alabama find

[herbert38]

I just saw on the news what Alabama authority found under a bridge.. I bunch of ww2 machine gun,,2 30 cal, Tommy guns, jap machine gun jap motor they weren't there long no rust. OMG it was sick what they had on the table. What would you do if you found these goody, I know what I would do. Will try to find story. A surprising find in Bibb County... A state road crew found a huge cache of World War Two era guns.

The machine guns, including an anti tank gun, were found under a bridge near Centreville late last week. They found the guns while checking the bridge. Some of the weapons were in the water.

Bibb County Sheriff Keith Hannah says they really have no idea where the guns came from.

ATF Agent David Hyche said, “We field tested the majority and they functioned. We didn't fire a live round but we cycled and for these to have been in the water and for you to be able to manually cycle them says something about how long they've been exposed.”

Sheriff Hannah and Agent Hyche say the guns couldn't have been where they were found for long because they hadn't started to rust.

[herbert38]

A cache of World War II-era firearms was discovered last week under a bridge in Bibb County.

Now, federal gun experts hope to find out more about what could be considered a gun collector's dream.

Eight of the 10 weapons were on display Monday at the Birmingham office of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. They included a Thompson submachine gun (commonly called a 'Tommy gun'), a Japanese 50mm mortar, a German 20mm anti-tank gun and a .303 Vickers machine gun.

'It's kind of amazing what all is here,' said ATF Resident Agent in Charge David Hyche.

Hyche said it was illegal to possess the weapons, which may explain why they were found dumped in a river near Alabama Highway 219.

Bibb County Sheriff Keith Hannah said the firearms were discovered Thursday by Alabama Department of Transportation bridge inspection crews.

A dive team for the Bibb County Sheriff's Department discovered more weapons just beneath the water's surface.

Hyche and Hannah speculated that the weapons, estimated to be worth more than $100,000, had not been under water long.

'There was no silt that had washed over them,' Hannah said, 'and none had started developing any rust.'

Authorities can only speculate on the origin of the weapons. Hyche said none of them were registered, meaning that the owner or owners did not take part in the government's temporary amnesty period in the years following World War II. Under that amnesty, owners of such weapons were allowed to keep them as long as they were properly registered.

'It's my understanding that it was not difficult to bring souvenirs home [from the war],' Hyche said.

Most of the guns are still capable of firing, Hyche said, and for that reason, he thanked Hannah and the Bibb County deputies for recovering and reporting the find.

Hyche did not rule out the possibility of filing charges against the person responsible for dumping the guns, but he noted the ATF normally works with people who suddenly find such guns in their possession and don't know what to do with them.

He said the weapons would not be returned to the owner since they are illegal, but the bureau is curious to know whether there is more to the cache.

'We want to find out more and get our hands on whatever is out there,' he said. 'We're going to attempt to find a home for these where the public can enjoy them.'

Often, the ATF can place the guns in museums or other places that store historical artifacts. That will likely be the goal with these weapons, Hyche said.

'It's quite an extensive collection,' he said. 'These are very unique.'

[r_hufschmied]

Moved to:

http://dev.wehrmacht-awards.com/foru...d.php?t=350057

[herbert38]

My question is, if you came across them first what would you have done. I know that I would have grabbed what i could and hawd ass home..LOL

[Josh Beckett]

Hopefully they do get saved and not cut up. They did recover a Type 100 smg.

[Alan Smith]

I hear that everything is going to the USS Alabama memorial and museum in Mobile.

Also, to me this looks like stuff a collector of Japanese items would have accumulated back in 30-40 years ago but either did not know of the '68 Amnesty or simply disregarded it. The collector is most likely now deceased, with his heirs not knowing what to do with the stuff.

[MauserKar98k]

My question is, if you came across them first what would you have done. I know that I would have grabbed what i could and hawd ass home..LOL

Same here. What a find!

[scotty1418]

If you get a chance to see the pictures, you'll note the beretta 38 is missing the receiver (parts kit) and the "Thompson machine gun" is really a semi-auto '27.

[phild]

My question is, if you came across them first what would you have done. I know that I would have grabbed what i could and hawd ass home..LOL

I know that you are not serious as I would strongly warn any and every person that I could reach to NOT break the law by owning any restricted weapons without meeting all ownership requirements. It is simply not worth it and wrong.

I do wish that there was a method provided by the authorities in cases such as this for these type of non-registered weapons to be registered and owned legally. I very much suspect that there are thousands of these kind of weapons still out there that are unknown and that the owners are too afraid to do anything about...except "get rid of them" when the time comes. This is not good.

[bobcam1]

http://dev.wehrmacht-awards.com/foru...d.php?t=350058