Being into history, I like things the way they were when they were picked up from the battlefields. So here is my story of the two Normandy Trophy guns that I bought from Irv Kahn 35 years ago. Both guns I am told came from the same GI's estate.
The first was an MP-40 that was thickly painted in a flat black enamel. It always bothered me that it was painted so badly. So what I did was carefully remove the paint. But it was quite tenacious. I had to use several solvent types to remove it. Acetone, MEK substitute, Exode remover... Took a lot of time to get layer after layer off. In this process I discovered that it had been coated several times. The final coat against the metal itself was the most difficult to remove. Once off, the gun was revealed in all its wartime glory. It has a brownish black patina with some very mild pitting. All of its proof marks are now revealed. And it looks like it must have been when the GI picked it up from the Normandy battlefield. The MP-40 was made in 1941, and its outward appearance shows it. This gun must have been used on the eastern front, and one told me that the type of pitting and brownish black patina is often caused by extreme cold and frosting. And the protected areas have full blue, it is only the outside that shows the patina and fine pitting. I was told by Irv Kahn that it was never fired since the war, never deactivated and was a "Wall Hanger" till it was registered in the '68 Amnesty.
The second gun is a MK-II Sten REWAT from the same GI estate. It too was painted in a heavy black enamel. This gun was very difficult to strip the paint off. It had been painted and re-painted many times. The first coat glossy black, the second a dark green and the last coat a flat black enamel. Once cleaned off the WW-2 use is very evident on the parkerized surface which has worn thin due to handling. I was told by Irv that the gun was taken at Normandy from a German and must have been a gun dropped for the French Resistance then taken by the Germans. Stripping this gun down to the way it was when taken from the battlefield shows extensive use, and really looks battle worn. I can now see all the Brit proof marks. However it also shows the REWAT which was carefully done. The weld spots were distinct against the original surface, these I made less obvious with the use of Oxpho-Blue. There was one area under the magazine holder where the S/N was stamped in. During the REWAT this area was ground off (really bothered me
) and the five number S/N deeply re-stamped in its place. I don't know if this was the normal process required for some Sten REWATs as the original S/N's were too faint, or non-existent. The shiny area took to Oxpho-Blue well though.
The process of stripping these two guns was like stripping down into history.
I know that many prefer restoring the parkerizing or blue to make the gun look nice. However, why not keep a War Trophy looking like the way it was when picked up? I think there is a "wow" factor in such. When you take it out to a shoot, you have a real piece of history in your hands, and the condition of the gun has a story to tell. And those that see it will say "What an ugly gun. Why not restore it?" But then you say. "What an ugly history it went through. The history of this gun speaks for itself."
BTW: Both my MP-40 and Sten really shoot well, even though they are battle worn relics.
Steve.
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