Firearms have been a culmination of weaponry development from the fist time one cave man hit another on the head with a rock or stick. The abundance and variety of weapons in today’s world is staggering, from pistols and revolvers to strategic missiles that can end civilization as we know it. For the civilian market, in the few countries who permit their citizens to collect firearms, the supply of firearms, their comfort of ergonomics, lethality, range and beauty, increases from year to year. The same for firearms used by military and law enforcement end users. The new firearms manufactured are dominated by the well known companies such as: Glock, Beretta, CZ, FN, Colt, Smith & Wesson, Zastava, Taurus, IWI, HS and others. In pistols, the last two decades have been dominated by polymer handguns due to their comfort and weight, and in some way due to the recent fashion and dominance of Glock in this field. In rifles, the M4 or AR15 design has been extremely dominant especially because Colt’s patent of this design has expired. The same goes for the Colt 1911 style of pistols that many manufacturers have copied or based their designs on. And so in a way, most of the newly manufactured firearms have not changed that much in design from the original Colt M4 rifle, Colt 1911 pistol, CZ-75 pistol, Glock 17/19, AK47 and AKM rifles and maybe a few famous others. The type of rifles that have truly developed both in design and function have been the sniper rifles. The build, materials, ergonomics, accessories, barrels, the firing action, have all been improved immensely so that the shooter can have the most accurate shot possible.
Collectors of firearms are separated in my opinion into three categories: collectors of new firearms, collectors of antique/military surplus firearms, and collectors that collect both. Collecting antique and military surplus firearms are more “my cup of tea” since the older guns have a direct connection to historic world events and the imagination is always working overtime in imagining where the firearm has been and who held it. The same goes for many antique collectors such as those collecting antique edged weapons or other militaria antiques and collectibles. Military surplus firearms collecting has a charm and mystic that is hard to describe and like many traits and inclinations probably starts in childhood. Whether it was playing soldiers with other kids in the neighborhood, shooting your first rifle or pistol with your father, finding a PPSH-41 with a fully loaded drum magazine in your grandfather’s shed (true story), missing having your service rifle when you were in the military, the bug for collecting military surplus firearms always has some kind of “trigger” that started it all. Like any other collection, the search for the next item to add is always part of the fun since unlike new firearms, you can’t just go to your local gun shop and buy it since not all gun shop deal in military surplus guns. As time goes by it is also harder to find military surplus firearms since the stocks where they are from are drying up. For example, 10 years ago, finding Mosin Nagant rifles for sale was not that difficult and was also quit cheap, probably in the $100 range. Today, most Mosin Nagant rifles have been exported to the US collectors market. The stocks that are probably still available are in Russia and Belarus but since these countries are under sanctions, firearms can’t be exported from them. Another example are German K98 Mauser rifles that have been abundant a while ago and now very hard to find.
For importers, distributors and wholesalers who import military surplus guns into the US it is harder to find the inventories available from reliable and verified sources. MCT Defense provides these services to these companies since our close connections to the sources, to the owners of the stock, whether the military surplus depot itself or a dealer, provide our clients with the assurance that the stock of surplus guns exists and that its condition is good enough for sale. This service to our clients down the line assures that the collector of the military surplus firearm has the gun that he wants and in the condition promised.
