixie Gun Works long rifle, one of the earliest rifles that Turner Kirkland sold. It was stained blood red. I've not seen another one of these in at least 30 years. This one was as new.

If you hear of these being advertised on the 'Net or see one of them at a local gun show, please PM me.

My others guns included Browning Belgian 0/Us, a vintage Marlin 20 gauge pump, and Remington, Winchester, Mauser and Rossi rifles in a variety of calibers from .22 to .458 -- all in great condition, but pretty much standard fare.

What really hurt was losing three Pennsylvania-style percussion and flintlock rifles I'd built more than 25 years ago for my daughter and grandkids. I had spent more than 300 hours building each of them from blanks.

Bill Quimby

Sorry to hear of this, hope you see 'em again.

any theft is tough, but you really took a hit. i do hope your stolen weapons are recovered soon. best of luck.

Wow man, I'm so sorry.

It BURNS me up for (?)people(?) to be so lazy and self centered that they WILL NOT work but will steal from those of who do.

BEST of LUCK getting YOUR property back.

Jerry

Hope they turn up. Feel for you, that's just so wrong.

I hope you recover your guns and I also hope they catch and hang the SOB that stole them.

I cannot abide a damned thief.

Have had 2 stolen so I feel just a little of your pain..hope you recover yours and if not, get compensation for some of their value. I never got a dime from NRA or my insurance. Hope you have better luck.

Ugh!!!!

I hate a thief! Sorry to hear it man. I'm far from Tuscon, but I'll keep my eye out for you.

took a terrible hit like that 20 years ago. Hope you have better luck than I did and you find out who did it..

Sorry to read about this.

Some years back I bought myself a Liberty safe, in part because of safe storage laws up here, but also to hopefully avoid such scenarios. Have to say, certainly cuts down on worry, especially when away for extended periods.

I hope that you recover your firearms. Especially the Pennsylvania-style rifles. I had three firearms stolen several years ago and know the weak feeling you get when your home is invaded.
I checked gun shops, gun shows, pawn shops, and the internet for a long time before I gave up looking, but I still carry the serial numbers in my wallet. I only had one that I really miss. It is a Merkel o/u that was given to me by my wife. Maybe one day it will show up.

Mr. Quimby,
You have always been a super guy. Gun thieves belong in the ninth circle of hell. If I see anything that looks like yours during the gunshow next week I will PM you.

Sincerely,
Thomas

The sad truth is most probably met their end in a melting pot after being turned in at a police buy back.

Which is heinous in and of itself. That police dont check the serial number in any attempt to make a victim whole is criminal. No questions asked gun buybacks promote gun theft, IMO.

I am very sorry for your loss.

Had a bunch of nice musical gear stolen a few years back. No help at all with recovery or investigation. Had a fair idea who did it and I said so to the locals. Incidents like that can sour you just a tad on the usefulness of local constables.

Sorry for your loss. There really are no other words that will give you peace unless the words are " Sir...we found and have all of your weapons, but unfortunately we had to use them and gut-shoot the scumbags that stole them.You can pick them up anytime and have a great day." If only.......again sorry for your loss.

Don't take this the wrong way, I'm genuinely curious from a security standpoint. Were the guns in a safe or locker? If so how did the thief defeat this security device? Thanks

One of my friends' uncle was killed in a hold up. During the funeral his house was broken into and all the contents stolen from his safe. They cut the top off the safe, opened it up like a can of ham was the comment. They knew what they were doing and had the time to do it.

The safe is just 1 layer of protection.

I, too, am sorry about your loss.

Were they in a safe?

I hate hearing stuff like this. It happened to me although it was only one revolver. I hope you get some of yours back. I never got mine back.

Sorry about your loss, it sucks big time.

I had the same thing happen several years ago, I lost 18 rifles and shotguns and none have been found......

For reader information purposes, how much security was breached to pull off the theft?

It gives me the "sick to my stomach" feeling when I even read about someone else's guns being stolen so I can't imagine what it would be like if they were mine!

I wish you luck in their recovery. With some of them being unique that may help.

I couldn't agree more Jerry.

The bastards deserve to be hanged. I hate thieves.

Oh I am so sorry to hear about this Bill!

A few years ago, I had 2 handguns stolen, a Browning Challenger .22, and a small .22.

I had them in a chest of drawers, and was moving to another house. One of the three movers was responsible. What with unpacking, storing and all, it was 6 months later until I noticed they were gone.

During that period, I could not find the serial numbers, so I did not report it.

After I found the serial numbers, I contacted the moving company, and got all three of the worker's names. They did not work there any longer, and I was unable to find them.

Since I knew the serial numbers, I made a police report, or tried to. I first reported them as stolen in the city I was moving from. The police would not take the report. They said I would have to make the report in the city I moved to. No luck there. I was told to go back to the city they were stolen from.

Since I had already done that, I didn't see any reason to go back, so I went to a city that the truck passed through on the way to my new house. Was told I needed to contact the police in the city where they were stolen, or the city they were to be transported to.

Since the truck went through 3 different cities, I did not know exactly where they were stolen. I think I was right to go to the city of my residence to begin with, which I did about 3 times, with the same result.

I had the serial numbers, the name of the moving company, and the driver of the trucks name, along with his two helpers. I gave this information to the police and they would not even take a report, or try to find the people in the moving truck.

This was all during the time limit for the statute of limitations for stolen firearms, I think 7 years.

Those guns have never been reported stolen by me, although I tried in three cities and 2 counties. If those handguns ever show up at a crime scene, with no stolen report on them, they can be traced back to me.

Since I cannot prove that they were stolen from me, nor can I prove that I tried to report them stolen, the police are going to come looking for me.

I would like to go to a police department and see if they would do a check on all firearms they confiscated, to find out if these two were ever found, but the police won't even do that.

The local police will not look for the thieves, even though I gave them the thieves names, but if they trace the guns back to me, they will not hesitate to take me to jail.

with 80% of our county sheriff's office laid off, courtesy of cuts in federal funding, our local drug using bums have been having a field day with break ins...

just looking for stuff to hock, for more meth money, cigarettes and booze...

hope the SOBs that steal like this turn into coyote feces in short order...

another example of perps having more rights than victims in today's modern liberal leftist politically correct world..

I can tolerate a drunk (unless he steals to drink) much easier than a XXX XXXX thief.

Bill,

So sorry to hear about the robbery. I'll certainly keep an eye out down in the Sierra Vista area.

TT

That's not very reassuring...??? Was it a real safe, or one of the cheaper, basically tin models? This Liberty weighs about 300 to 400 lbs...and is a total bitch to move! Short of a cutting torch, can't imagine how anyone could get into it!

???

Do a search on youtube and see how easy safes are to compromise.

A 300 - 400# safe, that isn't bolted down, can easily be moved by one person with a cheap hand truck from Harbor Freight.

Well, since this happened in the tucson area, one would almost have to think either pawned, sold privately, or they already are in mexico.
Not much consolation.
As to the Wells rifle that hurts having personally known him, rachel, and their son homer.

Uugh! That's depressing... :-(

Oh man, I am really sorry to hear of the theft. I sure hope they catch the SOB's.

The safe weighed about 1100 pounds empty. They drilled a hole near the top and used a power shear to cut the top off the safe. Never even touched the door of the safe. They came equipped with the tools to open that safe.

"The safe weighed about 1100 pounds empty. They drilled a hole near the top and used a power shear to cut the top off the safe. Never even touched the door of the safe. They came equipped with the tools to open that safe."

In other words, the thieves knew there was a safe and what was in it. They came prepared.