I think that Colts as well as pieces from other gun makers that every now and then are found without a serial number are often believed to be such a "lunch box" gun. True or not I don't know...I've never seen one nor heard of a documented such critter. It always seems to be hearsay...someone heard from someone else whose 6th cousin removed heard from his grandfather's ex-brother-in-law's best friend. I'm sure Colt and other gun makers all have pretty tight security checking employees as they leave (maybe upon arriving as well). If there were any discrepancies you can bet you'd read about it from an ATF news release. Look at what happened with Stag Firearms. Sneaking pieces or complete guns out is definitely a termination offense and I wouldn't be surprised if employees have been dismissed for such theft over time.

During WWII my dad was a machinist in the Washington Navy Yard's big gun shop...he worked on breech mechanisms for the guns for Navy ships. He said they were searched as they left every day. During his off-shift time he used scrap materials to make a large knife...a used up file blade plus scrap micarta, aluminum and some other materials I can't remember. If it had been made by a GI, sailor or Marine in a combat zone, it would be called a theater-made knife. He knew he couldn't sneak it out but his boss knew about the knife and drove him out of the Navy Yard as he didn't get searched. I have that knife still...it's worth little to anyone but me.

 

That is most coincidental, (concerning your Dad working as a machinist at the Washington Navy Yard's gun shop), as my Dad was a tool&die maker/machinist at the Rock Island (IL) Arsenal during much of WWII! Dad worked in the small arms division, re-conditioning M1911 pistols, machine guns, and towards the end of the war, he even reconditioned/re-built tanks!

The reason I even mention this, is because years later, he told the story of one of the guys he worked with, who had been arrested for theft. It seems this person would leave part of his lunch uneaten, and would place a "part" of a re-conditioned M1911 in between whatever the sandwich/whatever his lunch was made of, and when he was searched when leaving at the end of the workday, it just appeared to be the remains of the guy's lunch that he hadn't eaten! When finally arrested, Dad said this guy had accumulated and assembled SEVERAL HUNDRED M1911 45 pistols down in his basement at home! That was such an enormous war-time operation, that I'm surprised they didn't have TANKS being stolen! At one time, the Arsenal was in operation 24/7, and had around 50,000 people working there, with traffic police and the whole thing! I can remember going there with my Dad (and Grandfather who also worked there), when I was a small boy, and actually PLAYING in and on the tanks, (which were parked in row after row, hundreds of them!) It was like visiting a huge military base with uniformed military personnel at the checkpoints and gates, fully armed guards, machine guns and rifles, etc.!

nowinca

 

No doubt it has happened in the past and still may happen, there are plenty of Radar O'Reillys wannabes I'm sure.

Sneaking out non serialized parts is one thing but missing frames and slides will be hard to explain.

 

Having worked in the hourly workforce and in management at various manufacturing venues over the years I have absolutely no doubt whatsoever in my mind that people will steal anything they are able to steal whether it be materials , company time, finished goods or what have you. That goes for the guy pushing the broom all the way up to plant management.

 

I have no doubt whatsoever: They do exist. I have worked in several large production plants, and you would be amazed to see the amount of parts, tools and supplies people carried out. The only difference is that Colt makes guns, and the thought of being caught with a stolen firearm might be a deterrent to some.

 

A Navy fighter aircraft was stolen piece by piece from the rework facility at NAS Alameda and assembled in a backyard. I think it was a Hellcat. I had heard the story and then the Oakland Tribune did an article on it. If I remember correctly, there was a picture of the aircraft in the article.

 

I used to work with a guy who previously worked at a distillery. One of his employees would steal a bottle of vodka every day . When they finally got stung on an ATF audit they raided the guys house and found 2 full pallets of liquor in his garage.

 

I don't know about lunchbox guns, but I know it happens with cars. In fact, I heard about this guy who built his Cadillac one piece at a time. (And it didn't cost him a dime).

 

Didn't Johnny Cash do a song about it?

 

I just had to......https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q6i6g0JLKIw

 

I heard a story when I first hired in at Lockheed as a guard. Someone stole a life raft out of a P-3. They got it home in their garage and inflated it. They soon got caught. They didn't know it had a homing radio beacon in it that would automatically go off.

 

There was a big scandal about 10 or 15 years ago of an upper level employee stealing a LOT of pistols from a gun company.
It might have been Charter Arms??
He was caught and went to jail.
He was at a level that he could do this and get away with it at least for a while.

From the sound of it in gun shops and on the internet there is and was a long line of employees of gun companies walking out the door with lunch boxes full of unserialed, finished, blued, and working guns.
The truth is that no doubt it happened, but I'd think it would be a very rare case.
Most manufacturing and gun company employees are restricted to their work area and are not allowed to wonder around a plant.
This raises the question of how they managed to get slides, frames, and barrels from areas they weren't allowed to enter.

A key is that most of these "lunch box specials" are older guns made pre-war or during WWII.
This means these are used guns that have been through who knows how many hands and what they may have done to the gun.
People refuse to accept that it's possible to remove serial numbers and US Property stamps and not leave obvious signs of removal.

So, someone buys a gun they think, or know, is stolen and remove the stamps. Result: Instant lunch box gun stolen from a factory.

 

Well if I find a COLT, RUGER, or any gun with NO SERIAL NUMBER....I lay it back down and move on....

I don't care what the story is or how rare it might be...

They all came with numbers and the few that might be legit with no numbers don't interest me at all...how would you ever prove it came that way ???? RR

 

I know for a fact the FN Plant in SC has a very strict security for anyone thinking of stealing anything. They must badge in when they enter the Plant, any lunch boxes, etc are checked by Security. They also go thru a metal detector upon entry. When they leave the Plant, back thru Security again and any boxes, packages, etc. are fully checked, another metal detector before leaving too.

Since they also manufacture the M-16 rifle there, no one is allowed out of their work area to go into another area unless cleared. The receivers for the M-16 are serialed as soon as they are finish machined. Any scrap with the Reciever must be accounted for each shift before anyone can leave the Plant.

The Security folks are also armed and they know how to use them too. I feel sure they are not carrying Colts.

 

Well funny story...my Grandfather worked at UNION CARBIDE and this guy would take a wheel barrow of broken carbon/coke out to his car about every other day....
The guards and everyone didn't care as this stuff was scrap and worth pennies at the most....

Until they figured out he never brought back the wheel barrows

Well one time Grampa told me about using the stuff in his COAL STOVE...he banked it up and set the draft as usual before he went to bed....

Woke up and the house was about 100++ degrees and when he went to the basement the stove was CHERRY RED....melted the candles on the kitchen table....he never ever used it again....RR

 

What...you don't think they're carrying Colts at the FN plant?

Yeah, I'm sure security at most facilities today is much better than during WWII...of course, they never even had metal detectors at that time...

 

Well I would think stealing guns from a munitions plant during the war might be considered TREASON....was it worth the risk for a $5 gun ??? RR

 

$5 ? A new Colt has almost always been the price of an ounce of gold . It was in the 1800's and the MSRP on one now is about that today.

Treason is a strong word. The act of treason has been prosecuted a handful of times since the inception of the republic. Theft maybe. Treason no.

 

I just find it hard to believe that we had that many THIEVES working at the factories supplying our TROOPS....and in my eyes it is treason....RR

 

There was this factory and every other day or two this one employee would pass by the guard shack pushing a wheelbarrow covered with a tarp. The guard would always stop him and have him lift the tarp just to make sure he wasn't trying to haul something away. The wheelbarrow was always empty, so the guard would pass him on through. It was about a year before somebody figured out that the employee was stealing tarps and wheelbarrows.

Old joke that not everybody has heard.

 

"I don't know about lunchbox guns, but I know it happens with cars. In fact, I heard about this guy who built his Cadillac one piece at a time. (And it didn't cost him a dime)."
I was thinking of this Johnny Cash song, as soon as i read the title.

 

I live in the Hartford area, and have seen several lunch box Colts.

 

People will steal anything, anytime.

For the first years of my career, I worked in accounting for Ford Motor Company at two assembly plants. We had a list of pilferable parts, such as radios, alternators, batteries, etc. Those commodities were kept in locked cages, and they still walked out the door. Each week those parts were counted, and the losses (never gains) reported.

I asked my inventory analyst (drop dead gorgeous brunette) to go out in the plant, entering the pilferable parts cages, smile, and take out whatever she wanted, and was never questioned. We kept the stash in our office for a month, and took it to the next inventory meeting. The material manager was greatly embarrassed by the display, since he had stated that those parts were always 100% secure. The security improved, and pilfering dropped substantially after that.

 

Yes, and the saddest part of this fact of life, is that the largest example of real theft in society is the so called "white collar" crime, which is for the most part perpetrated on and against the people who can least afford it, that is, the poor and disenfranchised, racial minorities, persons with little education, etc. Just as this is true, the biggest criminals. and thieves, are those who use no weapons or violence in the commission of their crimes against the masses of people, such as the upper echelon members and executives of Wall Street, the investment firms, banks, lending institutions and mortgage companies, the oil and gas industry, the pharmaceutical conglomerates, the insurance companies, etc. THAT is where the REAL crooks are! All the petty theft in the world that occurs in private industry, doesn't even approach the level of dishonesty, theft, and corruption that occurs in most of these industries, under the guise of "business!"

nowinca

 

One of my Father's quotes (see him below in front of his gun shop astride friend's steed) "funny thing about people & guns, there are folks who would steal a gun that wouldn't steal money."

 

What`s the statute of limitation? I done something I aint proud of. Years ago my folks visited me. I thought I would Bbq for them and went to a large market for some good steaks. I seen a fluke on pricing. The steaks were priced at a fraction of the cost they should have been. I loaded up and went to the dumbest looking checker. They went through. As I was bbq`ing them I told dad about it. My dad was a strong Christian and a man of few words. He just said, Oh? Are they worth your soul?

 

It was the store's mistake...not yours. Still...my mom would have said the same thing...my dad would have taken advantage of it. Different people...different behaviors.

 

NEVER AGAIN! Thirty some years ago, me, wife & friend had lunch in Oklahoma hick town greasy spoon restaurant, food was good & cheap. As I got to the cash register to pay I noticed on pay-ticket had charged for only two meals instead of three. Honest me, called it to attention & would pay the proper price. Kid on the register yelled for "Dad" who came charging out of the kitchen. Took a lot of explaining I was only trying to pay more, pay what didn't show on the ticket. Meanwhile people were lining up from my holding up the check-out line. Finally got it all sorted out & paid the extra 3 bucks or so. But. lesson learned, Never Again!

 

Well, I don't think what occurred to you would be any reason to stop being honest, or to justify your not paying the bill for your meals...just because they made a mistake and/or were stupid! You did the right thing...

Years ago, I was at Stapleton Airport in Denver and stopped to use a payphone. While using the phone, I noticed a wallet, (kind of crammed under the phone box.) I opened the wallet, and there was $300 in cash in it! There was also a military ID, and a driver's license, as well as pictures of a young woman and a baby etc. I went to a counter and told an airport employee what I had found and he suggested I leave the wallet at "Lost and Found" and "they" would see that it was returned to the person who left it. I didn't like that idea, so I went to one of the airline counters and asked them to page the person's name. About 10 minutes later a "kid" in uniform (looked to be about 18-20) came up to the counter, and I could tell he was very distraught and upset, and he was so grateful to get his wallet back he was almost crying! He tried to give me a hundred dollars as a reward which I of course wouldn't accept.

The point here is, it would have been easy enough to just remove the money and toss the wallet in a trash can, but who the hell could do that to some kid who was probably just returning home, after getting shot at for six months over in Vietnam? I am sure that many of those "six-figure" banking executives who work on Wall Street...would have no problem with doing that whatever!

nowinca

 

When I was in High school 30+ years ago I went to a gun show with some friends. I went to a vocational high school around Cincinnati and they had a cop training program. One of the guys who was with me was in that cop program. As we were driving back I stopped at a stop sign and gunfire erupted from the back seat. The cop trainee was shooting at the stop sign. Startled me a bit. Lots of swearing later I found out that the cop trainee had stolen the pistol he had off the table at the gun show and had stolen ammo at another table..