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Deleted member 67409
Amazon product ASIN 0393017664View: https://www.amazon.com/Deadly-Business-Cummings-Interarms-Trade/dp/0393017664/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=sam+cummings&qid=1604849395&sr=8-1
This is a book review of "Deadly Business: Sam Cummings, Interarms, & the Arms Trade" from 1983. I highly recommend the book, especially for milsurp and militaria collectors. The book provides excellent context for why the imported gun market is the way it is currently and what things were like in the "glory days" of milsurps back in the mid-1950s to late-1960s. Sam Cummings and Interarms made those great times to buy possible. TL: DR, buy the book, you'll love it.
The book contains a lot of mindblowing facts, the most impressive of which is that Cummings through Interarms bought 4.5 million weapons and 800 million rounds of ammo from Europe between 1953 and 1968. This does not include Latin America, where Cummings started off, or Asia. The book drops other bombs like how many weapons (in US-built and paid-for storage bunkers) we left in Vietnam and what role SAAMI, the association of most of America's large gunmakers, played during pivotal moments in gun legislation history, such as around the time of GCA 68 (spoiler: it wasn't good).
Here's an idea of how cheap things were back then. Cummings was able to sell Carcanos at one point for $9.99 per rifle, retail. His wholesale selling price was $4.95 per rifle. In comparison, a Winchester or Remington bolt action hunting rifle, like say a Model 70 or 700, cost $100-150. Adjusted for inflation, that's $87.84 for the Carcano and $880-1320 for the commercial sporting rifles. Even in comparison to when Mosins were dirt cheap, Carcanos were even cheaper. The lowest price Cummins ever paid for rifles was $0.28 per rifle, or $2.46 these days, for Lee-Enfields from the British Ministry of Defense.
The book also describes Cummings' life story up until 1983 and his work for the CIA prior to founding Interarms. The book then compares Cummings' role as the world's biggest importer and exporter of guns to illegal arms smugglers, and Cummings dwarfed them all up until the late 1970s, when electronics and the like were being smuggled from the US into countries like Libya for use by the IRA. However, Cummings at all times stayed 100% legit and always followed the law.
This book is pretty much a must-read for anyone with an interest in how the gun industry works, especially regarding surplus and imported guns.
This is a book review of "Deadly Business: Sam Cummings, Interarms, & the Arms Trade" from 1983. I highly recommend the book, especially for milsurp and militaria collectors. The book provides excellent context for why the imported gun market is the way it is currently and what things were like in the "glory days" of milsurps back in the mid-1950s to late-1960s. Sam Cummings and Interarms made those great times to buy possible. TL: DR, buy the book, you'll love it.
The book contains a lot of mindblowing facts, the most impressive of which is that Cummings through Interarms bought 4.5 million weapons and 800 million rounds of ammo from Europe between 1953 and 1968. This does not include Latin America, where Cummings started off, or Asia. The book drops other bombs like how many weapons (in US-built and paid-for storage bunkers) we left in Vietnam and what role SAAMI, the association of most of America's large gunmakers, played during pivotal moments in gun legislation history, such as around the time of GCA 68 (spoiler: it wasn't good).
Here's an idea of how cheap things were back then. Cummings was able to sell Carcanos at one point for $9.99 per rifle, retail. His wholesale selling price was $4.95 per rifle. In comparison, a Winchester or Remington bolt action hunting rifle, like say a Model 70 or 700, cost $100-150. Adjusted for inflation, that's $87.84 for the Carcano and $880-1320 for the commercial sporting rifles. Even in comparison to when Mosins were dirt cheap, Carcanos were even cheaper. The lowest price Cummins ever paid for rifles was $0.28 per rifle, or $2.46 these days, for Lee-Enfields from the British Ministry of Defense.
The book also describes Cummings' life story up until 1983 and his work for the CIA prior to founding Interarms. The book then compares Cummings' role as the world's biggest importer and exporter of guns to illegal arms smugglers, and Cummings dwarfed them all up until the late 1970s, when electronics and the like were being smuggled from the US into countries like Libya for use by the IRA. However, Cummings at all times stayed 100% legit and always followed the law.
This book is pretty much a must-read for anyone with an interest in how the gun industry works, especially regarding surplus and imported guns.
