Beginner, awesome find!!

[Jdett411]

Very new at hunting water. Just picked up an Excal right before Xmas, only hunted dry sand up until Saturday. Had an exciting find too! First hour or so I was finding pennies, dimes, quarter. Then I hit a 1950 dime and 1949 quarter, first silver ever too. There were 2 other guys hunting too that seemed to be making quite a few finds. So after they left I moved over to there spot. With in seconds I got a good signal.....what do I find?!?!? This.....

 

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[Toby1858]

Hmmm, kinda makes you wonder why it's there? Good goin' on the silver!

 

[ohiowhiteguy]

be careful it could of been used in a crime and some one ditched it the water..
you might wanna check with the po-po on it..
cool find for sure..

 

[materdigger1]

great find

 

[Terry Soloman]

Cool Find indeed!

 

[Jdett411]

Thanks guys. I brought it to shore, covered it with sand so it wasn't laying exposed til I was done hunting. As I loaded up the car, there was a cop in the parking lot. So I told him what I had found, typical Chicago cop tho, didn't want to get out of his car to walk down and look at it. Told me " you found it, it's yours now or just leave it there " this is exactly the attitude why Chicago has a bad rap, only 1 reason a gun would be in Lake Michigan. So I decided to keep it. It's in too bad of condition to work or restore. Ill clean it up best I can and when Chicago has their Firearms Buy Back program this year ill take it in and get $100 for it. Win!!

 

[WHADIFIND]

Ill clean it up best I can and when Chicago has their Firearms Buy Back program this year ill take it in and get $100 for it. Win!!

Sounds like a good idea, exceptin' ....maybe, when you turn in the gun and it's traced to a crime. You'll be the only one associated with it. Not much chance and call me paranoid, but, not worth the chance to me. Maybe when you tell 'em you found it, they'll believe ya. Stranger things have happened.

Is there any laws about not turning in a found weapon?

Still, good job finding something interesting!

HH!

 

[Bev]

be careful it could of been used in a crime and some one ditched it the water..
you might wanna check with the po-po on it..
cool find for sure..

Absolutely agreed! Maybe you could help solve a major crime! I can't believe the cop's response. I bet his superiors would love to know but then again do you really want to make an enemy? Tough call.

 

[Jdett411]

Chicagos gun buy back program is a no questions asked kinda thing. It's mostly aimed at gang members, drug addicts, etc.... They do it to get guns off the streets. Thanks tho guys.

 

[rock]

I say just take it to the dept and then tell them how you found it. If they say to keep it then get that in writing with their letter head on the paper. Make it official so you then can turn it in for the 100 with documentation. Otherwise you might find yourself in trouble. Good save

 

[wheatfinder13]

Awesome

 

[CoilyGirl]

Cool find on the pistol for sure but I'm freeing with the others to turn it in and document it.

 

[Iron Patch]

I'm sort of a junky when it comes to real life type crime shows and so many times a single piece of evidence is what makes the difference. You wouldn't think a misc. gun would mean much, but I have seen an occasion or two where it's recovery cracked the case. Obviously the odds are probably slim to none, but does make you think.

 

[davest]

in that shape I don't think anyone can do a ballistics test on it........and as for fingerprints, nah.

good idea for the buy back $100.00 win.

 

[Jdett411]

I thought about taking his car number and going to the station and talking to someone higher up. I don't live in Chicago, I'm in the burbs, this is a pretty bad neighborhood evening til the AM so I wouldn't make any enemies. The negative impact I did think about tho was making a stink about this particular cop might set off bad vibes to everyone who detects this area. This was in the south lake front area. ALOT of history there, Worlds Fair host area.

 

[MUD(S.W.A.T)]

That cop was an idiot, take it to the proper authorities and don't go to Jail for it later in life.
Keep @ it and HH !!

 

[chenty]

That cop was an idiot, take it to the proper authorities and don't go to Jail for it later in life.
Keep @ it and HH !!

I agree ONLY REASON it would be in the lake.......UNLESS the lake has grown

 

[BosnMate]

Wow, just mention gun and people really go nuts. Why would it be a problem? It's an inanimate object that probably couldn't be made to work. Even if it could it wouldn't be any good, a lawyer would shred a ballistic test on a re-built firearm. Lets say it was used in a murder, and then thrown into the lake. What are you going to learn from the gun now. No finger prints, no ballistic tests. If the gun was stolen, and the owner reported it, along with the serial number, and the cops bothered to keep the report, the gun might be returned to it's owner, but what sort of help would it be catching the thief. If the gun isn't wanted, do the buy back and don't look back. That's what I hear happens at those buy backs anyhow. Lots of unworkable guns sold for more than they are worth. If I found it, I'd keep it and never look back.

 

[cti4sw]

Um... ballistics testing would still be possible if he could clean up the inside of the barrel. Most bullet ballistics lies on the rifling pattern (after caliber is determined), so as long as SOME of the rifling is intact after cleaning, there's no reason why CPD couldn't determine whether or not it was used in a crime where it would have been fired. And, as he already said, Chicago has a no-questions-asked turn-in program, so not only would he not be asked, but there would be nothing to tie him to the piece anyway.

Dude, it's your call whether you want to turn it in. With Chicago's crime rate, I'm sure their forensics lab is backlogged as it is, so you might get the same response at the station as the street cop gave you. It may not hurt to get something from them certifying that they've examined it or passed it over so that you can display it or sell it, but since you've already given your intentions, I wouldn't bother.

 

[CityDigger]

Nice find and a funny thread. Maybe BuckleBoy could help you clean it up with some of his button cleaning magic!