Stolen US Optics Scope... SCOPE HAS BEEN RECOVERED

[sirhrmechanic]

Hi All:

Couple of weeks ago I bought an older US Optics scope through eBay. Seller is Vigilance Rifles in AZ and have been absolutely one of the best eBay sellers I've ever dealt with. Great communications, fast shipping... everything one could want.

Unfortunately, the scope made it to Fedex Warehouse in CT and has simply disappeared. Was supposed to be here almost 2 weeks ago. Numerous calls to Fedex and as of today they simply say "It's disappeared from our system and we can't find it... collect the insurance." Thanks Fedex. You continue to be useless... as always. Not to mention half your employees are thieves.

It was fully insured. And I am covered by eBay and by Credit Card Company if they fail to refund.... But the scope is a pretty unique early 5-25 Horus Reticle and I damn well wanted it for a specific rifle. And now it's disappered.

Since you guys in Sniper's Hide have had a pretty good track record finding some rare and older stuff (Rifles in particular)... I'll post here with serial number and photos. If anyone sees it (especially in CT or New England)... let me know! It's a total longshot. But maybe we can recover it. I'm sending the info to US Optics as well, in case anyone contacts them. And we'll be filing a police report with the CT State Police Troop C which covers Willington.

Here's some pictures. It is Serial Number 05-0176. Early model and one of JBW2's customs. It has a Horus Reticle.

Thanks for looking!

Cheers,

Sirhr

 

[KYAggie]

Will keep an eye out. I wish when they caught thieves like this, if they had irrefutable evidence, they would burn them alive in the FedEx parking lot as a warning to other prospective thieves. Add UPS and USPS as well.

 

[stanley_white]

As a USO lover, I will mourn on your behalf @sirhrmechanic.

-Stan

 

[sirhrmechanic]

Will keep an eye out. I wish when they caught thieves like this, if they had irrefutable evidence, they would burn them alive in the FedEx parking lot as a warning to other prospective thieves. Add UPS and USPS as well.

Bring Back the "Bellowing Bull."

The motivated will look it up! I bet it deterred plenty of folks and was probably really entertaining for the audience!

Cheers,

Sirhr

 

[notacos4u]

Hmmm, that’s odd, fed ex “loses“ your package, and hav,e no idea what happened to it…. You sure it wasn’t shipped to the west wing of the White House along with some mysterious white powder???

heck if the feds can’t find the identity of who’s cocaine it was, how can you expect fed ex to know what they do with your stuff?

 

[Hagen]

Fed ex delivered a set of swaro binoculars that I had to send off for warranty at wrong house. They were coming signature required. Had my sig but spelt wrong and definitely weren't at my house.

Fed ex just said they were dropped off at right place and signed for, nothing they could do. Luckily people were honest and brought them to me. Said the package was on their porch when they got home.

I'll pay extra for anybody else to deliver my stuff. Hopefully yours turns up.

 

[sirhrmechanic]

Well, USO maintains a list of stolen scopes and their customer service rep says that they've actually helped recover quite a few.

And it's now listed in NCIC so if it shows up anywhere... it will get flagged.

We'll see. Sucks. Both seller and I are covered... It was properly insured.

But major suckage as this was a really special-purpose scope and can't be replicated today.

Thanks for keep an eye out community!

Sirhr

 

[Nik H]

@sirhrmechanic

Interesting scope to say the least. I am sorry for your loss

Two top turrets are elevation and illumination?

 

[Jigstick]

 

[Bantam1]

Good luck with the search. I hope it can be recovered.

All of the shipping companies suck and they all have thieves. I work for a large fishing tackle manufacturer and we have stuff go missing often. A recent one comes to mind where FedEx delivered to an open field and it was signed for. They listed it as a gated community and signed for by a person in the office. When dealing with the rep I sent the Google map images of the location based on the address they listed (which wasn't even close to where it was supposed to go) . We don't insure the packages usually so of course we had to eat the $2500 in fishing rods. FedEx seems to be about the worst, but the big 3 in the US all have issues.

 

[NHPiper]

I had a very similar story, so I really can sympathize. I had a PVS30 for repair at KAC in FL for 5+ months. They finally fixed it and shipped it back. Some sticky fingered employee literally opened the UPS box and so when it arrived to go out for shipping at one of the last hubs, the tracking message said “box opened and contents missing.” Given the contents, a police investigation was opened since the feds don’t take kindly when ITAR items go missing.

KAC made it right a few months later by sending a substantially upgraded PVS30, but to my knowledge that unit never turned up.

Unfortunate we live in a world where we can’t trust shippers and the insurance is a nightmare to collect.

 

[padom]

Fed ex delivered a set of swaro binoculars that I had to send off for warranty at wrong house. They were coming signature required. Had my sig but spelt wrong and definitely weren't at my house.

Fed ex just said they were dropped off at right place and signed for, nothing they could do. Luckily people were honest and brought them to me. Said the package was on their porch when they got home.

I'll pay extra for anybody else to deliver my stuff. Hopefully yours turns up.

I had the exact same thing happen to me more than once. Luckily I have a commercial HD security camera system that covers every square inch of my house, driveway, street coming up mailbox, and property.

They pull that bullshit card with it was delivered to your address and someone signed for it. That's not my signature...oh someone else at your address signed it for you. No they didn't and would you like to come on over and I can show you the footage of the exact delivery time showing your people were never here.... I usually get the package very quickly after that...

 

[Jeff Gahler]

Unfortunate we live in a world where we can’t trust shippers and the insurance is a nightmare to collect.

Shipping is the biggest bunch of bull shit in the world

Imagine a plumber saying “ I can remodel your bathroom for $6000. But if you want to guarantee it will be done right or that I will actually show up at all it will be another $3000”

 

[sirhrmechanic]

I had a very similar story, so I really can sympathize. I had a PVS30 for repair at KAC in FL for 5+ months. They finally fixed it and shipped it back. Some sticky fingered employee literally opened the UPS box and so when it arrived to go out for shipping at one of the last hubs, the tracking message said “box opened and contents missing.” Given the contents, a police investigation was opened since the feds don’t take kindly when ITAR items go missing.

KAC made it right a few months later by sending a substantially upgraded PVS30, but to my knowledge that unit never turned up.

Unfortunate we live in a world where we can’t trust shippers and the insurance is a nightmare to collect.

Funny you bring that up because I thought about reporting it as an ITAR item. It is.

Not sure who to contact… or maybe start with FedEx and say “that state trooper who stopped by yesterday was door number one.”

“Door number two is federal.”

Maybe that gets someone’s attention.

Sirhr

 

[NHPiper]

Funny you bring that up because I thought about reporting it as an ITAR item. It is.

Not sure who to contact… or maybe start with FedEx and say “that state trooper who stopped by yesterday was door number one.”

“Door number two is federal.”

Maybe that gets someone’s attention.

Sirhr

I would definitely go that route. It will most def get their attention. I learned through the process that UPS has their own internal investigation team, but if you go the federal route or State trooper route, you will probably get more info out of the process.

I hate to loop in federals since they likely have bigger problems, but they would understand what ITAR is vs state or local police.

 

[Defender3]

It was not on the ranges at Quantico this weekend.

Seriously though, sorry you're going through this. My only similar experience was with an incredibly spectacular post war Garand stock that they must have intentionally jumped up an down on to crack the stock at the receiver well. Insurance paid, but that piece of wood has never been replicated.

 

[sirhrmechanic]

Just got word that the scope has been recovered, and is now in the hands of the guy who shipped it to me. It was not sent to me because technically it never left the system and he is the owner.

But I just got off the phone with him and we are going to ship it again through registered mail and take care of it after the payment refunds and Insurance crap are all dealt with in a couple of weeks.

No idea what or how it got recovered at this point. He said it is in good condition.

But it’s been over a month and amazingly enough right after the Connecticut state police visited the facility and put it in NCIC a week later it suddenly showed up in a “your package is on the way” email and arrived a few minutes ago in Arizona. This is after it was purged from the system around the 3rd or so. Funny how that works.

What the hell… at least this time will send it registered mail and it will definitely get here. and screw Ebay it’s going as a private transaction this time.

That is a great end to the week!

Cheers, Sirhr

 

[notacos4u]

Glad to hear you’re going to get your scope

 

[davsco]

you got a 'happy ending.' congrats!

i was away for a couple of weeks and come home to find a fedex package sitting on my doorstep, that should have been delivered to my neighbor!

 

[sirhrmechanic]

you got a 'happy ending.' congrats!

i was away for a couple of weeks and come home to find a fedex package sitting on my doorstep, that should have been delivered to my neighbor!

I can’t wait for society to come apart at the seams….

I need to fit myself up for a hockey mask and a differential casing necklace…

Hummmm, which stupid lefty twat will I have on a leash… Jennifer Lawrence is a good choice. According to Hollywood she puts out.

Sirhr

 

[MK20]

I had to have a prototype rifle sent back to me once.

The only one in the world known to exist, made prior to WWI in Danzig.

I insisted on registered mail.

It is THE gold standard for shipping things that have to not get lost.

 

[Jrb572]

I had to have a prototype rifle sent back to me once.

The only one in the world known to exist, made prior to WWI in Danzig.

I insisted on registered mail.

It is THE gold standard for shipping things that have to not get lost.

Send it through my post office here. I bet they could fuck it up.

 

[Basher]

I had a rifle go radio silent once it hit the destination post office several years ago. Sat there almost ten days. I finally got on the phone and starting knocking some heads. Once I made it known it was a firearm and that my next step was to report it stolen to the postal inspector and ATF, it magically turned up two days later. “Lost in transit” could mean anything, but “lost in the destination post office” stinks to high heaven of employee theft or incompetence. I’m guessing they didn’t want to have a light shined on either of those issues there…

Anyway, glad it turned up!!

 

[chevy_man]

One summer in the late 90s the UPS hub in Greensboro , NC lost 14 firearms In 6 months . My box had Wilson Combat on it . It was magazines though , they made it right. Told to me by my dealer. I’m pretty sure they updated their security on ,in an out of the hub.

FedEx and UPS both have internal investigators just to deal with ATF, FBI, and state and local police exclusively for firearms.

It's the one thing they actually do tend to not fuck up when you start calling.

My BIL used to work for FedEx in the sales department. He was point of contact for anyone he signed up to ship. He was so happy anytime it was a gun because he could pass it off to the investigator and it would always get handled. Most of the stuff he just had to process the claim and hope he didn't get 15 more ass chewings from a customer.

 

[Budrichard]

Remington Custom Shop shipped my rifle back to me by UPS.
Tracking # allowed for me to meet the truck in my drive way.
Driver said my package was not on the truck.
Told driver if he left, I would call the county sheriff and accuse him of stealing a firearm with my iPhone in hand.
Driver went back into truck, rummaged around and found my rifle.
Driver was going to say he delivered rifle and then it was stolen.
My being in the driveway stopped the theft.

Had a large shipment of copper cookware shipped in two boxes of which only one box arrived.
In formed UPS of the loss and driver returned and tried to have me sign that I had received the lost package.
Since I checked the shipping number, I would not sign.
Sender had only insured the box that arrived.
Obviously UPS knew which box to steal.
Sender re-sent shipment at his cost.
UPS investigated.
Never was told the outcome.
These people are thieves!
I have a large PO box at our small local /town.
I try to have as much as I can delivered to the PO Box.
-Richard

 

[ltdmstr]

Registered mail is the way to go. Has to be signed for every step of the way. If it disappears, they have a record of the last person who had it.

 

[sirhrmechanic]

This time, it made it!

Fantastic unit. It's going on my Collab. It's perfect for it!

^^^

What an odyssey... Now I have to re-figure-out how this Horus works... I got schooled on one years ago. Can't remember a single word from that lecture. And I rarely forget anything. Oops.

Sirhr

 

[Skunk]

This time, it made it!

Fantastic unit. It's going on my Collab. It's perfect for it!

View attachment 8207098


^^^

View attachment 8207099

What an odyssey... Now I have to re-figure-out how this Horus works... I got schooled on one years ago. Can't remember a single word from that lecture. And I rarely forget anything. Oops.

Sirhr

That’s an early 5-25. Most had U.S. Optics on each side of the object bell. I was there in 2005.

It’s a nice piece.

 

[sirhrmechanic]

That’s an early 5-25. Most had U.S. Optics on each side of the object bell. I was there in 2005.

It’s a nice piece.

Yup… it is a Grail for sure, esp. with Horus. It’s why I was so pissed when it went missing. It’s just not something that can be replicated!

It’s a JBWII build.

Sirhr

 

[Nik H]

What an odyssey... Now I have to re-figure-out how this Horus works... I got schooled on one years ago. Can't remember a single word from that lecture. And I rarely forget anything. Oops.

Sirhr

Don't know if this will help you but maybe...

 

[FALex]

Damn, sorry to read that bro. Fucking thieves. The just us system doesn't hold them accountable, so might as well steal with impunity. Getting to the point where any item of decent value needs to be over-nighted. Even then, it's probably still got a 10% chance that it arrives to the intended destination.

 

[supercorndogs]

Did FedEx find it?

 

[Skunk]

Yup… it is a Grail for sure, esp. with Horus. It’s why I was so pissed when it went missing. It’s just not something that can be replicated!

It’s a JBWII build.

Sirhr

That’s OG Buena Park USO.