Duffle Bag Garand?

[MAINER]

An acquaintance called and has asked what should be done in this situation. He's told that Gramps was a vet and had said he brought his rifle home with him after the war. I'm guessing WWII or Korea.
Gramps has passed on and the family would like to sell or dispose of the rifle.

I don't have an answer, maybe someone here has heard of a similar situation.

[olgier]

Buy the rifle from them. It's not a MG.

[Illurian00]

Is the problem w/ your friend ? I'm not sure I'm seeing a problem here.

I think the answer is :

If you are intereated in such a thing, ask to look at it and then make an offer, or ask what they would take for it,,,

,,,or, perhaps they would simply like your opinion and evaluation.

Are they that clueless that they don't realize they have a saleable/collectable item on their hands ?

[olgier]

Where is this rifle located? I'm headed down to Sanford end of next week. If they just want it gone, I'll swing by and give them some cash for it.

[John Crusher]

I've known of a couple of ones and they are perfectly legal and don't need any paperwork unless it is sold like a regular rifle. Face to face is cool. I picked up a 1903a3 ar a garage sale that was a guys gramps from WWII. I've got a guy I worked with out in Colo. that brought his BAR back from S. Korea and I got to shoot it once back in the early 80s. Registered ? don't know.

[xtremerange]

I believe the OPs concern is that it could Gramps might have stolen it from government.

[olgier]

Originally Posted by xtremerange

I believe the OPs concern is that it could Gramps might have stolen it from government.

I wouldn't be.

[SPEEDGUNNER]

I'll take it!

[MAINER]

At this point, you know as much as I do. He didn't say who or where and I didn't ask.

I don't know of any ex soldier, sailor, marine or whatnot that was allowed to keep any rifle that was issued.
The Navy was very efficient in reclaiming any issued equipment. If you signed it out, you dang well better have one to sign in. I was getting fond of that Bulova Accuratron and the M 2, but would have settled for a BAR.

A Korean vet told me that their duffle bags were emptied, searched, repacked, then sealed and the seals were checked when they boarded the ship home.

[kmurphy]

It was claimed a family member was throwing 1903 rifles over the side of his ship and into the ocean to make room for other small arms after WWII in the PTO. Do I know if it was true, absolutely not. But that is what I was told. If someone was to somehow keep something like this I would not be surprised with the amount of Arisaka rifles coming back etc.

But I have heard of (insert relationship) brought (weapon/souvenir) back from the war many times. Sometimes (relation) may have not told them that this is one similar to the (weapon/souvenir) they had in the war that was picked up at a later date. But to kin or friends that knew (relation) it was the (insert weapon/souvenir) that (relation) carried and brought home.

Even if the weapon is import marked etc.

I am not doubting anything. I just try to buy something for what it is. And helping buy an old M1 from someone who wants it "disposed of" could make a good transaction for the both of you. Everyone is a winner. Just figuring out what is fair can be tricky.

[John Crusher]

Old Military proverb "where there's a will, there's a way".

[MAINER]

Originally Posted by kmurphy

It was claimed a family member was throwing 1903 rifles over the side of his ship and into the ocean to make room for other small arms after WWII in the PTO. Do I know if it was true, absolutely not. But that is what I was told. If someone was to somehow keep something like this I would not be surprised with the amount of Arisaka rifles coming back etc.

But I have heard of (insert relationship) brought (weapon/souvenir) back from the war many times. Sometimes (relation) may have not told them that this is one similar to the (weapon/souvenir) they had in the war that was picked up at a later date. But to kin or friends that knew (relation) it was the (insert weapon/souvenir) that (relation) carried and brought home.



I am not doubting anything. I just try to buy something for what it is. And helping buy an old M1 from someone who wants it "disposed of" could make a good transaction for the both of you. Everyone is a winner. Just figuring out what is fair can be tricky.

That's what I was thinking. He likely told frields and family that "this is the rifle I carried in the service". Meaning a Garand, not necessarily the rifle he was issued.
Yeah, pricing is tricky, I told him about $800 and gave a number of things to look for.

I just got my one and only Garand back from a rebarrel job at the Gunsmith and not looking for another one.

[randy762ak]

Lots of US military small arms made there way back By the GI who carried it ,,

A friend has an M1 Carbine [Winchester ] His dad got in trade for a bottle of booze when supply ship docked In the Pacific,,,

I have an 1911A1 a WW-II vet brought back ,He was carrying a 1911 when they issued him an A1 he liked the 1911 and sent the new pistol home in the mail,,,

I also have an 1903A3 with no serial No# and a 2 grove barrel stamped SC[Sc never made 2 groove barrels ] I suspect it was a Lunchbox gun -The builder stole a part a day from the Syracuse plant when he worked there..

Lots of this stuff around !!!

[Andy the Aussie]

Looooong past the point where Uncle Sam would be interested in the provenance of a rifle/pistol, as long as it is not an MG.

[PA Garand Boy]

Originally Posted by Andy the Aussie

Looooong past the point where Uncle Sam would be interested in the provenance of a rifle/pistol, as long as it is not an MG.

After 60 years the government does not have any records to show if a particular Garand was lost in a cave on Iwo Jima in 1945, stolen off a troop ship in 1950, provided to the South Vietnamese Government in 1960, or sold by the DCM in 1990.

[Brian in MN]

IMHO the chances of getting in trouble over a duffle cut M1 are about the same as getting in trouble over a duffle cut K-98. No one cares.

[cpd109]

I understand the value you hold on the rifle, but also doubt that it will come up stolen in NCIC. If you want to be sure, have a police officer come to your home and run the serial number in NCIC. If it does not come back then, it should NEVER come back as stolen. On the other hand, if it does come back as stolen, the officer will take the rifle and NOT you. If you keep it (and from what I have read, there is every probability that you will keep it), you can sleep well knowing that you and it are safe.

I made this suggestion to a fella pouring a concrete porch for me who had bought a trailer from a guy he didn't really trust. His work truck was unreliable so this was a good way for him to get his tools around. Anyway, he didn't do and got caught with it and it was in NCIC as stolen and he was arrested for not only the trailer but also the $5K of tools that were in it when it was stolen. While these are both felonies, I made a statement to the prosecutor about what I knew and the charge was dropped to a misdemeanor to which he pled guilty to- don't recall if he had to pay for the tools or not. Sad all the way around. If he'd had gotten it checked, he would have lost the money he had in the trailer, but he did that anyway, plus time in jail til he got a bond and had to pay for an attorney.

One other thing worth noting- I have tried to locate firearms in NCIC after they had been reported stolen have not been able to do so. ALso, an officer is only going to make a report (so far as I know) if the gun comes back stolen as he has to account for where he got it. Otherwise, it's unlikley a report will be made, although it might. But again, if NCIC says it's OK, how are they going to prove such an archaic rifle was stolen anyway, and you did your best to verify whether it was or not. (Get the officers card and write the date of the check on it.) And I HIGHLY recommend that anytime you buy a gun from someone you really don't trust or don't know that well, call 911 and have an officer run it. Again, you will lose the gun, but not your freedom. In GA, it's 5 yrs for possession of a stolen gun.

Best of luck to you.

[RG Coburn]

Originally Posted by John Crusher

Old Military proverb "where there's a will, there's a way".

"where there's a will,there's relatives"...

[def90]

Originally Posted by MAINER

An acquaintance called and has asked what should be done in this situation. He's told that Gramps was a vet and had said he brought his rifle home with him after the war. I'm guessing WWII or Korea.
Gramps has passed on and the family would like to sell or dispose of the rifle.

I don't have an answer, maybe someone here has heard of a similar situation.

There are also many cases of family story/lore of gramps bringing his rifle home or finding a pistol on a dead German only to find later through research that the gun hadn't even been built yet at the time that the supposed story took place.

I think many times people just put 2 and 2 together and come up with some crazy story.. Something along the lines of this: Grandpa was in WW2, grandpa has an M1 Garand, it's a military rifle so grandpa must have brought it back with him because how else would you have a military rifle with US gov markings on it?

I wouldn't worry about it and I wouldn't put much credence in the family story.

[Timber Wolf]

I'll throw in 2 more cents. My Dad brought back (his story) a 6.5 Ariska carbine and bayonet in his duffle from the Phillipines after WWII. I believe him because I have the rifle and bayo. Anyway, he also related about a very nice transit he had in his bag on the ship home. Just before docking they told everybody their gear would be searched upon disembarking. Dad got worried and dropped the transit over the side. Then he proceeded to march off the ship and nobody checked anything. So, the moral of the story is, captured Jaq rifle, appearantly OK to bring home. Stolen US property transit, sitting at the bottom of the bay.

[mongoose]

The 1950 firearms act changed a lot of things for military....check it out.

[aepgilli]

Originally Posted by def90

There are also many cases of family story/lore of gramps bringing his rifle home or finding a pistol on a dead German only to find later through research that the gun hadn't even been built yet at the time that the supposed story took place.

I think many times people just put 2 and 2 together and come up with some crazy story.. Something along the lines of this: Grandpa was in WW2, grandpa has an M1 Garand, it's a military rifle so grandpa must have brought it back with him because how else would you have a military rifle with US gov markings on it?

I wouldn't worry about it and I wouldn't put much credence in the family story.

Also many stories of this type are true. My uncle (I've no idea what unit) "liberated" a warehouse in Germany, what I got was a brand new unsharpened cavalry saber (given to me when we visited in the early 60s - the picture of dad carrying it down the isle of the airplane with the handle taped to the scabbard I'll never forget ) and an also brand new, unsharpened, still had the perfect condition leather frog and little felt "buffer" between the hilt and scabbard, bayonet (mailed to me by his widow after his death in the mid 90s) and the memory of the Luger he showed me during that visit in the 60s.