Friday, December 21, 2018

Just...wow.

So the other day, I sent a text of this picture out to a rather well-known firearms enthusiast.
The reply was as expectwed, along the lines of: "OMFG!! Where did you find it? Did you get it? Ah, I see it has the Bomar sight, but not the extended one...Is the barrel bushing tight as hell?"

Yeah, I knew he'd recognize it. Sadly I did too when I saw it in among a few hundred other firearms this past week. It's a custom-built US Service Pistol Team 1911 in .45, and alas, it's one of the 450-odd small arms in the museum at Jackson Barracks, New Orleans, Louisiana that were caught by the floodwaters following Hurricane Katrina.

Of the 200+ buildings on post when the water came, only about thirty did not have to be rebuilt from scratch. Parts of the post were under 20 feet of water and this water contained sewage and just about every chemical you could imagine in a flooded industrial community.


Like the rest of the collection, this pistol spent about two and a half months submerged in the toxic sludge before it was dried off and roughly stabilized by the curatorial teams, however they all look like this one now--or worse--with finish wear, pitting, ruined stocks, etc. Historic military arms from the 19th century on upwards, including almost a dozen Thompson sub-machine guns, BARs, Springfields, Krags, Reisings, Colts of every flavor, and numerous foreign guns too. (I noticed a beautiful German MP40 that didn't look like it got wet at all...at least on the side I could see.)

The reason I got to see them was because I'd gone in and spoke to the staff about possibly donating some of my collection to replace the ones that they lost due to the flooding. One thing led to another and now it looks like I'll get the chance to volunteer to help fix and preserve some of these guns starting in January. It's a big job that really is just getting started and they need the help. Since I've owned or worked on much of what they have, why not?

And as thought, if any of you do have any period US Military arms that you'd like to see preserved in their brand new public museum and it's soon-to-be awesome "Wall of Weapons" display, please contact me and I can assist with the donation and proper credit to you. Some of mine will surely be going in there and I can't think of a better place for them to be displayed forever.

13 comments:

  1. God bless you for this worthy cause.

    Rick

    ReplyDelete
  2. Very interesting story and I must say quite the good deed on your part.

    ReplyDelete
  3. "... I can't think of a better place for them to be displayed forever."

    Until the next flood. Why bother? Who builds a museum under sea level?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The new display will be in a high second floor, well above the floodwaters from Katrina. And actually, the whole base--and the city--are below sea level. It just works...usually.

      Delete
  4. Surely they had waterproof PELICAN cases for all the valuable guns and locked them in them before the hurricane? Yes? No?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Nope. The guns were in a locked vault that was "storm proof" but the water breached it. The flood came in the middle of the night with no warning and no time to save or preserve anything. The entire operational base was wiped out along with the surrounding neighborhoods.

      Delete
    2. Well in my fireproof safe.. I have a fireproof/water proof box with all are valuables (if you don't consider guns valuable.) Cause I know fireproof.. ain't. Neither is 'storm proof'!

      Sorry to see such good guns in such a mess!

      Delete
  5. Sad to see, brings a tear... Good man for stepping up.

    I'm in the process of converting my Bullseye Remington-made 1911 with the Bomar extended to a carry gun. Probably will put a Trijicon sights on it.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Did you see the story about the 2 lost German Shepards in the industrial canal? Villalobos rescue center has it on their koobecaf.
    Do you know where your dogs are?
    😀

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I just saw the story. It's not my two, but damn...

      Delete
  7. Helluva mess... sigh

    ReplyDelete
  8. What a crying shame - very sad to See! Wish I lived closer, I'd love to help on a project like that.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Hey Murphy;

    Good thing you are doing, trying to help them out. Shows that you are a class act...but we ain't gonna tell anyone.

    ReplyDelete