Was this ever a thing? Im leaning towards no but I keep seeing this shit online about someone owning the rifle (or pistol) that their grandfather carried in WWII or whatever. As far as I know keeping or buying your gun from the military has never and will never be a thing.
>main culprits
M1911, M1 rifle and carbine
One of my relatives was a flight surgeon in WW2. For some reason he was issued an 03A3 even though he his job was a non-combat one.
One don’t know the exact details of how it happened but apparently he somehow ended up keeping it (as in straight up never gave it back not purchasing it) and we still have it today as a family heirloom.
Would you mind posting it? That sounds pretty cool.
I would but it’s at my dad’s house.
If this thread is still active by the morning i’ll see if he can take a quick photo of it and send it to me for posting.
There’s nothing particularly unique about it other than the fact that it’s in really nice condition given that it spent its entire “service life” stateside.
Most of the time Grandpa bought a surplus gun post-war and when he said "this was the gun I carried in the war" what he meant was "this is the same model of firearm as I was issued during the war". Officers who served for decades keeping the same service pistol until retirement are much more likely to bring home their service weapon, and handguns in general are easier to steal than long guns.
They weren't selling soldiers their service weapons. The rifles were collected, inspected, a certain quantity were kept to maintain supplies for the much smaller peacetime army and those surplus to that requirement were auctioned off, where guys like Francis Bannerman would purchase them in bulk and then re-sale them via mail order.
>mail order garand
Frick this gay earth I want to go back bros
you can do that right now, anon
>He doesn't know the Garand is still one of the few guns you CAN mail order.
>what he meant was "this is the same model of firearm as I was issued during the war"
I was thinking about this but wondered since I don’t normally hear the same regarding the AR-15 from Vietnam to gwot veterans
I met some boomer in Hawaii once who claimed that the smuggled his M-16 back home during nam
Funny enough, a family friend and his brother both served in Vietnam. His brother was killed, so friend smuggled his dead brothers M-16A1 back stateside piece by piece.
>"this was the gun I carried in the war" what he meant was "this is the same model of firearm as I was issued during the war"
yeah I'm thinking this is more likely. Even a GI during the war may have used more than one M1 rifle if it was damaged or lost during battle. Even modern guntuber veterans will hold up a GWOT AR15 and say "I carried this badboy in Fallujah"
>when he said "this was the gun I carried in the war" what he meant was "this is the same model of firearm as I was issued during the war".
This.
No doubt there are some exceptions if someone managed to smuggle something through, had important connections, was sufficiently high-ranking, etc. But most of the time people mean "I had a rifle like this one", not "this is the exact same serial number I carried in battle".
GI bringbacks--basically war trophies--were a thing, but AFAIK that applied to enemy weapons not whatever Uncle Sam issued the GI.
Long winded answer but in short yes, sort of kind of. A lot of the time it's as said but there are plenty of cases (JFK's m1 garand and Chris Kyle’s rifle iirc) where your unit lets you keep the rifle without having to buy it and in WW1/2s case the unit during the drawdown post war would often let people purchase the soon to be scraped rifles as its cheaper then scraping them.
>in WW1/2s case the unit during the drawdown post war would often let people purchase the soon to be scraped rifles as its cheaper then scraping them.
Do you have any evidence for this? Starting almost immediately after WW1 the US Ordnance Department undertook a massive refurbishment program of all the M1903 and M1917 rifles they still had in inventory. Peep those attrition rates on M1917s; fricking ~40% of those already made had ceased to exist by the time the last one was assembled! The end of the war meant the Army & Navy budgets got slashed to the bone; they recycled everything they possibly could before selling the junk components for scrap. Companies like Francis Bannerman, R. F. Sedgley and W. Stokes Kirk then bought those literal junk parts and kludged together "functioning" rifles for resale to the unknowing public.
Admittedly I don't have any actual documentation but I know duffel cuts were a thing for rifles brought back by US gi's and that there have been some that went up for sale with the official documentation "commander so and so bla bla bla authorizes the keeping of this rifle by pvt so and so"
Also, most of the rifles Bannerman were complete weapons. They were some that were parts kits but that's not the majority.
>I know duffel cuts were a thing for rifles brought back by US gi's
Those were trophies captured from the enemy, not US government property.
>They were some that were parts kits but that's not the majority.
It's more than you think.
Not a great source but here's a couple links of guys with 1903 spriengfields with duffel cuts.
https://www.gunboards.com/threads/duffle-cut-1903-springfield-rifles.1193815/
https://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?339476-Repairing-1903-Springfield-duddle-cut-stock
>It's more than you think
Oh it's undoubtedly hundreds of thousands or rifles, pistols, etc. But still not at all the majority let alone all.
>Most of the time Grandpa bought a surplus gun post-war and when he said "this was the gun I carried in the war" what he meant was "this is the same model of firearm as I was issued during the war".
It helps when the 1911 is so easily available on the civilian market
>It helps when the 1911 is so easily available on the civilian market
Pistols intended for the civilian market are marked differently. Colt sold the M1911 pistol as the "Government Model" and it was marked as such on the frame and "Colt's Automatic" on the slide, and Government Models had a separate serial number sequence with a "C" letter prefix. US Army & Navy-contracted pistols were marked "Model of 1911 US Army (or Navy)" on the slide and "United States Property" on the frame.
Wouldn't be the first rifle that made it home with GI.
He was a thief and you are an accomplice to the theft of government property
You’re a homosexual and an accomplice to sucking wiener
Accomplice? Absolutely not.
You are thinking of accessory after the fact.
Assuming the statute of limitations hasn’t expired.
>He was a thief
Cool. One more thing to admire about him.
>you are an accomplice to the theft of government property
I wish I was, but’s hard to be an accomplice to something that happened decades before I was even born.
That said….
Frick the US government and frick you.
thats based though
I’ve heard about shit like this from a friend who’s father fought in the Vietnam war. Can’t really confirm shit llke this but the idea is cool so whatever
If it's off the books which it is it's his
Depends on how good of a thief you were and how hectic of a demobilization line you found yourself in. Of all the people who claim that it was their rifle 99% are liars.
It absolutely has been a thing.
At the end of the Civil War, the US was long on guns and short on cash, so they let soldiers buy their guns.
Makes sense, in the case of the Civil war. I know the CMP is a thing and the principle is based but it could be better.
People here saying yes but I've never seen any proof or evidence of this being true and most accounts of it are called out as bs. There's definitely bring back guns but as far as personal service weapons you'd think there would be ample evidence if this was a real thing.
My grandfather kept his M1 Carbine that was issued to him as a guerilla in the Philippines, but he never had to pay for it.
My grandfather was a navy blue jacket guerrilla in the Philippines. He flew PBYs for pat wing 10 until they lost them all. He traded his service pistol there for a 1911 serial 635, property of the us navy. We still have it. We have his 1917 too. He didn't leave the navy until the 70's. I believe he carried the 1911 in Vietnam also.
When they issued us new pistols we got the choice to buy our old revolvers for a very cheap price.
t. EuroLEO
its more a case of the government not keeping track of weapons enough to prevent people taking it home. They didn't care that much about getting back every weapon for the same reason that even though they gave every soldier a set of civilian clothes they didn't give a shit about getting their 2 million uniforms back.
also I think the interaction between the guy doffing his hat like he doesn't give a frick while leaving the MP hanging is funnier if you know the hat guy was an regimental Sgt. Maj. before he signed his papers.
After the civil war soldiers could buy any type of musket for $6 a spencer carbine for $10 and all other types of carbines and revolvers for $8
>After the civil war soldiers could buy any type of musket for $6 a spencer carbine for $10 and all other types of carbines and revolvers for $8
The surrender terms with Lee allowed the confederates to keep their guns and horses. This had to happen to balance that out
My grandpa was a cook in the army in Vietnam and took home his service rifle. I didn't talk to my grandma for a while but he died in 2021, and after I talked to her again I asked about buying his rifles from her and she told me she already sold them all (he was a hunter and had a collection of various old war and fudd guns) because she really needed the money after he died.
Breaks my heart.
>My grandpa was a cook in the army in Vietnam and took home his service rifle.
He's lying anon. Sorry to be the bearer of bad news. The US army in vietnam was not some mess at that level. he might have had a captured SKS or AK but there is no fricking way he was keeping an M14 or M16 from government stocks. He was a fricking cook?
I think you might not know what you're talking about.
>I think you might not know what you're talking about.
I think I do. I know Marines that served in Kora and Vietnam and Oliver Stones version might be interesting and gritty but the fact is he also does glowing documentaries about interviewing Putin. Huge numbers of American troops in Vietnam went and behaved 100% professionally. People were not taking their issue rifles home with them to the sound of the rolling stones. Soldiers WERE allowed keep trophy pieces with authorisation. Not issue rifles. There was no scheme by which anyone could buy thjeir issued M14 or M16. It went back to the armoury. I just spoke with someone who I know did too tours as a volunteer and he says anyone who said they were buying their issue rifle and bringing back to the USA is so special they are covered in glitter and fairy lights or yet another person lying about being in Vietnam or the gun.
>The weapon stays at the unit
Most people lie. It does not mean they are bad people but that they had some reason. Maybe he just did not want anyone to know where he actually got it so he made up some bullshit which would be semi plausible to his wife.
>buying your issued rifle
No. Not going to happen. Wars rarely end neatly and govenments keep them for arming proxy, colonial or allied powers. If it is state owned and from a real nation in Europe or the USA or G7 it is bullshit
>Officers sidearm
Entirely different matter, may well be private purchase anyway and property of the officer in most nations including UK and certainly many US officers as well up to the 1950s, same with officers swords (which are usually private purchase and a different pattern). So not so much buy as just keep what you paid for anyway
I really wish the military would let you bring your weapon back instead of leaving it for a goat fricker to pick up.
Switzerland has always been doing that.
Its very much the exception and you know it,
And you know it shouldn't be the exception.
It was a thing after WW2
I have a GI 1911 from dubya dubya two
I don't even know what that b***h is worth anymore but it's a lot