Surplus imports dwindling

[eldon519]

A few years ago (mid 2000s) it seemed like there was a constant flow on surplus weapons coming into the country. Schmidt-Rubins, Mosin-Nagant rifles, Nagant revolvers, CZ-52s, a variety of Mausers, Yugo SKSs, etc. Sites like Aimsurplus, CDNN Investments, Century Arms, and others always had a variety of these firearms in stock at various grades which you just don't see much anymore.

So what changed? I'm relatively young, so I don't know if that period in firearms collecting was normal up to that point or a particularly active time in the surplus market? I know obviously surplus weapons from yesterday have a finite supply, but did something else happen? Laws changed, etc? Do you think we'll see another big influx anytime soon? It's hard to swallow how quickly something like a CZ-52 went from a $75 pistol to $200.

 

[rocinante]

I dunno. Probably the only big caches left are Cuba, N. Korea, and Vietnam. I always wondered why we don't see stuff from Vietnam.

 

[MAKster]

In recent years Russia unloaded millions of Mosin rifles and captured Mausers that had been in storage for decades so there was a resurgence in cheap surplus rifles. Surplus rifles and ammo are a finite quantity and once they are gone they are gone. The days of countries stockpiling tens of millions of rifles underground in anticipation of all out war are over. Countries are using their inventory until that are wore out so I think hayday of the surplus military market is over.

 

[LemmyCaution]

It's hard to swallow how quickly something like a CZ-52 went from a $75 pistol to $200.

Basically, that's what happens when your currency loses half its value in 8 years. It's not that the firearm is more valuable, it's that your money is less valuable.

 

[nathan]

THe Mosins and K 98s we are seeing are all from Ukraine and Belarus. The bulk of th egood stuff are still in Russian inventory. Unless they release those to the surplus market then we will be flooded again.

SO far things are the way tney are. Nothing is forever . Buy what u could afford and enjoy. Stockpile on ammo for its the more valuable of the two.

Vietnam has plenty of surplus of all kinds . Recipient of commie goodwill to fight the French and us. Even an ex US general visited Vietnam one ( I read in a Time article many years ago) time post war period and he got to tour a warehouse full of new M 16s still in the crates. THE Vietnamese guide told him they were war stocks left by the collapse S Vietnamese military. Even brand new F 5 fighter jets at Tan Son Nhut Airbase were sold to Iran in the 80s.

 

[Cosmoline]

Some of them were simply not very common to begin with. Swiss and Finnish rifles, for example, were made in comparatively limited numbers. Plus the homelands have kept quite a few for their own use. Former USSR arsenals are still out there, but harder for importers to reach.

If North Korea collapses anytime soon, I expect we'd see a lot of their stuff. But it's unlikely to be of high quality.

A lot of the backstock has also been destroyed in the name of arms reduction. The US itself has been guilty of that.

And of course virtually all of the arsenal backstock post-dating the 1950's is unsaleable and unimportable because it's full auto or select fire.

 

[hso]

So what changed?

Fixed supply exhausted. Remember you're talking about firearms that were warehoused since WWI and WWII. No one should be surprised that the supply of '65 Mustangs is low why be surprised that the supply of '43 Mosins gets low eventually.

 

[Justin]

We've reached Peak Mosin!

 

[dom1104]

PEAK MOSIN lol! hilarious. I guess I should pick one up. Where is the best place to pick up one of those Fin Mosins? I guess I could read up on it.

But mostly, Peak Mosin is hilarious.

 

[danprkr]

Basically, that's what happens when your currency loses half its value in 8 years. It's not that the firearm is more valuable, it's that your money is less valuable.

Agreed.

 

[offthepaper]

Mosin Maximus

 

[JellyJar]

Unless the laws here change in the future all those full auto surplus rifles will forever be unavailable to us.

 

[W.E.G.]

My shoulder might recover from the first Mosin about the time that the last Mosin is claimed.

I don't need no mo' Mosin.

 

[Wise Lite Arms]

Remember that the US State Dep't maintains a list of countries that ARMS and AMMUNITION cannot be imported from.
Vietnam, North Korea, Libya, Cuba, Iran, Iraq are just a few countries on that list!

 

[navyretired 1]

The import laws in the U.S. is more the cause of the drying up of imports and the increase in price.
Russia has been reconning all battlefield pick-ups and there own obsolete weapons forever, they have enough guns and ammo in cave in the Urals to arm the whole world. The problem is import authoration from ATFE and when each shipment is here, when will they get more. The importers will make a normal profit when they're sure they can buy more tomorrow but if they're not sure they tend to pump up the price to maximise profits.

 

[rogertc1]

Eventhough imports are thining the Baby Boomers will start to pass in the next 10 some years. Like me we are the gun generation. Lots of gun collections will be sold.

 

[Dain Bramage]

W.E.G., that looks like the Liberty Bell. Very patriotic.

 

[nathan]

As time comes when the surplus ammo supply hits the zero mark, then we will see lots of collectors and shooters selling their surplus guns.

 

[ArmedBear]

Remember that the US State Dep't maintains a list of countries that ARMS and AMMUNITION cannot be imported from.
Vietnam, North Korea, Libya, Cuba, Iran, Iraq are just a few countries on that list!

On one hand, we don't want to be sending them money.

But on the other, wouldn't we rather have those weapons in the closets of American collectors than arming these countries?

 

[nathan]

I doubt these countries would ever give up on what they have. They will keep them to armed their populace to the last man . Like Saddam Hussein he bought all he could get his hands with bec he knew time will come he will be invaded. The reason Iraq is like an armory awashed with so many weapons.

 

[benEzra]

As time comes when the surplus ammo supply hits the zero mark, then we will see lots of collectors and shooters selling their surplus guns.

There are new-manufacture sources of ammo for most surplus rifles. It costs a bit more than milsurp, but it's also noncorrosive.

 

[evan price]

Most of the surplus is 100 years old. No modern military issues bolt-action rifles, and the ATF won't allow anything that was ever a machine gun to be sold except as scrap. FAL kits, for example. Now on top of 922(r) requirements ATF decided a threaded barrel has no sporting purpose, so they have to destroy the upper receiver AND the barrel AND you need so many US parts installed so you have to throw away some of the good parts anyway.

The days of $99 FAL kits and $99 IMBEL upper receivers are long gone, just like the days of barrels full of Mausers of all sorts and styles for $75 are gone, and the days of a Mosin-Nagant and a thousand rounds of ammo for $99 are gone.

To add insult to injury, the .gov has decided that we civilians are not to be trusted to buy surplus ammunition components anymore, so all that powder and bullets we used to be able to buy cheap is now being destroyed.

The good old days of surplus are over and done.

 

[FIVETWOSEVEN]

threaded barrel = muzzle brake, isn't that sporting or is the threaded barrel to make us all assassins and buy "silencers" from the guy at the corner and make hits?