Posted on 07/07/2005 3:44:36 PM PDT by holymoly
"Missing: One M-60 assault rifle."
That's not a message Chief Deputy Hondo Wooten wants to give area residents, but due to the large number of active duty and retired military personnel in the area, Wooten said he has little choice. When stolen from a Joplin-area gun show on Sunday, June 21, the gun was broken and whoever stole it will be trying to obtain spare parts -- possibly trying to buy the parts from current or former military personnel rather than authorized dealers.
Wooten said the M-60 assault rifle would be very dangerous if it gets into the wrong hands.
"It's a weapon which is specifically designed for combat," Wooten said. "It does have the capacity for full automatic with a cyclical fire rate of 800 to 1,200 rounds per minute."
Anyone shooting the M-60 won't need to be very accurate to kill an opponent, Wooten said.
"You don't even need to point; just hold it in their general direction and pull the trigger," Wooten said.
According to Bert Guy from Gatling Guns in Arizona, the gun was stolen from a Class III dealer at the Oklahoma Full Auto machine gun shoot. Wooten said a Class III dealer has a legitimate right to stock and possess the items stolen, but other people may not be as scrupulous.
"Fortunately this gun had broken at the shoot on Saturday so the thieves will be looking for replacement parts," Guy wrote in an e-mail message to area law enforcement agencies.
"Spread the word and let's get this gun back to its rightful owner," Guy wrote. "Let's spread the word and bust these jerks."
Guy said at least two different rewards are available for the stolen gun and more may be offered later.
Items needed to make the gun operable include an extractor, extractor spring and roller bearings, but Wooten said people may try to purchase other M-60 parts as well.
"Although the weapon is supposed to be inoperable because of a broken part, anybody with a knowledge of gunsmithing could buy what they need to make it fully operational and fully automatic," Wooten said. "We don't necessarily believe the gun is in Pulaski County, but due to the potential risk posed by this weapon, we want to make sure all law enforcement know about it."
According to the Joplin Police Department staff member handling the case, those with information about people trying to buy M-60 parts should contact Detective David Lewis at the department's main number, (417) 623-3131. Wooten can be contacted at 774-6196.
Very good catch!
For using a hair dryer ... you should.
With the proper machining it can be a very tough to handle rifle. You just have to shave a lot of weight off of it and hold it rather akwardly.
It's hard to ignore this bizarre sentence.
It's not a matter of "legitimate right": every American has the right to "stock and possess" firearms -- it's a matter that this right has been abridged by the federal government by imposing "Class" licensing on Americans to exercise some of their rights to own certain firearms, much as if a license were required to exercise some of our free speech rights. [Which may be one of the things that comes out of the current FEC discussions on our right to political speech, arguably the most sacrosanct free speech right.]
This is my rifle, this is my gun . . . .
I too have humped a pig all over the planet. It's not the belt fed MG of choice to bother to steal, that's for certain. Now an MG-42 OTOH,..........
Actually, the M249 is what replaced the M60 with.
The Marines figured out that the M249 was a pile of crap pretty quickly and "improvised" the M240G.
By the way, the 240 and the 249 are Belgian-designed (FN) and US-built (Federal contract law).
Why was it always the smallest guy in the squad that got the pig.
Still got the scars on my left thumb from attaching the bolt to the operating rod the first time. And on the top of my right hand knuckles from learning the correct way to pull the bolt to the rear. Both only took one blood sacrifice to learn, forever.
And get kicked onto your a$$ when it starts wandering aimlessly from the recoil - assuming you try this standing up. M-60s are aimed, although indiscriminate lead flying downrange does do a lot of damage - just not reliably ritting the target.
Perhaps Wooten should put an APB out on his brain!
Yes, the author's ascertion that this is an assault rifle is about as retarded as the stupid congress critters that support stupid gun ban laws.
Why isn't there one newspaper / tv reporter in the nation that knows anything at all about firearms?
Idiots all!!!
You think the pig is cranky, try a DsHKM. Had two troops loose a FINGER to the dang feed tray cover.
Then I'm safe - never said that I use it, just that I have one. Besides, the high and tight I'm wearing dries off in about 5 minutes. Also, it's great for my daughter's hair - and for when she has an ear infection...
But it has one of those "icky" flash suppressors like they use in the movies.......EEEEEEEEWWWWWWWWWWWWW!!!!!!
/s
I live just outside of Rapid City, SD. Jack First is awesome and a legend around here. He knows all.
Just kidding. You might have been using it to dry the Irish Setter :-).
Yeah, but at least it has wheels.
For the same reason that there isn't one who knows anything about Christianity ... deliberate exclusion by the editors/producers of points of view they disagree with.
Hey, Darrell, it is a machine gun not an assault rifle. Your agenda is showing.
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