Guns found in a river in ALA>

[cobra]

Just saw a news paper article that some German,Japanese and American machine guns were found in a river in Alabama. Seems like they were in twelve feet of water and had just been dumped the night before. None of the guns were registered and no one knows where they came from. This came from the Gunboards Forum under automatic weapons Cobra

[noonxnoon]

Maybe they were stolen and someone couldn't dump it as you can't just unload that on the street...

[ClarenceBoddicker]

How stupid, with the price of parts sets & barrels now. What's lame about those deals is that the law gets to keep or destroy the whole gun, not just the receiver. The person who finds stuff like that should get some sort of reward (parts sets, demilled receivers & the barrels)

[JBaum]

For those with an interest, here's a link to the newspaper article:

http://m.tuscaloosanews.com/tln/db_1258 ... ue#display

[Bil]

The last paragraph is rather strange.Agent Hyche claims the BATF would like to see them go to a museum or some other public place where these historic artifacts can be enjoyed by all.And so would I.I wish his attitude was more pervasive throughout the BATF.In Massachusetts,they found a WW I German machine gun in the library attic.It had been donated years ago by a returning vet,before the whole registration thing,and had been forgotten.So it missed the registration.It has been confiscated and the local BATF says they will destroy it,despite efforts by local historians and elected officials.It seems common sense is not distributed equally throughout the population.[But you knew that already,didn't you,John!] ---bil

[FKpt.Fritz]

Agent Hyche claims the BATF would like to see them go to a museum or some other public place where these historic artifacts can be enjoyed by all. In Massachusetts,they found a WW I German machine gun in the library attic. the local BATF says they will destroy it, It seems common sense is not distributed equally throughout the population.[But you knew that already,didn't you,John!] ---bil

well i see one huge difference here. these are BATF agents in Alabama... and i stress ALABAMA. where as the destoryers of history belong to the soviet socalist republic of Massachusetts

[JBaum]

Bil, the MG from the library attic is going to a museum:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/2193660/posts

[FKpt.Fritz]

Bil, the MG from the library attic is going to a museum:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/2193660/posts

thats great news.. they came to thier censes.

[rocco1911]

Why cant I find stuff like this ...

[geladen]

ive seen the pic of your garage rocco... id bet you trip over MG's all the time..

[Bil]

Yeah Rocco-stop looking in the rivers and check out your livimg room!!! ---bil

[sbl11]

The majority of those guns ended up at the USS Alabama battleship. They were Japanese for the most part including a 20mm oerlikon, a type 1 7.9mm mg15 copy, a type 100 submg, and a japanese vickers. The knee mortar found with them was sent off to Quantico for "marine corps testing"( not sure what that means after 75 years of knowledge and opposition during ww2), and the 1927 Thompson was given to the Sheriffs Department in that county i believe. I have seen most the weapons in person, and even spoken with the Sheriff that was in charge of the recovery.

From the looks of it, the guns were serviceable, and in at least one circumstance with the type 1, it had replacement parts that you could buy from IMA installed. The type 99 oerlikon appeared to be a saw cut gun that was rewelded. Someone lost a serious collection. I'm just glad it wasn't destroyed, somebody used their head and saw this stuff's historical significance.



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-seth

[www.Prussia.us]

Great pics, thanks for the update.

[salt6]

Thanks for the update and photos.

salt

[Gulfstream4]

It's so nice to hear the wright thing was done.

[42rocker]

Gee the only thing that we found in the rivers when I lived there were voting machines. True story.
Glad to see something good in this story. Some of the weapons ending up someplace where they can be seen and not cut up and scraped.

Later 42rocker

[sbl11]

No problem! I have know about this for a year now and would have posted earlier if I knew this thread existed. I am interested in Japanese acmg's and own a type 1 and type 98, so I naturally jumped on this story when I found out that it was in my home state and consisted of another example.

I am still looking for japanese mg's to add to my collection. Too bad those can never be.

[AlanSmith]

Yes, the Japanese items from this group (less the Type 99 LMG and Type 89 grenade discharger) ended up on display at the USS Alabama in Mobile. I have photos and will post them if someone can tell me how to attach photos (I'm a new member - just joined tonight).

[AlanSmith]

USS Alabama display - Photo 1

[AlanSmith]

USS Alabama display - Photo 2