Korean War rifles to be sold back to U.S.

From the BBC [hat tip: Jim P.]:

South Korea has come up with a novel way to boost its defence budget - by selling a vast stockpile of old Korean-war rifles to collectors in the US.

The guns were originally sent to Korea as military aid, and some were also used during the war in Vietnam.

For more than five decades, they have been kept mothballed in warehouses.

Most of those on offer are M1 rifles - a weapon once described by US General George S Patton as "the greatest battle-implement ever devised". ...

Article here. The report says the South Koreans are selling 86,000 M1 rifles, and 22,000 M1 Carbines. So if the sales go through, expect them to become available stateside at some point.

Of course, given that the American taxpayer paid for them and the U.S. government gave them to the South Koreans as military aid to help save their country from the Communists, you'd think the Koreans would simply return them to us with their thanks. Oh well, at least it's better than the dammed Brits, who after World War II intentionally destroyed most of the rifles (some of which were family heirlooms) donated to them by ordinary Americans to help the hapless, then disarmed Brits defend their homeland from the Nazis.