As the value of ‘old’ guns goes up, so do the counterfeits become more and more prevalent…


At gun shows you may make the find of a lifetime, or get badly burned…

There are companies out there (especially in Italy apparently), making fakes of old/famous guns that are appropriately “aged” or distressed to make them appear something they are not.  

Spent about half the day this weekend on the phone with a friend as he tried to buy what was ‘advertised’ as an M-1 Garand NM Type 2, but the seller had ‘forgotten’ to bring the DMP paperwork for the rifle.  He knew I had one, so he was calling for assistance and I was frantically searching the net for verification (and this was one of those shows were no cameras are allowed). Luckily, I was finally able to get in touch with a REAL expert on NM rifles, and got him in a conference call with my friend. 

He ended up not buying the rifle, as there were just a few too many ‘oddities’ that didn’t match up, and every oddity had an ‘explanation’ to go with it…

By the way, here is an excellent reference article, even without pictures on the M-1 NM rifles.

http://www.americanrifleman.org/articles/national-match-m1/

This brought to mind the number of fake M-1C/D sniper rifles and the fake 03-A3 sniper rifles that are appearing.  I’m sorry, but $7000 for a rifle without documentation is just patently ridiculous, and some are obvious fakes, others however, would take a good gunsmith or a professional weapons appraiser to catch the errors/omission/fakery.   

If you’re serious about buying a rifle like that, or a ‘real’ WWII unrestored 1911A1, or a real Winchester 73 or 86, or a Trench Gun, or a Gen 1 Colt SAA; you are better off going to a real auction house or having an expert on hand to verify the weapon is what the seller says it is…

At least going through an auction house, you do have a better chance of getting papers that prove the provenance of the weapon, and most of them have a provision for examination by an expert/gunsmith.


Part 2-


This from Guns and Ammo on line, a new ‘Peacock’ investigation, focusing on face to face sales based on internet sales (note they didn’t try to buy via an auction or gunbroker or others that I could tell; and they didn’t go into the ‘hood’ and do a random stop on a corner to ask “Sumdood” if he had a gun for sale.  And the obligatory sob story at the end.  Video HERE.  Note the ‘set up’ by the buyer, and the hidden camera pursuit/confrontation?


 (why does Bloomberg’s straw buyer program come to mind?)


I really wonder if this is about guns,  or ‘barter’ which is becoming more and more prevalent (and no taxes are collected).  How could you possibly regulate something like FTF unless you have a gun registry, and require proof of ownership a periodically?  Every 6 months is an investigator going to show up and check your safe? You DO comply with the storage requirements, right???


How about just enforcing the laws on the books? Or is that too hard???


Sigh…


h/t JP