Before I post the info have to add,a good sniper collector friend of mine has a close friend who works at Anniston.He was told that "back in the day" when cap't was started up that as many as 8 complete, original, GAS TRAP M1 GARANDS  met their fate with cap't crunch.The collectors market value at that time was approx $40,000(forty thousand dollars)  EACH. This is old info below,but figured I'd post for anyone who never saw it..WRITE your congressmen...

1995-1998: Historical Genocide at Anniston

Posted By: Zeno of Citium

Date: Sat 3 Jan 2009 7:58 pm

There seems to be some debate as to whether Bill Clinton's administration demilled weapons. Boy, did they ever. Here is a piece written in 1995 (by a witness who was on the scene), who conducted interviews with the DLA and others.

HISTORICAL GENOCIDE: THE DEMILITARIZATION PROGRAM OF SMALL ARMS AT ANNISTON ARMY DEPOT

This article is a synopsis of the demilitarization of small arms at the Anniston Army Depot, Anniston, Alabama. The article is a compilation of news from several sources, including an interview with a spokesman for the Defense Logistics Agency Headquarters in Pennsylvania and several individuals who have actually seen the demil process in operation.

BACKGROUND OF ANNISTON ARMY DEPOT

Anniston Army Depot is a sprawling ordnance depot located in central Alabama, just off I-20 between Birmingham, Alabama, and Atlanta, Georgia. The Depot is one of two primary centers for the rebuilding of army tanks, including the M60 series, the M1A1, and tank recovery vehicles. There are literally thousands of tanks at the facility that are awaiting rebuild or scrapping. The Depot is also a major storage facility for chemical weapons and small arms. The small arms stored there are the subject of this article and have recently made national news.

DATA FROM THE ARMY MATERIAL COMMAND

The Army Material Command has millions of small arms stored at the Depot, including many World War II era weapons. The weapons, in storage for years, have been slated for destruction by the Army Material Command because they are either "unserviceable" or "obsolete".

The definitions are not interchangeable. "Unserviceable" means exactly that, the weapons have a major problem and cannot be fired in the present condition. "Obsolete", however, has a different meaning. "Obsolete" simply means that the weapon fires a cartridge that is not currently in the army inventory. An "obsolete" weapon may simply be one that is perfectly "serviceable" but shoots a cartridge such as .30 M1 Carbine.

The Army Material Command decides which guns should be demolished, and has declared 1.1 million guns surplus to its needs, deeming them "obsolete or unserviceable", said Master Sergeant Nancy Bouchard of the Army Material Command in an interview dated March 1993. Congress, which had blocked destruction of the surplus firearms for over a decade, started easing off the prohibition in 1990. In 1991, the Defense Appropriations Act spared only 310,784 "unserviceable or obsolete" M1 Garands and M1 carbines. However, said MSGT Bouchard, the work to demil the guns did not get started until August 1993.

MSGT Bouchard continued, "The M1 Garand rifles were being reserved to support the Director of Civilian Marksmanship program and to loan to various military associated organizations such as the Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) that used them as ceremonial weapons. Obsolete guns not wanted by the Civilian Marksmanship Program, various Reserve Officer Training Corps groups and other organizations were earmarked for Anniston," she said.

THE DEMIL PROCESS BEGINS

In August 1993, a powerful machine nicknamed "Captain Crunch" was put into operation to grind up these hundreds of thousands of small arms. Defense Logistics Agency spokesman Larry Wilson said that the weapons are put on a conveyor belt that goes up perhaps 15 feet then the weapons drop into the metal canister. The metal canister ("Captain Crunch") has some "serious" teeth in it, and the "gun barrel goes in, and little pieces of metal come out," said Wilson. Simple, but effective, and no re-welds!

The demil process kicked into high gear after the August 1993 start-up. In a March 1994 interview, spokesman Larry Wilson said that "Captain Crunch" had ground up 307,000 firearms at a cost of a little more than $1,000,000.

Wilson gave a break-down of the guns destroyed as of March 1994 as follows: .45 caliber automatic pistols (110,000), M-14 rifles (50,000), M1 carbines (45,000), M1903A3 drill rifles (40,000), M1 Garands (30,000), M3 .45 "grease guns" (20,000), M1903 Springfields (6,000), and M12 .22 caliber target rifles (6,000). Wilson calculated it had cost $3.52 to destroy each weapon and the Material Command was destroying 3,000 guns per day.

THE NRA RESPONSE

The National Rifle Association had been successful in 1978 during the Carter administration in stopping the demil of World War II era weapons. "We're hoping to replicate 1978, when we were able to stop the same government facility at Anniston from destroying firearms," said Tanya Metaksa, chief lobbyist for the NRA Institute for Legislative Action.

The NRA is lobbying to save the old rifles and carbines, and among its tactics is the dollars and cents argument. "These guns may be worth thousands of dollars and we're spending millions to destroy them," Ms. Metaska said. "Most of them are historical firearms. Some of them are extremely rare."

Metaska continued, "There are people who collect these things who would purchase them for their private collections. We could put millions of dollars into the federal Treasury and reduce the deficit," she said.

As of this writing in February 1995, it appears the NRA has been ineffective against a 1993-94 Democratic Congress and President.

INSIDER VIEWS OF THE ANNISTON ARMY DEPOT DEMIL PROCESS

Interviews of several Anniston Army Depot employees, who preferred to be not to named, indicated that the demil process took place in a secure area of the Depot. They stated that there was a metal detector at the entrance to the room where the demilling took place and to exit an individual had to pass through the metal detector. It was, by all accounts, a very sensitive detector and each person would have to take off anything metallic or the device would sound.

The demil started with the removal of the slings, wooden handguards and stocks from the guns. Employees stated that during the initial August 1993 demil process there was a quandary on how to dispose of the wooden stocks and handguards that were removed from the doomed weapons. The commanders finally settled on taking loads of stocks out to a vacant field on base and burning them. Thankfully, a better solution was soon reached. The stocks, handguards, and slings were placed in separate cardboard "tri-wall" boxes and then sold through the nationally advertised bid process.

The guns, minus all wood, were then placed on a conveyor belt and the belt took the gun to the top of "Captain Crunch", where it dropped into the machine. Spinning teeth inside the machine quickly shredded the metal and only little pieces came out of the bottom. The little pieces were then sold for the scrap value.

Employees stated that the condition of the weapons ranged from "unserviceable" to "brand new" unissued condition. They further stated that many were wrapped in cosmoline and the wrapping had to be stripped off for the demil process to begin.

It was told to the author that in March 1994 some 6,000 M1D sniper rifles and approximately 500 M1C sniper rifles were demilled at the Depot. These historical guns were worth hundreds of thousands of dollars. It was also related that some Winchester "Educational Contract" M1 Garand rifles were destroyed in the demil.

Other weapons destroyed in the Anniston demil include an entire crate of Model 92 rifles. Unissued International Harvester M1 Garands were being stripped and the receivers and barrels destroyed. Crates of M5A1 bayonets and M1917 Enfield bayonets were destroyed. Priceless artifacts have gone into the hopper of "Captain Crunch".

STATUS IN FEBRUARY 1995

In an interview with Defense Logistics Agency spokesman Keith Beebe in February 1995, Beebe stated that the Agency did not have any revised figures for the destroyed guns at Anniston but estimated the total at approximately 600,000 guns. When asked for a breakdown on the total, he stated that "there were no current figures available." Beebe referred to the March 1994 breakdown as the last tally his office had available. Beebe further stated that he was the individual who had actually done all the research to release the 1994 figures.

A request was made of the Anniston Army Depot for official confirmation of the status of the demil program. The Depot forwarded the request to the "proper channels" for confirmation. As of this writing, no official correspondence has been received confirming or denying the ongoing nature of the program.

One individual involved in the demil process advised the author that he personally broke down three crates of M-14 rifles in late February 1995 to ship the parts to the DCM for resale. He further advised that the demil process was still ongoing with M-1 carbines, M-14's, .45 automatics, and .38 Colt revolvers being destroyed. He advised that a class-action lawsuit had been filed to halt destruction of the M-1 Garands and only the destruction of M1 Garands had been terminated pending the outcome of the suit.

PERSONAL OBSERVATIONS FROM THE AUTHOR

It has been the personal observation of the author that the demil program has been both a crime against historical preservation and a crime against the taxpayers of America. In these days of the huge budget deficit, tens of millions of dollars could have been raised to reduce the deficit. Instead, millions of dollars were squandered to destroy marketable rifles.

The biggest crime certainly has been the destruction of historically significant weapons. Many unique weapons were destroyed, for example, the M1C, M1D, and "Educational Contract" Winchester rifles. Many museums would have loved to get one of these historical pieces for display.

Most of the people the author has spoken to in researching and writing this article have been profoundly saddened by this genocide of historical rifles. One thing you the reader can do is call your congressional representatives and express your displeasure of this program.

ONE VERY SMALL SILVER LINING TO THE DEMIL PROGRAM

Some good news to end this article. The DCM has arranged for stocks, handguards, slings, trigger guards, gas cylinders, and operating rods to be removed from M1 Garands and M-14 rifles and shipped up to the DCM Repair Parts Program in Port Clinton, Ohio. The M1 parts are for sale and the March 1995 price list is in this MCCA newsletter.

Several M1 stocks and handguards shipped from the DCM have been examined by the author and they are in really fine condition. Many stocks received were "open box" SA replacement sniper stocks from the M1D demil program. Some bore the DOD "Eagle and Stars" cartouche.

The finish on the metal parts is approximately 85-90%, with some of the parts being in mint condition. There is no choice of manufacturer but the author knows several individuals who asked for and received "DOD Eagle and Stars" cartouched stocks. The DCM would appreciate your support so be sure to order parts from the Repair Parts Program.

Also the DCM is now conducting a lottery to sell off the remaining M1C's and M1D's in the inventory. Each M1C has a data sheet worked up on the rifle and the potential purchaser is required to purchase this data sheet to submit a bid.

For an M1D, simply write a letter of application to the Director of Civilian Marksmanship, 20 Massachusetts Avenue N.W., Room 1205, Pulaski Building, Washington, DC, 20314-0100, and write the letter "D" on the outside of the letter. It is the author's understanding that in the lottery one hundred letters will be drawn every month until the supply of M1D's is exhausted.

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There you have it. The M1D lottery is now history and many of these brand new rifles were saved from destruction by Mac McCullom, who pushed for the lottery. And a lot of M1s were saved from destruction by Congress in 1998 by Ted Stevens, and the Republican Congress. By the way, the Clinton administration ground up our war reserve of 300,000 M16A1s, which were perfectly serviceable weapons, but they were full automatic (oh, that's a no-no for the military - you gotta have that stupid three-round burst that ruins your trigger pull.)Gentlemen, the Democrats are set to take over once again in 2009, so I suggest you go to the CMP early in the year and buy your whole allotment of M1 rifles, because time is short.

I've heard that the DOD has had to look up surplus dealers for M14 parts like Fred's, etc.  I wish CMP had some early M16 parts.

This ^^ is fact going back to Gulf War 1 told to me by Bill Ricca and Tony of orion 7 when I was looking for a TRW trigger group back then.

Nobody ever gave these people credit for being the sharpest tacks in the box.  For pissing away money and resources they would be hard to beat.  Guess everyone has to be good at something.

There is a show on the military channel that shows Captain Crunch being used. I cannot remember the name of it, but it showed brand new out of the box m16a1's being ground up.

I heard of this show from my father, but I missed that one. Did they leave the stocks and grips on since they were not wood?

From what I have seen of the scraps, I'd say yes. I've seen pieces of buttstock and pistol grips on the de-milled parts I've sorted through.
I was taking a photo of the selector but you can still see part of the pistol grip.

I just noticed you have three posts Navy.
Welcome aboard to the retro forum Sir.
Hope you enjoy your stay.

I couldn't watch that, it would make me ill.

The destruction of perfectly usable American weaponry should be a crime.

Blame Bill Clinton for not letting thousands of military M14s return home.

Damn straight! They have no reserve about destroying them or giving them to another country (who'll probably use them against us eventually), though.

It shows you who's side they are on.

It's treason. Plain and simple and should be punishable as such. If I were king........

Fucking disgusting isn't it.

There was a internets story floating around a few years back about a Singer 1911 showing up at Capt Crunch. The employees knew what it was and tried to save it.
Went up the chain. This is too valuable to chop up.
Typical bureaucrat bullshit response. Shred it.
And so it was destroyed.
If that story was true I hope the Devil shoves red hot chunks of that Singer up the ass of the IDIOT that made that call for all eternity when they die.

I'm betting King Obama will order more of this kind of stuff when he serves his second term.Yes he will serve another term.The same idiots that voted him in the first time will do it again.

You can bet the guy who crushed the Singer 1911 already stole his.  Got to keep the prices up.  Same thing happened with the civil war stuff.  Most the real nice collections were stolen from battlefields,  paying off and bribing the park rangers to look the other way not to mention the park rangers who detected large collections illegally while drawing a paycheck.  They pushed the legislature to enforce federal law to keep the prices up knowing that most all the stuff left in the ground will be disintegrated in the next 20 years making their stuff even more valuable.  Preserving history,  what a bunch of morons.  Free enterprise.  Good thing I already have mine.  

Voting Obama will cause the GNP to drop out of the top ten before a second term is up.  Re-distribute the wealth.  Make everyone poor.  Think of  the economy when the troops come home.  No jobs.  Gonna make them all LEO's.  That's two million!  Municipalities can't make payroll now.  With no one working less tax revenue.  Those with jobs will be in a 35% bracket before voluntary tax, before his 2nd term is up .  Watch and see.  Guns, most will have to sell them to eat.  Govt will buy them for $50 each to prevent crime and off to captain crunch..