Thoughts on Canadian availability of military surplus rifles?

maple_leaf_eh said:
^^^^^

What I find most interesting about the MAS44, 49 and 49/56 is their dog $hit simplicity! The only moving parts are the trigger, spring, sear, hammer, spring, firing pin and bolt (with the extractor and ejector). Utterly perfect! I also can't believe the gas tube vents into a recess on the bolt carrier. Eugene Stoner made simple unnecessarily complicated.
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Well that certainly makes up for the artistic clockwork of the Berthier magazine/trigger group.
 
The_Gun_Boy said:
Really it all comes down to the dealers at the time they were surplused and which company bought them therefore where they ended up. Some dealers were Canadian only and some were American only. French rifles seem to be a bit more common in the states in terms of Berthiers and Lebels. I did hear that they first started to sell them in the states in the 1930s, which is why Remington started to make 8mm Lebel ammo at that time. Batches of them come in at other times as well. I have seem some Lebels at times on P&S, they have some Berthiers on now and some South American Mausers. You may consider importing one from down there through irunguns or Prophet River. The Mas 36s are around, I believe they came in around the 80s-90s. I've owned a couple of the Mas 36/51 which seem to be more common in my end of the country. Both of which I bought at gun shows and one came with a bunch of older ammo (200 rounds) which would have been contemporary to when they were brought in. I have never seen a Mas 49 in Canada but I have seen some Mas 49/56, they were expensive and some had the scopes. They come out of the wood work when they threatened to ban them. Ammo for both I think currently is only PPU and I haven't seem much around in a while, seemed to have dried up with the 7.65 Argentine/Belgian. I'm sure PPU will make more at some point. 8mm Lebel surplus I understand is rare and in poor condition, lots of hangfires and duds. The Greek Mannlichers are around too, I have owned a couple, they are just sporterized or just in absolutely horrendous condition.
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Funnily enough, I recently saw a MAS 44 in Canada.
 
Homestly I think the countries that sold early are plentiful on the market. Those that liquidated warehouses late and were also liberal democracies, well they smelted everything.
 
If someone had a stack of old S.I.R. catalogs and flyers it would interesting to see what was easily available at what prices 20-40 years ago. Given the prices of most new guns back then there was little surplus interest in my area. I wish I'd picked up a few back then.
 
Eaglelord17 said:
Greece had two Balkan wars, WWI, the Greco-Turkish War, WWII, and the Civil War to consume their Mannlichers. Then to add to it when they were surplused because of how fine a hunting rifle the Mannlicher-Schroeder’s are the ones in best condition were sporterized.

There are some in country, I have a few, but they most certainly aren’t common.

Keep in mind there is also a lot of firearms in country which just aren’t for sale. For example I haven’t seen any Yugoslavian M24/47 or M48s for sale for a while and I know there is a bunch kicking around. I bought a few from dealers a decade ago.

There is also a decent amount of French firearms around (I have seen about 3 Berthier carbines for sale in the last week) but it also comes down to people being willing to sell. At the moment they have become much more popular due to people realizing the quality of them and books such as ‘Chassepot to Famas’.

People aren’t selling as much as they used to, when I started people would buy/sell/trade easily as you knew you could generally replace it if you wanted to. Now everyone holds on to what they have and only sell at higher prices. It’s weird as the prices have gone up, the willingness to sell has gone down.
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I regularly see quality rifles at market prices. They sit for months.

The auctions or interpersonal networks seem to be the new venue for serious collectors. Pieces often go for well over market value which make up for any premiums paid. Of course your mileage may vary.
 
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