Buy the gun not the story

[firstflabn]

Having a background in a vastly different kind of inspection work, we called random inspections "the scarecrow effect." Deterence is cheapest - just like putting doubts in those crow's heads. The "bringback" doubters insist on written documentation, so your informative post might not meet their standards.

"Bringback" is a convenient, but misleading term. "Send homes" would probably be more accurate. The military committed to making mail service as quick as possible and sacrificed security to that end. A statement by the War Department Deputy Chief of Staff in March '45 included a long list of USGI gear found in parcels being mailed home by GIs. The statement went on to say that 300,000 parcels per month were mailed home through the NY POE and another 200,000 through Boston. Guess how many customs inspectors those two POEs had? 4. That's total, not each. Think all of those half a million parcels per month only had cuckoo clocks and beer steins in them? At the time the statement was made, there was no requirement for inspecting parcels prior to mailing (they soon added the requirement - but it didn't work either). With that level of staffing, looking inside 1% would have required a major effort. You don't think the grapevine got the word around that it was a low risk endeavor, do you? Why risk getting arrested getting on or off the boat - and delaying your arrival home, when if you mail a parcel just before embarkation, at least you'd get home before getting nabbed.

Besides the obvious pistols, carbines, and MGs, the statement listed dental instruments, welding equipment, and live hand grenades as being found. If it wasn't nailed down and a guard posted, it got packed up and mailed home. When the army busted the Hesse crown jewels ring, they went to the home of the parents of the main perp, Jack Durant. In an unopened box he had sent from Europe and had addressed to himself they found a 1911 pistol. Customs inspectors manged to miss that one - and no teliing how many thousands more.

Being dubious of a particular undocumented item is a totally separate matter from claiming such occurences were rare.

[Calif-Steve]

There was a very nice Gas Trap Garand that sold on Gunbroker(?) recently for real money. Long, crazy story aboutthe Garand being carried around from Panama to The Bulge and then back home, never discovered, never seen by any unit Officers and in very nice, orginal shape. Crazy, stupid story that did disservice to a nice, rare gun. Almost certainly stolen in Panama and mailed home to Mom in early 1942 when the unit deployed to England. But the story went on and the owner told the stroy to as many people who would listen. Silly story.

[browningautorifle]

Silly story.

We had a thread on that story here...

[Promo]

It sold for $ 3,094.00. Thought this sum would be worth mentioning.

[Leggett71]

If I may i'll add a bringback story from WW I.

My grandfather was on a mine sweeper in the north sea. He used to tell stories about shooting & exploding mines from the deck with an '03. They frequently stopped and sent out hunting parties for fresh meat. During a one of these shore excursions in Russia he traded ivory soap for a russian rifle. At the end of the war when they were being mustered out in New Oleans he had a couple of hours before he had to get his paperwork and stashed the rifle in a bus depot locker. He lost the rifle in the 40's when his house burnt down. But he brought it home.

Leggett

[ArizonaBeagle]

When I was out processing from Vietnam (1966) I shipped home a footlocker with personal gear and it was never inspected before shipping or after arrival. There could have been anything in there.

Personal baggage and duffel bags were another story and were inspected about six times in Saigon before boarding the freedom bird and there was little chance of bringing any contraband home.

AZB

[Calif-Steve]

$3094.00??? For a "story" gun, sorry for the buyer. Low numbers don't bring much. You just need to find that one special buyer.

[Rick the Librarian]

It actually looked like a more or less correct low numbered RIA, and those are worth something. Whether the "story" was worth buying is another matter. I was in the auction for a while, but someone was willing to pay a lot more than I was.

[308wink]

Want another "bring back" story? My Father sent some neat stuff home from Vietnam, he would mark the boxes as "FILM" and wrote "do not expose to light" on the boxes. The MP44 and M2 Carbine were later taken by the ATF and I was told the MP44 is in the Smithsonian Museum but I cannot confirm that. Some others were taken as well but those were the ones that hurt the most. He was not charged with a crime and later served in Law enforcement. It makes me wonder if the guns are in somebody's collection.

[John Beard]

A general question about US law and so-called "bringbacks".

A US rifle is issued to a US serviceman.
It is not given to him.
It does not become his personal property.
It is placed in his possession to be used as required by the service.

If he leaves the service, he no longer has any reason or entitlement to possess the weapon.
He cannot give it away or take it with him. It is not his property and he has no rights over it.
It remains the property of the US armed forces.

The service can dispose of the weapon as it pleases.
The serviceman cannot dispose of it at all.

Right or wrong?

Your statements are accurate insofar as they go.

Soldiers, however, and especially officers, have been allowed to take their personal weapons to war with them, and especially when those weapons were issue-type service rifles that fired standard military ammunition. There's a reasonable chance that the rifle in the Gunbroker auction is a pre-WWI sales rifle and was the personal property of Corporal Conover. In that case, Corporal Conover was entirely within his rights to pass the rifle to his buddy and have the rifle sent home.

For what it's worth.

J.B.