Anybody know more about these.think this might be cut-down rifle conversion to carbine.barrel is 22 inches saddle ring sight has letter C .I don't have much money in it when I found it solid shooter think it's cut-down thanks guys .serial number 219763.these rifles are very faked alot .black powder cartridge it works well.

Looks like a candidate for the second-award-CBI section on this forum, too... ;) The horrible thing is, that people do actually buy these blatant fakes... Especially in Europe, where sellers claim, that this kind ofstuff is real. When reported, the sites do not do anything. I feel sorry for theunlucky buyers...   Jules

I think collectors often get too wrapped around the axle about how the things we seek make onto the open market. We can't dictate or control what others might do. As long as theft isn't involved, of course.

Theres a lot of rational normal reasons families let go of military stuff and are perfectly OK with it. A son / daughter who has no children or relatives, or none who are interested. People who want to see the items go to someone who will appreciate and keep them. Folks who loved their grandparent / parent but a long ago brief stint in the military did not define their later life. their family and memories.  A family who doesn't want to keep military things their father / grandparent had negative or troublesome memories of.  I had a grouping of a guy who was wounded in the Pacific; bayoneted and killed the guy hand to hand - and could not be around people of their culture. The family said he felt bad about it; they'd be in a restaurant and he'd see someone of the other culture and had to get up and walk out. They wanted his stuff to go to someone who would not have the debilitating emotions associated with it. 

Manky... check this thread....   www.usmilitariaforum.com/forums/index.php?/topic/64177-m-4-flak-helmet-questions/

could the dated ear be a replacement part, as was mentioned above

What great luck you have! That is really great as well that the brother's uniforms and all documents and medals were kept together this whole time. Was it a parent of the surviving brother that kept it all together I wonder...   I have a few KIA uniforms and they're a different kind of special. They usually are unadorned because they never received their medals...the KIA navigator had an Air Medal and was awarded the Purple Heart posthumously.    Was this just a blind find? Stumbled into it?

To some, its nothing more than a trinket that belonged to an old person they kind of remember. They attribute no value to the sacrifice that their ancestors made fighting for this country. It really explains why a lot of things are the way they are...no interest, no pride, no belief that it meant something. 

Thank you for the likes guys, writing and researching these histories is a major source of enjoyment for me.

The close up pics help a lot…   Years ago… here it comes…the local AN had their in-house seamstress stitch a new / replacement ear flap on a M4A2.. she was very good and close inspection only revealed thread differences…    point being it isn’t unheard of to repair modify these shells…