Читать книгу Standard Catalog of Military Firearms. The Collector's Price and Reference Guide онлайн

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At this time the official military policy is to destroy any captured enemy equipment that is not of use by us or our allies. This means that collectible Mauser and Enfield bolt action rifles are being blown up in Iraq. I’ve read that original cases of unissued Mausers have been destroyed along with tons of antique machine guns and other munitions. Individual soldiers are strictly forbidden from possessing any non-issue firearms, magazines or ammunition. Attempts to ship home contraband items through the Army Post Office system are prosecuted. Some soldiers have been put in federal prison for attempting to smuggle back illegal firearms.

Importation: The “Good Old Days”

After WWII there were literally tons of military firearms of every kind left lying around many nations. Barges of equipment were dumped in the oceans to get them out of the way. Some countries, their economies decimated by years of war, had very little in the way of commodities that could be sold for cold hard cash. They did have the tons of firearms and other surplus material that they no longer needed. Enter Sam Cummings, founder of Interarms, and other entrepreneurs like him. Deals were cut and ships were loaded. From the late 1940s until 1968 they imported the surplus weaponry from WWII and earlier and sold it here in the USA.