In what year were the first Soviet SKS imports to Canada?
- Thread starter Boris Badinov
- Start date
MapleSugar
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- On the loose from NIMH
That's awesome, Onebarfly!
Do you have the whole catalogue?
I'd love to have pics of those scans.
Do you have the whole catalogue?
I'd love to have pics of those scans.
MapleSugar
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- On the loose from NIMH
I'd love to see that one as well!
I remember a catalogue with a hot blonde girl on the cover.
She was sprawled across the hood of a vehicle, holding a Polytech or Norinco M14.
I don't think it was International Firearms, though.
Awesome. Thanks again, BarFly.
The Soviet dissolution occurred in late 1991.
I wonder which satellite state began selling these off before then? Or if the green light to sell to the Western Devils came straight from the Kremlin? Any indications that you can recall of that might hint which CCP these 1990-91 SKS45's were originating from?
VEEERRRRRY Cool. Thanks!
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Alan Lever received a shipment of Russian built SKS rifles in 1967.
I know this, because I was there when they were delivered.
Usually it would have been my job to pull apart the crates and check the contents.
This was one of those shipments that had a large notice on it, stating these were not to be opened, on Canada Customs headers.
All of the crates were the standard "slime green" and there were over a hundred of them.
They sat in Lever's warehouse most of the spring and summer, then they were loaded onto a truck and shipped.
I wasn't there when they were shipped. I have no idea where they went, or the condition they were in. Never saw them, just the way bills listing what was in the crates.
This wasn't anything unusual for Lever back in the day and if it wasn't my business to know, I wasn't in the loop.
I know this, because I was there when they were delivered.
Usually it would have been my job to pull apart the crates and check the contents.
This was one of those shipments that had a large notice on it, stating these were not to be opened, on Canada Customs headers.
All of the crates were the standard "slime green" and there were over a hundred of them.
They sat in Lever's warehouse most of the spring and summer, then they were loaded onto a truck and shipped.
I wasn't there when they were shipped. I have no idea where they went, or the condition they were in. Never saw them, just the way bills listing what was in the crates.
This wasn't anything unusual for Lever back in the day and if it wasn't my business to know, I wasn't in the loop.
1967
All of the crates were covered in Cyrillic lettering, so likely out of one of the Soviet storage depots or maybe a shipment apprehended in another part of the world???
There wasn't any normal information on them. No way bills, other than an envelope from Canada Customs, that I wasn't privy to.
This wasn't anything unusual for Lever Arms in those days, other than the Custom's notices. Usually we received stuff from their warehouses. These rifles came off a ship and were transported directly to Lever Arms warehouse, below Dunsmuir St.
MapleSugar
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- On the loose from NIMH
So, Alan Lever was running guns for the Feds, was he?
Intercepted shipments from the Russians, bound for Vietnam, being rerouted through Canada into the U.S.?
It reminds me of the scene from JFK, when the trucks are being loaded with crates of rifles, outside of Guy Bannister's office at Lafayette Square.
The things that you saw in that store. Oh, to have been a rat in the wall back then.
I saw crates of Chinese Milsurp SKS's at the current Lever Arms in 2006. There were a lots of them, too.
I almost bought an entire crate, but my tax return wasn't big enough to justify it. I'm kicking myself now.
BTW, can you account for your whereabouts on the day of Nov. 22, 1963?
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i bought a sks in summer of 06 from lever. i walked in and there was two guys standing in front a rack of half a dozen chinese sks, deciding.
i was standing patiently behind these guys till i spot one with a long barrel lug. i was praying they would not chose that one, they didnt, they chose the prettiest blond pinned barrel, lol.
i paid $149 for a factory 26 and its my favorite, even after buying lots of mint Russians.
i was standing patiently behind these guys till i spot one with a long barrel lug. i was praying they would not chose that one, they didnt, they chose the prettiest blond pinned barrel, lol.
i paid $149 for a factory 26 and its my favorite, even after buying lots of mint Russians.
MapleSugar
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- On the loose from NIMH
Ha! I have the perfect alibi. I wasn't even born yet.
Top that!
Sooooo, where were you again?
The book depository, the second floor of the Dal-Tex building, or behind the picket fence?
Inquiring minds want to know.
I would have bought my first Russian SKS around 1990-91 from Things Military in Calgary.
I recall myself and a buddy going in to get a couple of SKSs and a crate of ammo to share; him walking out with an SKS and me with a VZ-52/57.
The SKS was $159 and change and the VZ was ~$230.
I recall myself and a buddy going in to get a couple of SKSs and a crate of ammo to share; him walking out with an SKS and me with a VZ-52/57.
The SKS was $159 and change and the VZ was ~$230.
I was sitting in a classroom and the news came over the intercom speaker, each classroom had on the wall. It was a very modern school by the early 60s standards.
I'm old, but not that old. I first started working for Mr Lever when I was 14 years old In 1965
Today, many people don't realize that Lever Arms wasn't just a "local gun shop"
Mr Lever had contacts all over the world and was a major importer of all sorts of things.
His shop on Dunsmuir Street had enough sailing ship supplies to outfit a three masted schooner. Everything from sails, rope, deck planking, hurricane lamps, square nails and even bow figures. There were all sorts of other antiquities there as well.
He bought huge quantities of stuff. He was never one to turn down a profit, if he saw something that would sell reasonably quickly.
Lots of things he brought in, never were removed from their shipping crates. Back then, metal sea cans were still 20 years in the future. Everything was packed in large/expensive wooden crates and the shipper paid by where in the ship the cargo was going to be stored. Below decks or on the deck. You wrapped your container accordingly, usually with very expensive waxed canvas or sometimes heavily waxed cardboard.
We often forwarded firearms and some other things across Canada to Halifax, where it would be put on a ship and sent to the UK for mandator trade inspections and subsequent approval. Often, the cost of shipping both ways tripled the cost of the items.
Mr Lever hated the strangle hold the UK had on some items, with the requirement that some things always had to be approved by them first when it concerned the "Colonies" trade.
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