Aaron in Mohnton Pa Posted May 11, 2022 Report Share Posted May 11, 2022 (edited) Some valuable information that I wanted to share with the boards..... May be helpful to some of you guys with Saco Defense M60s........ The M60 started being manufactured in 1957. From 1957 until around 2000 they had specific markings on top of the trunion. If you have a Saco Defense M60 (or one built using a saco trunion) you can tell the approximate range for date or manufacture based on those markings. They are as follows: 1957 - 1962 Saco-Lowell Shops U.S. 1963 - 1979 SACO-Lowell New England Group (Division) Maremont Corp. U.S. 1980 - 1984 Saco Defense Systems Division Maremont Corp. U.S. After 1984, SDSD became Saco Defense Inc., but still as a Maremont company. In 1998, the New Colt Holding Company (Colt) acquired Saco Defense Inc. from Maremont. In 2000, General Dynamics Armament Systems (General Dynamics) acquired Saco Defense Inc. from Colt. It subsequently became the Saco Defense Division of GDAS. Some pictures below of various Saco Trunions we have here for reference Aaron - Mohnton, Pa Sales@BeltFeds.Com Edited May 11, 2022 by Aaron in Mohnton Pa 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
har1690 Posted May 11, 2022 Report Share Posted May 11, 2022 Great info. Thanks for sharing. Your truly an asset to this forum. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aaron in Mohnton Pa Posted May 11, 2022 Author Report Share Posted May 11, 2022 Thanks HH Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mattnh Posted May 13, 2022 Report Share Posted May 13, 2022 (edited) Hey Aaron, Great info!!! WRT the 57-62 “Saco-Lowell Shops”. There appear to be two variants. Those that start with (1) “Gun,Machine” and (2) those that start with “Machine Gun”. Any idea for the years of each why the change? Any similar info on the Springfields and T-161s? Matt Edited May 13, 2022 by mattnh Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aaron in Mohnton Pa Posted May 13, 2022 Author Report Share Posted May 13, 2022 (edited) @mattnh The ones marked "GUN, MACHINE" are the very earliest markings. They changed the type of Roll Dies they used not long after those I believe. I you look at the GUN, MACHINE VS MACHINE GUN you can see the roll marks are different as far as depth / width etc.... I don't have any information on the Springfield ones.... The T161s were GOV PROPERTY marked on the top of the trunion along with the T161 designator.....Doug Oefinger ( DLO) had like 18 amnesty registered T161s at one point. Aaron Edited May 13, 2022 by Aaron in Mohnton Pa Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aaron in Mohnton Pa Posted December 16, 2022 Author Report Share Posted December 16, 2022 (edited) Just adding information to this being we got an email with questions on this topc this week.......... Factory Saco Defense M60D and M60e3 Machine Guns were marked as such on top of the trunion. Photo below of a Factory M60D and M60e3 for reference..... Over the years some owners would stamp the "E3" next to M60 on the trunions of their guns after converting them to E3. Usually, it is easy to spot this due to spacing of the letters and inconsistency in letter detail. With that being said, M60D and M60e3 Marked guns are extremely rare to come across. The M60e3 went into production and started being issued in 1985. So if you have a factory marked E3 gun it was made between 1985 and the ban in 1986. Aaron - Mohnton, Pa M60D M60e3... Note the Black barrel latch retaining cap. This is an easy way to tell if the gun is a factory e3. These black caps are unobtainable and from what I understand only ever sold on factory e3 guns. So this cap and a two hole case deflector behind the ejection port instead of 3 holes is what to look for when assessing if a transferable gun is a factory M60e3. Edited December 16, 2022 by Aaron in Mohnton Pa Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aaron in Mohnton Pa Posted November 21, 2023 Author Report Share Posted November 21, 2023 (edited) Adding some more trunion marking photos which I didn’t previously have: - The rarest M60 trunion out there. M60C marked. Which is an aircraft mounted solenoid operated gun (Photos courtesy of my friends Dustin an Brennon) - Nice Maremont Corp marked M60D trunion. Edited November 21, 2023 by Aaron in Mohnton Pa Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
M60D Posted November 21, 2023 Report Share Posted November 21, 2023 (edited) One of my early ones Edited November 21, 2023 by M60D 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rex Tyson Posted November 21, 2023 Report Share Posted November 21, 2023 Just as a contribution, this is a gun I had a few years ago with a small variance from the others. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aaron in Mohnton Pa Posted November 21, 2023 Author Report Share Posted November 21, 2023 (edited) @Rex Tyson @M60D , thanks for adding photos fellas. Some really good clear markings on those trunions. Aaron Edited November 21, 2023 by Aaron in Mohnton Pa Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rhouston8 Posted November 28, 2023 Report Share Posted November 28, 2023 very cool. I just looked up my M60 trunion .... vintage baby! 1957-1962 shop one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aaron in Mohnton Pa Posted November 28, 2023 Author Report Share Posted November 28, 2023 @rhouston8 throw a photo up of the Saco markings on top if possible. It’s interesting seeing the different markings. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aaron in Mohnton Pa Posted December 13, 2023 Author Report Share Posted December 13, 2023 (edited) This is a NEAT one …. A long time collector has this and contacted us for info on it.... This gun was made by Saco Defense for the South Korean Military... Which makes sense being Saco was the US Military supplier and the United States supplied South Korea with weapons after the Korean War.... I am unsure how this one made it into the registry....I believe it is possibly an amnesty registered gun... A FOIA was done on it but they redacted everything except the manufacturer and would not provide anything else.... Regardless, this is really neat and likely 1 of a kind. Aaron - Mohnton, Pa Edited December 13, 2023 by Aaron in Mohnton Pa 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mattnh Posted December 13, 2023 Report Share Posted December 13, 2023 (edited) Whoa - pretty cool - Registered trunion or marked elsewhere? Translation? Who is the mfg on the paperwork? Edited December 13, 2023 by mattnh Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aaron in Mohnton Pa Posted December 13, 2023 Author Report Share Posted December 13, 2023 Registered trunion marked exactly like regular Saco trunions …. Manufacture is Saco-Lowell on the paperwork …Which was also confirmed as being accurate by a 2023 FOIA request to NFA branch. Trunions reads: Republic Of Korea DeawooJeong 7.62 MM | M60 Machine Gun 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rhouston8 Posted December 13, 2023 Report Share Posted December 13, 2023 On 11/28/2023 at 4:08 PM, Aaron in Mohnton Pa said: @rhouston8 throw a photo up of the Saco markings on top if possible. It’s interesting seeing the different markings. will snap a pic next time i get it out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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