In my county , the States Attorney office has a 75 year hold on any firearm involved in a death .
Otherwise , the primary LE Agency for the county has a policy for any firearm ( including recovered stolen property ) . Notified by Registered Mail with a deadline to respond . In my dealings , the deadlines were less than 72 hours of recieving the Registered mail . Failure to respond within deadline , is considered surrendering for destruction .
Upon initial responding , you don't get anything back . You are designating your intent to seek return , and you will eventually be scheduled for an informal Hearing . Again , one minute late for scheduled time , is surrendering for destruction .
If the gun had been taken from you by an Ofc , that Ofc conducts Hearing . If recovered after lost or stolen , or enough years have passed the Org Ofc no longer with Dept , Hearing conducted by Head of Property Department . The standard is " Do they Feel Comfortable giving you a Gun " .
For recovered lost or stolen , probably Yes . If it was confiscated directly from you , whatever reason that triggered the initial confiscated will probably be invoced as reason to not return . At which point , you are welcome to Sue .
For 1 or 2 guns , lawyer fees are more than costs of replacements .
A friend / fellow 2A Advocate once had a situiation where vindictive chesting GF SWAT'ed him in revenge for dumping her . He was never charged , and cleared in the investigation . ( Different county from me , but similar anti gun attitudes )
Predictably , they did not wish to return his collection . He sued , and got ( the origonal ) Court Order . The Dept kept stalling , claiming administrative delays , " don't call us , we'll call you " .
Had to keep going back to Court to get additional Orders , ordering the Dept to comply with First Order .
Eventually , over two years later , got his collection back . Objectively , the legal fees exceeded the value , plus all the days off from work for Court . But it was a matter of principle for him .
( There's another adjacent horror story , but rambled enough already . )