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A Sad Sad Story

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    A Sad Sad Story

    Once upon a time...

    When I was younger I would often romp around the woods playing guns and what not with all my friends but was never introduced to real weapons until one day. My father told me that up in the attic at my grandfathers house was a stash of WWII weapons that his brother had brought home after the war and given some to him. One day I ventured up there, there was the stash, oh my eyes can but remember the vision of those four guns. He owned a K98 with a new barrel for deer hunting, though i believe the old one was just underneathe on the rack. The other rifle that he had aquired was an m1 carbine with foldable stock. He had given his mauser pocket pistol to my father, and last but not least... the luger p08. I had only heard about them and seen them in movies. We brought the luger downstairs to take a better look at it. It had the original holster, and two magazines. It was the prize of my eye that day being able to hold a piece of history that I had heard so much about.

    Later in life I was asked what I would like to have from my grandparents after they died, kinda a free reign of things, they didnt want to portion out objects, instead they wanted names marked on things the kids and grandkids would have wanted. I told my mother and father that I would like to own at least one of the WWII weapons. The striking words finally came to my ears when I heard that those were off grounds. My brother and uncle had been fighting over them for awhile and Grandpa didnt want to hear anymore of it, so to end the bickering he told everyone NO! I hadnt heard anything about them for awhile until i went upstairs after my grandfather had past away. They were gone, lost in the market of the fingers of arms dealers FOREVER! I asked my fahter what ever happened to them all for my grandfather had also owned a side by side 12 gauge and a single action 16 gauge shotgun. My pops told me that grandpa had sold the whole lot, k98 with bayonet, m1 carbine, luger, and two shotguns all for $2000.... my mouth dropped. I have been on here for a lil over a month now researching and listening to all your stories of your finds. All these weapons with matching numbers and what not and how much they would be worth with or without numbers and stamps. After seeing my fathers pocket pistol with holster, two mags, all numbers matching, i can only imagine that luger or carbine now. Its a pity that such selfishness can destroy such history in a family. I guess my uncle still thinks my grandpa sold the guns to my dad and that my dad isnt telling him. Trust me... I'd know if they were in my house! Just a flip side to all the finds that you guys have found and gotten to hold for even but moments.
    - Josh Rosengren

    #2
    Josh, First of all welcome to the forum......The story is indeed a sad one, but one shared by quite a number of people I'm sure......Although it hasn't personally happened to me, I do have a friend whose father was in WW2.....He had kept the M1 carbine he carried in the war, and had passed away a number of years ago.......My friends brother got the rifle and turned it over to his son.....The rifle was modified into a hunting rifle......Drilled and tapped for a scope and the stock messed up......My friends brother later died of cancer leaving the rifle in the custody of his sister-in-law......She won't give the rifle up.....Has absolutely no sentimental value to her, but she's afraid it has monetary value....Hence, she won't reliquish it to my friend.....It's a sad situation.....Bodes

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      #3
      Thanks for the welcome. Ive been kinda spying upon this forum soaking up all the words you fellas have to say. Amazing how much knowledge put into one place and how much one can soak up.

      That is a sad situation. I guess we all at one point or another have to put away our selfish desires for what was not orginally ours ( I myself included) and have to be content with what we have been given and what we have been able to enjoy at one point or another.

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        #4
        welcome aboard.

        i have a similar story, but I never saw the gun.

        my g-grandpa brought a type 97 sniper back from the war. But they turned it into a gun buy back and it was destroyed.

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          #5
          I had an uncle who served in the 11th armored during WWII. He was quite the scavenger during the war and had a lot of stuff all over his house. I remember going into the kitchen for a fork and opening the utensil drawer to find knives, forks, spoons, the normal stuff but also in that drawer were iron crosses and various other medals that I did not recognize back then.

          He also would tell me of a machine gun he brought back from the war. He did not know what it was but it had a bipod, bayonet and a magazine that stuck out the side. I never got to see it and he later "disposed" of it when the new laws came around in 1986. By his descriptions I think it was an FG42 but I never got to see it.

          All the rest of his stuff was stolen by his house keepers over the years as his health declined.

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            #6
            Hopefully disposed off means he gave it to a museum.

            BTW, found out a Type 97 was given in during a buy back but they didnt melt it down with the rest of the guns but kept it away for ballistics and identification.

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              #7
              I read a similar story in our local newspaper several years ago.

              An older lady took her deceased husband's Colt M1911 into the police station during a gun buy back...the armorer saw it and grabbed it out of the box to be melted down. The paper said it was valued at c. $12,000USD.

              It was not destroyed, but the newspaper didn't reveal who got the pistol.

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                #8
                Gun "Buy Backs"

                I remember several years ago hearing an article on National Public Radio about a gun "buy-back" program in St. Louis, MO. The guns were being purchased with tax dollars, to be melted down and cast into some sort of statue to commerate a young man who had been murdered with a firearm.

                Anyway, the reporter described the various types of persons selling guns and the types of guns being turned in. I vividly remember the article mentioning an elderly lady with a brown paper bag containing three German pistols that her uncle brought home from WWI. The lady did not want them and sold them for whatever the buy-back price was - I think $50 each.

                The article made it clear that all guns, with no exceptions, acquired via the buy-back program were to be melted down into the statue. Also, I believe the article stated that the cops would run off any collectors who attempted to "cherry pick" the line of folks waiting to turn guns in.

                I cringe every time I think of the P.04, P.08, LP08, Mausers, etc. that were likely in the elderly lady's brown paper bag.

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                  #9


                  Thats CRAZY!!! Why would people destroy a part of history?? Good stories, depressing, but good.

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                    #10
                    Personally I always thought that old firearms should be given to museums and private collcetions than melted. It happen in Detroit as well. Trading in Guns for money and all the weapons were going to be melted down. It was so sad. I seem guns going all the way the back to the civil war being destory.

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                      #11
                      Originally posted by Finnishlion178 View Post
                      Personally I always thought that old firearms should be given to museums and private collcetions than melted. It happen in Detroit as well. Trading in Guns for money and all the weapons were going to be melted down. It was so sad. I seem guns going all the way the back to the civil war being destory.
                      Yeah, I agree. It's a damn shame.

                      Comment


                        #12
                        guns

                        some sad storys chaps its the big IF ONLY!!!


                        Panzerlord

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                          #13
                          My Waffen SS STUG Uniform Named Set

                          Last springI purchased a named complete uniform from Dr. Ludwig Baer. They set belonged to a good friend of his that served in a Waffen SS assault gun unit that he said served with the Wiking Division until the end of the war. According to Dr. Baer he came home and removed his entire uniform and placed it in a truck where it remained undisturbed until a few years ago when it was given to Dr. Baer. Other than to mark each piece it was left in the trunk until last year when it was offered for sale. When my contact saw the uniform it was still in the trunk. With the uniform was an MP 40 and his luger was still in his holster with an extra magazine. Since it is near impossible to get these weapons out of Germany, the weapons were not purchased. The weapons were, as I understand it, scheduled to be destroyed to avoid any problems. What a shame I would have loved to buy them. Se la vie.

                          Kurt
                          Attached Files

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                            #14
                            Its always "for the children", who the hell murders someone with a brown bess or a sharps? the only people who turn guns into the buy backs are old ladies and people who inherit guns who just dont want to have anything to do with them. nothing good comes out of buybacks. But around here, all guns except for junkers like ravens, jennings, and brycos are all auctioned off to pay for police equiptment.

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                              #15
                              just readin this old thread, reminds me of a story. guy in skokie, il...an old collector or vet apparently. he died, no family, no kids, but had a ton of militaria in his basement, including some old guns--2 thompsons, carbines, garands, you name it. all but 1 of the guns (the thompson, which was sent to the chicago pd museum) were destroyed and i dont even know what happened to the militaria. was in the local paper about 8 yrs ago. sad...

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