Pakistani Gun Market ...

[RustyHammer]

Here is an interesting video of a gun market in Pakistan .. the entire city is a factory.

http://www.vbs.tv/full_screen.php?s=DGFE2305DC&sc=1363196

(Sorry if it has already been posted.)

Rusty

 

[BrandonBowers]

I liked it. Can't say that those weapons are going to be all that accurate, but they shoot bullets and go.

 

[rogertc1]

Packi are a deeply muslem 3rd world peoples. They accually have strict gun Laws. Only the elite who can afford the pay offs have all the guns they want.
The show host acts very gun stupid.

 

[shevrock]

Wow i wonder how much it would cost to buy guns from their and ship them back en mass. [j/king]

 

[jakemccoy]

test post

 

[MatthewVanitas]

Wow i wonder how much it would cost to buy guns from their and ship them back en mass. [j/king]

A goodly number of Khyber Pass firearms from the Afghanistan/Pakistan border area are legally sold to U.S. troops in Afghanistan and mailed back to the states. I sent several Martinis and Sniders (trapdoor carbines) to friends and family as gifts. Bought three Sniders and 3 Martinis (all carbines for ease of shipping) for $600 total, cost about $25/ea to ship back to the U.S. through the American Post Office aboard Bagram Airfield.

Firearms must be pre-1898 or replicas of pre-1898 designs, so tons of Martinis, Sniders, jezzail muzzleloaders, some obsolete boltguns like 1871 Mausers, Lebels, etc. All you have to do is take it to Legal and sign an affidavit saying it's for you or a gift, take it to Customs and have it checked against their huge wall of "GO/NO-GO" import list, and then package it up down at the APO.

So yes, these guns are indeed trickling back into the U.S. Do note that Customs is too savvy to fall for just stamping "1897" on a PPSh-41, though I'm sure it's been tried by enterprising servicemen and accommodating Afghan gunsmiths.

 

[KBintheSLC]

They might make lots of guns, but they still don't appear to know how to shoot them correctly. Maybe thats why their casualty rate is so high compared to American soldiers.

 

[Shung]

well... in the 3rd world they have their own way to shoot (Somali are specialists) ... not very effective, but kinda fun to watch-

 

[Acera]

Did you notice the Artillery Lugars? How about the Lewis gun? They probably have no idea how much value that have in collectible firearms. They probably give you a good deal on the old stuff, making their money with people that want a fighting gun, not something to add to a collection.

 

[MatthewVanitas]

Did you notice the Artillery Lugars? How about the Lewis gun? They probably have no idea how much value that have in collectible firearms. They probably give you a good deal on the old stuff, making their money with people that want a fighting gun, not something to add to a collection.

A lot of it depends where you work. In Afghanistan I was a Division pogue on Bagram, so the only access to weapons was through Div-approved merchants who were allowed onto certain quarters of base to sell to the troops. Lots of carpet dealers, and kids sending huge packages home of Persian carpets. Not cheap-cheap, but still far more affordable than buying back in the U.S. The problem with Bagram was that the approved merchants had a pretty captive audience, and since there were only X slots for approved merchants they could get pretty good monopolies going.

So most of the guns they brought were importable pre-1898 guns, though there were a lot of Moisin and Enfield wall-hangers on base from troops who'd bought them a couple days before leaving, found out they were post-98 and couldn't be mailed, and weren't able to get a hold of the merchant for a refund before leaving.

Folks that work out on the FOBs (Forward Operating Base) probably have much better chances to get decent guns at way better prices. Probably just collar one of the Afghan troops on your base, give him $100 and tell him to bring back a few Martinis from the village when he goes on R&R. The stuff at Bagram was probably 95% Khyber Pass forgeries at inflated "tourist" prices, though a buddy of mine did buy what appeared to be a totally genuine BSA .22 Martini for $200.

EDIT: Here's my earlier thread on it Gun shopping for servicemen in Afghanistan.

Plenty of pics in that thread. Here's my ugly mug: