Gas Trap

[Bob Seijas]

The Winter issue of the GCA Journal is in the last stages of construction and edit... lots of great stuff in this one, including the feature on the first Gas Trap discovered by collectors. It was the pattern for ten years.
Attachment 98176

Information

Warning: This is a relatively older thread This discussion is older than 360 days. Some information contained in it may no longer be current.

[Tom in N.J.]

Looking forward to receipt, just received my Fall GCA Journal Wed., Jan. 7, 2019!

[Bob Seijas]

What did you think of the Unertl Sniper piece, Tom? Publishing it was controversial.

[Snowman1510]

Why was the article considered so controversial? Because of the M1903 aspect or something else?

[Bob Seijas]

It is outside our area of expertise so we were not competent to evaluate the conclusions Steve Norton drew from the docs. Some of his assertions challenge the opinions of recognized experts and call into question the authenticity of some pricey examples in collections. It makes me chuckle because everybody in that field says there are more fakes than real ones out there, but nobody admits his own might be a put-together.
The central bone of contention is the belief that "they ran out of National Match rifles to convert so used standard rifles for some." Collectors have held this notion since Senich advanced it in his sniper book. Steve's documents utterly demolish the idea that they ran out of match rifles, so a Unertl Sniper built on a standard '03 is probably not original. Some people are not happy about that speculation and question how a bunch of Garand collectors have the temerity to challenge the authorities.

[browningautorifle]

Steve's documents utterly demolish the idea that they ran out of match rifles

I remember he stated that here during discussion too, then showed us documentation...

[RCS]

I have been a member of the GCA since it started and enjoy articles on both the M1 Rifle and Springfield 1903. There never was a newsletter that I can recall
concerning the Springfield 1903, only thing close to a 1903 newsletter was Frank Mallory's "U.S. Martial Arms Collector" combined with the SRS data. The M1
Carbine collectors had their detailed publication for many years. Articles on the Model 1903 do fit in with the M1 rifle. During most or all of WW2, the Springfield
1903 was used along with the M1 rifle as both a grenade launcher and sniper rifle. I think it is nice to find very informative article on the Model 1903 in the GCA
Journal

[Snowman1510]

I just went and re-read the article. So what Mr. Norton was saying was that the Special Target rifles were never taken into added to the total of NM 03s and because of that people believed they ran out of NMs and began converting standard M1903s?


Side note:

question how a bunch of Garand collectors have the temerity to challenge the authorities.

This part made me giggle.

Forgive me, I got a little off topic in this post.

[Bob Seijas]

Yes, Snowman, the docs show they had about 800 match conditioned rifles left long after the Unertl program was terminated. The fact that Match Target rifles had standard barrels may have led early collectors to think they were standard rifles when in fact they were re-barreled National Match rifles. That, of course, opens the door to anybody who claps a surplus Unertl (of which there were many) onto a standard gun and calls it original. I can understand that if you paid $15,000 for one, you might be unhappy and want to shoot the messenger.

[Bdgarand]

Thank you Bob for all your hard work putting these magazines together. I am always amazed at the effort contributors put into their articles. Steve is a good guy, I'm glad to see him contributing also. I hope you are doing well and enjoying sunny Florida.