G40k pics

I saw in the book there weren't any recent pics, so here's a few I took in 2006 at Aberdeen.

Not the greatest, but Its what I could get with the tech from an early 2000's pocket snapshot type camera.

Thanks for posting them, great to see any additional pictures of a real one. Too many fakes have floated up lately.

What a Cool Rifle . Thank You for sharing pics .

Thank you for posting them, great to see an original rifle!

Sweet rifle, thanks for posting.

I can't remember, but I thought someone said in the thread the rifle isn't there anymore???? Maybe it was a different rifle that disappeared from there.

If only I were old farts like most of you here I could have gone to Aberdeen back in the day too... you know when the world was normal.

If you guys get the chance to visit the arms museum, do so, its awesome. Call ahead and make an appointment to see something specific, like the G40k, and you can get in the vault. I saw all manner of rare weapons in there. Long barrel G43, short barrel, 8mm kurz, Mkb42 and Stg45, etc. They have a dozen needle guns of every variety. What you see in the museum display is a fraction of what they hold in the vault.

The museum is no longer there, the collection was moved. We tried in vain to locate the rifle for photos but nobody knew exactly where it is. We hope it isn’t destroyed, but with the Govt who knows what they feel is important. I went there in the 90’s as a tourist and took a lot of photos of the armor. Many years later, when vehicles were being spread around, I saw a few here and there, like the Patton Museum at Ft Knox and even saw the 251C model at the Texas Military Forces Museum in Austin. No small arms though.


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I'll inquire what the status is. I'm an Army LOG officer and FT Lee is ALU (Army Logistics Univ.), so I might be able to make some headway through the bureaucracy. I've been there a lot for various schools, etc. and still know a few people. The QM Museum is worth a look if you're there. It has Eisenhower's trailer that he lived in throughout the ETO campaign across France into Germany. It's small and they kept it in its original state, very cool exhibit. https://qmmuseum.lee.army.mil/explore/exhibits/ike-van.html

It doesn't appear to be open to the public right now according to their website: https://history.army.mil/museums/TRADOC/OrdnanceTrainingandHeritageCenter/index.html
There's a POC on their Facebook page, I'll see if I can get an answer as to the disposition of the bulk of the collection that was at Aberdeen. Hopefully they didn't farm it out to smaller museums in penny packets.

Viginia War Museum

When visiting our AF sergeant son in Newport News 2 years ago we went to the Virginia Military Museum, for a small place, they had lots of interesting stuff. Cheap admission as well. I thought the German rifles on display were attractive, but that was before finding this forum; since I’ve a bit about how much there is to learn. Also some vehicle displays at both Forts Langley & Eustis, for those w/military id to get on base. We saw both a C-5 and a C-17 at Christmas time. There’s an armor museum near Danville Va, but we didn’t get there this trip because it’s a 4 hour drive each way from NN. I IIRC, it’s open fri &sat only, when covid is done, the TSgt & I plan to go, spend fri nite locally, go back on sat. I believe they have some runners as well to see when weather permits.

Fingers crossed on their disposition. There were recently several cut up 98k receivers for sale that were stated to have come from Aberdeen.




Does anyone know what this is:

Nulle100 said:

If you guys get the chance to visit the arms museum, do so, its awesome. Call ahead and make an appointment to see something specific, like the G40k, and you can get in the vault. I saw all manner of rare weapons in there. Long barrel G43, short barrel, 8mm kurz, Mkb42 and Stg45, etc. They have a dozen needle guns of every variety. What you see in the museum display is a fraction of what they hold in the vault.

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I see a BMJ scoped Turret Sniper in the middle photo .

By the way who is the big guy with you? I remember seeing him on the Military channel on many different shows that I watched when I was kid in high school. I wonder if he still works at the museum.

Great pictures by the way and thanks for sharing.

Thats Dr, Atwater, the museum curator at the time. He's been on the History Channel, etc. and I'm sure you've seen him. I looked up the museum and found the phone number, called it to inquire about an appointment and he was the one answering the phone. Pretty funny moment when I realized thats who I was talking to. The guy is extremely knowledgeable but I think he could also have been equally successful doing stand up comedy. The guy was very entertaining, welcoming and pretty damn funny when he felt like it.
Here he is in the vault: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HVst8sIPgV0

I live relatively close to Ft. Lee, I know they moved some stuff there from Aberdeen, but what???... if we can find out what I'll go down there and scout it out...

flynaked said:

Fingers crossed on their disposition. There were recently several cut up 98k receivers for sale that were stated to have come from Aberdeen.




Does anyone know what this is:

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Interesting question... at first glance the grip reminds me of a vz58...

I followed up with the museum at FT Lee, no contact. Most of the email addresses on their site are bad, phone numbers are bad, etc. The email address that did work was never answered. Seems to be a case of the Army took over the collection and uses it for "training" with little interest in anything else for now. I can't get any traction from a distance, so next time I'm there for a conference, class or passing through I'll stop by in person.

I visited the museum back in the early 80s, with a military modeler friend who was primarily interested in the armor. The small arms displays were exceptional, although you really had to check every nook and cranny of the building. For instance, the Jap sword that had been permanently mated to a baby Nambu was laying in a corner near the entrance!

They also had one of those little Chicom 107mm 12-tube rocket launchers (the type number presently escapes me), on it's original wheeled mount, and the thing was literally in "new in wrapper" condition. No placard or velvet ropes, it was just sitting on the carpet right next to an open door. I remember thinking how easy it would be to wheel that thing out to my truck and throw it in the bed...

I wish I had known about the "unseen" collection, as I would've certainly made an appointment to view it and take photos. Now all that iron has apparently vanished into the system, and I only hope the majority of it was spoken for before it fell victim to Slick Willie's chop saws.

What gives them the right? It was We The People who paid the price in blood and treasure to capture that stuff and lug it stateside. The least the government could do is care for it and display it, so posterity could make use of it.

Richie

It was moved to save money, but the choice of location sucks. FT Lee is a small post and its got that 10 lbs in a 5 lb bag issue, always did. I'm guessing the intent was to open it to the public, but along the way the Post Cdr got involved and said I don't want a security issue with public access to my post.
I don't expect the Army will have surplus funds over the next four years to devote to museums.

V40k disposition

To all who have tried to find the elusive G40k we appreciate it.
Maybe someday we can finally locate it and get a full fresh image study.

I would dread the thought of that rifle and others getting sent to the scrap pile.