Jump to content

Looking at an M-60; what do we have?


Recommended Posts

A friend is helping liquidate an estate. among other guns, there is an M60 in original E-1 configuration. the only markings on the gun are on the top of the trunion. it is marked Machine Gun, 7.62mm; m60, Saco Lowell Div N.E., Maremont Corp., US. The paperwork shows the manufacturer to be Taylor Mfg, Decatur Georgia. In the Model box on the paperwork, the gun is listed as M60 Receiver, with a barrel length of N/A and an overall length of 18.25". to me this means this is not a factory gun, but is a registered receiver and the maker should have its mark somewhere on the receiver and the serial number should be on the receiver. but there is nothing marked on the receiver, no name, no location and no serial number. the serial number is on the site base (left hand side) on top of the trunion, (number 8xxx)--not on the receiver. the gun looks brand new. still has cosmoline inside the receiver and the top cover. we could not find any weld marks on the trunion. Any ideas on what we are looking at? Am I missing the correct place to look for makers mark? we looked under trigger pack, under the rear butt piece, on the top, bottom and the sides of the receiver. this gun has us stumped. thanks for any help.

  • Upvote 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Try looking inside for electropenciled light engraving. Marking guns in certain locations was often done intentionally allowing for much latitude in replacing parts and in locations not in general view to not detract from the gun's appearance. The "receiver" on an M60 is open to interpretation as to what that definition was back in the day when these were done. It could have been the channels or the trunnion or some such part attached to the gun. RDTS used to mark some of their guns inside the receiver and you had to retract the bolt to see it. Keep looking I'm sure it's there but it may have been reparked after electropencil so difficult to see.

Why would you expect welding on the trunnion? (other than if it's welded to the channel, which older Maremont guns were only riveted) Trunions by themselves are not regulated parts.

 

HTH

Link to comment
Share on other sites

thank you. will look further. could find no information on the manufacturer. did an address search and it is a single family home in an upscale neighborhood outside of Atlanta. I was looking for welds on the trunion thinking that since the serial number is on the trunion, maybe it had been cut and re-welded.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Lots of trunnions were pulled off of gov’t demils of M60s and needed welding repair to put back into useable specs. These trunnions wound up in reman M60s and often the barrel bearing was loose along with other annoyances from heavily used guns.

As noted above the markings could be anywhere as well as not there so keep looking. Taylor MGs that I have seen were reasonably well remanufactured but not top notch.

The serial number on the sight base is not a big deal as there are other mgs that were reman’s with the serial on non-receiver parts. ATF knows this and doesn’t seem to care and I am not aware of any owmers charged with such anomalies as long as they weren’t deliberately swapping numbers to register unregistered MGs.

If you can’t find the maker’s ID give me a call: 802-226-7204

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 weeks later...

Back Story on Taylor MFG. They were getting their hands on trunnions from poorly demilled guns. Guys would cut in front of and behind the trunnion and pocket the part as it was small enough to smuggle out in lunchboxes. Taylor would select ones that were in spec and rebuild them. They registered the new gun using the original SN which was always marked on the trunnion on GI guns so no problem with your serial. Remember- the trunnion IS the receiver for a GI gun, all the other parts were replacement line items while in service. There was a time in the mid to late 80's that trunnion guns were thought of as a hot item as the rails could stretch and be replaced and alot of private manufactured (RIA, ERB, others) trunnions weren't built to the same specs as a SACO trunnion.

 

Now to answer your question about markings- Pull the front handguard off and look on the left side of the trunnion- you will find Taylor's manufacture markings. He hid them to make the gun look nice in the current configuration for the time he was building. Of course- they are exposed in a more modern build, but that's another story.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
 Share

×
×
  • Create New...