- [Alex] Hey guys, it's Alex C with TFB TV.
The topic of today's top five is
going to be the top five banned guns.
These are all firearms that are banned
from import into the USA under the
1989 George Bush executive order.
Basically, in 1968, the Gun Control Act
established that non-sporting firearms
were not suitable for import and the
very strange executive order made it
so that if an AR-15 was made here
in the USA, it's legal for sale.
But when made in, say, Denmark,
it is illegal because, reasons?
Maybe foreign guns are just scary to politicians,
or maybe the reduction in competition
was just a convenient boost for
domestic manufacturers, but I digress.
Anyways, let's get on with it.
We're gonna start with the FN FNC,
which is one of my favorite rifles of all time.
The FNC was imported by HOWCO, Steyr,
and Gun South, and about 6 or 7000 were brought in.
It is the standard service rifle of Belgium.
Sweden has the AK-5, and Indonesia as well.
A good amount of them have been
legally converted to select fire by
either a Registered Receiver Conversion,
as done my companies like Fleming,
or with the addition of a legally
registered auto sear, like this example.
The FNC has some great features
including a gas setting for adverse conditions
that simply slides over a hole
and allows less gas to escape.
The folding stock is very rigid,
and when folded, allows for a very nice
and compact package that is great for vehicle crewmen.
The rear sight is flip-adjustable for
250 and 400 meters, and the front sight
is a simple post that is adjustable for elevation.
The selector is nice and intuitive,
and goes from safe, to semi, to three-round burst,
to auto, but this is of course only for select fire models.
A bolt hold open is present, but
it must be manually operated by
pulling the bolt back and pulling the charging handle out.
Like an AR-15, the FNC's upper and lower
are held together by two takedown pins,
and it hinges right open for cleaning.
Many people have likened the FNC
to the AK, and it's easy to see why.
Seen here's the piston and carrier,
which are one piece, and the bolt
which looks suspiciously similar.
Anyways, the FNC just works.
I've shot this gun thousands of times and it doesn't jam.
It's damn accurate, controls are great,
and I really wish that FN would
bring these in like they do the SCAR.
We can all dream.
So next up, we have the HK Legacy guns.
This category includes all the
Cold War stamp pieces that everyone wants.
I say this because people aren't exactly
chomping at the bit to get a hold of their $3000 AR-15's.
They say there's nothing more dangerous
than entrenched success, and you
could use HK as a textbook example.
They were at one point making over
2000 G3 rifles a day, and in the 80's
every police department was clamoring for
MP5's and pretty much anything else that they made.
Hell, HK even got into the hunting rifle business
because people just couldn't get enough of their stuff.
Then, in 1989, the ban stopped Americans
from getting roller delayed goodness
like the HK 91, 93, and 94.
In 1989, the ATF sent letters to manufacturers
seeking their input about just
how sporting their rifles were,
and exactly one company attempted to stop this nonsense.
Thank company, H&K.
HK even posted advertisements discussing
how useful their firearms were for
various sporting purposes, and
encouraged HK owners to write the ATF
with accounts of how they had used
their products as sporting arms.
The one company to step up and say
this isn't right was the company supposedly hates us.
Maybe HK doesn't hate us after all.
Anyways, many shooters are familiar with the stamped HK's.
Many have been converted to MP5's, G3's,
53's and 33's, but the tap got shut off
and it doesn't seem like HK can recover.
After 89, guns like the SP89 and
PSG1 were legal to import, but
that all stopped in 1994 with an additional ban.
So, HK got hurt very badly twice in five years,
and people wonder why they're hesitant
to place a bid on the American marketplace today.
While I can't say I blame them,
you look at companies like PTR, POF, and Zenith,
and you see that the demand is there.
Damn you, 1989 ban.
So next up is the Beretta AR70,
the service rifle of the Italian military.
The AR70 was briefly imported into
the USA but I've heard all kinds
of rumors regarding its importation,
including one that Beretta was hesitant to ship them here.
I suppose some proof I have would be
that the box says "Congratulations on
"the purchase of your new Beretta shotgun,"
and lists the gauge as 223.
It isn't unusual to see something like that,
I suppose, but you usually see caliber/gauge.
Anyways, the Beretta AR70 is essentially an Italian SIG 550.
Stamped, relatively simple long-stroke
piston, and a rotating bolt.
Some neat features are present though,
including an AR-15-like spring-loaded dust cover,
easy to remove mags that rock in like an AK,
rear-mounted flip sights,
a fixed front sight post
and a flash hider/barrel shroud combo
that unscrews for grenade launching.
The trigger mechanism is very FAL-like
with an offset spring.
Now, my one beef would be that
to get the rifle from safe to fire,
you push the selector upwards, and
this is contrary to just about every other gun I have.
The receiver hinges open for cleaning
like an AR-15 as well, and this
is quite nice, all things considered.
It's a shame that this piece is unimportable,
but the biggest shame is that it's being
replaced by Fish Gun, I mean, the new ARX.
Next up is, well, I'll just say it.
The best AK-pattern rifles that
have ever been imported into the
USA, The Finnish Valmet rifles.
The Finns have a history of taking
Russian small arms and really making them
their own with various improvements, and
when they got a hold of AK's, they kept this tradition.
Valmets came into the US in many configurations
and calibers, stamped, milled,
5.56, 7.62 by 39, and even 308.
The common variants here in the US
are the RK 62-derived guns, and
this is essentially an RK 62 76 with a wooden stock.
Unfortunately, I do not have the sling,
which is actually made from reindeer hide.
I'm not kidding.
Anybody familiar with the AK platform
would really admire the Valmet rifles.
Controls are similar with the hybrid safety dust cover,
rock-in mags, and familiar charging handle.
Not satisfied with a sight mounted
on the barrel a la the Nineteenth Century?
The Finns rear aperture sighted the Valmets
and made it so the ladder flips forward for night sights.
The front sight is hooded, but
also had a flip-up night sight.
This assembly is similar to any other AK,
but you notice that the piston has
a series of extensions to allow for
less slop and a smoother shooting experience.
Also, if you're like me, and you hate
fumbling with the gas tube lever on AK's,
the Valmets have a small tube that
comes out of a dovetailed section from the rear.
The Valmet is still hefty, though.
Coming in at 3.6 kilos...
and about eight freedoms.
I wish these guns were still being
brought in for reasonable prices.
There are plenty of AK's out there
today that are truly amazing, but think,
if it weren't for the 89 ban, we could have
Finnish guns like these and RK 95's.
So lastly, we have the Daewoos.
These were cheap when they were for sale in the USA,
and people really didn't pay that much attention to them.
This model is the K1A1, the civilian
version of the Korean military's K1.
The Daewoo K1A1 could accurately be called Korea's AR-15.
Liberal uses of aluminum, Stoner-style
psuedo-direct impingement, and
controls that are almost identical.
They shoot very well and are comfortable to carry,
and I figure if they're good enough
to point at the minions of a certain
peninsula-based dictator, they're probably good enough
for anything I'm going to do with them.
The Daewoo K1A1's feature, a magazine
release access by your pointer,
a right side charging handle,
a thumb-actuated safety,
and a familiar ping pong paddle bolt release.
The collapsible stock has three positions,
but I'm not too crazy about it.
It isn't flimsy, but the metal tines heat up like crazy,
and your cheek will not thank you for that.
The rear sight is almost identical to an M16A1's
and the front sight post is similar as well.
The rear sight is also flip adjustable.
The receiver pivots open like an AR-18,
and you can remove the recoil springs,
guide rods, and bolt group.
Humorously, the bolt group looks like
an M16's carrier's tail snapped off.
All in all, the Daewoos are accurate,
light, simple, and fun, and it's a shame
that we can't get any more of them.
So the 1989 ban on foreign quote,
non-sporting, end quote firearms
is one of the strangest and most confusing
pieces of gun legislation on the books.
The strangest part is that if any of the firearms
on this list were made here, they would be legal.
What the feds deem as non-sporting
can be something as simple as magazine
configuration, or even the rear sight setup.
And to me, that's some arbitrary nonsense.
Anyways, thanks for watching our new video.
We hope that, if anything, it showed you
either a gun you maybe had not seen before,
or got you writing a letter to someone
trying to change our bizarre process
for deeming what is okay and what isn't.
Big thanks to Ventura Munitions,
our ammunition sponsor, for making our videos possible.
We hope to see you next time.
(gun cocks)
(bursts of gunfire)