Vietnam bring backs
- Thread starter RNWMP
- Start date
I would lean toward not a significant one, no. There are very few Vietnam bring back guns here because we weren't actually involved in that conflict. I would pay a modest premium for a papered bring back SKS, personally, but I've never seen one for sale that I wouldn't have to import from the US where the premium was a lot higher than I was comfortable with considering the war is part of their military history. Most Canadians would not want to pay something like eight or nine hundred dollars for a ratty Chinese SKS when they could get multiple new-in-grease examples for substantially less.
You may be able to find the odd collector who'd like to add one to a collection, but I would not bet on it.
You may be able to find the odd collector who'd like to add one to a collection, but I would not bet on it.
Tell that to the 40,000 Canadians that volunteered to serve in Vietnam and the 110 that were KIA.
Here in the U.S. if you don't have the paperwork you filled out in Viet Nam to bring the firearm home and Customs you can't prove it is a bring back. Many type 53 carbines were brought back but the paperwork was tossed after the GIs got home and then all you have is a story with no proof. For collectors a story isn't good enough and Russian firearms bring far more money.
The Canadian military wasn't involved except for ICSC duty. Canadian industry was heavily involved though. IVI and DA churned out tons of ammo and our textile industry(mostly gone now) churned out uniforms etc. The Special Forces' green berets came from here.
Canadian volunteers were not sanctioned by our government in any way.
In any case, Andurp is right saying there is little or no interest. And as bigedp51 says, buy the rifle, not the story.
Canadian volunteers were not sanctioned by our government in any way.
In any case, Andurp is right saying there is little or no interest. And as bigedp51 says, buy the rifle, not the story.
I know a few that were "stationed" in Canada for the duration (and beyond). and n'er went home...
gewehr76
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
I saw your PM, however It skipped reply to your question about certificate. I had so many toks it took me some time to figure out which was which. In any case they all say Tokarev, as a model. No type or brand of any kind. By the way nice piece.
That's funny again, I am about 10 minutes from a RCAF pilot who is a RMC grad who flew almost 400 sorties, downed 4 migs and was seriously injured when shot down over what must have been Canada then.
I would love to get a hold of one. But I imagine they would be pretty hard to find up here, no matter which country of origin.
The only ones that would be recognized as Viet war bring backs, without accompanying paperwork, would be the Viet made ones..with the 1 inside of the star on the receiver.
The only ones that would be recognized as Viet war bring backs, without accompanying paperwork, would be the Viet made ones..with the 1 inside of the star on the receiver.
live4therut
CGN frequent flyer
The milsurp market in canada is in great demand, proving a rifles history is impossible with out some sort of provenance.
Here's a good read for those that would like to know a bit of canada's involvement in Vietnam
http://www.cvva.ca/memorial_wall.html
Here's a good read for those that would like to know a bit of canada's involvement in Vietnam
http://www.cvva.ca/memorial_wall.html
Last edited:
You mean the ones who did so in a foreign military? I think I have a point when I say that there won't be much of a market for items that were in a war that Canada's military had little to no involvement in, compared to one that we did.
Your RMC grad friend who was in the RCAF, what uniform was he wearing in said sorties, if you don't mind me asking? Was he in Vietnam on an exchange, or something? I know we had some exchange officers with the US in Iraq.
Last edited:
While camping at provincial park..early 1990s, we ended up right next to a Cdn Vietnam war vet who served with the US Marines. Interesting fireside stories for sure but the way he morphed into almost flashback type behaviour while telling stories..had me more concerned with him than any bears.
Ill be over in Nam in December.. while I know its going to be almost impossible to get a view inside any military armoury,,ill definitely try and get some contacts there to provide me with some pics. Hoping for some surplus weapons pics...sks etc.
Ill be over in Nam in December.. while I know its going to be almost impossible to get a view inside any military armoury,,ill definitely try and get some contacts there to provide me with some pics. Hoping for some surplus weapons pics...sks etc.
101 Canadian Army, RCN and RCaF earned the RVN Campaign medal. None were allowed to wear it. No Canadians were allowed to serve combat in RVN while on exchange after Comrade Trudeau came to power.
I'm skeptical of all these "bring back" claims. No doubt there are some genuine bring backs but there are some practical reasons why they aren't as common as claimed.
Enemy weapons captured in wartime are the property of the government - it isn't as though you can just wander off with stuff you pick up. Your equipment is issued to you, and you are expected to carry it and pretty much nothing else; the military isn't in the habit of transporting the fine furniture and candle sticks you picked up on the way. When you return from overseas there is a demobilization process that takes weeks or months; you don't just get off the plane or boat and make off in the family car.
There were probably quite a few Walthers and Lugers concealed and brought back at the end of WW 2 but it is another thing to bring back a K98 or Mosin. Discipline was poor among US troops toward the end of the Vietnam war so I suppose there was some lax enforcement. Some of the bring back stories are probably true; most are probably not. In the US, "no import mark" is often cited as the evidence of a "bring back" This is the weakest evidence for a bring back (SVT, Mosin, SKS); more likely a "bring over" in the trunk of a car from Canada.
I'm with the commenter "buy the rifle, not the story".
Enemy weapons captured in wartime are the property of the government - it isn't as though you can just wander off with stuff you pick up. Your equipment is issued to you, and you are expected to carry it and pretty much nothing else; the military isn't in the habit of transporting the fine furniture and candle sticks you picked up on the way. When you return from overseas there is a demobilization process that takes weeks or months; you don't just get off the plane or boat and make off in the family car.
There were probably quite a few Walthers and Lugers concealed and brought back at the end of WW 2 but it is another thing to bring back a K98 or Mosin. Discipline was poor among US troops toward the end of the Vietnam war so I suppose there was some lax enforcement. Some of the bring back stories are probably true; most are probably not. In the US, "no import mark" is often cited as the evidence of a "bring back" This is the weakest evidence for a bring back (SVT, Mosin, SKS); more likely a "bring over" in the trunk of a car from Canada.
I'm with the commenter "buy the rifle, not the story".
There are lots of vet bringback SKSs and pistols available in the US. Reason is very simple: Americans did not have to put up with our anal restrictions.
Bases where returning men were being readied to come home had special facilities for papering weapons coming back into Zone Interior with the troopies. They would paper anything which was still legal in the US, with the exception of full-autos. There is a famous photo of a line of guys waiting to have their bringbacks papered, big sign saying "SKS? OK! AK? NO WAY!" Enough SKS rifles came back to cause a 40-year shortage of brass for the Italian Carcano; Carcano brass (once very common, including US-made ammo) was bought up and converted to 7.62x39 to feed all the SKSs. Result was that Carcanos ended up selling, in some places, for half the price of a single box of Norma ammo.
SOME Viet-Nam bringbacks DID come to Canada. There is one in the CFB Shilo Museum, an AK which was given (fully operational) to a Canadian Major who was over there. The Major brought the thing to Canada and gave it to the Shilo Museum. The RCMP turned up later, insisting that a Canadian Army Museum had no right to possess weapons on a Canadian Army base, forced the Museum to register the thing, then seized it and welded its guts up before returning it. I know about it because they didn't have a manual for the critter and it was a popular exhibit, so I wrote them a manual for it.
So they do exist. It's just that, in this country, getting your hands on one with papers can be awfully hard.
If the Canadian Militia had been allowed to volunteer (as was rumoured several times and nixed by Ottawa) to serve in the Nam, doubtless they would be much more common.
Helluvva thing, though, when there's a war going on and your friends are on one side and your Government is on the other! Canada was turned into a Fifth Column area for the Fourth and Fifth Internationalists, the delightful folks who organised all those "spontaneous" protests against the Evil Wall Street Imperialists And All Their Running Dogs And Lackeys..... same folks, come to think on it, who are running most of the "environmental awareness" movements today, screaming for us to shut down one industry after another and never, ever saying a naughty word about the biggest polluter in the world: their dear buddy Communist China.
Bases where returning men were being readied to come home had special facilities for papering weapons coming back into Zone Interior with the troopies. They would paper anything which was still legal in the US, with the exception of full-autos. There is a famous photo of a line of guys waiting to have their bringbacks papered, big sign saying "SKS? OK! AK? NO WAY!" Enough SKS rifles came back to cause a 40-year shortage of brass for the Italian Carcano; Carcano brass (once very common, including US-made ammo) was bought up and converted to 7.62x39 to feed all the SKSs. Result was that Carcanos ended up selling, in some places, for half the price of a single box of Norma ammo.
SOME Viet-Nam bringbacks DID come to Canada. There is one in the CFB Shilo Museum, an AK which was given (fully operational) to a Canadian Major who was over there. The Major brought the thing to Canada and gave it to the Shilo Museum. The RCMP turned up later, insisting that a Canadian Army Museum had no right to possess weapons on a Canadian Army base, forced the Museum to register the thing, then seized it and welded its guts up before returning it. I know about it because they didn't have a manual for the critter and it was a popular exhibit, so I wrote them a manual for it.
So they do exist. It's just that, in this country, getting your hands on one with papers can be awfully hard.
If the Canadian Militia had been allowed to volunteer (as was rumoured several times and nixed by Ottawa) to serve in the Nam, doubtless they would be much more common.
Helluvva thing, though, when there's a war going on and your friends are on one side and your Government is on the other! Canada was turned into a Fifth Column area for the Fourth and Fifth Internationalists, the delightful folks who organised all those "spontaneous" protests against the Evil Wall Street Imperialists And All Their Running Dogs And Lackeys..... same folks, come to think on it, who are running most of the "environmental awareness" movements today, screaming for us to shut down one industry after another and never, ever saying a naughty word about the biggest polluter in the world: their dear buddy Communist China.
@ marc_j:
The Americans did not keep nearly as close an eye on equipment as does our military, partly because they have ENOUGH OF IT.
Friend of mine came back through San Diego after his second tour. He told me that Jammin' Jennies were going for 50 bucks and that you could buy a Pig for 100.
By that time the M-60s were starting to develop cracking Receivers, so I decided not to get one. Yes, you could still register one in Canada.
The Americans did not keep nearly as close an eye on equipment as does our military, partly because they have ENOUGH OF IT.
Friend of mine came back through San Diego after his second tour. He told me that Jammin' Jennies were going for 50 bucks and that you could buy a Pig for 100.
By that time the M-60s were starting to develop cracking Receivers, so I decided not to get one. Yes, you could still register one in Canada.
Smellie is correct, the U.S. was much more sensible regarding war trophies than Canada ever was. Enemy weapons were allowed to be brought back by individuals as souvenirs with proper documentation. Actually before 1968 milsurps in the U.S. were not import marked which created a two tier system for milsurp values for a long time.
- Location
- Winnipeg, MB
I would love to have a North Vietnamese SKS.
