How Do "You" keep track of and safeguard your guns?

[Larry (Omaha)]

With the crime rate the way it is, one needs to protect and and keep track of their muzzleloaders. Made from scratch muzzleloaders usually do not have serial numbers. What do you do to bookkeep and protect?

Flintlocklar

 

[Le Loup]

With the crime rate the way it is, one needs to protect and and keep track of their muzzleloaders. Made from scratch muzzleloaders usually do not have serial numbers. What do you do to bookkeep and protect?

Flintlocklar

I keep them in a gun safe that is bolted to the floor inside a locked room with security grills on the window & door.
Keith.

 

[necchi]

Detailed photos, some with rulers, Wood grain and dimensions can be enough to identify unique or specific arms.
Out of sight is out of mind, but that only keeps honest people honest.

 

[Cowboy]

I take the Buttplate off all my muzzleloader’s and write my initials on the back of the butt of the stock. I then reinstall the Buttplate. Hidden and discrete!

I guess one could place their initials on the stock underneath any part of the furniture. That’s what I do for identification purposes. Pics like has already been mentioned is definitely a great idea as well.

Of course to prevent theft, I place my most expensive muzzleloader’s in a safe. I do have some of my less valuable ones displayed though.

Respectfully, Cowboy

 

[TFoley]

My Peter Gonter Lancaster County long rifle, stolen at a gun show in 1997, had my initials and postal code on the inside of the patchbox lid, the bottom of the butt under the butt-plate and inside the lock plate.

It has never been seen since the day it disappeared.

 

[Larry (Omaha)]

My Peter Gonter Lancaster County long rifle, stolen at a gun show in 1997, had my initials and postal code on the inside of the patchbox lid, the bottom of the butt under the butt-plate and inside the lock plate.

It has never been seen since the day it disappeared.

Good idea, but behind the butt plate suggestion by Cowboy is also a good one. Too bad about your P.G.L.
Flintlocklar

 

[Juice Jaws]

Just have mine in the gun safe.

 

[TFoley]

Good idea, but behind the butt plate suggestion by Cowboy is also a good one. Too bad about your P.G.L.
Flintlocklar

Yeah, you could say that. I never lost $5570.80 so quickly. And never got insurance money back so slowly - four years and three months.

 

[Eddie2002]

Don't talk about any fire arm you own and if you do down play it's value. I basically say my collection is made up of worthless second hand guns, mainly pawn shop finds. Get a good gun safe, a security system and a couple dogs. Keep good records of your collections and if you have a rare piece get it appraised.

 

[bang]

Don't discuse eith people about what I have and keep the neighborhood nervous.

 

[Rich]

My DL number under butt plate and trigger guard

 

[cullen1780]

What guns?

 

[Loyalist Dave]

With the crime rate the way it is, one needs to protect and and keep track of their muzzleloaders. Made from scratch muzzleloaders usually do not have serial numbers. What do you do to bookkeep and protect?

Well the good news is..., it's very rare that a burglar will take a black powder long gun, especially a good copy of a longrifle, or a flintlock of any type. Most burglaries are over in less than 6 minutes, from the moment the burglar enters, and they want cash, difficult to trace jewelry, and prescription pain killers. They will take a modern handgun, and alas, most can't tell at a glance if it's a modern or caplock revolver. Considering "Average Joe" store owner can't tell the dif between a modern vs a caplock revolver, they can still use the caplock. Most won't take a modern long gun either. The classic technique is to pull off a pillow case from a pillow in the mater bedroom and put the cash and jewelry and drugs into that.

The reason being is that most burglaries are in broad daylight, and the burglars want to get out and be going down the street without the neighbors spotting anything is amis or spotting that the burglars themselves are carrying something odd. Still, that doesn't protect you from the dunderheaded teen who breaks in and takes anything that looks like a gun, and flees, taking as little time as possible.

The bad news is..., it requires that a gun or rifle have a visible serial number and a manufacturer's name, and to know the caliber, for the stolen black powder gun to be entered into NCIC, OR to have a "unique identifying number" engraved on it someplace. So a Lyman or a Pedersoli etc have all of that stamped on a barrel, but your custom or semi-custom longrifle or fusil? In my department the ratio of officers who might recover a black powder arm to officers that would know what it was and perhaps how to search for the owner is around 500:1, so a stolen, custom longrifle might be recovered, but doubtful it finds its way back to the owner, unless found in the same community where it was snatched..., and a search in the report writing system turns up information. (Which is also dependent on the patrol officer writing down detailed specifics in the report on the missing gun.)

Truth is..., as soon as the dunderhead realizes it's not a real gun nor will pass for one..., they chuck it. IF they don't chuck it, and it can pass for a modern gun, they usually butcher it to make it concealable.
"Sir, we recovered your vintage Parker SxS, but we can't give it back to you, since the yahoos who stole it chopped the barrels down to 12". You could have all of it except the barrels back, if you don't have the tax stamp for a sawed-off shotgun."

So it's rare that BP guns are snatched. You are more likely to suffer a loss from a fire or a flood.

Fire, flood, or criminals, you should take a bunch of detailed photographs of your rifles and guns. You should also check to ensure that your home owner's policy will cover the value of your entire collection of guns, and what if any are the requirements of the policy. How "secured" do they need to have been? With the photos, you will want to document where you got the piece and what was the price then, so that the insurance adjuster has a tougher time shafting you on replacement. You might also look into NRA or NMLRA and see if they have a policy that will cover your guns or will supplement what your homeowner's insurance will cover. (You might not want the Homeowner's insurance to cover your guns, as that might jack your rates - might be better to go to a company that is just insuring the guns and rifles.)

The final thought is will your stuff fit a safe or cabinet? It's one thing to put your half-stocked, plains-rifle into a safe..., quite another for you to be able to store a longrifle with a 44" barrel or a King's Musket with a 46" barrel. The less expensive, locking, gun cabinets don't come that big, neither do the lower-end safes. Add to that the upper-end safes are really mini-vaults, great protection from fire or a thief, but the are heavy and bulky! Do you have the room and the floors for one?

One option that folks overlook is a steel, high school locker. https://www.schoollockers.com/gym-l...6eM29tUHtci53_AmnzHTJy6lZlKtgz1hoCR-wQAvD_BwE. They can be bolted from the inside to a wall stud, they are off the floor so if in a basement that might get the occasional couple inches of water, none of the gun gets submerged. They are long enough especially with the internal shelf removed for the really long rifle or musket. They reasonably secure from the average burglar, and when placed in a basement they don't to the average person suggest "guns are stored inside", so they will probably be overlooked by a criminal who takes a little more time. Slap a sticker on the door that reads "Paints" and they are even less likely to be checked. Their biggest drawbacks are they would only hold a few guns, and they have no fire protection.

LD

 

[Rifleman1776]

LD, lots of good tips there. I won't comment on my security measures but I do understand that the crazy mind of a meth head can, and will, do almost anything to get their hands on something they can sell for quick cash. FWIW, my four Great Pyrenees dogs would barely get a snack from the average sized man.

 

[TFoley]

Further to one of the comments made in that interesting post above, there was a case in the Republic of Ireland some years ago of a country house getting burglarised, and among other things, a pair of Holland & Holland Royal grade 12g shotguns were stolen - value, back then, around $70,000. They had been made for the owner's father sometime at the turn of the last century. The owner offered a £10,000 reward for them back, no questions asked, but nothing was heard.

A couple of months later a pair of yahoos on a motorcycle tried to rob a cash transfer truck in mid-transfer from bank to truck, not noticing, or maybe not realising, that in Ireland the Army is responsible for safeguarding such large-scale money transfers. One of the pair was shot dead, and the other badly wounded, having gotten nothing for their efforts. Each of them was armed with a sawn-off Royal grade Holland & Holland 12g shotgun.

 

[FishDFly]

Along with a safe, an alarm system is a very wise idea.

I did read about a shoot where a bunch of the shooters had their vehicles broken into while they were eating lunch at a restaurant. They all had decals on their trucks.

All my decals are gone off my truck.

 

[Redstick Lee]

mine are marked....numbered, and hanging on the wall
guarded by a Pitt and a mean a** Hound
5" deadbolt steel doors on my house, burglar proof windows

my modern unmentionables are in 1 of 2 fire safes, except my wifes and my EDCs

 

[Comfortably_Numb]

I just kill everybody that comes I to steal them.

 

[Loyalist Dave]

Along with a safe, an alarm system is a very wise idea.

AH but only After you have reinforced your doors and windows. Otherwise an alarm gets your local police to your house promptly after the bad guys have departed.
It may or may not scare off the teenage dunderhead.

Here's what actually happens....,
Entry is made = alarm is activiated...., 1 minute before audible alarm sounds because the system gives the resident one minute to reach the control panel to turn it off and not wake up the neighbors or alert the monitoring company..... 1 minute elapsed
After one minute, alarm sounds and alarm company calls house to make sure it's not a false alarm, IF the guy working for the alarm company for minimum wage is alert and diligent.....2 minutes have elapsed....
Alarm company didn't get a response when they called or the person who answered didn't have the pass code. Police dispatching is called and police event is generated...... 3 minutes have elapsed...
It's a quiet day so there are no other police emergencies that are more important, so the dispatcher radios the call to the officers in their cars...., 4 minutes have elapsed...,
IF the officers don't arrive in the next two minutes..., 6 minutes have elapsed, and the burglars are out of the house and moving away from the area on foot or to their car parked a block or two away, and then flee by car.....

So you reinforce the metal plate in your door jamb. You need a steel plate, not brass, and you need 4 steel screws at least 4" long..., since the vast majority of deadbolt systems from $20 - $80 or more, have a hopelessly useless plate that is only attached to the door jamb, and isn't anchored into the actual door frame. There are a variety of methods of securing your windows too. THIS buys time for the police to respond since most systems will activate when the first attemtp to force the door fails. OFTEN a properly reenforced door (pennies compared to alarms and monitoring fees) will thwart a burglar, since they quickly give up.

I just kill everybody that comes I to steal them

AH but the reason burglary is sooo prevalent and home-invasion-robbery is much much more rare..., the burglars do take steps to ensure the dwelling isn't occupied. A classic one is for one to ring your doorbell for a good five minutes, while the other moves around back to listen. Can't be shooting through the door at the annoying person who isn't breaking the law by ringing your doorbell for five minutes. Sometimes they pose as folks soliciting for business, and they ask your neighbors, "Is your neighbor next door home? Do you think he'd be interested? We give a good discount for referrals. What time do you think he will be home?" Your neighbor unwittingly tells them you're at work and won't be home until after 6, which probably means tomorrow the house will also be empty until 6. Sometimes they look and say, "OH well if his big pickup isn't parked in the driveway, he's not there." (Sometimes they are legit employees of the roofing or gutter company, and do burglaries on the side)

It's not as simple as most people expect.

LD

 

[Comfortably_Numb]

I work at home, I'm never gone.