Had my small house by the creek, in town, up for sale, as now I'm in another state. House is in the south, where drugs and crack heads abound.
Big realtor 'for sale' sign out front. Population of town - 3800.
Okay, I had two cheap (about $40) Sentry safes bolted to the floor in the bedroom closet and at the foot of the bed. Pffft, took me longer to bolt them to the floor than the crackheads to break into them. These two were sort of decoys, sort of. One just had a few knives in it and a $20 bill. The other ( my mistake) had about $1000 of ammo in it, maybe 1500 rounds - .38, .357, .40 and .45. And a flat screen color TV, about $400, in the living room. And several firearms - five .38's, one .357 mag, two shotgns (both of which in the closet, tucked around the corner, almost behind drywall).
When I came in the house, front door, about midnight, after a long drive from Nashville, I immediately noticed the TV gone. . . so went and check the two safes. Yep, both broken into. All they had to do was whack the front lock with a hammer and the 'safe' was open, then clean everything out. They got all the ammo, and just a Buck 110 knife and a TOPS Scout knife. They left some Bulldog and Case knives AND left the shotgns.
After the LEO's came and took notes, we noticed there was a concrete brick outside at one window. No forced entry anywhere, so we surmised (I did) that at least a two party team was having a realtor show them the house, and while the agent was occupied, the other unlocked that rear window from within the house. (as it was still unlocked after discovery of burglary) Then later that night probably, they just climbed through the window with the aid of the brick and helped themselves to the empty house. Didn't bother to lock the window or get rid of the brick. Thieves are lazy. They may have seen the shtgns but left them, since they carry a bigger penalty for stealing and are harder to fence.
The only thing that worked, was I also had a THIRD safe that was a little bit hidden. That's why I said the first two were sort of decoys. I had this one bolted to the floor under the couch in the living room. They never bothered to look under the couch ONCE finding the two 'sort of' decoys. (again, dumbass, I had all that ammo in the one)
In the MAIN one under the couch, there were the 5 handgns and lots of silver coins, worth about $15k. Dumbass crackheads.
LEO's took notes and put out an APB I guess for stolen ammo in local pawn shops but didn't take fingerprints or check the realtors for 'guests' or showings. Never heard from them again.
I suspect the burglary may have been the crackhead son of a good friend. He knows when I'm in town and out of town.
I also suspect that all my ammo and color TV were traded for 3 months worth of drug highs and gratuitous sex in the bad part of town. Hope they have good memories of that while in Hell.
Moral of the story? If you have a lot to protect, get a GOOD safe, not some WalMart special made in a small village in western China. Learn what a RSC is. Put your good safe in a hidden place, WHILE you put a cheapo safe somewhere in your bedroom or bedroom closet. Have some cheap Chinese knives, maybe a $20 bill and whatever else may look good to a crackhead, IN the cheapo safe, not your good Buck or TOPS and definitely not ammo, which is very easy to trade away and almost impossible to trace.
Most so called gun safes are not that safe...they can easily be broken into by 2 guys with crowbars in less than 5 minutes. If you have one, let it be your decoy. Heck, a $10 pvc pipe buried in the ground is better than Liberty Gun Safe bolted to your garage concrete floor. Deception and concealment are more important than big popular name safes.
I post this to save anyone else what I went through. Discussion.
Big realtor 'for sale' sign out front. Population of town - 3800.
Okay, I had two cheap (about $40) Sentry safes bolted to the floor in the bedroom closet and at the foot of the bed. Pffft, took me longer to bolt them to the floor than the crackheads to break into them. These two were sort of decoys, sort of. One just had a few knives in it and a $20 bill. The other ( my mistake) had about $1000 of ammo in it, maybe 1500 rounds - .38, .357, .40 and .45. And a flat screen color TV, about $400, in the living room. And several firearms - five .38's, one .357 mag, two shotgns (both of which in the closet, tucked around the corner, almost behind drywall).
When I came in the house, front door, about midnight, after a long drive from Nashville, I immediately noticed the TV gone. . . so went and check the two safes. Yep, both broken into. All they had to do was whack the front lock with a hammer and the 'safe' was open, then clean everything out. They got all the ammo, and just a Buck 110 knife and a TOPS Scout knife. They left some Bulldog and Case knives AND left the shotgns.
After the LEO's came and took notes, we noticed there was a concrete brick outside at one window. No forced entry anywhere, so we surmised (I did) that at least a two party team was having a realtor show them the house, and while the agent was occupied, the other unlocked that rear window from within the house. (as it was still unlocked after discovery of burglary) Then later that night probably, they just climbed through the window with the aid of the brick and helped themselves to the empty house. Didn't bother to lock the window or get rid of the brick. Thieves are lazy. They may have seen the shtgns but left them, since they carry a bigger penalty for stealing and are harder to fence.
The only thing that worked, was I also had a THIRD safe that was a little bit hidden. That's why I said the first two were sort of decoys. I had this one bolted to the floor under the couch in the living room. They never bothered to look under the couch ONCE finding the two 'sort of' decoys. (again, dumbass, I had all that ammo in the one)
In the MAIN one under the couch, there were the 5 handgns and lots of silver coins, worth about $15k. Dumbass crackheads.
LEO's took notes and put out an APB I guess for stolen ammo in local pawn shops but didn't take fingerprints or check the realtors for 'guests' or showings. Never heard from them again.
I suspect the burglary may have been the crackhead son of a good friend. He knows when I'm in town and out of town.
I also suspect that all my ammo and color TV were traded for 3 months worth of drug highs and gratuitous sex in the bad part of town. Hope they have good memories of that while in Hell.
Moral of the story? If you have a lot to protect, get a GOOD safe, not some WalMart special made in a small village in western China. Learn what a RSC is. Put your good safe in a hidden place, WHILE you put a cheapo safe somewhere in your bedroom or bedroom closet. Have some cheap Chinese knives, maybe a $20 bill and whatever else may look good to a crackhead, IN the cheapo safe, not your good Buck or TOPS and definitely not ammo, which is very easy to trade away and almost impossible to trace.
Most so called gun safes are not that safe...they can easily be broken into by 2 guys with crowbars in less than 5 minutes. If you have one, let it be your decoy. Heck, a $10 pvc pipe buried in the ground is better than Liberty Gun Safe bolted to your garage concrete floor. Deception and concealment are more important than big popular name safes.
I post this to save anyone else what I went through. Discussion.