Today I Learned That Cuba Makes a Sniper Rifle, And I Want It

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F-Tang

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Cuba's communist, so I think this is the right section.

So for some reason me and a co-worker were bored at work today and decided to look up the guns used by the Cuban military. Unsurprisingly, most were of Soviet origin, but apparently in 2002 Cuba invented a domestic sniper rifle in 7.62x54R called the Alejandro. It actually seems like a pretty decent looking gun.

So then I got to thinking, we don't have any trade embargoes against Cuba, right? So would it be theoretically possible for a Canadian importer to somehow contact UIM in Cuba and see if they would be willing to sell this rifle to Canadians? I mean, we have no trade embargoes saying we can't import guns from Cuba as far as I know, I suppose it would be all up to the Cubans to decide if they want to sell it.
 
Having been to Cuba, this sounds a little far fetched. No gun making potential to speak of,even historically, but who's to say definitively ?

Grizz
 
Grizzly Adams said:
Having been to Cuba, this sounds a little far fetched. No gun making potential to speak of,even historically, but who's to say definitively ?

Grizz
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From my time in Cuba, most of the nation is "out of bounds" if you don't have an Internal Regions Pass which is seldom issued to foreigners and even more unusual to be issued to tourists. Cuba has a relatively large military/Police/Security force well out of proportion to the size of its population. Job creation I guess for a failed economic system and an overbearing/extremely discriminatory regime???

It would make perfect sense for the Cubans to have not only repair facilities but manufacturing facilities for their weapons. The rifle pictured is pretty simple in design and would be very simple to set up its components on CNC equipment. The stock is simplicity in itself.

Cuba would not require a lot of such rifles and what else do they have if it isn't time and cheap labor??? I have personally witnessed some of the results of Cuban craftsmen utilizing very old and worn equipment. I doubt that any government sponsored manufacturing facility wouldn't have reasonably sophisticated equipment. Cuba trades with many small nations that don't suffer from US or UN embargoes such as Canada, Sweden and Denmark to name a few. The necessary equipment would, I believe, be available to them.

Barrels might have to be procured offshore but not necessarily. The scope on that rifle is obviously from offshore but they are cheap and available on the commercial/surplus marked as well.

OP, that is an interesting but not heartstopping find. Still I would love to get my hands on one to put it through its paces.
 
bearhunter said:
From my time in Cuba, most of the nation is "out of bounds" if you don't have an Internal Regions Pass which is seldom issued to foreigners and even more unusual to be issued to tourists. Cuba has a relatively large military/Police/Security force well out of proportion to the size of its population. Job creation I guess for a failed economic system and an overbearing/extremely discriminatory regime???

It would make perfect sense for the Cubans to have not only repair facilities but manufacturing facilities for their weapons. The rifle pictured is pretty simple in design and would be very simple to set up its components on CNC equipment. The stock is simplicity in itself.

Cuba would not require a lot of such rifles and what else do they have if it isn't time and cheap labor??? I have personally witnessed some of the results of Cuban craftsmen utilizing very old and worn equipment. I doubt that any government sponsored manufacturing facility wouldn't have reasonably sophisticated equipment. Cuba trades with many small nations that don't suffer from US or UN embargoes such as Canada, Sweden and Denmark to name a few. The necessary equipment would, I believe, be available to them.

Barrels might have to be procured offshore but not necessarily. The scope on that rifle is obviously from offshore but they are cheap and available on the commercial/surplus marked as well.

OP, that is an interesting but not heartstopping find. Still I would love to get my hands on one to put it through its paces.
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This.

I was denied access to some ordinary residential looking neighborhoods in Havana, I can't imagine them being too eager to grant access to their military-industrial facilities.
 
Uim been producing a heavy sniper rifle called the mambi amr since the 80s so this is a step down for them.
 
This is true, I have seen the Mambi and it fires the 14.5 PTRS round. It is a very heavy rifle with a semi auto action that has a shoulder pad on its underside and the rifle sits on top of the shoulder with the magazine fed action over the shooters back. Actually there were two of them at the same place. One had heavy iron sights and one had a PU type scope mounted on it.

Dangerous piece of hardware if you're on the business end. Easily the equal of the Browning 50 cal.

I can see why they would want a lighter sniper rifle such as the rifle in the OP's picture. The Mambi must weigh over 20 pounds loaded and is just to powerful for most of the work the Cubans would need it for.

The two I saw were on the Negra River in Brazil. They were captured by the Brazilian River Police from pirates. I have no idea what happened to them. Many of the pirates on the Negra River and Amazon River were products of Castro's efforts to spread the Socialist revolution into South America. Those rifles were unusual. Usually he gave those revolutionaries US Garands, M1 Carbines and FNFALs left over from the Batista government and captured at from the Bay of Pigs invasion. Maybe they wanted reports on how well they worked in the field under stressful circumstances. They looked very well made to me.

My experience is from the mid seventies so likely they made them secretly for several years until the cat was out of the bag. The rifles I saw could also have been prototypes. I wasn't allowed to handle them or look closely at them.
 
Importing these would be a disaster for the following reasons:
1. You can get a mosin and throw it in an Archangel stock for around $450. Will it be as accurate? Probably not, but see point 2.
2. Most who buy this will shoot cheap surplus x54mmr, which is not accurate at all. People will blame the rifle, or x54mmr in general. They could buy commercial or 7N1 ammo, but the former is expensive, and the latter is hard to find. I have found PPU and S&B to be fairly accurate in Mosins and SVTs, but are people going to shoot them for $1.50 a pop, when surplus is there for $0.34?
3. What is the going rate for a mosin sniper now? $800? Will this Cuban rifle be cheaper?
4. Production + shipping + importation fees = what? Less than current offerings? People will suggest "just buy a X rifle in Y calibre, as it is proven and doesn't shoot the inaccurate x54mmr" (see number 2)
5. How will these sell after the above "issues"? Probably not enough to make it worth any importers' time.

Didn't mean this as a negative post, so I'll just throw in some funny slogan at the end here:

Comrade; just buy mosin!
 
Cool rifle!

Cuba makes 7.62x39 domestically, but uses it all for their defence and compulsory military service training. They must make 7.62x54R too - or they are sitting on a mother load of soviet supplied ammo.

I have seen empty crates of Cuban made x39 and a few cartridges myself, but I highly doubt we will be able to convince them to sell any.

They used the SVT-40 and SKS as well, and those rifles are certainly still there.

Despite what they may portray themselves as, the Cubans are allowed to own guns and hunting is pretty popular from what I have been told, just mainly in the south and east of the island. (Away from tourists.)

However I am not sure what rifles the civilians are allowed to own, likely not this sniper.
 
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A shotguns in the hand of person who know how to use them is really a deadly weapon than any rifles and any sort of pistols plus shotshell can be home made easily with available items from hardware store.
 
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