November 03, 2007
Talk about job-related benefits!
I was reading this message thread at Surplus Rifle Forum when a photo caught my eye.
Some guys have all the luck! I wonder if this gunsmith's client is hiring.
Just a tease ... here's what 30 brand-new old FA Tommy guns looks like. Sorry about the picture quality; hadda use my camera phone as I forgot to take my good camera.
These belong to a very wealthy Texas entrepreneur. Just how he located the receivers is anyones guess. They are all original Auto Ordinance pieces, all fully-transferrable NFA items. The kits used to assemble them are all unissued ones that we imported from Russia a few years ago.
These were guns we sent over that the Russians never used; they were stored in huge caves, along with tanks and halftracks, etc., that also never got used. Many have put forth that the reason the Russians never used these guns was 'cause they had no .45 ACP ammo. This is totally wrong. In fact, in the same facility that these guns were stored in, is probably 45 million rounds of USGI .45 ACP ammo still in sealed containers, as well as huge quantities of USGI .30 ammo (30/06) also never even opened.
Don got some better pics with his lil camera while I was getting these ready for test fire, 2-twenty round mags through each, then we hadda clean 'em all and put 'em in the original crates they were shipped to russia in.
We are told these are to be gifts to executives in this man's corporation! Talk bout a Christmas bonus! From right to left you have 10 M1s, next 10 M1A1s, and last 10 1928A1s. All of the '28A1s got original Lyman target sights.
I'm wonderin' how many more of these receivers are still in the same stash and how much $$. They were still in grease and literally in new condition, other than a few very minor spots of surface rust.
I've come across stories over the years since the fall of the Soviet Union, of intrepid treasure hunters finding all manner of military hardware stored in warehouses, undisturbed for more than 60 years, with even rarer items -- like German planes and tanks -- being pulled from Russian bogs and lakes.
That American collectors are (for the most part) precluded from getting their hands on these incredibly well-preserved parts of our military heritage is a crying shame.
It's also noteworthy that the gunsmith and his client live in the great state of Texas.
Did I mention that I've always felt a deep, abiding kinship with Texans?
And what I wouldn't give for access to some of those caves and warehouses in Mother Russia.
Posted by Mike Lief at November 3, 2007 09:15 AM
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Comments
That beats a ham any day!
Posted by: Thin Ice, Sr. at November 5, 2007 05:32 AM
Call me when he unpacks a B25C from one of those caves.
Posted by: The Little Coach at November 5, 2007 07:33 AM