I will be in a situation where I have the ability to travel to former eastern bloc countries. I keep thinking of all the AK parts you could get before. I assume they are still to be found where made.

As a US citizen, can we send ourselves gun parts if for personal use?

Obviously a receiver is a no no, but everything else?

I tried to research it, but this situation doesn't seem to be addressed directly. It's not something I'd like to try just to find out!

In general you are not going to find anything useful (experience is limited to Russia and Ukraine), civilian gun ownership is extremely rare.  People that took stuff from the wars keep it hidden away.

I'm not looking at buying stuff off random people.

I'm talking about showing up at a manufacturer like Zastava and buying the parts they (used to?) export to the US.

I’d start by contacting Zastava directly about purchasing items, but I would be amazed if they sold anything directly to anyone without a lot of paperwork and licensing.

Beyond that, without any import/export licensing, it’ll be thinking outside the box and be willing to face any consequences. Right now I couldn’t even order a Sten gun mag catch from Canada without an import license.

I don't disagree, but I feel it's putting the cart before the horse if the US won't allow the "importation".

If the parts are legal in the country of origin, and legal in the US, it would seem likely that shipping those parts in a non-commercial transaction, would be no problem. Especially to yourself.

But of course, guns, so it's got to be ridiculously complex. I definitely don't need to go to jail to (maybe) get some cool, cheap stuff, but I felt I'd missed the opportunity years back when I was in a similar situation. Lots of stuff coming from the eastern block (bullets for one, I suppose brass too?) That maybe would be a lot cheaper to buy and ship home.

Also a little different perspective of info.

I bought a Sphinx pistol many years ago and in the desire for more info and more mags, I contacted the president of the company in Switzerland. Since they were appearing at Shot Show that year and i had a friend who was also attending, I asked if I could order and pay for the mags and have him hand them off to my friend while they were in Vegas.

He explained that even 10 rd mags were controlled items in Switzerland and if he attempted to transport them out of the country without export paperwork, that he'd face a prison sentence!

So highly unlikely to be legal to purchase on your trip and bring them back or to ship them back to yourself.