its back the smith and wesson pistol found on 10/12/11

[wwwtimmcp]

after waiting almost 2 years, the Erie county sheriffs dept. has returned the smith and Wesson pistol I found in lake erie. true to their word I had to sign a property release form and I was good to go. had the gun been operational I would have needed a court order but it would have been returned as well. I had a nice chat with the deputy, we shook hands and I was off. as it turns out the gun was too rusty for a ballistic test and nothing came up on the serial number. for those of you who do find guns please do the right thing and turn them in, someones life may depend on it. for those of you who thought I would never see it again here's proof, they even threw in the evidence box. I am one happy camper tonight and best of all I cleaned out the cylinders and it is not loaded, I may just give it a few dips in clear polyurethane and leave it like it is.





happy hunting to all.

 

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[muddpuppy]

Great find! Nice to see it returned as promised. Back in 76, while on vacation in Texas, my brother found a hand grenade, yes a hand grenade at a closed down train depot. We wrapped it in a blanket and drove it back to central Ohio. Well mom had a fit, rightly so and called the sheriffs office. It was suppose to come back, but was not returned.


Enjoy and Keep Swinging

 

[joshua2]

Nice going man an congrats on the return

 

[Sawyer]

I am not positive, however that looks like the gun used to kill Jimmy Hoffa. You may have been within a couple of feet of his body!

 

[jewelerguy]

I remember that. glad you got it back. you can never have enough boxes of rusty junk

 

[parsonwalker]

Dollars to doughnuts, that dude popped SOMEbody.

 

[wwwtimmcp]

I doubt seriously it was used in a crime. there has been a lot of fired and dimpled ammunition found at this site, in this and a few other calibers as well. my guess is it either came from the old fishtug that went to pieces on the rocks in the 4th of july floods of 1969, or some kid had daddy's gun and was shooting when the cops showed up and rather than get caught threw the pistol in the lake. either way it will make a nice wall hanger and conversation piece.

 

[wheatfinder13]

That's an awesome gun! How old is it?

 

[fano169]

Awhile back I found a loaded 9 mm in a park , called cops and the hauled it away , was wraped in a plastic bag and burried 3 inches down

 

[wwwtimmcp]

I'd say it is 1940's it looks a lot like the pistol pilots used. JFK carried one on pt109 as well. probably war surplus or a bring back.
kudos on turning the 9mm in fano 169, you may have saved someones life. some gang banger probably hid it to use later .

 

[wouldtick]

I would be furious. They obviously didnt take care of it. Look how rusty it is now.

 

[dieselfool]

Wonder why it took so long? One quick glance tells you that it is beyond testing. It appears that they didn't even attempt to clean it.
Oh, well; at least you got it back.
It has some value, too. I have seen similar dug-up guns sell for 25 to 45 dollars.

 

[wwwtimmcp]

rusty ?, this guns has probably been in the lake longer than I've been breathing.
no idea on why it took so long, probably more because the deputies are short on manpower , they do a great job for us here, so no complaints. value ? it will not go up for sale any time soon.

 

[CoilyGirl]

Very glad you got it back and I think leaving it like it is is a good idea,don't want to clean it up too much probably.

 

[mcb]

Sweet find.

 

[Subterranean]

Great score wwwtimmcp! I have a S&W "Bible" and can help you date your Model 10 (?) .38 caliber revolver based on serial number alone. If you would like that, fire off a message to me and I would be glad to help. Is the serial number visible on the bottom strap of the grip frame? Happy Hunting, Sub

 

[geologyjohn]

Yeah, I too would say that it is a .38 special caliber S&W Model 10.

 

[wwwtimmcp]

I don't see a serial number, but it looks like numbers behind the cylinder on the right side of the gun, opposite of the loading side.