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I despise a freakin thief. So sorry to hear about this. I live way out of town. I put in Wyze security cameras. Super cheap and have all the bells and whistles. They have payed off a couple times. Even caught some guy that just moved into the area from California stealing a Buffalo skull I was airing out that I had shot. He walked around looking at and in stuff. Guess he fancied the skull so just grabbed and walked off. All on camera. He got some lumps for his troubles.
 
We had a crew go thru our neighborhood a few weeks ago. Tried all the car doors, I found our Jeep had been ransacked and a handgun was missing. Left there totally by mistake, we were going back out that night but decided not to. I always lock the vehicles but again I failed to do so.

Our neighborhood is away from the road in a tiny town, about 900 people. Virtually no crime. They came from 50 miles away. I went to go somewhere early and found it. Called the town marshal and he showed up right away. I must have been the first to call as he was taking the report he said there would probably be more. Just then our friend from across the street came over, his daughters car was damaged when they tried to steal it. Turns out they did get away with a car and other things.

I don't care about the handgun, it was a nice S&W snubby or the $'s. The thought that my negligence could lead to someone being shot during a crime bothers me a lot. The marshal came back with the report and showed me videos of other houses. I said "Let me guess, kids with hoodies and masks", yes.....

One of the cars showed up 50 miles away. Got a call a week ago from a stolen weapons task force verifying it was still missing. I take pictures of any fire arm I carry just in this case, including the serial number.

All other valuables are secured with 2 safes and heavy hardened cables/locks.

Don
 
came home from work friday and found this. View attachment 287342
office trashedView attachment 287343
dumb losers worked on the safe for awhile with a splitting maul, hatchet and ice ax. they broke the house door open with a splitting maul. not smart enough to grab an angle grinder out of the shop. missed an 1858 that was under my pillow. did not take the TC Hawken that is on the wall. did steal one of my guitars that had my bifocals in the case... View attachment 287344 jerk left my door busted and open on the coldest day of the year... My 1858 has been loaded for perhaps 6 weeks without being fired. its been my home security pistol. I stepped out back and the first shot was really slow ignition. half second delay and a miss. I got two more shots out of the cylinder and the rest were duds. i suspect oil contaminated caps?? I use barristol but the nipples were dry when i capped them.. the barristol probably creeps? Usually this gun is pretty reliable if I empty it once a week. note I said pretty reliable. once I got the safe open I broke out my 19ll. that has not been fired in over a year. 100% reliability... Its a real bummer having my space intruded on and losing my sense of peace in my home.
The state has definitely changed.......
 
Overall I like my local law enforcement - but.................

About ten years ago thieves broke into an outbuilding and stole our four-place sled trailer after loading it up with additional expensive stuff to the tune of $10,000-$15,000 total. The law that responded did a lot of head scratching and saying "huh". At one point I showed them where the thieves had backed into one side of the door and left large broken pieces of a pickup tail light assembly. When I asked if they wanted that so they could at least tell what kind of pickup it was they literally said "eh, that's a long shot......".
They did eventually catch the two guys that took our stuff.

They had taken the big wood chipper we had and pawned it under their own name at the pawn shop 4 miles away. (I had turned in the serial number.) Couldn't prove they actually stole it so all they got charged with was possession of stolen property.

Some months after that one of the guys was in the county jail for drug offenses. While there his mother passed away, he had an attack of conscience and rolled over on his buddy saying they had done the breaking and entering. All they got was probation. Any time they actually served was for accumulated drug & probation offenses.

Some months after that one of the guys (whose mother just happened to live within a mile of my house) was all upset because somebody had stolen a snowmobile trailer from his mother's residence. The same investigator that I worked with was also working this thief's case.

My investigator listened to this idiot rant and rave about his Mom's stuff getting taken and finally pointed over the hill at my place and told him "Good God man! You did the same thing to your Mom's neighbor!"

The thief immediately calmed down, looked at the investigator in a very confused manner and said:

"But that was different........".

I weep for humanity.
 
cap and ball gun almost feels like a burner gun. much rather have a $300.00 1858 in my truck than a custom 1911 that not really replaceable. coming home to a burglary in progress when they have just broken open a gun safe is not good to be unarmed.
I keep a simple hi point 9mm in the vehicle here in my state. Here the vehicle is considered an extension of your home so......

Guys at the shop laugh at me when I tell I keep a hi point in the car. My reply is would you rather lose a big ugly, reliable $90 hi point or a sleak pretty $800 sig, hk etc to a car break in? I empty the mag every month to just make sure functions. Guys usually say good point....
 
I had someone try to break into my home this year. I had just sold my truck and I think they thought I wasn't home. It was about 1;00 oclock at night. I got my nine millimeter and started looking around. I found the SOB and told him to get gone. He left but I was still wondering if he had left my property. I found him in my back yard. I stepped outside and fired a round in the ground. He ran. I would have cut him down if he had not been standing in line with my neighbors house.This was the third time I have had someone steal from me and I was going to make it the last time. The police came and took notes . They even saw him down the street but he ducked around a house and gave them the slip. I hate a thief with a passion. I feel for you friend!
 
you got lucky malmute. I have had them fire perfectly and i have had them not fire at all. best bet is to make sure you have a fresh cylinder once a week.
The sherrif was really nice but not super encouraging about catching the theif. similer head scratching... I asken him about fingerprints and he said. Oh those are really tough, have to assume that he is not trained and dosent have the kit with him... have to assume that all my scopes are off zero.. everything covered in sheet rock dust from the fireproofing. Locking does little. any door will succumb to a big enough hammer. this happened in broad daylight.. aparently its not hard to get into these gun safes with an angle grinder?
as a nationally certified master locksmith with safes you get what you pay for the first thing to judge a "safe" is how much does it weigh? if it doesn't weigh over 750 lbs it needs to be anchored to the wall. if you don't do this it just becomes a lever to pull the anchors out of the floor. and no matter what it weighs you have to anchor it to the floor. the second reason for weight is it means that heavier steel is used in the construction. at a minimum you want a 1/8" body and a 1/4" door and with these minimums it well barely get to 750 with a 1/2" of sheet rock. speaking of which unless your safe has a UL label it isn't fire resistant your minimum rating should be at least 30 minutes at 350 degrees. and always remember that if it has a digital lock it can be bypassed! there is a code somewhere, go with a old school dial lock and have a qualified locksmith set it for you after you anchor it in place.
and 1 last thing do not anchor it along a ground floor wall I had a customer place one in the corner of a first floor office the bad guys punched through the wall and used a wrecker to drive off with it
 
In days past, theft was often treated as a capital offense. Those found guilty were either hung, de-capitated, or transported to some place such as Australia.
Now, in places such as California, a thief is lauded, praised. Witness those gang-type shoplifters. They can put a family out of business in 10-minutes flat.
 
came home from work friday and found this. View attachment 287342
office trashedView attachment 287343
dumb losers worked on the safe for awhile with a splitting maul, hatchet and ice ax. they broke the house door open with a splitting maul. not smart enough to grab an angle grinder out of the shop. missed an 1858 that was under my pillow. did not take the TC Hawken that is on the wall. did steal one of my guitars that had my bifocals in the case... View attachment 287344 jerk left my door busted and open on the coldest day of the year... My 1858 has been loaded for perhaps 6 weeks without being fired. its been my home security pistol. I stepped out back and the first shot was really slow ignition. half second delay and a miss. I got two more shots out of the cylinder and the rest were duds. i suspect oil contaminated caps?? I use barristol but the nipples were dry when i capped them.. the barristol probably creeps? Usually this gun is pretty reliable if I empty it once a week. note I said pretty reliable. once I got the safe open I broke out my 19ll. that has not been fired in over a year. 100% reliability... Its a real bummer having my space intruded on and losing my sense of peace in my home.
Wow, what kind of safe is that, it did its job! The scum were probably working on the door, the most secure part of the safe!
 
I have two sets of cameras, a wireless Wyze system and a wired NiteOwl system. Gun safes too. A 93# yellow lab that looks out the front door window at anybody coming up the sidewalk (she is tall enough to look out the kitchen window too). But I think the best is the neighbor across the street. We look out for each others houses. I'm retired so more than once I have confronted people at his house that I thought were snooping around. Most are friends that he knew were coming but just not sure when.
 
10 or so years ago my middle daughter drove her friend home after band practice in high school. Their house is about 500 yards away from us in the subdivision. The back of their house faces a farm field. When her friend went into the house she found the back wall had a huge hole in it. Thieves had put a chain around a big gun safe and pulled it thru the back wall.

Not sure they ever caught them.

Don
 
We had a crew go thru our neighborhood a few weeks ago. Tried all the car doors, I found our Jeep had been ransacked and a handgun was missing. Left there totally by mistake, we were going back out that night but decided not to. I always lock the vehicles but again I failed to do so.

Our neighborhood is away from the road in a tiny town, about 900 people. Virtually no crime. They came from 50 miles away. I went to go somewhere early and found it. Called the town marshal and he showed up right away. I must have been the first to call as he was taking the report he said there would probably be more. Just then our friend from across the street came over, his daughters car was damaged when they tried to steal it. Turns out they did get away with a car and other things.

I don't care about the handgun, it was a nice S&W snubby or the $'s. The thought that my negligence could lead to someone being shot during a crime bothers me a lot. The marshal came back with the report and showed me videos of other houses. I said "Let me guess, kids with hoodies and masks", yes.....

One of the cars showed up 50 miles away. Got a call a week ago from a stolen weapons task force verifying it was still missing. I take pictures of any fire arm I carry just in this case, including the serial number.

All other valuables are secured with 2 safes and heavy hardened cables/locks.

Don
You should never have to apologize or someone stealing your stuff. Heck even if you left a rifle out in the open leaned up on your fencepost or something like that. It belongs to you and nobody else and it is both a crime and against the ten commandments to steal it from you.
 
It’s gonna get a lot worse with 2+ million undocumented coming into the country, many from south America, an overwhelming majority of them the 15-35 age bracket sporting facial tattoos and other indicators of gang affiliations.
These people are professional predators.
You are not.
You are the first responder though.

You sure you want to trust your personal safety to 1858 technologies?

Stay frosty
 
Back about 2000. My safe had a break in attempt. They smashed the tumbler off, knocked the pins out of the door and still could not open it. It was a 4K$ safe. Cops would not do a thing. Guess they had more important items on their agenda. Pissed me off. It cost me $400.00 to drill the lock out.
 
No Pa, they didnt get into our fun room.
PXL_20230506_034600021.jpg
 
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