so a friend calls me today, asks me what can be done with an attic find that's apparently a WWII bring back.  A friend of his who lives in New York state was cleaning out his deceased grandfathers house and found a WWII Sten with some accessories which sounded like a mag pouch and some mags mostly.  He wants to know if there is a process whereby it can be transferred to a museum or should he dispose of it.  I'm no class 3 expert by any stretch of the imagination, so was hoping there might be some advice I could give him and if its possible to donate such an animal to a museum?

If only there was a prior thread about this topic...
http://www.ar15.com/forums/t_6_17/322347_So_you_found_an_MG_in_the_attic______.html
This type of situation is completely fascinating to me.
I wish your acquaintance the best of luck in finding the paperwork.

You INTEND to just keep it for convenience right?

And why can't he keep it?

Yea, he doesn't intend to do anything illegal with it.



 

An old timer had a gun with 2 triggers in the closet.
I was like 10. He said they were match set triggers.


The gun was a Beretta SMG  

The first thing your friend needs to do is eliminate ANY possibility that Gramps registered the Sten during the amnesty in 1968.  If he did, there's a good possibility that the gun can eventually be sold as a transferable.  I would guess an original WW II Sten is running around $8K these days, so it's worth checking.

The best person I can think of to advise your friend is Bob Naess, of Black River Militaria in Vermont.  He has been playing with MGs since the 50s and has helped quite a few people untangle messed-up ownership problems.  It can be done.

If it turns out to be non-transferable, it can be cut up and sold as a parts set or donated to a legitimate museum for a tax write-off.  I am not familiar with NY state laws in this area and they might complicate things.  Good luck!

Calling Black River is a good idea

I'm pretty sure that if war trophy papers can be found, the gun can get into the NFA registry.  

If it isn't in the registry already

All of this

thank you all

Either way, it needs to get out of NYS pronto unless your friend is active LE. Civilian ownership of MG in NY is not permitted.