[John Sabato]

They were used by many nations after WW2. Especially nations who had been occupied by the German Army. Stockpiles of them have made their way all over the globe. I think that they are considered by non-collectors to be beyond their reliable service life...

RON, I think the photo you were thinking of was of M3 and M3A1 Grease guns... I have seen that photo many times... I don't recall ever seeing one of MP38/40's stacked like that...

I know of one MP-40 that got welded up prior to the first machinegun amnesty in the 60's... it was not registered and was owned by a very racist guy who worked in a factory as a welder in North Philadelphia... he had purchased it from a WW2 vet ...after some friends and I overheard him brag that he planned on using it to terminate a bunch of the minority people in his neighborhood, someone made a discreet call (that's before there was such a thing as caller-id to the BATF and told them what he had, and what he planned to do with it...They paid him a visit that very week.

He avoided prosecution for violation of the NFA by agreeing to weld it up in front of a BATF agent. They made him cut into it multiple times with an acetylene torch and weld the receiver to the bolt and cut through the chamber/receiver, the trigger housing... and also the inserted magazine.

It was a wall-hanger after that, and as much as we hated to see a nice souvenier like that destroyed, the only alternative was to take the chance that this alcoholic bigot would use it... a real no-brainer.