Surprising to me that the cops did not just take it, then argue among themselves about who got to keep it.

I would have just gave her the $100 bucks and kept it. If all it was to her was to her was a criminals tool. To me just being able to hold the grip on such a gun would walk you through the history of the weapon and those who carried it before. Those officers' deserve a pat on the back for being honest and another pat on the back for knowing what it was. Surely saving it from the scrap heap a piece of history lost forever. Great story Phil.

One of my dad's best friends and his father attended a military surplus auction in Great Falls in the early 60s and bought a late 1940s Ford sedan staff car. When they got home and opened the trunk they found a WWII Browning 30 cal machine gun complete with tripod! No one wanted it back so they had the gun made inoperable (sigh!) and it was prominently displayed in the sporting goods section of their hardware store in Western Montana until it closed in the mid-80s. I wonder what happened to that piece. I'll see if his ex-wife is still alive next time I go home. She ran an antique store so I expect it was "liquidated."

My father brought a .25 cal Beretta back from the War and kept it in his dresser drawer. I asked, "Wow, dad, did you get it off of a dead German officer?" He replied: "No, I won it in a poker game at the base before I was deployed... along with the guy's car"

I certainly hope that the BATF doesn't require the rifle to be buggered up so it's useless scrap. It belongs in a Museum gun collection on display.

I don't have a problem with the gun buy back program. I suspect it has turned up a lot of hot (as in stolen) guns and led to many convictions. Probably even some for violent crimes. I'm also quite certain that most of those cops are usually good enough to try steering the owners of really fine weapons to buyers who will give them a better price. For instance, who would want to see a fine old Model 12 or Browning A-5 turned into scrap? Not too hard to find a good home for one of those. Up here the buy back program is different and really sad because the Mounties have no choice but to destroy anything that even crosses the threshold. They absolutely cannot redirect to another buyer, etc. No way! That fine piece above would have been cut to pieces and nobody could have done a thing about it. The antis do get crazy sometimes.

Too bad the only civilian version only comes in 22 rim fire. If they made it in a more powerful caliber I would definitely buy one.

Police buy-back programs are intended to get guns off the street, but as in this case,it gets guns out of the attic.

How do police depts buy back weapons without an ffl?...I am not aware of a BATF waiver for police buy backs

Ah, I see. Because it's an automatic weapon it would require a federal license to even possess it. Hmmmm. Maybe another reason why they didn't accept it?

I assure you that Ct is a bit different than Montana or Nevada....where I hail from. And a drug raid is a "legal" activity and responsibility of a police force. Gun buy backs are just that...money or consideration in return for receipt of a firearm...seems to me to be a transaction and not a section of the penal code. Yes I am sure there is some aspect that lets it happen I just wonder where the regs are buried. Hey I also credit the cops with not taking the weapon and offering the women some good insights. i always wonder how many MDL 21's, Superposed, Colt Single Actions etc end up in a smelter or dumped in the ocean because of these things....many stolen...some out of ignorance of what the firearm is or represents.

Hi Phil: Great article. They should let her "part-out" this gun less the receiver. The parts are worth thousands. Just the magazine is worth several hundred dollars. Go to a WWII re-inactment and you can hear them fire. Great sound of the 8MM/Kurtz ammo. Way ahead of its time with lower power cartridge, large 30 round mag and recoil spring/selective fire, push detent to break down lower from upper and spring loaded dust cover...Sound familiar? Pretty cool weapon,
Scott

Not only is that a awesome firearm, it has far and away the best name for a fighting weapon.

ScottinIA-- you wouldn't happen to be Hauptmann Scott from IA would you?

I read a book about a German official by the name of Albert Speer. He started as an architect and somewhat "insider" of Hitler back in the days before the war, planning the streets and buildings of New Berlin. When the war started, he was made to be the equivalent of Head Quartermaster, or some such. One of the interesting points I remember reading about was the fact that the troops and officers at the front wanted more of these StG 44's, while Hitler refused and demanded more tanks.

So, in a fit of German brilliance, Speer simply relabeled the rifles as "Tank." Quota and Fuhrer satisfied.

So, this woman may not have had an automatic weapon in her home, but a German tank. Does this change anything?

I worked in a steel mill in syracuse n.y. for 40+ years and every year the cops would bring in all the metal things that were used in a crime to be melted up. Us workers would eyeball all the pistols rifles and shotgunsand try an talk the guard into letting us have just one. I remember asking my parner once, if he could have just one what would it be? He said" I'd take that tire iron over there, I could sure use it".

Yes, kudos to the Hartford police for realizing its value, and refusing to accept it.

If I were here, I'd contact Amoskeag Auctions in New Hampshire, an auction house for high-end collectible firearms. Check out their website some time; there is some really cool stuff being auctioned.

My father served on a Navy destroyer in the Pacific in WWII, and brought home a common Japanese rifle, an Arisaka type 99. Every man on the ship got one, as his the ship captain had a connection with some marines who had siezed an armory in Tokyo immediately after the surrender. Each of these rifles (and many other types as well) had an engraving of a chrysanthemum flower, the symbol of the Japanese emporer. Since it was considered a disgrace to surrender something with the emporer's symbol on it, the Japanese ground off the engraving prior to surrender. I'm told thousands of these rifles came back to the states after the war, and are pretty common at gun shows. If the chrysanthemum is ground away, the rifle was surrendered at the end of hostilities; if intact, it was captured by force.

WAM, I'm well aware of the legal obstacles that can get in the way of Canadians wishing to purchase guns in the US. Watched some poor guy from Lethbridge cry like a baby at the gun counter in Havre this fall when they wouldn't even talk to him about purchasing a pistol. Pistols can be purchased up here but they are awful expensive and not a lot to pick from. As I'm sure you know, it's legally complicated storing and using one so I didn't bother bringing mine up when I emigrated back in 1989. Can't hunt with them so what's the point? Perhaps because I'm still a US citizen it might still be possible to purchase without difficulty? Not really interested in picking up any more guns anyway.

Not hard to see how the Russians came up with the AK.

i have a box of 20 hornady hollow points for one of these i was getting bullets for a mauser and this is what the pawn shop ordered. to bad for no refunds or returns. so if anybody wants a box of bullets for a rifle like that ive got one

very interesting story and a good example of making sure you know everything you can about any gun you own