I was an Air Force Security Police officer from 1983 to 1991, getting out at the rank of Captain at Bergstrom AFB outside of Austin, TX. I was issued a variety of Model 15s, and wish I would have paid more attention to their configuration (TT, TH). I know I never got a bad one, and they were all very accurate even with the awful ball ammo we had to carry.

I'm not sure how any got into the civilian marketplace, but I suspect "leakage" from a number of sources. I could have gotten one myself - an RF-4C (aka Texas Lawn Dart) smacked a highway overpass and scattered itself all over the road on approach to the base. The pilots ejected and parachuted to safety in a nearby trailer park. I was on scene trying to keep people from walking off with classified trinkets when a guy walked up to me with one of the crew's Model 15, lost in the violent ejection from the jet. I turned it in, because I'm not a thief, but if I had kept it I'm sure it would have just been written off as lost and never entered into NCIC. It wasn't unheard of for them to come up missing during armory inventories, either, and I highly doubt these guns were entered into NCIC.

I've never heard of the Air Force giving surplus guns to police departments, but I suppose it could have happened.

And, yes, the statute of limitations has most definitely run for theft of government property, but that only applies to prosecuting the thief, not for recovery of stolen property.

So what would I do if I came across a USAF stamped Model 15 in the course of my day-to-day G-man duties? I'd probably fondle it heavily and try to buy it. Uncle Sam has bigger problems than trying to recover an "obsolete" weapon they've gotten rid of anyway.

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“What you got, ain’t new.”