As warfare evolves and technology progresses, militaries will phase out old weapons and equipment to adopt replacements. While some of America’s old guns get pawned off on other smaller countries such as South Vietnam and Israel getting leftover M1 Carbines, other guns get sold to distributors and retailers such as the Civilian Marksmanship Program (CMP). Since gun ownership is protected under the Second Amendment in the US, other countries have sold their leftover firearms to importers who engrave import marks on the guns before sending them to distributors for sale within the US.
Thirty years ago, you could pick up these guns for an incredibly low price at your local gun shop. Nowadays, thanks to factors such as inflation, nostalgia, media hype, and their appearances in movies and video games, antique and surplus firearms have seen a monumental increase in demand. With a finite supply of these surplus guns and an ever-growing demand, the price is only increasing. Some companies, however, have produced reproductions of historic firearms on a mass scale, some re-chambered into more available calibers like .22LR, while other companies may have never ceased production of these old guns.
We've collected some of our most searched surplus and reproduction firearms dating from, or based on, firearms from The Great War through the end of the Cold War. Which of these would you consider the best?
