Are we ever going to see mass quantities of milsurp pistols?

[Trebor]

The U.S. military will *NEVER* again release surplus pistols to the public.

The last time the governmenment sold surplus pistols was in the 1950's and 1960's. The old DCM program was supposed to sell 1911's but the assassinations in 1968 ended the pistol sales program before it even started.

The current CMP is forbidden by charter to sell handguns.

Any surplus pistols will either be destroyed or possibly made available to police departments through a specific program. That is already occuring. Even then though, the guns are on loan for the department's use and the department's are not allowed to sell them and must return them to the military if requested.

The U.S. military will never release surplus pistols for civilian sales again. It's just not going to happen. (Same goes for M-14's and M-16's, btw).

 

[Sunray]

"...ever going to see mass quantities of milsurp pistols..." Not any more. The days of mass quantities of milsurp anything are long gone.
"...why would they destroy all those pistols?..." Long past their prime for one. Worn out. Your government(not just your's though. All the FN C1A1's, C2's, No. 7 and No. 4 Lee-Enfields the CF had were chopped) not wanting piles of relatively inexpensive handguns on the market is another.

 

[hgmike]

wow what a shame to destroy those guns. i guess people really do sleep better because of ignorance. wouldn't recycling be the 'green' thing to do?

 

[Big Bill]

I wouldn't doubt that US mil surp handguns will go to world peacekeepers like UN troops, etc. Those same troops will use those handguns to disarm US citizens.

 

[Erik M]

Im foggy on this but didn't Bill Clinton block something about m1's being sold? maybe ones that were sold to other countries military's and the countries wanted to sell them back to the US as surplus?

Yeah I dont see the government selling us any modern era surplus firearms.

 

[Onmilo]

Clinton extended a milsurp ban that was put in place back in 1986 by the Republicans for reasons cited in earlier posts.
The domestic gun manufacturers whined to congress that huge imports of foreign used military surplus was negatively impacting their ability to sell guns on the domestic market.

The bans and blocks remain today for the same reasons.

 

[mljdeckard]

The reason the military won't sell old equipment to the public is mostly liability. When faced with the possibility that someone might injure themselves using it and try to sue, it looks better on paper if they just scrap it. They don't have to worry about re-couping anything. That is money that was spent three administrations ago. (Or more.) No one asks them what they did with the old gear when they ask for new gear.

As for the inference that U.S. soldiers will use these guns to confiscate, have a little faith. Such an order would be illegal, immoral, and unethical, and I would refuse to follow it. I have already discussed this with my commander. There aren't enough soldiers and police to effectively round up all of the guns in America.

 

[Bigdog57]

Yep, the milsurp guns are inthe same boat as milsurp Jeeps/MUTTs and the diesel KLR650 motorcycles. Destroyed or at best cut up and sold for scrap only.
We KLR guys at one time were salivating on getting those old KLR bikes with the 100MPG diesel motors - all got scrapped. "Not DOT certified" was the reason given.
So with guns, it's very easy in this day&age to cobble up various reasons to send them to Captain Crunch. And it looks good on TV to the rabid Antigun crowd - you gotta know the Brady Bunch are loving it......

 

[Neverwinter]

My guess is that uncle sam might think that the cost of labor, shipping, processing might end up costing more than just crushing them or melting them. Not to mention that would be time taken away from other tasks.

I wonder if the costs of the various milsurp handling options has been studied by the GAO. That might be an interesting read for a lazy Sunday.

 

[awgrizzly]

Obama recently blocked the re-import of M1 Garands and Carbines with the excuse they could be used for criminal purposes. Yeah, there's gonna be a lot of crooks with swollen thumbs holding up banks with Garands. With irrational ideology at the level of religion, it'll never happen.

 

[GEM]

A seemingly strange aside - some suggest that the government could make money by selling the guns. With my other hat, I know that if you hold a sacred belief (like hating guns or religion or some ideology), if you are offered money to change that belief and related behavior - you hold it even more strongly as compared to a rational argument alone to change your belief.

So don't hold your breath on buying the USS Enterprise to tie up to your dock.

 

[Hatterasguy]

No the US government won't see us firearms, but thankfully many others don't have these silly "moral" problems. Sadly they new stuff can't be imported which is a shame because Eastern Europe and China would sell neat stuff to us by the ton. $100 surplus AK's anyone?!

 

[longhair75]

There were quite a number of military surplus 1911's sold in the sixties. There is a thread over at the firing line discussing them.

http://thefiringline.com/forums/showthread.php?t=427606

 

[Tinker]

As mentioned earlier in this thread a lot of military firearms get chopped up in Annison, Al.

Saw a clip of it on the local news several years ago. Two guys running metal chop saws through the receiver area. Looked to me they were chopping Thompsons in two. Sickening.

 

[CZguy]

Saw a clip of it on the local news several years ago. Two guys running metal chop saws through the receiver area. Looked to me they were chopping Thompsons in two. Sickening.

I feel sorry for the guys who do this kind of work. The karma can't be good.

 

[hso]

Nope

Far fewer pistols in service in the world militaries so far fewer to import.

LE trade-ins will be far more plentiful.

 

[rogertc1]

No. S. Korea was supposed to release for sales in the USA a whole ot of used Carbines and Garands we gave them however the Government stopped that.
Sucks