Online petition to save surplus rifles

Save the M-14 surplus ^

[Flint]

I joined the USMC in 1962. Was issued and trained with an M1 Grand. Went to infantry traning and was issued and used an M14. I prefered the M1 then and still do today.

[DoughtyOne]

I did pick up the Thompson 45. It was quite heavy, may have actually been in excess of ten pounds. I'm not sure of the exact weight.

[AppyPappy]

It was the BAR that killed Bonnie and Clyde. The Thompson's had trouble getting through door panels on some car's so the LEO's asked for a BAR from the Army.

[tpaine]

Yep, we had the old style WWII small chute, and 90MM recoiless 'catapults' on our jeeps. The coaxial .50 spotting rifle on the recoiless was a great 1000yd rabbit gun.

[N. Theknow]

It was/is a great weapon and had a variety of clips. Bonnie and Clyde had an affection for the "round" clip which can be seen in a lot of gangster movies. Machine Gun Kelly had an affinity for it as well.

BTW - We used to refer to Vic Morrow's character on Combat as Sgt. Scar-tissue. Seems he got a Purple Heart injury every episode.

[Flint]

To add to the mix.

The basic fighting unit in the USMC, in 1962, was the "Fire Team". It consisted of four Marines. The senior ranking Marine was the fire team leader. Three of the Marines carried an M1 and one carred a BAR. The M14 came along, Fire Team, then carried 3 M14's semi-auto and one M14 with a full auto selector switch. I still maintain that the better mix was the M1 - BAR Fire Team. What my Corps did when the spray and pray M16 came along I don't know.

Our military and especally the USMC is very well known in training for the last war fought. Our last major war was Nam. The M16 was great for short range, can't see who you are shooting at, spray the bushes fighting. If I was so fortunate to be over in Iraq I would be begging or picking up a good long range heavy caliber weapon. A bunch of Marine Grunts with M1's or M14's could keep the Iraqui troops 600 or more yards away with hardly any effort.

[DoughtyOne]

I remember very little about the show other than the sets you see at Universal every time relatives from out of town demand you take them there. Har

[epow]

Under the 1986 amendment to the '68 GCA, the M-14 can't be sold to civilians because any full auto firearm not registered under NFA rules before that date can't be registered. But it is moronic for the gubbermint to scrap perfectly good parts that could be sold to gun manufacturers to offset some of the original cost of the rifles. There are large gun parts dealers who would buy the barrels and stocks, and probably many of the small parts that are not part of the recievers. Since the M-14 is basically just a modified M1, I'm pretty sure many of the parts could be used as replacement parts for the many tens of thousands of surplus M1s that were sold through the CMP.

The recievers are considered to be firearms so they couldn't be sold on the civilian market. But it still seems stupid to me to destroy finely machined recievers that could still be valuable to someone, or possibly sold on the international military arms market. Typical gubbermint mismanagement and waste of tax money.

I once worked with a WWII vet who was stationed at an airfield in China when the war ended. His unit was ordered to destroy any and all weapons on the base rather than fly them out. He said he almost cried watching crates of brand new .45 pistols and MI carbines dumped on concrete runways where they were run over and mangled by a bulldozer. They broke up tons of airplane parts and engines, and cut up hundreds of .50 caliber Browning MG barrels that were intended to replace shot out barrel on their bombers. They also parked an entire fleet of brand new REO dump trucks at the field to be burned by the last crew to leave.

Why would we destroy weapons and equipment that could easily have been given to the Nationalist Chinese to fight Mao's communist army? It almost makes one wonder which side the Democratic Truman administration was on. (Actually it doesn't make me wonder, I know whose side they were on and it wasn't the Nationalists)

[Shooter 2.5]

This is from memory but I believe Frank Hamer used a Remington chambered in Rem 35 with an extended magazine when he gunned down Bonnie and Clyde. I don't recall the model.

[AnAmericanMother]

Fuss, fuss, fuss! If I can carry a Garand all day deer hunting, there's no reason anybody should complain about the weight (unless they're hiking 50 miles or so with a 40 pound pack.) And think of the comfort vis a vis recoil, surely that's worth an extra few pounds.

My regular deer rifle is a Ruger M-77 in .308, but I went hunting with the Garand just so I could say I'd done it.

(And no, I didn't see a deer all day. Do you suppose it was because I was making so much noise panting under the weight? Nah.)

[AnAmericanMother]

Just watch out for your thumb. Deadly. :-D

Speaking of M-1 Carbines, my dad has a story. He was in Italy in WWII, participating in shooing the Germans out of a small town. He was in the combat engineers, so he had been issued the M-1 carbine.

He runs around the corner of a building, and literally bumps helmets with a German soldier. He swings up his carbine, goes to hit the safety, hits the clip release by mistake, and drops all his bullets in the street.

Fortunately Fritz had not waited around to see what was up and was making tracks for Heidelberg too fast to hear the pitter-patter of little fat cartridges.

But dad threw away the carbine, picked up a Garand from a dead GI, and carried it the rest of the war. He doesn't have anything nice to say about the carbine.

"But, daddy," the children cried, "Why did you have your safety on?"

"Didn't want to shoot myself in the foot," harrumphed Dad.

[Shooter 2.5]

http://www.sightm1911.com/lib/history/hamer_guns.htm

[husky ed]

Just received from CMP today. Sent in order last Monday the 24th. Waiting for the 03A3 I order this last Monday the 31st.

And yes I know this is a cover pic. I will be getting a camera tonight for some real pictures of my new baby.

huskyed - embedded in the recliner

[BCR #226]

Happily signed that petition.

Thanks,

Mike

[Shooter 2.5]

Great story.

The only time I had a mishap with the bolt on my Garand was when I pulled the bolt back and didn't lock it. The bolt was resting on the follower. When I started to feed the cartridge into the chamber with my thumb, I pressed down on the follower and the bolt slammed shut. Luckily, the way my thumb was angled, the bolt hit my thumb out of the way so there wasn't any damage.

Garands are fun and great collectables, but I believe they are outdated for any other use.

[tet68]

Do you suppose he might know what the term "Geiger Crud" means.

[ArrogantBustard]

The recievers are considered to be firearms so they couldn't be sold on the civilian market.

SURE THEY CAN!!!! NFA '34 IS NOT A LAW OF NATURE. THE DAMN THING CAN BE REPEALED, OR MODIFIED BY ACT OF CONGRESS. I know it's unlikely, but anti-gun legislation is a ratchet only if we let it be a ratchet.

And the M-14 is not "just a modified M1". The designs are similar, but the parts are not interchangeable. The USGI M-14 parts would work just fine on civilian M1-A receivers, though. Or better yet on genuine USGI receivers, after the stupid law gets changed.

[tet68]

No, guess not, I read a little farther.

We had m-14s in boot but were given Garands at Camp Geiger.
Actually preferred it, somewhat easier to clean, certainly
more robust, beat someone over the head with it and still keep it's zero.
Enbloc clip wasn't so bad, keep an empty one to toss out when you still have two left, surprise!

[ArrogantBustard]

I hope you enjoy your piece of history. Mine is just great. WWII Springfield receiver with Korean era parts, but all in excellent condition and good working order. Good parkerizing, too. Must have been used some after being rebuilt, though, because it had a paper with sighting adjustments under the follower.

[Redleg Duke]

Thank you for the kind wishes!