My dad's stolen 1911 is back home

[Riomouse911]

Glad you got it back, and will be able to fire up the ol’ memory machine once you two hit the range together.

I had the first pistol I bought, an Iver Johnson TP-22, stolen in a home burglary back in 1989 when I lived up in Humboldt County, Ca.

About a year after it was stolen, apparently a native guy went off his rocker and was arrested vandalizing work trucks from the utility company (PG&E). The gun was taken out of the guys car, but it was only booked for safekeeping as the deputy never ran it.

So after two years passed with the gun in the evidence locker, the evidence clerk was going to destroy it but then saw it wasn’t ever run through the system. She ran it, it came back reported stolen from me, she tracked me down to my new address in So Cal and ultimately mailed it back to me with a copy of the report. (It had the case number written in Sharpie on the magazine, too.)



Every once in a while the stars align and missing guns come home.

Stay safe.

 

[5-SHOTS]

Im actually looking to get it refinished. Going back and forth between nitriding or cerakote.

If it was mine I'll refinish it to the original conditions with a new sandblast and brushing.
Sorry but instead of nitriding or cerakoting it, I'd leave it as it is now.

 

[Trey Veston]

Great story! I had a couple of firearms stolen in a burglary while I was living in Arizona and I'm sure I'll never see them again.

I also just inherited a Kimber when my dad passed last year, and it was his only carry pistol. I cleaned it up and replaced the defective Crimson Carry laser with a new one and it is now pristine.

If I were you, I would have the Kimber re-blasted and polished. The abuse and wear on it is not from your father, but rather from a POS criminal and needs to be erased. In my opinion, restoring it to original condition will help erase the ugliness of the theft and will bring back more fond memories of your dad shooting the pistol.

 

[1948CJ2A]

Thanks for sharing this story! What shape is the bore in? Were you able to make it out to shoot over the weekend?
I have a similar Kimber 1911 and it's very picky on what ammo I feed it, from a functional perspective.

 

[C-grunt]

Thanks for sharing this story! What shape is the bore in? Were you able to make it out to shoot over the weekend?
I have a similar Kimber 1911 and it's very picky on what ammo I feed it, from a functional perspective.

The bore looks great. I shot it yesterday and it shoots great. Still very accurate. It is still very reliable.

It is going to have to go back to a smith though. My dad had a very light trigger put in. Not only is it too light for my liking, but the hammer is slipping the sear sometimes when the gun is racked hard. The sear catch grabs it, but Im not shooting it again until the trigger is fixed. Ill have a heavier trigger put in it too. It has to be like a 1 pound trigger.

 

[SSN Vet]

Send it out to have the mat finish bead blasted and the flats polished up....
this shouldn't cost too much.

 

[Mauserguy]

I'm glad you got the gun back, but I'm curious. It's a stainless gun. What caused the rust, sweat, blood, chemicals?
Mauserguy