My father had a 30-40 Krag rifle that belonged to my Great Grandfather and was left to my father when my Grandfather died. It was stolen from him in around 1990. I know who stole it and I'm 100% sure he hocked it for cash, and I could even make a few likely guesses as to what towns he might have hocked it in. It meant the world to my father and I've always wanted to somehow recover it for him (buy it back from whoever has it now) as a surprise. But I don't know A THING about guns. I was thinking of putting a want ad out there somewhere, don't know if Craiglists would allow that type of ad or not, or maybe post ads in the towns I suspect it could be in, but I'm trying to figure out if there is ANY way to recover it. I know it's a ridiculous long shot, and the odds are it's long gone and I'll never see it again, but you never know.
Does anyone have any suggestions about how to identify this gun? Are there markings or styles that vary that could identify it as my father's? I've tried casually asking him what kind of gun it was, but all he says is a 30-40 Krag. I thought to post this because I saw another thread that TheKid posted about one. I tried looking it up online but haven't found much out about them. Doesn't help that I'm TOTALLY gun-illiterate. Are there a million of these things out there that all look the same, or is there something specific I could ask my dad to narrow his down? I need to be casual about it, make up an excuse, like I was chatting with one of you about one and it made me want to ask him about his.
I can't figure out a way to say "Exactly what did it look like, did it have any scratches..." etc., because he'll obviously be suspicious. ANY suggestions on how to go about this or is this just impossible?
Does anyone have any suggestions about how to identify this gun? Are there markings or styles that vary that could identify it as my father's? I've tried casually asking him what kind of gun it was, but all he says is a 30-40 Krag. I thought to post this because I saw another thread that TheKid posted about one. I tried looking it up online but haven't found much out about them. Doesn't help that I'm TOTALLY gun-illiterate. Are there a million of these things out there that all look the same, or is there something specific I could ask my dad to narrow his down? I need to be casual about it, make up an excuse, like I was chatting with one of you about one and it made me want to ask him about his.
I can't figure out a way to say "Exactly what did it look like, did it have any scratches..." etc., because he'll obviously be suspicious. ANY suggestions on how to go about this or is this just impossible?