Korean war surplus

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http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/8271041.stm



Korean war rifles sold back to US


South Korea has come up with a novel way to boost its defence budget - by selling a vast stockpile of old Korean-war rifles to collectors in the US.

The guns were originally sent to Korea as military aid, and some were also used during the war in Vietnam.

For more than five decades, they have been kept mothballed in warehouses.

Most of those on offer are M1 rifles - a weapon once described by US General George S Patton as "the greatest battle-implement ever devised".

The rifles and carbines were originally sent by the Americans to help during the Korean war.

Since then they have occasionally glimpsed daylight, in training exercises for reserve forces, according to the BBC's correspondent in Seoul, John Sudworth.

But for the most part these weapons have been quietly gathering value as collector's items, our correspondent says.

A total of 86,000 M1 rifles will be sold, and another 22,000 carbines - although these have a more patchy reputation.

In the Korean war they had a reputation for jamming in extreme cold weather conditions, and complaints were recorded from US troops that they often failed to stop heavily clothed North Korean or Chinese soldiers at short range.
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I thought Lend-Lease stuff could not come back to the US, that is why we got the containers of Danish Garands that Lever brought in about 14 years ago.
 
Old news but good news and there's even more . So far only around 80,000 M1 Garands and between 20,000 and 30,000 (+) Carbines ( in the first batch )have been mentioned in the media releases. The Chosun Ilbo newspaper stated that another 640,000 Carbines were planned for release before 2020.
640,000 is a lot of little USGI evil brown guns. The biggest bunch of Carbines to ever hit the combined North American market and maybe ( hopefully ) enough to saturate the market in both countries.
Here's a link to the Ilbo:
www.chosun.com

Click on English , then search for old rifles or M1 Carbines.

This could also shape up to be another huge victory against the international gun prohibition movement. Money talks & BS walks.
:kickInTheNuts:

ETA: There are still a lot of Garands and Carbines scattered around the world. Lots of Allied countries that fought in Korea either recieved US guns as outright gifts or accepted sales offers.
 
tootall said:
I thought Lend-Lease stuff could not come back to the US, that is why we got the containers of Danish Garands that Lever brought in about 14 years ago.
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I read a while back, that Korea knowingly or not, got caught by the US selling back to them some Garands that were Lend-Lease. The ones in this current batch were apparently gifted to the Koreans. No idea if there's any truth behind any of this. I assume they still have records of all the serialized kit that was distributed around the world through various methods or how would they verify what was in fact Lend-Lease or otherwise? It would be interesting if this info exists if it was made public one day.
 
Fair question.
Gibbs505 said:
So, any coming here?
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I dunno.
But over 640,000 Carbines seems like enough to saturate both markets in North America.



And leave some for New Zealand , too.

:cheers:

No offense intended to citizens of Mexico but ...
Some of the "toughest firearms laws in the Western Hemisphere " and all that.
Never get the import permits.
 
bearhunter said:
I wonder if Obama and Clinton will stop this in the UN? Those rifles just may be headed for the smelter.
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Never happen.
Not with the 2010 elections staring them in the face.
Not with the ROK's increasing civil & military support in A-stan.
It's not the 1990's anymore. The firearms rights movement in the US has never been stronger than it is now.
 
I remember in the mid 80's Garands and 1911a1's coming out of Vietnam. Apparently there were thousands of them sent to the Republic of South Vietnam during the early War years there. I was on my fourth kid at the time and did not want to have the wife pee'd off that I blew $150.00 on a Garand I so much wanted to own so I sat on my thumbs and didn't.

Now I wish I went to the Ontario Auto Mart in Vaughan and bought 20 of each. My Wife would have been upset at the time but it would have been a good investment.

My buddy bought a International Harvester Garand and still shoots it several times a year. Excellent shooter lots of History,Korean War Era,Vietnam Era, and only dropped once by the ARVN,cost $150.00.
 
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