WWII weapon found possible machine gun? Legal?

[adam1001]

Hello everyone,
I just registered for this forum because a "friend" wants to know about a weapon found in his recently deceased uncles house. This uncle served in France during WWII. The uncle was not at Normandy but in an invasion in south France I believed called dragon but not positive. Anyway a weapon was found in his uncles attic. The friend is not a gun expert by any means and knows less about gun laws. So my friend had some of his close friends and family look at the weapon and they said it is a WWII FG42 machine gun. The friend has since looked online and this does appear to be the weapon.The weapon seems to be in decent condition other than some rust and grease. The friend would normally get rid of the weapon because he only owns a shotgun which he never uses and is not a gun expert but is being told this weapon could be worth over $5000! He is also being told it may be illegal to own without a license. Is there a risk if this friend tries to sell the gun or have it looked at by an expert? Or even just gives it to his nephew? Can the friend post pictures of the weapon online? The friend also lives in Texas but the gun is in a house in PA. I'm guessing this makes more legal issues? Any help would greatly be appreciated. Thank You.

 

[TexasRedneck]

PERSONALLY, I'd get with an attorney familiar w/firearms laws to find out the exact proper procedure necessary to turn this gun over to the BATFE, unless the gun was previously registered with them. There's no "going back" and registering it now - once the grave period expired, any not registered were illegal.

Really sucks - but the only other option would be to keep that sucker secured away and NEVER speak of it again. Know that doing so would be illegal, however....

 

[M. Sage]

Registration of machine guns has been required at the federal level since 1934.

An illegal FG42 isn't really worth anything. A legal, transferable FG42 would be worth a lot more than $5,000 I would think...

 

[M. Sage]

PERSONALLY, I'd get with an attorney familiar w/firearms laws to find out the exact proper procedure necessary to turn this gun over to the BATFE, unless the gun was previously registered with them. There's no "going back" and registering it now - once the grave period expired, any not registered were illegal.

Really sucks - but the only other option would be to keep that sucker secured away and NEVER speak of it again. Know that doing so would be illegal, however....

Option 3: demil it. Strip it down and cut the receiver in 3 places.

But yeah, I agree with you on this one.

 

[adam1001]

Although the weapon looks ok can the friend have an expert look at it legally?

 

[M. Sage]

Although the weapon looks ok can the friend have an expert look at it legally?

The illegal part is (assuming it's a functional FG42) that he even has it.

Any expert worth his pay is going to call BATFE to have it surrendered.

Have your friend call a lawyer.

 

[Bithabus]

Maybe it was registered back in the day.

 

[M. Sage]

Maybe it was registered back in the day.

Could be, but how are you going to track that down? IMO, lawyer is still the answer in this case.

 

[Langenator]

If it was registered, it will be listed in the National Firearms Registry (I think that's what it's called.) A lawyer of the type who sets up NFA trusts (there should be an ad for at least one at the top of this web page). If it is registered, the late uncle should have had the NFA papers and tax stamp somewhere.

If it's not on the registry and no paperwork/tax stamp can be found, your friend is not going to be able to keep the gun (legally) unless it is de-milled, i.e., destroyed. Oh, and I know almost nothing about full-auto values, but I'm pretty sure you can safely add a zero to the estimated value of the gun if it's functional and registered. $50,0000. I've seen Gewehr-43s (the G.43 was a semi-auto German rifle, an attempted answer to the American M1 Garand) with asking prices in the $4-5000 range. Anything registered full-auto, and with the rareness of an FG-42, is going to be worth a bunch.

If it's not registered, he may be able to donate to a museum, because of the historical value. I remember a case a few years ago where a German MG.08 machinegun from WWI was found in the attic of a small town library somewhere in New England. It pre-dated the NFA, but had never been registered, as it had been stuck up in the attic and forgotten about before the law passed in 1934. The machinegun was thought to have been one of the ones captured by Alvin York in the action for which he earned the MoH. I know they were discussing giving it to a museum, but I don't know the final disposition.

Oh, and even if it's not registered (and thus cannot legally be sold, and thus having a market value of $zero), if the estate is big enough to qualify for the estate tax, watch the IRS try to assess taxes on it as if it were registered. Something similar is subject to an ongoing legal fight with the IRS, where part of a (very) large estate included an art piece that incorporated bald eagle feathers. Since bald eagles are on the Endangered Species List, the piece cannot legally be sold (value $0) and the heirs valued it accordingly. The IRS says it's worth several million$ and is demanding tax payments accordingly.

 

[SIG_Fiend]

Assuming it is not NFA registered, that is a horrible situation. By most estimates, the price ranges for a transferable FG42 range anywhere from $50-130k. Best advice is talk to a lawyer. Sounds like a cop out but, that is literally the best thing you could do.

 

[CanTex]

Everyone is on page with this being something that needs professional help ( legal ). What, assuming that it is illegal, would prevent the now "owner" from having it stripped down to its base parts and keeping/selling the non illegal stuff ?.. If it, in its entirety is worth big bucks.. parts should have some value

 

[M. Sage]

Everyone is on page with this being something that needs professional help ( legal ). What, assuming that it is illegal, would prevent the now "owner" from having it stripped down to its base parts and keeping/selling the non illegal stuff ?.. If it, in its entirety is worth big bucks.. parts should have some value

Nothing that I know of...? But first is to make sure it's an FG 42 (the Germans did produce a semi auto version IIRC), and second is to find out the status.

A good lawyer will be able to handle that stuff, and give advice on recovering parts prior to destruction if it comes to that.

 

[Bithabus]

Only the receiver would need to be destroyed

 

[adam1001]

Ok if this could be worth as much as stated above my friend will defiantly talk to a lawyer.

 

[Leper]

PERSONALLY, I'd get with an attorney familiar w/firearms laws to find out the exact proper procedure necessary to turn this gun over to the BATFE, unless the gun was previously registered with them. There's no "going back" and registering it now - once the grace period expired, any not registered were illegal....

This

 

[wakal]

Only the receiver is a "gun."

Everything else is just parts, and worth quite a bit of money if original and in at least fair shape. Folks that build complete (post 86) machine guns (like, me for example) really like complete parts kits less receivers


Alex

 

[Eli]

Look everywhere for any documentation that the deceased had the gun with the blessings of the federal government. This could include Amnesty registration, IRS documents (they were registered with the IRS back in the day) or even military permission to bring it stateside. If you can prove any federal permission, it's 'registered' it's just a matter of ggetting it transferred to a lawful heir or sold.

Eli

 

[TundraWookiee]

Update us on how this turns out if he ever finds out.

Brought to you courtesy of Tapatalk

 

[Jakashh]

Just posting quotes and threads... If your friends uncle had that registered, your friend would have a small fortune right now

Last real transferable FG-42/II I saw was for sale @ $75,000 and it sold! Replacement 20rd. magazines are over $1,000 ea pre-ban, post-ban, before-ban, or any-ban. Those rifles are as rare as hen's teeth.

FG42 up for auction - Page 2

My friend says he would hide it somewhere that nobody but him would be able to see it, and coat it in some sort of preserving grease, like cosmoline... But my friend is an idiot and you shouldn't listen to him, as his suggestion is illegal.

 

[BrenGunner]

The last Machine gun Amnesty was in 1968. Im assuming that was the last chance because I don't foresee another one coming up anytime soon.