Quote:
Originally Posted by KEN L
The last two pics are my gun. Thanks for posting them They were all a part of a program to demilitarize weapons and turn them into scrap along with various other types of weapons. The only thing missing off of mine were the grips, which were either removed or just crushed. Probably the latter. I’ve added a set of grips and it is usually the center conversation piece of my display at gun shows. People always want to know if it was run over by a tank. My gun was actually crushed in two directions. Side to side and top to bottom. Guess they wanted to make sure. It’s the only one I never have to strap.  |
I have read accounts where they were sold at auction at scrap metal prices and had simply set in barrels, buckets, etc., out in the weather possibly for years. My example certainly looks as though it was in the weather for some time, and the seller stated his father had bought it (likely along with others) at a government auction in the Great Lakes area some time ago. It was the only one that his father had kept, maybe due to the triggerguard not being crushed. (?)
I would be tempted to add several more deactivated examples to the Victory accumulation at relative pricing, if for nothing else to add the serial numbers to my grouping. Probably not for everyone, but I rather enjoy it.
I get the tank question from folks too, and the tall-tale Texan in me really wants to tell the story about a German soldier who acquired it as a battlefield pick up only to get ran over while shooting at a Sherman tank with it...............and the Sherman tank commander who brought it back home in his duffel bag after using it to pistol whip numerous German soldiers who stupidly poked their heads into the tank's turret hatch. (Shhhhhhh if you see me telling this story anywhere else, as it is getting better by the minute!)
Thanks for letting me share your deactivated Victory pics and not being too upset about it. I have added your forum name for proper credit with your example's pics.