This is what happens to uninteresting surplus items (grenade launcher sights)

[fangerdog]

In the early 70s I was an electrician for a developer who also owned an Army Navy surplus store in NH.    I was a big strong kid so a couple times a year he would ask me if I would help him pick up new surplus stuff for his stores.   We would drive a large box truck to the gigantic surplus warehouse somewhere in New Jersey (don't remember exactly where).    We'd spend all day wandering through the warehouse and he'd pick out what he wanted for the store and I'd load it up.   Yup, there was lots of cool stuff and lots of junk.   On one trip the boss found stacks of crates of the grenade launcher sights.   He took them all.   I don't remember the exact cost but it was a few cents per sight.  There was only room in the store for a few crates of 100 sights.   My father had retired from the army and also worked for the boss managing a gun store.   Dad had a good sized empty garage and the boss asked him if he could store some surplus stuff in it.   My dad, being a good natured helpful sort, agreed to this.   His garage ended up being packed floor to ceiling, wall to wall with cases of grenade launcher sights.  There was some misc. other stuff.   I recall cases of G.I. gun cleaning kits, patches,  cases of G.I. toilet paper in little wax paper envelopes, gun stocks, gun parts, large galvanized cans for transporting mortar rounds.  Lots of other stuff but it was a long time ago so I can't recall everything.    Anyways, a few years go by and the boss gets in trouble with the ATF,  I think it was for some record keeping violation.   His businesses all get shut down and he disappears.  I don't know what happened to the boss but 20 or 25 years later my father passes away and I have to clean out the garage prior to selling the property.   I was pretty busy with family and work so I didn't have much time to deal with the surplus stuff.   Some of the more interesting stuff was gone, perhaps my father sold it but the cases of grenade launcher sites were still there.   10s of thousands of them.  So I filled my pickup and hauled many loads of them to the dump where they got compacted.  I saved some random stuff and also a couple cases of grenade launcher sights and they've been sitting in my garage for a few more decades.    Today I'm the one gettin' old and I might have to haul the last few hundred to the dump.   I might hang onto the G.I. toilet paper in case there's another shortage.

[MWalsh]

Great story and great stuff. Sell the case “as is” some collector would love it just as is.

[mrrm]

Very interesting story. I would not trash those sights. You can easily get $5.00 each if you want to move them quickly. Small box of 5 for $25.00, no doubt some collectors would grab them.   

[manayunkman]

I’d pay $20 for a box of 5.

[Marshallj]

Also in the 1970’s I worked p/t at an army surplus store. They had barrels of tank periscope heads they couldn’t give away. 

[fangerdog]

I almost positive that there are 10 in each box.

[Rickho]

I will buy one.

[fangerdog]

Sorry, sold all of them to a member.