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M1911A1 smuggled home from Vietnam

7K views 40 replies 30 participants last post by  KLW1911 
#1 ·
I wonder how many M1911A1 45s were brought home in duffel bags?
Some grunts got caught and some weren't.
Tell me your story and I'll tell you mine! After all, the statute of limitations has long passed.
Perhaps your story could be about how and/or what your "friend" did to get his M1911A1 home.
It was 1966 when my "friend" simply went thru the US Customs line where only about 1/3rd of the duffel bags seemed to be actually searched. My "friend" was asked what was in his bag and he responded, "Mainly underwear and socks - - lots of socks."
My "friend" was looked in the eye, didn't blink, and was allowed to go thru.
I gather that changed dramatically after 1968.
 
#2 ·
I hate to be the one to say it, but there is no statue of limitations on stolen government property. If the US military wanted to reclaim a Civil War cannon that they were sure had been illegally wheeled off the battlefield in 1862 they can confiscate it. Having said that, the likelihood that anyone with a pilfered .45 needs to worry about a knock on their door is extremely remote. The US military kept very poor records during the wars and they simply don't know for sure what pistols were lost, stolen, destroyed, given away to other countries, or legally sold through DCM. Besides that, the 1911 is obsolete in today's military and they simply have better things to do than go running around trying to round up guns that they no longer have any use for.

However, with all that out of the way I'm not sure many people here are going to freely admit that they personally liberated a 1911 from Uncle Sam.
 
#3 ·
Stories are one thing.

Reality is another.
 
#4 ·
You can turn in your US Property guns to Retired Military folks. We will look after them until Uncle Sam needs the guns and/or us. We will keep your sins secret and give you a genuine receipt, we are trained for and experienced at realignment of Government assets.
 
#6 ·
As mentioned in another post stories and reality. I can tell you that during WWII it was not as common as some say. My dad told me that before he was sent home from the European Theatre in Mar 45 their sea bags were checked. German stuff was OK but not American arms. After all there was still a war going on and they needed weapons...
 
#7 · (Edited)
in my office is a Kongsberg Colt marked 1942.

There is no ATF trace history and it was turned in to the dept as found property. There is no import stamps. IIRC, it was found in an apt closet (top shelf) with no previous apt owner information obtain.

It was destined to be cut up. I saved it and got it awarded to the dept.

Someone had messed with it as the original slide stop is gone, it sports hard/slick pacmyers, aluminum trigger and a decent trigger press for a 1942 manufacture.

while this is not US Govt property.... somebody brought it over. If you blow up the ejection side photo, 1942 is stamped on the slide, just forward of the grasping grooves.





 
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#10 ·
And this is just another reason why nobody wants to share their stories.
 
#12 ·
Just be grateful that he managed to bring himself back. I used to wonder why GIs would risk getting into trouble bringing back their sidearm, until it dawned on me that many of them felt Uncle Sam owed them something for what they were put through.
 
#13 ·
I carried a Browning .25ACP and ammo to VN in my duffel bag. While there I swapped it for a Thompson. Approaching DEROS and separation I thought about taking the Thompson home but decided I'd rather be sure of getting home and out of the USArmy. I forgot how I got rid of the Thompson but it remained behind. This was '62-'63, before it was a war.
 
#14 ·
Mostly on topic, my father was an Infantry 2nd Lt. in the 25th Division ("Tropic Lightning") during the unpleasantness in Korea in 1952-53. After the Armistice he and the survivors of his unit, fresh from a disagreement with some Chinese "volunteers" over the ownership of Pork Chop Hill, were lined up on the docks of Pusan waiting to board their troopship home. A newly minted 2nd Lt. with a clipboard announced that all duffel bags would be searched for contraband. While my father chuckled behind his hand, a couple of grizzled sergeants informed the Lt. that any such attempt would result in him being thrown into Pusan Harbor. My father and his unit, their duffle bags ummolested, boarded their troopship with a newly liberated burp gun secreted in every other bag.
 
#18 · (Edited)
Infantry 2d Lt., 25th Infantry Division "Tropic Lightning"---2/27th Infantry Battalion "Wolfhounds", 1967-1968, Vietnam.

My respectful hand salute to your Father----alive or deceased.

ALOHA.
 
#19 ·
A good friend of my dad's served with the 88th Infantry Division in Europe. It was given the job of occupying the Italian city of Trieste at the end of WWII. Buck used to tell the story about a guy in his unit that disassembled a German MP40 machine gun and mailed the parts home separately. At some point this guy got a package from home that contained the fully assembled MP40. The story was that this guy's wife had assumed he needed it for army use, somehow had it reassembled, and shipped it back, complete and fully functional.
 
#22 ·
As I recall, the Nebraska State Museum in Lincoln as well as the Hastings Museum have a number of WWII era firearms that were donated by/from soldier bringbacks including NFA items. One of my best friend's dad (USMC) returned home from Vietnam in 1969 after Hue, Da Nang, Khe Sanh et al with a duffel choc full of goodies including a Thompson and other assorted; ATF met him at customs to ask if the bag was his-he agreed and after a review of his service record, declined to pursue anything beyond mere confiscation...I would say that his good fortune and luck held out one more time after surviving 'Nam 1968! That said, pushing it can easily get you hard time as some dude from Ft Campbell recently found out...
My personal conclusion is; its not worth it. Just wait & go home and buy something from the gunshow.

https://history.nebraska.gov/museum/exhibits
http://hastingsmuseum.org/exhibits/lock-stock-barrel/
https://www.kentuckynewera.com/article_b4eb86e7-e37f-50d1-8c1b-51fc51ab3f7c.html
 
#23 ·
It was a pretty well known fact that the higher up the food chain you were (i.e. general officers), the easier it was to get your "captured weapon" back to the states. RHIP, and all that.

For those of us at the bottom of the pile, it was an all around crap shoot, and everyone who played the game knew the prescribed consequences if you were caught and punished.

I can't imagine the price I would have paid when I got home if I was indefinitely detained in country because I was caught trying to smuggle the barrel of an AK 47 in my shaving kit!!! :rock::eek::confused::(:)
 
#24 ·
We're actually talking two different things here... bringing back captured enemy weapons as souvenirs versus trying to smuggle home US military or NFA restricted firearms. If you captured a Tokarev or SKS and wanted to bring it back with you there was a procedure for doing so, and I believe your CO had to sign off on it, but it was usually doable. Bringing back something that still belonged to Uncle Sam was of course a different matter, as was an AK-47 since it would've been an honest-to-Mao machine gun.

Of course that was only up until the time of Vietnam. Nowadays you're not allowed to bring anything back except embedded shrapnel.
 
#26 ·
I'm confused? The end of the Viet Nam conflict, automatic weapons were still cheaply and legally available state side.Anyone who wanted one could get one. Drop in auto sears were a dime a dozen in the back of any gun magazine. So what is the big deal about smuggling on into the US, when they were otherwise available stateside?
 
#27 ·
Automatic weapons have been restricted in the US since the National Firearms Act was enacted in 1934. All automatic weapons have to be registered and you have to apply for a $200 tax stamp and undergo an extended background check just to own one. Things like drop-in auto sears were legal at first, but when people started doing illegal conversions ATF eventually ruled during the late 1980s that full-auto specific parts were considered machine guns as well and also required registry and paperwork (so no more auto sears or USGI M16 hammers). Open-bolt semi-autos (like the Ingram and Cobray offerings) were also restricted as they were too easy to convert to full automatic with minimal effort.

So yes, bringing home a genuine full-auto AK-47 would've been a huge no-no without having it registered with ATF first. A few did manage to do it, but most grunts didn't have the time or money. Those that did were likely possessed by a lucky few who managed to keep it stored in a safe place while waiting for the paperwork to go through.
 
#28 ·
I had a Persian Gulf war Vet who worked for me tell me an interesting story about some not to bright GIs who tried to smuggle home M-16 and other parts. In front of their unit they got Thank You Letters read aloud by their Commanding Officers for Recovering Lost US Government Property. A lot of lost US Government Property was voluntarily turned in afterward.
 
#30 ·
An older guy I worked with was in the Korean War and got a pistol off a Chinese or Korean officer. It was a chrome plated full auto broomhandle Mauser. He told me he sent it home to his mother who kept the package for him until he returned. He wasn't a gun guy and just kept it until he got nervous and sold it to someone. I would have loved to have seen it.
 
#32 ·
True story

As an Air Force officer I was issued a 1911 and M16 in 'Nam. We had to store them in the base armory! We were given an index card with the serial numbers of both guns. (I suppose we could repel an attack with the cards!) One day an announcement was made for us to report to the armory with our cards. We all thought an attack was about to happen, but NO. Seems the Army and Marines were running short of 1911's, and we were giving ours to them. In return we were issued old beat up S&W 38spls. (Model 10?) SOOOO thanks to all you thieving' bastards who took your 1911 home, and stuck us with revolvers.....ha, ha, ha.
 
#34 ·
My father, who enlisted, served in WWII as a weldor. 757th Railroad Shop Battalion. Most of them came off the Milwaukee Road. Captain Burns was a civilian Railroad man that they made a captain. Heavy drinker. They all were. Everyone agreed to not get into trouble. Which meant the still could have an armed guard 24/7 in the stockade so some other outfit did not steal the still. Captain Burns made sure the still was always guarded. (Burns figured out what my dad had been doing with 20’ of 3/4 copper tubing annealing it and wanted in.)


May of 1945 everyone wanted to take home a carbine and a 1911. But other outfits were getting into trouble with government property. The railroad shop (roundhouse and backshops) company had a safer plan. German guns were good. As good as ours. So, they loaded up a deuce and a half with torches and towed a portable welder to an unguarded German prison where captured small arms and ammo had been locked up. For safekeeping. Except no prison is build to withstand a railroad shop with tools to keep a locomotive running. Cut their way in, filled the deuce and a half. Welded up everything good as new. Sent a bunch of small arms back stateside in crates marked “American Red Cross”. Didn’t pay a dime in postage. My dad sent home 6 Mausers. To my uncle Harold.... who promptly sold them for beer money.

My dad was a stickler for gun safety. Incredible. He told me the story why in 1984. At 2 am during a poker game May 1945 one of his fellow soldiers dropped the bolt on an open bolt .25. One round. Zinged around the room and landed on the collar of a guys wool shirt. Left a welt on his neck (only). Lesson learned.

All the culprits are dead now. What they did wasn’t right. But it was funny. No American arms were lifted. At least not exactly.
 
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