Is there a place for surplus military guns?
Recently, an 84-year-old Korean War veteran was awakened by the sound of someone trying to break into his home. Fred Ricciutti, pulled a handgun from a nearby drawer and yelled a challenge. When the man standing in his kitchen door didn’t respond, Ricciutti fired, shooting through the kitchen and storm doors and wounding the would-be intruder, prompting him to flee. The alleged intruder, Raymond Hiles, was arrested a few blocks away with a screwdriver, a stun gun and a 9mm hole in the back of his neck. It’s very possible that Ricciutti’s use of his firearm saved him and his ailing wife from a tragedy.
So what gun did this vet use to respond to this invasion of his home? M&P Shield? Ruger LC9? Beretta Storm? Would you believe it was a 65-year-old relic from World War II? A German Luger 9mm that last saw action when a German flag was flying over Paris?
Ricciutti even commented on his weapon’s performance in The Mail Online story about the incident.
“’It’s hard to hit anything with a .45, but a Luger is a very well balanced gun,’ said Ricciutti.”
I can hear the guys in the 1911 crowd sharpening their knives now…
The incident brings to mind scenes from Clint Eastwood’s Gran Torino, where Eastwood’s character, another Korean War vet, responds to an attack on his Hmong neighbors by breaking out his M1 Garand, loading an en bloc clip and telling a group of punks to “Get off my lawn.” And it brings to mind a question. In this age of ultra-modern firearms, is there a place for surplus military weapons in home defense?
As Mr. Ricciutti showed, the answer is “you’re goddamn right there is.”
People seem to forget that older guns like the Enfield SMLE, the M1 Garand, the M1 Carbine, the Luger and the 1895 Nagant were designed and used to fight wars. And although they are older now and have certain limitations, there’s no reason they couldn’t be used to defend life and property. Some older designs, such as the M1 Carbine, are being mass produced today. The 1911 can still be found strapped to the gun belts of Marine Corps special operators, and until recently the Enfield was still being issued to both the Indian police and the Canadian Rangers in the Arctic Circle. In Afghanistan, Taliban fighters are using the Enfield’s superior range to stymie the movements of NATO forces, whose M4 carbines lack the range to effectively engage them. To this day, the Mauser action design used to frustrate the British during the Boer War, is still being copied and used in modern hunting rifles.
That’s not to say that there aren’t disadvantages. Ammunition for these older weapons can be hard to find and expensive once you do. Go to your local Wal Mart gun counter and ask for a box of 7.62 Nagant if you don’t believe me. Even weapons chambered in cartridges you know and love today require some caution as those cartridges have evolved since the years these weapons saw action. You can bet, for instance, that Ricciutti’s Luger wasn’t loaded with +p+ jacketed hollow-points. The M1 Garand may shoot 30-06, but it’s a 30-06 that’s a distant ancestor to the much more powerful rounds used today. There’s also the chance that the weapon has suffered damage, so you should always get your surplus firearm looked at by a gunsmith for safety’s sake.
But there are benefits as well. Depending on the model of weapon, there are very good deals out there. 1895 Nagant pistols and Mosin-Nagant rifles can be found online for less than $100. Mauser rifles can be found for $300. Walther P-1 and P-38 pistols can be found for $350. The Civilian Marksmanship Program will ship an M1 Garand to your front door for $600. A French .308 MAS rifle, the French contemporary of the M14 can be found online for about $500, a rifle that Guns Magazine contributor Holt Bodinson has described as “… a better fighting package than my M14 ever was. It’s a well thought out, refined and accurate design.” Ammunition for these weapons can be found online. Hornady makes a 30-.06 round specifically for the Garand.
Are these weapons ideal for home or self defense? I guess it depends. When you can’t afford the $400 for a modern handgun and you live in the worst part of town, a $99 Nagant starts to sound awfully good. $1,000 for an AR15 may be a bridge too far, but a $500 MAS will shoot a bigger round for half that. And you can’t deny that weapons that were designed to kill Nazis should be more than suitable to convince a home invader that he’s made a possibly lethal error.
Just ask any 1911 owner how he feels about using his gun for home defense. After all, the production might be new, but the design just passed its 100th birthday. Some things get better with age. The AK47 is still the front-line weapon of countries all over the world. That design was first presented to the Soviet Army in 1947.
TJ
(Photo by Oleg Volk)
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