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Let’s check for fingerprints.
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I’m sorry about your loss, after a break in you can never wash off the nasty feeling that they left on your property.
I was visiting a friend of mine who inherited his father’s gun shop. I asked him what his insurance cost him. He pointed to his neighbor’s place next door and said “that’s all the insurance that I need “. His neighbor was the police department, the fence of their parking area connected to his side wall and the back corner of his store which effectively put most of his building inside the fence where all the patrol cars parked and the police 👮 entered the building 24/7. Six months later they broke into his store through the attic vent and stole every gun in the store except for a customer’s Browning that slid off the roof and broke the wrist. Later a pistol was recovered that was used in a murder in Memphis (70 miles away). My buddy works for a pest control company now.
All my home defense weapons are modern and are fired, cleaned and reloaded every couple of months.
 
GT, my current Service Dog is an aged Yellow Lab mixed. Loveable and eager to assist me (favorite place is Walmart, but don't say that word out loud!), but she is well past "best by date", being arthritic, mostly deaf.
Been looking and looking for a replacement to train to allow her to retire. but having a problem finding a pup (8-16 months old, approx.)

Would Cane Corsos be suitable as a 24=hour assistant? Easily trained, or no? Sunny Girl picks up things I drop, helps balance me against falls, etc.
Codger, have you looked into Lab Rescue organizations in your area?
 
That is so sad and scary about people doing a home break in like that. Sorry they destroyed parts of your home… glad they didn’t get in your safe.
Personally a cap and ball pistol would be the last for self defense I’d use. I have several and at times shoot them a lot. Some for cowboy action. I’ve had to many misfires with them to be trustworthy. I have other guns I use for self defense that I’d trust my like with.
 
You all know the story about how Wild Bill Hickok used to re-load every day; but he was an active 'character' and it did him no good in the end. I would re-load every week perhaps if I had a percussion for home defense. Good luck to all, law-abiding, God-fearing Americans.
 
Agreed. In this case the items stolen and just stuff and the dammage to my home can be repaired but my peace of mind can't be replaced.
A monitored wireless cell based security system helps with the peace of mind part. We went with a install your self system a few years ago and upgraded by adding a couple of cameras.
My son installs high end commercial systems but he about 1700 miles away.....
 
I'm sorry this happened. This sucks. But no one got hurt physically. Loosing peace of mind sucks.

I haven't read all the responses so I hope I'm not duplicating.

They will be back. They will bring more tools. Get a bigger and better safe and bolt it to the floor.

Maybe get an alarm system?

Either way you need to be prepared.
 
Get a trusted unemployed friend to sit at your place for a while. Or borrow a different car to park there while you are away. 90% of these criminals do not want to confront anyone and get blasted. And I really hate to mention this , but- a lot of these break ins are committed by PEOPLE YOU KNOW OR RELATIVES!
 
I love dogs but they completely run your life. if you do the kinds of adventure stuff that I do A dog is an anchor. i don't like anchors. I snuck home at noon and cleared the house with my freshly loaded 1858 and felt a bit silly. opened the safe and exchanged for a 1911. much better feeling clearing the house with the .45ACP the safe is a Stack On and weighs 500lbs next one will be a stack on as well.
 
I understand the days of hiding your face from the camera may be over. Biometric analysis programs have developed to the degree they may be admissible in court or at least provide probable cause for arrest. Makes me wonder what else is being recorded on those "facial recognition" camera being seen at places like Walmart, Home Depot and even the lowly "dollar and a quarter" stores. Seen them too at 7-11 and gas stations as well. Heck i wonder about google earth.
It's much worse than that.
Google Whitney Webb. A friend who works in AI research says her take is a little hyperbolic but she's right.
The question is, with all this data why don't they stop the crime?
 
that sucks big time

as for the pistol not performing properly....you have to load them very meticulous and not have any oil at all in that chamber.
I got a pistol I have left loaded for years and due to my very strict loading method I know for a fact my revolver is going to go boom with the first shot and every other shot. I know because I have tested my loads over the years. If I do things right and I am very particular about things I don't get failures. Now my modern guns don't get shot much at all. My ammo is old. Last time I took the .22 out to shoot....bullets were about 10 years old. Weak, anemic and I got a squib on my third shot. Not exactly confidence building. But I know my BP loaded with holey black is going to be serviceable in 20 years from now.
 
A monitored wireless cell based security system helps with the peace of mind part. We went with a install your self system a few years ago and upgraded by adding a couple of cameras.
My son installs high end commercial systems but he about 1700 miles away.....
That just gives you a nice video of them stealing your crap to keep as a memento. The only thing that stops thieves is lead poisoning.
 
as a nationally certified master locksmith with safes you get what you pay for the first thing to judge a "safe" is...

As a 3rd generation locksmith who used to drill bank safes with my father (but always with an armed guard looking over our shoulders during daylight hours!) -- the first thing to realize is that most gun safes sold today ARE NOT SAFES -- they are called RSCs, or Residential Security Containers.

This info was shamelessly copied from an article on the Truth About Guns site:

"Safes in one form or another have been around since the days of Julius Cesar. While sometimes disputed, Jesse Delano is credited with the first fireproof safe design patented in 1826. The modern gun safe has its roots in the 1850s designs of Silas Herring. He used plaster and steel to create a fire rated gun storage safe.

What’s interesting and disappointing is that the gun safes of today are not built to standards anywhere near Herring’s 1850 design. Price and profit pressures have caused the industry to move away from true fire-rated safes. The majority of what are commonly called and sold as “gun safes” are actually UL (Underwriter’s Laboratories) listed as “RSC” or “residential security containers” and are not actual safes. This includes the “safes” available at all the big chains with popular brand names including “Liberty,” “Winchester”, “Browning,” etc.

Yes, you may have guessed it. The industry did not want to build to the UL Safe classification standard so they created a new standard, RSC – “Residential Security Container.”


The BEST thing you can do is to not make your house or gun room an "easy target"...

Make your house less attractive than your neighbors.

Lock all the doors, put bars across all doors or windows you don't use, install deadbolts and put heavy duty security strikes on all deadbolts with 4" screws that go into the studs -- not just the trim, add motion lighting, use cameras and/or alarm systems, put up signs ("Trespassers will be shot, Survivors will be..." etc., buy a dog or 2, plant cheap non-functioning guns within easy reach un-safed (or un-RSC'd) and leave a few $20 or $50 bills lying around within easy view and reach for a quick grab (that will limit the damage they may do), etc.

But the main thing is this...
If they WANT to get in -- they WILL get in -- so just make it so d*mned difficult that they move on to someone or someplace else.

* Rant over * -- but I hope this helps someone.

Old No7
 
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