Sturmgewehr 44 found at a gun buy back

[Olefin]

thought I would post a link to this article on yahoo about a lady who turned in an old gun that turned out to be a Sturmgewehr 44 (not in working order) she found in her father's closet to a gun buy back program in Connecticut.

For those GM's running US campaigns it may give them some ideas of how to liven up a game when the local militia instead of just shotguns and pistols and hunting rifles also has a guy with his antique German WWII assault rifle, but in working condition

Just goes to show - in the US just about any kind of gun could be in the hands of civilians


http://gma.yahoo.com/blogs/abc-blogs/valuable-wwii-gun-police-buy-back-022155231--abc-news-topstories.html

[HorseSoldier]

There are a good number of StG-44s that were brought back by WW2 vets. Some of them were properly papered under the Gun Control Act of '68 and are legal, some occasionally turn up in attics and basements when a veteran passes that are unregistered machineguns and ATF kryptonite. I think I read a story a couple years back on some crazy legal hoops and hurdles the heirs of a deceased WW2 vet had to go through to get an unregistered StG-44 legally transferred to a museum.

As for a post-Twilight militia member using one -- unless grandpa also brought back a pallet of ammunition as well it's just not plausible (a pallet of magazines would be nice, too . . .). 7.92x33 was still in production in both East Germany and Yugoslavia in the 90s (and is still made today), but I'm pretty certain importation to the US simply didn't happen during the Cold War and wouldn't happen in the T2K continued Cold War scenario. (You can purchase the ammo these days, though it's pricey, and someone was working on bringing in modern firing replicas being made in Germany though I don't know if that ever came to fruition -- but that's all from after the walls came down.)

There's no round you can fireform 7.92x33 cartridges off of, as far as I know, and honestly if some militia group had the means to produce new brass cartridges I can think of a bunch of better candidates for that project than a wonky cartridge that also requires a special, off caliber/bullet weight projectile as well.

On the other hand -- StG-44s would have been on the battlefields down in the Balkans in limited numbers, and with ammo having been produced in East Germany also (to supply the fraternal socialist revolutionaries and such who inherited most of them, like Syria) some might turn up in central Europe as well with ammunition to keep them fed. Obviously real world experience has indicated that they might turn up in the T2K CENTCOM AOR as well.

[Cpl. Kalkwarf]

Hornady and Prvi Partizan Make it still today. :cool:

[raketenjagdpanzer]

I was almost certain at the end of the article they'd say something like "...and the police have auctioned the gun off for much needed funds" or "it's unfortunate but the rules are the rules and the gun was destroyed".

Good to see I was wrong.

[Olefin]

Actually the ammunition was imported here in the United States by the Hansen Cartridge Company from Yugoslavia in the 1980's - thus it is very possible to see StG-44's here in the US that would have ammunition. Not as ample as ammo for the Garand, Mauser or other older military rifles - but more than enough to give the owner enough ammo to be a very big pain if all you expected to go up against was shotguns and hunting rifles.

http://www.ar15.com/archive/topic.html?b=3&f=16&t=570619

[headquarters]

I would like to mention the semiauto G43 in the same context - as far as I know it fired 7,92x 57 ammo from a 10 round box magazine and was commonly equipped with an optic.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gewehr_43