Greetings,

when the term "non-import" is used in reference to old milsurp rifles, what exactly is the meaning.

Thank you all in advance.

no import markings mean it was imported prior to 1968, or brought back by a vet, etc......

Thank you very much, modern firearm guy trying to figure out this old guns thing.

Thanks for the info

You were smart enough to ask a question. That means you fail at being dumb.

Thanks! I am slowly jumping into the C&R stuff, its just so cool I cant help but love it.

Lots of people will try to pass off pre-import stamp required firearms as “bring backs.”

Unless they have real provenance, it’s just an unmarked weapon.

Buy the gun;  never buy the story.

I’m sorry but your rule of thumb, like most generalizations, misses the mark in many, many circumstances. Unlike many commentators on this subject, you don’t use the actual phrase that irritates me to no end, the absolute, “No papers, not a bringback”, so my difference with you is largely semantic, but an important difference nonetheless.

I can agree with the sentiment of the concerns you raise but we separate company when you come to your conclusion. If you were to rephrase your comments along the lines that unless someone has done their homework, it is safer to remain skeptical and disbelieve a seller’s pie-in-the-sky representations, I would have a hard time arguing against such caution.

This is a huge subject, and one that I have debated countless times over on Gun Boards. I have been collecting C&R military firearms, with a heavy focus on captured enemy bringbacks, for well more than forty years. Education and experience, complemented by rational and logical analysis and deduction allows the accurate characterization of many guns that lack more tangible, written provenance.