Aaron in Mohnton Pa Posted August 23, 2022 Report Share Posted August 23, 2022 (edited) For my fellow M60 enthusiasts…. Some information on how Saco Defense, the US Military Supplier of the M60, sold these guns and how they were received by the Military...... As all of you know, prior to the 1986 ban you could order these from Saco Defense, which in and of itself is amazing. Below are photos of how they left the factory. The silver paper is an anti corrosion wrap / packing material. The gun itself would also be wrapped in this..... The box would contain: - The gun itself - Primary Barrel - Spare Barrel - Cleaning / Maintenance kit - Manual The packing material inside consists of Anti Corrosion wrap, wood, and heavy cardboard inserts. Each part dated and stamped. Extremely well put together shipping boxes... This one is dated March 1983... If you have M60 parts and they have a white powdery finish look to them, it is usually from this protective wrap. Also a good sign that they have never been used. Sorry for the watermarks.... to many scammers snagging photos and trying to rip people off. Aaron - Mohnton, Pa Sales@BeltFeds.Com Edited July 7, 2023 by Aaron in Mohnton Pa 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aaron in Mohnton Pa Posted July 7, 2023 Author Report Share Posted July 7, 2023 Some more photos for reference thanks to a friend who dug his NIB gun out for me. Aaron Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dean Posted July 7, 2023 Report Share Posted July 7, 2023 How much was a New M60 before the ban direct from Saco? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aaron in Mohnton Pa Posted July 7, 2023 Author Report Share Posted July 7, 2023 (edited) I am unsure of what Saco Defense's direct price was. I have been told by various guys who bought them from dealers at the time that the price was $3,000 - $3,800 range. It varied from dealer to dealer..... Right after the ban prices jumped. FJ Vollmer had quite a few.. He was paying $6,500 for NIB guns shortly after the 86' ban. Unsure what he was selling them for.. Rock Island Armory guns were selling for $3,000-$3500 shortly after the ban. Thats the information I got from guys who were buying them at the time. Would be great to hear from somebody here on the boards who was buying them pre 1986. Aaron - Mohnton, Pa Sales@BeltFeds.Com Edited July 7, 2023 by Aaron in Mohnton Pa Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlexL Posted July 8, 2023 Report Share Posted July 8, 2023 Do you know what is the history of original SACO/Maremont M60's with a serial number of two letters and two digits, such as SM 1X? The Freedom of Information paperwork shows that the first transfer happened in May 1977. I have been told that the SM stands for "Special Manufacture", but I am not sure if this is correct. Thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aaron in Mohnton Pa Posted July 8, 2023 Author Report Share Posted July 8, 2023 I have also been told that the SM designation stands for “special manufacture”…… Further, that Saco Defense had guns with SM serial numbers registered with the state department for easy export / import … for demos in other countries etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davester Posted July 11, 2023 Report Share Posted July 11, 2023 Good article. RE current prices, I sold two boxed examples as shown both in the $98-$110K range. Thanks 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aaron in Mohnton Pa Posted July 11, 2023 Author Report Share Posted July 11, 2023 @davester Good info man. Thanks for sharing it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A Ros Posted July 26, 2023 Report Share Posted July 26, 2023 Reed Knight had 3 Maremont 60’s in his personal collection that he sold off that had 2 digit serial numbers and began with “SL”. Anyone have a guess as to their origin? Would like to know as I have one. They were consecutively numbered (shoulda bought all 3!) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aaron in Mohnton Pa Posted July 28, 2023 Author Report Share Posted July 28, 2023 @AlexL and @A Ros … I have not seen any SL numbered guns … but below is an explanation on the SM guns which was given o me by a gentleman who bought an SM gun in 1981. Aaron - Mohnton, Pa Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlexL Posted July 28, 2023 Report Share Posted July 28, 2023 During one of my visits to Reed Knight many years ago, I saw the new M60's that he had available for a great price. But, I had just bought a nearly new Maremont M60. Krinks of Naples, Florida had just purchased the full armory of the TV show Miami Vice. He had dozens of machine guns available. All of them had internal "Hollywood" blank adapters. I only purchased the M60 serial number SM-12. The gun was blanked and nearly new, and it had only been fired in two episodes of the TV show. Freedom of Information paperwork shows that it left the factory in May 1977, and it has the later body-bound rivets in the trunion. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lonewolftactical Posted July 31, 2023 Report Share Posted July 31, 2023 (edited) On 7/7/2023 at 9:07 AM, Dean said: How much was a New M60 before the ban direct from Saco? A board member here that I've done business with in the past was a SOT well before the ban and he told me that the SACO M60's were $2500.00 Being readily available, nobody really gave them much thought as $2500.00 was still a nice chunk of change in 85 A decade passed and everybody wished they had bought a dozen and put them away Same for M16's...what were they $700.00 bucks all day long in 85? Edited July 31, 2023 by lonewolftactical Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aaron in Mohnton Pa Posted July 31, 2023 Author Report Share Posted July 31, 2023 (edited) Here is a receipt for a new in the box Saco from 1982. I know prices did vary from dealer to dealer Edited July 31, 2023 by Aaron in Mohnton Pa Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lonewolftactical Posted July 31, 2023 Report Share Posted July 31, 2023 That is some cool history/documentation It's quite nauseating to look at what this stuff originally cost I know it's off topic, but was the FN MAG58 (now the U.S. M240) being imported and available for purchase back then as well? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aaron in Mohnton Pa Posted July 31, 2023 Author Report Share Posted July 31, 2023 (edited) @lonewolftactical there is a small number of transferable M40s out there. So yes they were available for purchase but I believe it there was only very few dealers who could get them. Below is an unfired transferable M240 which was owned by one of our fellow board members here. I believe he recently sold it. Aaron - Mohnton, Pa Sales@BeltFeds.Com Edited July 31, 2023 by Aaron in Mohnton Pa Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lonewolftactical Posted July 31, 2023 Report Share Posted July 31, 2023 Very cool...thanks for sharing. Swap the wood stock with synthetic and that is the exact gun (M240G) that I carried in the Green Machine During Infantry School in late 1994 the USMC Medium GPMG was still the M60E3, but we were shown a M240 at the Armory Once by the SNCOIC of the Machine Gunners School and told we would eventually be seeing it in the fleet As things turned out, I ended up a Machine Gunner in 3rd Mar Div which was the first Infantry Unit in the FMF that field tested and transitioned to the M240G which replaced our aging (falling apart) M60E3's I've never discussed any of this before, but could probably do another thread if anybody is interested in the history. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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