28 replies to this topic

[Ben]

ah yes.."wobblie" or to "chuck a wobblie" ..what a corker of a saying..

cheers for the PM Sgt.Martin, couldn't let em get away with it could I

[Mike45]

Most of the stuff in pics was left over WW2 stuff that we sent to Nam in early 60's. A good portion of it was not issued in any qty.,such as the mg 34's, K98's. The piles of rusty stuff were scrapped by 89 but a lot of stuff that was deemed still usable (not rusty) were kept,sold. I saw a couple of conex's of K98's that were unissued that could have been bought. The govt. must have subscribed to Shotgun News as they wanted US$200 ea. & no better $ if took all. I offered $20 ea for the K98's,was told that they did not have permission to negotiate. The location resembles just south of Tan Sohn Nut base, sheds gone at that time, rusty bits & pcs. all over . The location was controlled by a Vietnamese (Govt) Co.General Service Co.that was in charge of war assets. Their office was on Me Linh Square in Saigon.

[Ben]

I can just see it now...

Hank, what we going to do with all these guns rusting away in Vietnam? We got to get rid of them otherwise the Vietnam Govt. are gonna do it for us and send us the bill..

Well sir, we could sell em off. That way all the responsiblility is with the buyer and leaves us in the clear and we won't have to lift a finger..

Good idea, got any idea on a price?

Yeah, what about £200 each?

Sounds good..but ain't that a bit much?

Probably sir but if they sell we're going to have one hell of a christmas and if they don't we just do it the way we supposed to in the first place and get a bonus anyway for a job well done...

Ah, well done my boy! I've always said we need more of your type round here...

[mp40]

The Russians supplied North Vietnam with the MG 34/42's from, of course, the captured stocks of Wehrmacht equipment. Evidently, they captured huge quantitys of these weapons,so naturally they thought, why not use them against the French in "Indochine"? as an interesting side note, the French signed up some ex-SS members to use against the Vietcong! that of course, didn't go over well in France when it was discovered! But the ex-SS members where particularly well respected and feared by the vietcong. HMMM.....i wonder why? And as for the American weapons, they where supplied to the south, in large (huge) quantitys near the end of our involvement in Vietnam...So sad to see that it went to waste....

[John Jr]

Pardon me if I offended any of you Englishters out there. I was just stating my opinion on the pitiful waste. FA45 was huffing a bit about the Brits. Just wanted to ease his feelings. I know exactly how he feels.

"""And anyway, real shoot able Thompsons are illegal in the UK but at least they can be decommissioned (dewat) without cutting them up into pieces like you have to do in America."""

Its certainly NOT your fault that England is a country full of liberal idiots that believe in gun control. We can fire our registered Thompsons all day long here; poor folks in England cannot even own a pistol.

Deactivation of a Thompson is certainly not accomplished by simply plugging the bbl and slicing the front off of the bolt. Both parts can be had and installed for less than $300 (US). You cant very easily reweld a torch cut receiver thats been whacked in 3 places. Maybe they knew that in case the Germans ever came knocking on the gates of Southampton again.

I do appreciate the fact that there are people in England that do fancy the Thompson. It is the most recognizable gun shape in the world.

I'm off now.

(Eat some cold taters and fish and fondle your Thompson for me chaps)

Jr
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[Waffen Und Bier]

That's some sickassed sh*t When ya see stuff like that, ya can't help but to go see if your babies are safely tucked away in their safes, maybe take a couple out and wipe them down with oil

[john]

Nary an m16 is right. M16 still used when these were taken. These were guns the Mil. had no use for.
Look at the pictures carefully. My best guess is Kodachrome, based on my use of this film back in the 70's and 80's and knowing how the colors degrade over the years, I'd guess these were taken in the late 70's. Perhaps Chris can lend some Photographic expertise on this matter (Chris, your cave pics are both fabulous and fascinating!!)

Look at the Flora....no tropical plants here.....common stuff that you'd see down Southeast. And the soil.....reddish brown, kinda like Alabama or Georgia??

Can't make out anything on the water tower in one pic, but it looks red or red/white.....probably one of our military bases.....
Can't make out more than a blur of the sign on the side of the building.

Question: Where in the U.S. do they do most of the demilling of unused weapons? I know they cut up a bunch at Rock Island, but that was in the 90's and these ain't Rock Island.....

Anniston Alabama?

BTW, I got dibs on the Swedish K sitting on the pile of M3's!!!!

My .02, FWIW.

john

[mp40]

I did see some M16 hand guards in one of the pictures though...Yes that Swedish K caught my eye, it looked great! I too wondered about the purported location..Also, no firearms are ever to be considered obsolete by anyone as they all can still do their intended task....Vietnam,China and other Asian countrys have built firearms from scratch for years and probably still do (not to mention the town of Darra in Pakistan where guns are milled from steel scrap with a file!) Why would they scrap all of these? I have read that China does not Demill, destroy or otherwise scrap any firearm! And the RPG's they are still front line weapons just ask Saddam!

[Walter63a]

mp40, "Why would they scrap all of these?" That is because it is our Federal Government, whose middle name is 'waste'!! I once spoke with a Vietnam vet. who said that as a Sgt., while over there (Vietnam), toward the end of the 'conflict', he was ordered to place hundreds of weapons into bomb craters and mortar them! Finally, the bulldozers were brought in to cover-up the scene of the crime. Also, 'they' wouldn't want 'military' weapons falling into the hands of 'undesirables', like the citizens (Oh, I'm sorry, I meant 'subjects'!! ) who paid for them in the first place! Regards, Walter