Where do all the firearms go?

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Desert Scorpion

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From all the wars the United States has been in I got to thinking where the heck do all the small arms go after that war. Im talking m1 carbines, M2'S, BAR'S, Thompsons, M1 garands, were do all these guns go after a war. Does the Unites States melt them all back to scrap metal or keep them all in storage somewhere. I mean where talking a lot of guns where do they end up.:scrutiny: My only guess is we sell them or give them to other coutries who need them. Someone have any idea.
 
Look at CMP's web site. Seems that M1's went all over the world and now they're coming back. We "loaned" them to other countries for 50+ years, it seems.

Cops get milsurp rifles, too.

My guess is that a lot of current rifles are pretty trashed by the time they get decommissioned.
 
I'm the proud owner of a US Rifle Cal .30 M1, that resided in the land of Greece for 50 years. Thanks CMP!
 
I hear tell of a wonderful and mystic land where the Hoppes #9 flows like milk and honey, the holsters all fit, and the wind never blows when sighting-in. Old guns rest in comfort, although some answer the call and are resurrected by Norinco, Charles Daly, Auto-Ordinance, and Springfield Armory.
 
Good question I've often wondered about this topic myself.

I can vouch for only two:rolleyes:

My Springfield M1903 and "US Property" marked M1911a1
1903and1911.gif

My guess is that many ended up as scrap after the wars, many were probably sold of to other countries, some are probably still sitting in crates in warehouses somewhere and the rest ended up in civilian hands here in the US. It also wouldn't surprise me if a lot of milsurps ended up as movie props for the film industry, complete speculation here mind you.
 
Best answer: various places.

DS, half of the 1911s sent over to France in WWI did not come back. A lot of guns go "missing" (nothing for me today, inspecting Sgt., into the bag they go). Members of my own family can account for some missing firearms.:D

Many guns are destroyed during combat. Many were sold off or given to allies after the conflicts (e.g., UK got a lot of our guns, RoK got a lot of our guns).

In Vietnam, the NVA captured stacks of M16s, M1s, M1 carbines, etc. and sold them around the world including Central America and Africa.

President Clinton I destroyed an enormous amount of firearms in Captain Crunch and burned a lot of ammo at places such as Jefferson Proving Grounds. Clinton also gave away many firearms (e.g. M14s to Baltic States) so they could not potentially be sold via the DCM/CMP.
 
I know in the movie "Warlord" they say that often times after a war the U.S. just sells off a good portion of the weapons right from there to other countries, and over the years they trickle down everywhere.

Of course that was a movie so I have no idea if it's true, but I figure it has at least some measure of truth to it.
 
Note that some gun companies have supported efforts to deep-six surplus firearms over the years...
 
A lot of STG44's ended up in Africa
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What's that got to do with the question of where U.S. GI arms go?

Regardless, I seriously doubt you will never see any more U.S. surplus arms for sale from U.S. storage.

All the old stuff is gone, and all the new stuff now will never be released to the general public.

As noted, Clinton signed a Presidential Order while he was President stopping the sale of all U.S. surplus arms & ammo through the CMP.
Far as I know, it is still in effect.

That's why we are only getting Greek Lend-Lease M-1's & ammo, and South Korean Lend-Lease Carbines now. Any of ours still in U.S. storage are being destroyed.

The old M-14's, M-16's, and M-4's are "Machineguns" so they will never be released.

And I doubt they will ever sell M-9's either, because they are Evil Assault Handguns!

rcmodel
 
As noted, Clinton signed a Presidential Order while he was President stopping the sale of all U.S. surplus arms & ammo through the CMP.
Far as I know, it is still in effect.
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I don't think so. The Greek returns, were returned to the U.S. Army after the lend/lease period expired. The Army released them to the CMP to be sold. I'm about 99% sure you're wrong on that one.

You are right that no M-14, M-16 or M-4 will ever be sold to the public as surplus, because they are NFA weapons.
 
All the old stuff is gone, and all the new stuff now will never be released to the general public.
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There are still oodles of guns in fed.gov's hands.

As noted, Clinton signed a Presidential Order while he was President stopping the sale of all U.S. surplus arms & ammo through the CMP.
Far as I know, it is still in effect.
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Gun shoppe rumor to justify raising prices on M1s? You did hear this in a gun shoppe, right?


Any of ours still in U.S. storage are being destroyed.
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True 10 years ago. Were being destroyed at Anniston by Cap'n Crunch. At Knob Creek you could buy mashed up M10s as paper weights. This is a gun shoppe rumor as well?

The old M-14's, M-16's, and M-4's are "Machineguns" so they will never be released.
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Never? Maybe, but Clinton feared that after '94 we would change the ATF's "once a machine gun" rule as rabble rousers like Neal Knox have wanted to do since the '70s. This is why he sent the M14s to the Baltic States.

The right election result and gun owners pulling their weight by actually joining the NRA rather than carping about it could easily see the abolition of this admin rule.
 
I wonder... if a handgun, like an M9, made it to the civi market somehow (nevermind how for the moment), would that gun turn up as stolen on a serial number check?

Or any of those 1911's from Vietnam or Korea that soldiers managed to "bring back"?


-T.
 
You have probably seen pictures of stacks of rifles in places like Iraq, Africa etc that were recovered from the battlefield. I understand most of these are scrapped. In wartime, getting a rifle is not hard. They're everywhere. That is one of the reasons I don't get all hung up on SHTF scenarios.

A lot migrate to the US because their is a market for surplus rifles.
 
A lot of ex-military rifles are so banged up and out of spec that you wouldn't even want them... most of the rifles we see today in the surplus market have been sitting in a warehouse since not long after they were made.
 
I thought at one time, perhaps after the Vietnam War, that the our government used to dispose of surplus arms and ammo by dumping them somewhere out in the Pacific Ocean. This practice may have been eventually discontinued following concerns as to environmental issues.
 
Overseas. Sold to people fighting communism and such, IIRC.
NFA guns? Some probably go overseas, others are chopped up, others wind up in squad cars or National Guard armories.
 
I thought at one time, perhaps after the Vietnam War, that the our government used to dispose of surplus arms and ammo by dumping them somewhere out in the Pacific Ocean. This practice may have been eventually discontinued following concerns as to environmental issues.
Click to expand...


Any idea where?:evil:
 
"Where do all the firearms go,"
long time passing?

Where do all the firearms go,
longtime ago?"

Oh great, now they will be as mad about that as the whole "Puff, the magic dragon" thing.

Well, they went home in duffle bags, got loaned out to other countries, got sold to other countries, got sent to CMP and sold to us, got cut up, and some likely ran away and joined the circus.

-Bob Hollingsworth
 
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