Our #2 son had 4 guns stolen during a home burglary 5-6 years ago. A '73 vintage Ruger Single Six, a Smith 637, and a pair of 1911 Colts that he'd had redone by Novak...$1500 worth of gunsmithing and finish work on each. They were stolen two weeks after he'd picked them up at a local pawn shop that ran an FFL transfer service as well. We've always suspected that the 'word' got out to the local dirt-bag community about those two guns.
Fast forward 3 years and the Cincinnati police called to say they'd found one of them, a Series 70 Lt Wt Commander .45, during a drug raid in the city. The gun in question had been kept in a lock box, bedside, in the master bedroom and apparently the thieves had used a sledge to open the box.
Damage was extensive: The Novak rear sight was beaten literally, half way out of the dovetail, and the grip frame was hammered enought that removal of the mag was impossible. The stocks were broken and there was severe gouging and some rust on the slide, and frame.
It was a heart breaker and he considered sending it back to Novak, but they told him it was useless and to buy another. After some consideration, he decided to attempt to get it working again using "Bubba's" traditional methods as the gun's condition was beyond hope. In the end, he used a bench vise, padded liberally, then beat on the alloy grip frame enough to allow removal of the magazine. Then a steel rod to open it enough to allow easy mag changes.
The sight was tapped back in to place, then staked, and the stocks, chewed up by the sledge, were replaced with wood GI issue ones. As you can imagine, the finish was dinged and gouged in numerous places....hell, it looked like it'd been dragged behind a pickup for a quarter mile or so...but it shot as good as it did when he got it back from Novak...it's a sub-2" grouping Lt Wt Commander 1911, in fact...
And that's the way he carries it...dings and all; while it's certainly not a BBQ gun anymore...it sure has a story to tell when he's on the range....
The remainder of the guns have not turned up...
YMMv, Rod