Gidday everyone- and heres hoping your christmas is going well for you and your family!

Has anyone out there ever handed in lost property to the police?
Just before sunrise this morning, I discovered an abandoned and damaged car on the Great Northern Goat Track, stopped the truck and checked it out to see if anyone was inside and needed help.

Found the car open, unlocked, no-one in the area- and 3 firearms on the front seat, two loaded, along with ammo scattered in and around the vehicle.
There was a lot of stuff scattered around the ute including a laptop and mini dvd player,
The bolts were missing from the rifles, but the .223 had a full mag- with one up the spout, and the shotgun had an empty case chambered.
The .22's magazine was there- and the rifle barrel is threaded for a silencer (not uncommon)
Empty and live ammo scattered throughout the ute- with a double handfull of live ammo on the drivers floor, live ammo and empties scattered outside as well.

No way was I going to leave this stuff unsecured out there, so bundled the firearms into the truck, along with all the ammo I could pick up, a couple of knives and a damaged petty cash tin with money, keys and SD cards.

No phone access, no comms around so we headed off towards Wubin checking for phone reception until I could raise a signal and arrange for police to meet us at Wubin.
Sarge was pretty happy, and was pretty quick to organise Mount Magnet Police to go and search the ute for the bolts (and possibly a silencer)
He mentioned I could put a claim in for the firearms if they turned out to be unlicensed- or were forfeited by the owner for being incredibly dumb with his firearms.
Sounds like a good offer to me!
So whats the drill? anyone deal with expensive stuff being won like this?

Stephen.

^^^

possible, but I dont think so,
the SSSSSSSangyong ute had shattered its front left wheel and dug its nose into the dirt- enough to make anyone need to take a dump.

Putting 2 and 2 together, and probably getting 17 and a bit, but I think it could be a vehicle nicked from a driveway at a family christmas party- car thief finding car + house keys and address and going to car owners home- nicking firearms, laptop etc and heading north, shooting up the countryside before dropping a wheel into a pothole and damaging the rim which then failed- stranding the thief.
hitch hiking while carrying firearms probably is a bit difficult- so just walked away.

or
being half cut after a hunting holiday and christmas dinner at mum and dads farm, silly sod heads back north before stacking, chucks a wobbly when seeing how bad the damage is- tossing stuff around then stomping off for help at nearest station, or hitching a lift.

What I cant understand is in either case, the smart thing to do is wrap up the firearms, ammo and valuables in something, and stash them out of sight 50m or so into the bush so they can be retrieved later.
(been there-done that years ago when my 1 tonner's clutch died on the way back from fox hunting in Koorda)

stephen.

a mate found a longboard on a median strip on marmion ave near mullaloo a few years ago.. Handed it into the local police, phoned back after the required amount of time and went to pick up his new board!! Very nice one too and legitimately done..

Differential thinking on the situation, I've seen a lot of car accidents where a more than a bit pissy driver wanders away leaving some questionable stuff behind..

How far between Wubin and Magnet? Wubin side of Paynes Find I imagine..

Or maybe its your car and youd been puffen on that magic dragon a little too much

Chris6791 said...
The threaded barrel has been illegally modified so it will probably be destroyed.

Rubbish!! You can buy 'em new with the muzzle threaded. My new CZ .17HMR has a threaded muzzle off the shelf. A removable flash arrester (muzzle brake) is perfectly legal. Any other device you might screw on there may or may not be illegal though.

dinsdale said...

Chris6791 said...
The threaded barrel has been illegally modified so it will probably be destroyed.

Rubbish!! You can buy 'em new with the muzzle threaded. My new CZ .17HMR has a threaded muzzle off the shelf. A removable flash arrester (muzzle brake) is perfectly legal. Any other device you might screw on there may or may not be illegal though.

My bad

That's why he is on here working up his alibi.

Ah.. See my guess would have been between paynes find and around ninghan... Fair few pissy drivers along that stretch!! Blind as a welders dog heading south for some reason.. Pretty interesting places along there :-) if you ever find out the story let us know!!

Ha!! Yeah it's pretty different to Ireland!!

I was working at Tom Price quite a while ago and a combi full of euro backpackers inadvertently found their way through a gate ended up driving down a pit ramp

Poor buggers must have been astounded at the size of the ute's these crazy folk drive in Oz and crap their nappy when wheels the size of small buildings trundle on past