The last 6 months or so its like someone turned on the tap around here - milsurps - especially WWII era bolt guns - showing up on racks in shops in numbers - and models - to beat anything I've seen the last few years. I am wondering if you guys are seeing the same thing? Got me to wondering if a whole bunch of our WWII vets are passing away and their wives, etc. turning loose of their bringbacks and sporterized 'surps THEY bought back in the day? When I asked my local milsurp dealer about it, he said that that is EXACTLY what he is seeing going on. It makes some of these finds a tad bittersweet as I think of these good old men passing on.

only thing i have seen is 91/30 mosin nagants out the wazoo. and the $400 beat to heck yugo mausers, $800 mk4 enfields, $600 post war p38, and dont get me started on the m1 carbines at gander.

i have been huntin the area hard for good surplus rifles. seems the best deals i can find is from members here or someone trying to unload their collection to pay the bills.

it would be cool to see some more surplus firearms, semi autos, bolt guns, or hans gus. maybe im just wishing to hard??

Ive seen alot of uncommon stuff showing up around here lately.Mosin's have dried up here for some reason but all kinds of south american mausers, vetterlis, carcanos, arisakas, krags, etc seem to be filling up the racks at the two shops I frequent.

the reason for the mosin dry up in your area is, they are all hear in south east texas!!!

Don't believe the hype. I'd be willing to bet the the majority of the "Vet Bringbacks" are pre 1968 imports.

I even saw an ad on gunporker "with the absence of any import marks I'm presuming this is a Vet Bring back"

I do believe many of these are coming from estates and hard time economies.

Ed.. I think some of that hype is true...I have seen a couple deals like that go down on this small Island that is my home..

I got that beat, a SMLE was on one of the auction sites some time ago. Apparently the sellers grandfather had brought it back from the Pacific and it had been in his family since 1945. I couldn't help but wonder why it had a CAI import mark on the side

If true at all I see it as being part of a bad economy more than anything else as most of the WWII vets I grew up with had long gotten shed of their bring backs in favor of a modern gun many years before they passed. I've seen more German helmets, bayonets, and other WWII era regalia shaken loose though.

If you go by gunpoker (good one btw) every solider returning home after WWII was dragging a duffel full of weapons behind them. If a Jap weapon a Marine brought it home and if German someone from the 101st or 82nd Airborne did the honors.....please! Without paperwork to back the claim up it's just BS.

Hard times usually have the effect of prying guns loose. Could you imagine the deals you could be getting now on "black guns" and much of the ammo if "The Anointed One" (and wild eyed gun owners/greedy dealers) had not caused the panic!

I'll bet those who bought those $700 WASR AKs are doing a Homer now.

tater 134,

I'd really be interested in the name and location of these two shops! . If it's not too
much trouble. PM or post, Thanks.

I must be going to the wrong shops, but a drive up NE sounds worthwhile. How are the
conditions and prices?

I have seen that one a couple of times here locally! I have been in sevaral of the las veags area pawn shops when people have brought in "Grandpas" war trophy. It is interesting when the shop owner points out the import mark or a date long after the war was over. With the few real ones and the fakes I usually gringe if I hear the offer the pawn shop makes for the gun. I would never interfere w/ a transaction in progress but a couple of times I was really hoping that the person would decline, leave and I could catch up to him latter.
With one of the highest unemployment and the highest forclosure rate in the country people are selling anything they have to get by knowing Granpa would understand.

+1

If I was in trouble financially I'm sure my late Dad would approve of me parting with my heirloom weapons to help pay the bills. He always told me it was the mark of a man to live within your means, pay your debts on time, and put some away every week in case you need it on down the road.

Seriously, I have to wonder where some folks heads are at like when I overheard a guy at the barber shop about three months ago talking about being out of work (construction) for months and how rough his family is having it but five minutes later bragging up a Sako rifle he bought to take on a Colorado elk hunt he had recently booked.

I'm still laughing as I type this ...

Tiki.

Truth is, I've seen the face on some of the sellers, and I think that they thought it really was Grandpa's bringback. They look stunned and a little disoriented, like they were trying to recalibrate a family history and figure out what in the world happened.

I hear that, I don't think there is intent to mislead here from these people but they suffer from something in the order of Chinese whispers. It's like when a person hears a story about an ancestor being a Lord but the truth is really that their ancestor was a gardener for a Lord.

Tiki.

the last of the ww2 are dying off and their families are 'getting rid of' their old stuff.

i spoke with the son of a ww2 vet a few years back at a yard sale. His father had passed and the "machine" they used to play with as kids under his bed was indeed an MG42 bringback. Of course, since our 2a rights are merely permissible now, it's now in a war museum in NY.