User Panel
You'd be a fool to not have a couple hidden in this day and age.
|
|
|
Quoted:
Does he have any scrap ends of appropriately sized and unexplainable PVC pipe and caps laying around the house? If so, it may be.....cached....around the property... or, in 77 years, the news of the day will be the equivalent of this https://www.upi.com/Odd_News/2005/04/14/Historic-Tommy-gun-found-in-wall/55051113502020/ https://www.buzznick.com/hidden-basement-room/ View Quote |
|
Quoted:
Pops was ready for fo time View Quote We filled his extended cab truck full of boxes of antique coins, silver, and guns and ammo. He told me as we were leaving town... "Well kid, I guess we go until the money runs out, then we have to sell the coins... after that it's time to start using the guns..." I always just assumed he was joking. |
|
I'd start with a really good metal detector. See what turns up. Good luck
|
|
See if you can rent one of these somewhere. I have used one quite a bit at work and it will go off on larger metal and not so much on tiny stuff. Magnetic locator
That being said how big is the house? My house is ~3000 sq foot and I have spent a lot of time in the attic running cables for security cameras over the past month. If I needed to I am pretty sure I could search every inch of the insulation just by hand in a few hours. Being in Arizona now is the time to do it. I don’t know how elaborate your Dad was but unless he was really paranoid odds are it is fairly close to the access points to the attic. Most likely he didn’t crawl all the way to the far corner of the house to hide it. I would certainly start my search near the entry and work out from there. |
|
Perhaps ask the builder if there were any "special spaces" he built?
|
|
On top of kitchen cabinets. In the furniture as well. My dad had a 1911 inside of a Lazy Boy chair.
|
|
|
I am sure you have thought of this already, but did he have his own vehicle? Maybe he kept a pistol there. How about an outside shop or shed? Not a bad idea to keep one in your shop building if you spend time there.
|
|
|
Quoted:
So where the hell can I rent a metal detector? View Quote https://www.amazon.com/Kuman-Resistant-Detectors-Unearthing-Accessories/dp/B074GP3QBD/ref=sr_1_1_sspa?keywords=pinpointer&qid=1577248081&sr=8-1-spons&psc=1&spLa=ZW5jcnlwdGVkUXVhbGlmaWVyPUFXVFBNUFNFNlVPSVUmZW5jcnlwdGVkSWQ9QTA0NDYxNjEzMFlPVEk1V0xaOEtYJmVuY3J5cHRlZEFkSWQ9QTAxMTQ4NDhaSlo0MDBXNEpKWEMmd2lkZ2V0TmFtZT1zcF9hdGYmYWN0aW9uPWNsaWNrUmVkaXJlY3QmZG9Ob3RMb2dDbGljaz10cnVl |
|
Buy a Garrett 'carrot' pinpointer. Read the instructions and watch a couple videos online to set sensitivity. You should be able to probe in and around in the insulation without it getting set off too many times on nails and other miscellaneous hangers. That would be my move if you really truly believe it's still in the Attic.
Good luck! |
|
|
|
|
WAIT a minute! Wait a minute!
Are you telling me there is a MAUSER C-96 hidden in the house? If so, you best let me handle that. Those things are dangerous. I'll take the hit for the team on this one! |
|
|
|
As my Father spiraled into Dementia, he hid similar things. I found most things but some of his jewelry is lost. He owned a Rolex that he either sold or was stolen. I have no idea what the serial number is.
LESSON: If you own treasures that you want to make sure are passed to the people you really want to have them, let it go sooner than later. Don’t assume they will inherit it when you pass. |
|
When Dad passed I gathered up all his guns and stored them in my safe. I could not find his piece of junk break top revolver. It was made by “U.S. Pistol” company. Caliber was .38 S&W (not the normal.38 special). It was a piece of junk but A) it was Dad’s and B) I didn’t want it to get in the wrong hands.
Searched all over and couldn’t find it in the house. Thought maybe he got rid of it. We started cleaning out the garage and going through his tool boxes. Dad grew up on a farm and was a machinist for most of his adult life so there was a lot to go through. Grabbed an oily rag from one tool box. Unrolled it and there was the pistol. Still loaded. I’ll never shoot it because there’s a good possibility it would come apart. But it will live in my safe forever. |
|
Quoted:
I think it is still in the attic, in a soft zip up case buried under 14" of insulation.... Thought of looking a for a metal detector, but the rafter clips would probably set it off all over the place. Same problem with a large magent. Anyone got an idea on how to find it? Need a Christams miracle. View Quote |
|
|
Quoted: As someone who does a lot of artifact hunting with metal detectors, I will give you my thoughts here. Inside of a house you are going to have quite a bit of electromagnetic interference (emi). Using the detector might work, but at the end of the day your will be able to search just as quickly by hand. You are going to have to find a detector, learn how it works, set it up, and then give it a shot. You can turn down the sensitivity and turn up the discrimination, but I really don't think you will get the results you want. If you are bound and determined to use a detector, buy a pinpointer from harbor freight or amazon and just run it over the insulation. View Quote |
|
Quoted: I hid some guns in the filter space under the furnace/ air conditioner one time. I almost forgot them when I moved out. View Quote |
|
Quoted:
Thermal imaging camera. Buddy of mine has a business where he goes to homes to look for hidden water leaks, drafts, areas where builders skimped on insulation etc. You’d be surprised what he finds and you can tell instantly. He’s found guns, cash, coins, ammo, jewelry etc hidden in walls. View Quote |
|
Let me save you some time, OP.
I'm an experienced detectorist, with a bunch of years at it, so take my advice with whatever amount of salt you want to. Do not waste your time using a metal detector. Your attic is filled with steel, various kinds of wires, nails, other types of fasteners, and potentially heating and air ducting and about a million other metal objects. There's no way you'll be able to filter out all that ferrous metal without completely ignoring all steel...and then you'll ignore the gun unless it's brass or something else non-ferrous. Iron is at the low end of the magnetic spectrum and while the easiest to filter out, that's what you are looking for in this case. Also, live electrical wires play merry hell with metal detectors, giving off their own (((((HUGE))))) magnetic field by metal detector standards. There is no metal detector on the market that will do what you want it to do, I'm sorry to say. |
|
Quoted:
Thermal imaging camera. Buddy of mine has a business where he goes to homes to look for hidden water leaks, drafts, areas where builders skimped on insulation etc. You'd be surprised what he finds and you can tell instantly. He's found guns, cash, coins, ammo, jewelry etc hidden in walls. View Quote |
|
|
Quoted:
Let me save you some time, OP. I'm an experienced detectorist, with a bunch of years at it, so take my advice with whatever amount of salt you want to. Do not waste your time using a metal detector. Your attic is filled with steel, various kinds of wires, nails, other types of fasteners, and potentially heating and air ducting and about a million other metal objects. There's no way you'll be able to filter out all that ferrous metal without completely ignoring all steel...and then you'll ignore the gun unless it's brass or something else non-ferrous. Iron is at the low end of the magnetic spectrum and while the easiest to filter out, that's what you are looking for in this case. Also, live electrical wires play merry hell with metal detectors, giving off their own (((((HUGE))))) magnetic field by metal detector standards. There is no metal detector on the market that will do what you want it to do, I'm sorry to say. View Quote I don't leave until Sarurday so I have some time. I have been scouring the house with the help of my brother in law with no luck. So back to the attic I go... |
|
Crawl in to every cabinet and look up and at the back side of the cupboard. I was replacing the drains in a bathroom sink at my house and found a folding knife taped to the inside of the cabinet. You’d never had known it was there unless you crawled in like that. It wasn’t a nice knife by any means, but I often wondered what made them feel the need to do it.
I checked all the other cabinets hoping to find more goodies, but there were none. |
|
|
"Likely in a soft case, under insulation"? After years, would it be in any kind of condition you'd want to find?
Sorry to hear about your dad, and an old Mauser is a piece of history, but it might be time to write this one off. |
|
I would ask your rotten uncle. He probably has it. That's where most of the good stuff went after my grand dad died. He was not even room temp yet and stuff started to go missing.
|
|
It's a shame the house is not in WV, a Pillbilly would have found it for you in short order.
|
|
Quoted:
So where the hell can I rent a metal detector? View Quote |
|
Metal detector with sensitivity turned down, but run from the floor below, scanning the ceiling and taking notes of positions of large deposits.
Kharn |
|
|
Quoted:We started cleaning out the garage and going through his tool boxes. Dad grew up on a farm and was a machinist for most of his adult life so there was a lot to go through. Grabbed an oily rag from one tool box. Unrolled it and there was the pistol. Still loaded. View Quote |
|
Mom died in Feb 2018. Dad followed not too much later in August. Worst year evar. My wife and I are the local kids though, and were tasked with cleaning up the estate. In doing so, we stumbled across a .38 Spcl Colt Police Positive, and a .32 S&W Colt Pocket Positive, both in pristine condition. They evidently belonged to my paternal grandpa & grandma. I will never sell them, LOL! Haven't fired though either; both were made in 1918, according to Colt's database.
|
|
Large auto pickup magnet
Above closet doors inside closet Check any new drywall patches or newly painted areas |
|
You say he did the same thing in ND. Look in the same places he hid things in the ND house, patterns of thinking and all.
|
|
|
Sign up for the ARFCOM weekly newsletter and be entered to win a free ARFCOM membership. One new winner* is announced every week!
You will receive an email every Friday morning featuring the latest chatter from the hottest topics, breaking news surrounding legislation, as well as exclusive deals only available to ARFCOM email subscribers.
AR15.COM is the world's largest firearm community and is a gathering place for firearm enthusiasts of all types.
From hunters and military members, to competition shooters and general firearm enthusiasts, we welcome anyone who values and respects the way of the firearm.
Subscribe to our monthly Newsletter to receive firearm news, product discounts from your favorite Industry Partners, and more.
Copyright © 1996-2024 AR15.COM LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Any use of this content without express written consent is prohibited.
AR15.Com reserves the right to overwrite or replace any affiliate, commercial, or monetizable links, posted by users, with our own.