Stolen

[ObsidianOne]

I moved out of my mother's house just about a year ago and when I left, I left behind my 28" Mossberg 500A barrel (Click). Long story short, my uncle moved in and his tweaker girlfriend and her son tagged along, my mother caught them stealing some of her clothes and other things and kicked them all out about 4 months ago.
I got to thinking last night and was trying to find my other barrel and couldn't find it. Then I remembered that I left it in my old closet.
Went back tonight to pick it up and lo and behold, it's gone.
While I am extremely pissed that it's gone, I'm moreso angry that it was stolen from me.
More to the point, as far as retrieval, we found that they had run off and pawned my mother's laptop and her GPS for her car. I'm wondering, should I call around to pawn shops (there's about 3 of them here) and gun shops and ask if they've bought any shotgun barrels recently? And if so, is there any way I can retrieve it? I checked my 18" barrel and it doesn't appear to have any serial numbers on it, so I think it's unlikely that it can be matched or that I can really prove that it's mine.
Should I report this to the police even though it's something that happened 4 months ago?

 

[Full Metal Jacket]

Should I report this to the police even though it's something that happened 4 months ago?

yes.

 

[LawScholar]

I would absolutely report it, as soon as possible.

 

[ObsidianOne]

Will report it after work tonight. However, there probably isn't any way I can prove that said barrel was mine even if I found it, correct?

 

[Freedom_fighter_in_IL]

Sadly, Mossburg does not put serials on their Barrels. I just looked on all 3 of my barrels and not a one has a serial number on them. So I guess proof would be very hard.

 

[Savage Shooter]

It'd be pretty hard to prove there yours unless they have distictive marks on them such as rust, scratches, and paint. But you'd have to really good pictures of them.

 

[ObsidianOne]

I checked my short barrel and it too doesn't have a serial number. Bummer.
Honestly I never used the barrel, it was on the gun when I bought it, and it got swapped out to the 18" barrel.
The only features I remeber are the long rail on the top and the sight bead was white. Hardly conclusive identification I guess :/

 

[mptrimshop]

heck if one of the pawn shops have i bet they didn't pay more than $25 to a cracky for it anyway...maybe you could work a deal out wit the owner.

 

[ObsidianOne]

heck if one of the pawn shops have i bet they didn't pay more than $25 to a cracky for it anyway...maybe you could work a deal out wit the owner.

I kinda figured the same. I called one of the pawn shops in town before going to work and they said they haven't had any shotgun barrels come in. :/

 

[Hanzo581]

I would make my uncle buy me a new one. Contacting the police may give you a warm fuzzy feeling but it isn't going to get your barrel back.

 

[CoastieShep]

I would make my uncle buy me a new one. Contacting the police may give you a warm fuzzy feeling but it isn't going to get your barrel back.

I would make my uncle buy me a new one

If he's running around with a tweeker and he's stealing from his own family, there's no way in hell he could come up with the money for a new barrel, unless of course he steals it. Trust me, I know. But it was my uncle that was the tweeker.
Best thing to do is report it, call the pawn shops, and cut all ties with your uncle. Haven't seen mine in 10 years now, neither has the rest of the family.

 

[ObsidianOne]

I would make my uncle buy me a new one. Contacting the police may give you a warm fuzzy feeling but it isn't going to get your barrel back.

Unfortunately he is MIA and has a warrant for his arrest. Real winners, right?
His girlfriend and her son were recently arrested in Phoenix, AZ for shoplifting and apparently had other charges (no surprise there). There was an officer that was working a case on them when my mother had reported some things stolen so I think I should give him a call instead? He apparently told her if she found anything else that was missing to call him and let him know.

 

[Sgt_R]

Write it off as a loss and get on with your life. That goes for the barrel, and the uncle.

R

 

[Hanzo581]

Ah, I read it as just the girlfriend and her kid turned out to be the dirtbags. Any any rate I wouldn't bother with it, if it were an entire firearm though I would certainly contact the police.

 

[ObsidianOne]

Write it off as a loss and get on with your life. That goes for the barrel, and the uncle.

R

That's the plan. Just a bummer there isn't much more I can do to retrieve my lost property. Oh well, at least it was just a barrel

 

[7thCavScout]

If they did pawn it they should have been required to show a state or federal issued photo ID (my state anyway). They should also have records of who pawned what. That should get the ball rolling for your local PD.

 

[Jesse Heywood]

Report it to the police. You never know, it might already be in an evidence locker.

They just busted some theft rings here and you had to do to reclaim property was show up with your photo id, tell them what was yours, and have your picture taken with the items you claimed. You didn't have to prove it was yours, they took your word on it.

 

[x_wrench]

i would still report it. even if noone can even prove they stole it, i would think there augt to be some way of the suspician or accusation staying with their names. so that in the future, the police would at least know they would be capable of stealing firearms. of course, i am a no knothing country hick, that knows nothing of the way the cop shops work. just my 2 cents worth. in the future, using an engraver to etch the s/n of the firearm into the barrel may help if it ever happens again. fool me once, shame on you. fool me twice, shame on me.