StG-44 Turned in to LA gun buyback program for a $200 gift card - Polidicks

[QUOTE=aydin690;43452897]Holy shit, you guys act like it's some sort of super rare mayan artifact. 430,000 of them were produced and every war museum, collector and their mama has like a dozen of them.[/QUOTE] doesn't matter how many there are, it's still a $40,000 item being melted down in exchange for a gift card

[QUOTE=aydin690;43452897]Holy shit, you guys act like it's some sort of super rare mayan artifact. 430,000 of them were produced and every war museum, collector and their mama has like a dozen of them.[/QUOTE] Theres also a shit ton of them in Syria somewhere

[QUOTE=sloppy_joes;43452952]You guys really think that after a news story and realizing it's worth tens of thousands of dollars they are going to melt it down?[/QUOTE] Yes. That's how gun buybacks work. Even up here, the police melt down $10,000 competition shotguns turned in to them because it's required by law. I even heard they seized a rare $60,000 Walther WA2000 from a meth dealer in BC (I'd love to know how the hell he got it), and if it's not going to a police museum I've heard of in Saskatchewan it'd have to have been destroyed. I really doubt that California, one of the strictest states for gun control, doesn't have a law requiring all buyback turn-ins to be destroyed.

Let's just pray to God it's a replica.

[QUOTE=aydin690;43452897]Holy shit, you guys act like it's some sort of super rare mayan artifact. 430,000 of them were produced and every war museum, collector and their mama has like a dozen of them.[/QUOTE] No, no they don't, because A) not that many of them made it into the US and B) They cost a lot. What's in the US is basically vet bring-backs, if they're lucky there's a few thousand of them. Also, 430,000 isn't very many guns for an army. They made more than 14 million K98s.

[QUOTE=carcarcargo;43452962]Theres also a shit ton of them in Syria somewhere[/QUOTE] About 5000 of them. [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6EsCle4ooM0&feature=player_detailpage[/media] And it's a beautiful sight to behold.

[QUOTE=aydin690;43452897]Holy shit, you guys act like it's some sort of super rare mayan artifact. 430,000 of them were produced and every war museum, collector and their mama has like a dozen of them.[/QUOTE] People who think this way are EXACTLY the reason we don't have a crapload of beautiful feats of engineering, like the E-100 chassis, the I-100 series submarines and just one Panther 2, these are just the examples I can name from the top of my head. In my opinion, destroying such historically valuable constructs is barbaric.

[QUOTE=maxumym;43453249]People who think this way are EXACTLY the reason we don't have a crapload of beautiful feats of engineering, like the E-100 chassis, the I-100 series submarines and just one Panther 2, these are just the examples I can name from the top of my head. In my opinion, destroying such historically valuable constructs is barbaric.[/QUOTE] Yeah we should totally let them waste away in the back room of some museum, because every place that wants one on display already has at least two, they're not some sort of exclusive gun, they're just hard to find now because they're mainly in museums.

[QUOTE=DaCommie1;43453059]Yes. That's how gun buybacks work. Even up here, the police melt down $10,000 competition shotguns turned in to them because it's required by law. I even heard they [b]seized a rare $60,000 Walther WA2000[/b] from a meth dealer in BC (I'd love to know how the hell he got it), and if it's not going to a police museum I've heard of in Saskatchewan it'd have to have been destroyed. I really doubt that California, one of the strictest states for gun control, doesn't have a law requiring all buyback turn-ins to be destroyed.[/QUOTE] Sorry to be a bit offtopic, but does anyone here have more details on that particular incident? I thought less than 200 genuine WA2000 rifles were made.

[QUOTE=aydin690;43452897]Holy shit, you guys act like it's some sort of super rare mayan artifact. 430,000 of them were produced and every war museum, collector and their mama has like a dozen of them.[/QUOTE] I'm a serious firearms collector and I don't own one, and my friend who has around 10,000-20,000$ in his German firearms collection doesn't own one. Out of the 430,000 how many do you think were melted down to be turned into can openers? How many do you think were shipped off to backwater arabic shitholes to be used in revolutions and wars against Israel? How many do you honestly think made it into North America? 430,000 firearms made is an absolutely pitiful amount of firearms made. Thats not nearly enough to have them survive a world war and a dozen post-WWII revolutions and conflicts. Theres a reason that a genuine STG-44 costs around 15-30 grand here in the US. If they were as common as you're assuming they are, they would cost around the same as a Mosin Nagant. [editline]7th January 2014[/editline] [QUOTE=asteroidrules;43453318]Sorry to be a bit offtopic, but does anyone here have more details on that particular incident? I thought less than 200 genuine WA2000 rifles were made.[/QUOTE] Just because theres few of them doesn't mean a rich meth dealer can't get his hands on one. [editline]7th January 2014[/editline] [QUOTE=No Party Hats;43453295]Yeah we should totally let them waste away in the back room of some museum, because every place that wants one on display already has at least two, they're not some sort of exclusive gun, they're just hard to find now because they're mainly in museums.[/QUOTE] so you're saying it's better to melt them down and turn them into tin cans than it is to have them preserved professionally in a museum or let them be in the hands of a collector? lolwhat?

[QUOTE=Trunk Monkay;43451348]They won't, they'll crudely cut the receiver up and melt it for scrap, and then turn it into paper clips, and turn the stock and pistol grip into wood chips for playgrounds.[/QUOTE] All of which have much more useful purposes.

[QUOTE=Sungrazer;43453465]All of which have much more useful purposes.[/QUOTE] so?

[QUOTE=Sungrazer;43453465]All of which have much more useful purposes.[/QUOTE] the worst kind of thinking. wooden huts for homeless people are more "useful" than the [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Constitution]220 year old USS Constitution[/url]. should we break her up and build wooden huts for homeless people out of her timbers?

[QUOTE=Trunk Monkay;43453391]Just because theres few of them doesn't mean a rich meth dealer can't get his hands on one.[/QUOTE] It'd still be rather interesting to find out just how that happened. Also I have a morbid curiosity to see if he did anything to the gun, and more importantly if they actually destroyed it or had the decency to put it in that police museum that was mentioned.

[QUOTE=Grenadiac;43453489]the worst kind of thinking. wooden huts for homeless people are more "useful" than the [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Constitution]220 year old USS Constitution[/url]. should we break her up and build wooden huts for homeless people out of her timbers?[/QUOTE] Except the amount of wooden ships from the 1790's is pretty miniscule, and all probably have more history than a firearm, which, while rare, was produced in greater numbers much later. Sure, the STG44 shouldn't be melted down to make can openers, that's retarded, but you guys are blowing the importance of this gun out of the water. If they unearthed a cache of 5000 last year, chances are it's still around in a lot of military museums and other places. Just because you can't personally get one doesn't mean it's fucking extinct.

[QUOTE=aydin690;43452897]Holy shit, you guys act like it's some sort of super rare mayan artifact. 430,000 of them were produced and every war museum, collector and their mama has like a dozen of them.[/QUOTE] I know several collectors that have dozens of World War 2 firearms in their collection who don't own an STG-44 because they are so hard to come by. When you do find one they are exorbitantly expensive. I think these emotional gun buyback stories are pretty sappy but you are absolutely wrong about it being common.

[QUOTE=GoDong-DK;43453556]Except the amount of wooden ships from the 1790's is pretty miniscule, and all probably have more history than a firearm, which, while rare, was produced in greater numbers much later. Sure, the STG44 shouldn't be melted down to make can openers, that's retarded, but you guys are blowing the importance of this gun out of the water. If they unearthed a cache of 5000 last year, chances are it's still around in a lot of military museums and other places. Just because you can't personally get one doesn't mean it's fucking extinct.[/QUOTE] StG44s aren't nonexistant but they are rare and historically important. rather than turning them into paperclips and wood chips for playgrounds (the amount of either you could get out of a single gun is negligible) we should be taking measures to preserve them wherever we can, as with any historic firearm or, indeed, any pieces of history.

[QUOTE=GoDong-DK;43453556]Except the amount of wooden ships from the 1790's is pretty miniscule, and all probably have more history than a firearm, which, while rare, was produced in greater numbers much later. Sure, the STG44 shouldn't be melted down to make can openers, that's retarded, but you guys are blowing the importance of this gun out of the water. If they unearthed a cache of 5000 last year, chances are it's still around in a lot of military museums and other places. Just because you can't personally get one doesn't mean it's fucking extinct.[/QUOTE] it's not biblically important but it's certainly more historically significant than paperclips and playground chips [editline]7th January 2014[/editline] perhaps even more important than a 200 dollar gift card! either way it's a shame that a relatively rare historical piece was melted down - even though it's actually not the rarest thing in the world

[QUOTE=GoDong-DK;43453556]Except the amount of wooden ships from the 1790's is pretty miniscule, and all probably have more history than a firearm, which, while rare, was produced in greater numbers much later. Sure, the STG44 shouldn't be melted down to make can openers, that's retarded, but you guys are blowing the importance of this gun out of the water. If they unearthed a cache of 5000 last year, chances are it's still around in a lot of military museums and other places. Just because you can't personally get one doesn't mean it's fucking extinct.[/QUOTE] You're overestimating that cache they found for several reasons. Biggest reason is that it was reopened in a fucking WARZONE. Those firearms aren't being sent to museums, they're being sent to child soldiers and are never going to end up in the hands of a collector. When the war ends, those firearms are either going to be melted down or sold in bulk to insurgents. Another thing is is that once WWII ended, the firearms that the allies didn't destroy were salvaged and sent to allied nations. The Syrians got a butload of those weapons, including tons of Panzer IV's that were used against Israel in a few wars. The Israelis even used some BF109's. So because of that, the only reason that cache was there was because the Syrians probably never took them out of storage because they started getting shipments of AKM's before the STG44's could even be put in service. Most of the armorers probably didn't know they were there, and if they did they probably would have been sold to insurgent groups they had ties with, like a lot of middle east surplus does. Those conexes full of crudely packed firearms are not going to be found anywhere else other than some middle east shitholes that the Soviet Union or NATO supported at some point. That one the Syrians had is probably the last one anyone will ever find, because the rest of it all has been sold off to insurgent groups because the firearms are hopelessly outdated and ammunition is going to be hard to find for it in bulk, and if they do find it it probably isn't going to work because it was made in 1944 and improperly stored. No military is going to keep weapons they can't use and the only people who want them are US collectors, and it's impossible to get those weapons into the US legally. [editline]7th January 2014[/editline] Like I said earlier, the 400,000+ that were made doesn't mean that 400,000+ survived the war. Most would have been lost on the battle field, broken and destroyed by occupiers, professionally demilled, and sent off the allied nations with outdated armaments. The few that made it in the US didn't come into the US by the crate load, they came back as bring-backs by returning Soldiers. They're not like Mosin Nagants that you can buy by the crate, they're extremely rare rifles that cost tens of thousands of dollars. They're incredibly rare, incredibly expensive, and incredibly important pieces of history. They deserve better than to be melted down. [editline]7th January 2014[/editline] [QUOTE=Sungrazer;43453465]All of which have much more useful purposes.[/QUOTE] Collections and hobbies aren't utilitarian bud. That collection of model planes and tanks, legos, or stamps is no different than an antique collection. Get over yourself.

[QUOTE=Juniez;43453637]it's not biblically important but it's certainly more historically significant than paperclips and playground chips [editline]7th January 2014[/editline] perhaps even more important than a 200 dollar gift card! either way it's a shame that a relatively rare historical piece was melted down - even though it's actually not the rarest thing in the world[/QUOTE] I even said I think melting them down is totally retarded, I don't know why you guys are even responding to tell me that.

welp! no-one's acting like they're "fucking extinct" either so idk why you said that

[QUOTE=Trunk Monkay;43453685]You're overestimating that cache they found for several reasons. Biggest reason is that it was reopened in a fucking WARZONE. Those firearms aren't being sent to museums, they're being sent to child soldiers and are never going to end up in the hands of a collector. When the war ends, those firearms are either going to be melted down or sold in bulk to insurgents. Another thing is is that once WWII ended, the firearms that the allies didn't destroy were salvaged and sent to allied nations. The Syrians got a butload of those weapons, including tons of Panzer IV's that were used against Israel in a few wars. The Israelis even used some BF109's. So because of that, the only reason that cache was there was because the Syrians probably never took them out of storage because they started getting shipments of AKM's before the STG44's could even be put in service. Most of the armorers probably didn't know they were there, and if they did they probably would have been sold to insurgent groups they had ties with, like a lot of middle east surplus does. Those conexes full of crudely packed firearms are not going to be found anywhere else other than some middle east shitholes that the Soviet Union or NATO supported at some point. That one the Syrians had is probably the last one anyone will ever find, because the rest of it all has been sold off to insurgent groups because the firearms are hopelessly outdated and ammunition is going to be hard to find for it in bulk, and if they do find it it probably isn't going to work because it was made in 1944 and improperly stored. No military is going to keep weapons they can't use and the only people who want them are US collectors, and it's impossible to get those weapons into the US legally. [editline]7th January 2014[/editline] Like I said earlier, the 400,000+ that were made doesn't mean that 400,000+ survived the war. Most would have been lost on the battle field, broken and destroyed by occupiers, professionally demilled, and sent off the allied nations with outdated armaments. The few that made it in the US didn't come into the US by the crate load, they came back as bring-backs by returning Soldiers. They're not like Mosin Nagants that you can buy by the crate, they're extremely rare rifles that cost tens of thousands of dollars. They're incredibly rare, incredibly expensive, and incredibly important pieces of history. They deserve better than to be melted down. [/QUOTE] I didn't say those 5000 would make it into the hands of any museum - simply that I assume at least a comparable number must already be around, and that's honestly more than enough to preserve the historical significance of the gun. Y'know, if someone turned in a functional V2 rocket or whatever, it'd be a tragedy - this is merely retarded as shit.

tbh it's not a surprising reaction to someone throwing away a historical piece (for absolutely no reason mind u) and also losing about $39800 in the process

[QUOTE=GoDong-DK;43453941]I didn't say those 5000 would make it into the hands of any museum - simply that I assume at least a comparable number must already be around [/QUOTE] Then you would be wrong. Read everything I just said and you'll understand why. Theres roughly 2,000 Mateba Unica 6 Autorevolvers in the US. They cost anywhere from $2,000-$6,000. What does that tell you about a rifle that can cost upwards of $20,000 for one thats in garbage condition?

[QUOTE=asteroidrules;43453318]Sorry to be a bit offtopic, but does anyone here have more details on that particular incident? I thought less than 200 genuine WA2000 rifles were made.[/QUOTE] They made 176, and a guy in Germany owns almost all of them. I spent the last little while pouring over the forum I saw it on and can't find it, it was from a while ago. Found it: [url]http://www.kamloopsnews.ca/article/20130501/KAMLOOPS0101/130509993/-1/kamloops/drug-bust-targets-major-supplier[/url] [quote]Police also seized several weapons, including a Walther WA 2000 sniper rifle estimated to be worth $40,000. Total cash seized amounted to $45,000.[/quote]

[QUOTE=asteroidrules;43453318]Sorry to be a bit offtopic, but does anyone here have more details on that particular incident? I thought less than 200 genuine WA2000 rifles were made.[/QUOTE] Wikipedia says there were 179 made, but other sources say that it could be 250 at the most. Just 15 of them were sold in America, of which 11 are held by the company's president, and the other four were in possession of the earlier mentioned collector, which raises the question how a meth dealer could get his hands on one, as it would go for 40000 dollars at the least, as there are none being sold. Either way, destroying it after confiscating it from him is about the same as destroying a drug lord's Ferrari after arresting him. (Which has actually happened before. It was an accident, but still, come on!)

[QUOTE=Trunk Monkay;43453987]Then you would be wrong. Read everything I just said and you'll understand why. Theres roughly 2,000 Mateba Unica 6 Autorevolvers in the US. They cost anywhere from $2,000-$6,000. What does that tell you about a rifle that can cost upwards of $20,000 for one thats in garbage condition?[/QUOTE] Exactly this. The relative rarity of a functional, authentic STG-44 is proven by the sheer monetary cost they command. If they were easy to come by nobody would be spending tens of thousands of dollars on them.

[QUOTE=Reagy;43452035]Just think, someone's great-granddad/granddad/dad dragged that thing all the way back from Europe after going through the hell of WW2 only for it to be neglected then traded in for something worth much less than its historical value because some tightasses need to get their feel privilege up to scratch. It's LA, its gonna be melted unless someone buys it from them or someone on the force has a right sense of mind and knows its historical. A museum will pay of the ass for any StG-44, there's a one in normandy, france which paid over €60,000 for 2 models, one was in really poor condition and the barrel is bent to fuck.[/QUOTE] You're almost making it sound like the purpose of fighting in WWII was collecting guns. I'm sure that someone's great-granddad isn't mega pissed off in his grave. I swear I don't see facepunch getting so sentimental when an expensive work of art is sold at a garage sale.

[QUOTE=Falubii;43454181]You're almost making it sound like the purpose of fighting in WWII was collecting guns. I'm sure that someone's great-granddad isn't mega pissed off in his grave. I swear I don't see facepunch getting so sentimental when an expensive work of art is sold at a garage sale.[/QUOTE] probably because nobody's going to buy a work of art at a garage sale ...then burn it

[QUOTE=Trunk Monkay;43453987]Then you would be wrong. Read everything I just said and you'll understand why. Theres roughly 2,000 Mateba Unica 6 Autorevolvers in the US. They cost anywhere from $2,000-$6,000. What does that tell you about a rifle that can cost upwards of $20,000 for one thats in garbage condition?[/QUOTE] Fair enough, I guess I was wrong.