u/FischlandchipZ

If you haven’t seen TFBTV’s recent interview with Karl Brugger of B&T switzerland, check it out. It goes over the lawsuit from his perspective, but the tldr is B&T parent company pulled the license from B&T USA due to massive unpaid debts and failure to ship products to customers.

The intent is for B&T USA to change their name to something else, and for B&T to either open a US based company, or work with a new importer. They will try to warranty and service any swiss-produced items that were imported and purchased previously, but wont touch anything made or designed by the US company.

How you guys feeling suppressor wise? I’m not overly familiar with B&T USA’s suppressor line, and what is/is not originating from switzerland or the US. As of now, Buying a b&t can is risky if you can find one; who knows if B&T will still support it in the future, or if whatever the successor company to B&T USA will either. B&T also makes PSA’s and others suppressors, so what happens to those?

I ended up buying a b&t rotex surefire hub adapter while they still exist, since i have a few pin and weld b&t three prongs on my 14.5’s :(

I see a lot of chatter online that this will be a second coming for cheap 7.62, 5.45, and Mosins/SKS/AK parts kits, but what I never see discussed is what actual countries this affects that we don't already get imports from.

Here is the list of Post-Soviet countries, of these we already trade with a few of them, like NATO members:

• Estonia - bought LMT rifles
• Latvia - No known imports so far
• Lithuania - GGG branded M193 5.56 and M80 7.62x51

In addition, we have seen some imports from some other countries:

• Azerbaijan - TELA ammo 5.45 and 7.62x39, as well as AK-100 series parts from IGLIM, sold via Atlantic Firearms
• Kyrgyzstan - BSP Ammo

That brings us to ATF ruling "447.52 Import restrictions applicable to certain countries", which states:

"[The following cannot be imported:] Any firearm located or manufactured in Georgia, Kazakstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Russian Federation, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, or Uzbekistan, and any firearm previously manufactured in the Soviet Union, that is not one of the models listed below: [Bunch of WW2 stuff and sporting arms]"

**"Ammunition located or manufactured in Georgia, Kazakstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Russian Federation, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, or Uzbekistan, and ammunition previously manufactured in the Soviet Union, that is 7.62 × 25mm caliber (also known as 7.63 × 25mm caliber or .30 Mauser) "*

With Russia still banned from any importation in the new ruling, that leaves:

• Georgia (thought they helped us in Iraq 03?)
• Kazakstan
• Krygyzstan (how did they get BSP ammo in before?)
• Moldova
• Turkmenistan
• Ukraine (Surprising they were on this list, given recent events)
• Uzbekistan

Not mentioned anywhere I could find:

• Armenia
• Tajikistan

Now, the big question here is:

Do any of these countries have substantial Ammo plants making modern desirable ammo, like non-corrosive 7.62x39, 5.45, 9mm, etc?

How many of these countries have stores of old surplus weapons they can still sell?

Do any of these countries have stores of old Commuist era ammo they haven't already sold to countries in Africa or the Middle East?

Will they be offering these items at prices importers are willing to pay? I'm reminded of the Syrian STG-44's, which never left the country because they wanted US transferable prices for what would end up being chopped up parts kits.

Will these imports move the needle on prices? I'm not sure I've seen any of the replacement 7.62x39 imports really compete with Russian/Ukrainian steel case prices even since the ban.

I'm hopeful that the big import companies like Century and Wolf are reaching out to their contacts and figuring this out, because it had potential to be a pretty good thing for the community. I've been impressed with ammo coming out of countries like Bosnia (Igman), Macedonia (ATS), and Serbia (PPU, Belom, Red Star Ordnance)... But we've also seem stuff like TELA ammo possibly being corrosive, and of course NATO turkish ammo being hit or miss.

Anyway, let me know your thoughts below, just thought I'd give a more researched take on recent events.