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Deleted member 67409
Assuming for argument's sake that Finland and Sweden join NATO and aren't invaded any time soon, what would their NATO memberships mean for the milsurp gun market here in the US?
The Finnish military is still standardized on the 7.62x39 Rk 62. Finland also has per Wikipedia:
*20,000 Rk 95s;
*100,000 East German AKMs;
*Unknown amounts of Soviet AKs both in 7.62x39 and 5.45; and
*100,000 Chinese Type 56s.
Plus other older, obsolescent guns like FN HP-DAs and SVDs.
Finland would have to move towards 5.56 or potentially 6.8x51 after joining NATO. I could see them getting rid of the older, less serviceable guns, like the Type 56s, DDR AKs, and older Rk 62s. There currently isn't any reason for why those guns as parts kits, or in some cases whole guns, couldn't come into the US. For instance, the reasons why we here in the US can't get ahold of SVDs is because of the Clinton-Yeltsin treaty and sanctions against Russia. The FEG-reboot SVD kerfuffle from last year showed that non-Russian sources for SVDs were still an option. Though ATF does require modifications made to the SVD fire controls (Mishaco and Forgotten Weapons talk about this). I could see Finland keeping the more serviceable guns in storage and selling the older guns to generate cash. Question is whether the guns go to the US consumer market or say... Ukraine or a third world country as an aid package.
Sweden is already standardized on 5.56 and 7.62x51. However, they'd likely up their military budget to the NATO target of 2% of the annual budget. Sweden's military guns are fairly dated, like the G3 and FNC. The modernization package for the G3 is pretty expensive (one word: Spuhr) and probably not viable to be applied in the event of a Swedish military expansion. Similarly, the FNC is a pretty old design and I could see Sweden wanting something much newer to replace the FNCs. Given that real HK G3-pattern guns and FNCs are pretty expensive here in the US, I could see a small importer, say Atlantic, getting in on importing a few batches of Swedish G3 and FNC kits, or offering 922(r) compliant completed guns for sale that were assembled by them in-house.
The Finnish military is still standardized on the 7.62x39 Rk 62. Finland also has per Wikipedia:
*20,000 Rk 95s;
*100,000 East German AKMs;
*Unknown amounts of Soviet AKs both in 7.62x39 and 5.45; and
*100,000 Chinese Type 56s.
Plus other older, obsolescent guns like FN HP-DAs and SVDs.
Finland would have to move towards 5.56 or potentially 6.8x51 after joining NATO. I could see them getting rid of the older, less serviceable guns, like the Type 56s, DDR AKs, and older Rk 62s. There currently isn't any reason for why those guns as parts kits, or in some cases whole guns, couldn't come into the US. For instance, the reasons why we here in the US can't get ahold of SVDs is because of the Clinton-Yeltsin treaty and sanctions against Russia. The FEG-reboot SVD kerfuffle from last year showed that non-Russian sources for SVDs were still an option. Though ATF does require modifications made to the SVD fire controls (Mishaco and Forgotten Weapons talk about this). I could see Finland keeping the more serviceable guns in storage and selling the older guns to generate cash. Question is whether the guns go to the US consumer market or say... Ukraine or a third world country as an aid package.
Sweden is already standardized on 5.56 and 7.62x51. However, they'd likely up their military budget to the NATO target of 2% of the annual budget. Sweden's military guns are fairly dated, like the G3 and FNC. The modernization package for the G3 is pretty expensive (one word: Spuhr) and probably not viable to be applied in the event of a Swedish military expansion. Similarly, the FNC is a pretty old design and I could see Sweden wanting something much newer to replace the FNCs. Given that real HK G3-pattern guns and FNCs are pretty expensive here in the US, I could see a small importer, say Atlantic, getting in on importing a few batches of Swedish G3 and FNC kits, or offering 922(r) compliant completed guns for sale that were assembled by them in-house.
