My idea on both guns under consideration is, they should have been offered back to the owners, they had obviously been stolen. If it was Great-Granddads gun, it should be the owners choice to have it repaired or abandoned to law enforcement. Anyone that thinks a great effort is made to return stolen guns back to the owner has not talked to many people that have lost them, or to policemen. If you are robbed, The first question you will be asked is, was everything locked up? The second is, do you have insurance? If you have insurance , many police agencies won't make a concerted effort to return any guns to the owners( with no regard for heirlooms or limits on recovery amounts). A friend of mine bought a pile of confiscated guns from a sheriff's auction, they were holding for the local police department( police couldn't auction them, sheriff could). After spending a lot of time effort and money, putting them in good enough shape to sell, ATF came and confiscated most of the ones that had any value. They were sold to him by "serial number" and promptly logged into his "bound book". The one they took had been listed with them as "stolen" and the police had not even checked the list. My friend still doesn't have all the money he paid and lost, back from the Sheriff/police. He will never get the money he lost working on the guns back.
Mike
