Milsup & foreign guns, date of immigration?

[valnar]

I came into the rifle scene very late, like last year. Besides a few modern guns, my milsup rifles consist of a couple Mosin-Nagants, Swedish Mauser and a "new" Vz.58. I say new, because I got it fresh from the importer. The same is true of one of my Mosin-Nagants. The Swedish m/38 came from Gunbroker.

Mosins are still popular, Vz.58's you can get, and Saigas - though not Milsup - are in full swing right now too. I imagine though, some time before I got into guns, there was a flood of Milsup guns coming in America where you could buy them fresh off the boat. Maybe the first batch of SKS's, Mauser variations, AK-47's, Lee Enfields, etc. Nowadays if I want one of those, it would come from an existing personal collection, a trade-in at a store, or an online auction site.

So questions: When did a lot of those other Surplus guns hit our shores for the first time? For the Saigas, when did they start being allowed in the USA? What are the years? eg. When could you buy a Swedish Mauser or K98k for the first time?

I ask because I know that all good things come to an end. Nothing last forever - which is exactly why I bought the Vz.58 now direct from the importer. When they're gone, they're gone, and prices will go up based on rarity and how many are for sale.

 

[nathan]

I think milsurps started coming into this country from soldiers with bringback captured weapons. Most notably after WW 2 till Vietnam.

 

[caribou]

Bannermans was the u.S. first "great" surplus man. He started with surplus Civil war goodsm, and expanded into European surplus after WW1
There were no import restrictions untill the BATF was created to collect taxes in '34, but before then, you could buy a Maxim machine gun and all the accrutements for about 10$ on the Boston docks, Mausers for 1$ each, and walk away with em. Go figure tha price of a complete WW1 vet Maxim....even a nice Gew98... for that matter.....

Most all guns came from specific country at specific times via specific importers, which is really easy to figure since 1968 when Importers had to stamp each barrel.

But for example, No Mosins, outside individuals, were imported INTO the Us untill Finnland sold us plenty in the 50's and 60's, before that only the US manufactured ones were available.
So Finn Mosin, with "SA" and no importer stamp ='s 50's or 60's era imports, an M-28 M-27variants Finn Mosin came in the 80's via two importers, both would import stamp the barrel, as well as 91's that came in the early 90's, all with Finnish army "SA" stamps on the barrels and Importers marks.
Specific countrys sold specific rifles at specific times, bringing in thousands.Its fairly easy to figure out.
Many older guys here would remember whan a certain type of Rifle was "Plentyfull" and why we know they will only rise in value when kept complete.

The stamps on the gun tell a story, to those who know how to read them.

Vz 58's were never imported into this country as working rifles,as they have full auto capability, they are all rebuilt here from parts chopped for de-mil, in the US , they are "Parts kits" The company that builds them didnt nessessarrily import the scrap guns they wwere rebuilt from

 

[HGM22]

I can't help much, getting into the milsurp "scene" late, but I know this is going to be hard to do since the same guns have been imported multiple times. Example would be Romanian SKS, which was imported at least two distinct times.