B.A.D.A.S.S.Force

What a nice present to receive for someone who had no clue what they had ... thank goodness for some great police officers that this valuable WWII relic wasn't just simply destroyed.

Valuable WWII Gun at Police Buy-Back (Link to original story HERE)

Just like a scene out of "Antiques Roadshow," a woman in Hartford, Conn., turned in an old rifle to her local police station's gun buy-back, only to discover the gun was worth anywhere from $20,000 to $25,000. The woman, who wishes to remain anonymous, inherited the gun from her father who had brought it home with him from Europe as a memento from World War II.

The two officers conducting the gun buy-back, who are resident gun experts for the Hartford Police Department, informed the owner she was in possession of a Nazi Assault Rifle, the first of its kind, that dates back to 1944.

The gun is called a Sturmgewehr 44, literally meaning "storm rifle," and is the first "modern assault rifle ever made, eventually replaced by the AK 47 in 1947 by Russia, who copied the German design of the Sturmgewehr 44," Officer Lewis Crabtree, one of the two officers who discovered the gun, told ABC News.

"It's like finding the Babe Ruth of baseball cards," said Officer John Cavanna. "The rarity, it was made for such a very short period."

Most people, however, who aren't avid gun fans would have no idea what role this gun played in history.

"If you were to look at the gun and didn't know anything about guns, you would think it was garbage," Crabtree said.

That is essentially what the owner thought the gun was, bringing it to the station knowing full well it would be put into a smelter, melting the gun down into an iron brick.

"People turn in guns for a variety of reasons," Cavanna told ABC. "They don't have a good way to secure it, they have kids around their home, or they don't know how to use it. This is an anonymous way for someone to take an unwanted firearm and get it off the streets. We then give them a $50 or $100 gift card to Wal-Mart."

Crabtree attributes gun accidents to ignorance and carelessness. The anonymous gun buy-back program is aimed at preventing people from running into potentially dangerous situations with a gun they don't know how to use or work.

This seems to be the reason the woman who dropped off the historic rifle.

"Her father passed away. The gun was in her closet," Cavanna said. "She did not know it was a machine gun.

"If the gun had been in the closet loaded, any second you could hit the wrong level and discharge a fatal round," he said of the Sturmgewehr 44.

This German-made machine gun can fire 500 rounds in minutes, according to Cavanna, who is also a gun range master.

At the time the officers received the gun, it was in such disrepair that it was inoperable, unable to shoot a bullet even if the gun had been loaded. Cavanna said ammunition would have to be especially made for this gun.

The unnamed owner of the gun has left the valuable artifact at the police station for safe keeping.

"We did not take the gun in for the gun buy-back program," Crabtree said. "If we took it as part of the buy-back, we would have no choice but to destroy the gun. We don't want to destroy that gun."

The owner intends to sell the Sturmgewehr 44.

"It sounds like her family could use the money," Cavanna said.

Ronan87

Woah...

Strato50

...a few years back here in Hamilton, they melted down a perfectly good MG42 that someone blindly walked in with.... ><

Nobody tried to stop them

Tanque

Unfortunately unless these things were registered prior to 1984 the ATF will frown on them. They've closed the title III weapons register for things like this. While the loaw allows
for periodic 'amnesty' registrations they'll never happen cause if they do it for one they'll have to open the floodgates for whatever is out there and they just won't. I can imagine
the owners of legal weapons that they paid a small fortune for don't want their investments cut in half either....

They'll probably require the StG 44 to be deactivated.

Jerry

pattoncommander

It's amazing what people have and don't now what it is or what do do with it. About 6 yrs ago when I was helping to rebuild a local military museum, some guy walked in with something wrapped in cloth. He said, " won't say where this was or who had it, but it's yours". We unwrapped it and there was a Browning CAL 30 M-2 machine gun. It had a very narrow barrel and cooling jacket and spade gips on the rear. Curator said.."we had those in Vietnam" ...WRONG....I told... him,, was not used after 1945....this came out of an SB2C or Dauntless DBM Navy dive bomber of WW II, rear gunner. The spade grips indicated a flexible mount such as a rear gunner....other models had a solid back and solenoid for wing or cowl mount. The narrow barrel and cooling jacket tell the story, as up in the air where it a lot colder, the heavy jacket and barrel were not needed. After some deliberation, I got the Browning book and showed him. This gun was still in cosmoline and complete except for the missing bolt spring. After a couple tedious hours cleaning it up, it was in perfect shape ...wonder who had it after so many years. At least it is now safe, locked up in the weapons safe.

t9dragon

My Feedback: (11)

amazing......