Maybe there is no market for resurrected milsurps.
How many people bought the repro's from Marstar when they did it? I would have loved to buy an STG44 in a commonly available calibre, but the price was too high for this small batch of guns and ammo was unavailable.
Would anyone buy a Chinese Garand?
I think that any repro milsurp would only be purchased when a certain equation is satisfied.
Price < utility of firearm + psychological appeal. How you would quantify appeal and utility will vary from person to person. But there has to be a middle ground.
Canadian firearms laws have to be taken into account too. Obviously, there wouldnt be much market for an expensive, restricted repro.
When you factor in how modern firearms are generally cheaper to produce than historical ones, it gets difficult to find a match.
The Sten guns and variants might work if they could be re-engineered to be non-restricted. But again, there is cost in this. And you never know how the RCMP will look upon it.
I think that there would be a fair market for a non-restricted M1 Carbine in something more readily available than its standard .30 cartridge. In fact, if a paratrooper model (folding stock)could be made up in a modern pistol calibre, I think that it might bridge the gap between milsurp collectors and sport shooters. And imagine if some pistol mag out there just happened to fit.
This would have utility in that it would meet the needs of people who want a M1 Carbine, and those who want a pistol cartridge carbine. It would also provide a carbine for people who are more into the traditional look of firearms. This might draw new customers into the market.
The appeal is there, especially if the price is low, simply because its non-restricted and cheap. Interchangeability of mags is also hugely appealing.
But only if it was non-restricted and affordable. A restricted one would be worthwhile to some. But I think it really would kill the market. A high price would ruin it altogether.
In all, its a damn risky business because you dont really know how people will respond to the product and you never can tell what the RCMP are going to do when they classify a firearm.
If I ran a business, would I invest in running something like this? Only with a lot of research illustrating demand, the legal status of the firearm, and production costs.
Its a helluva lot easier to stick with proven performers, especially when you consider the margin a business stands to make.
What I would do is put the idea on the backburner and look into things as I had the time. Its not like demand is screaming high for any of these guns right now.