French MAC 1950 brought back from Vietnam by a Lieutenant Colonel

[Jimja]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m16n4Q4cQlg

The MAC 1950's are very hard to find in the US, I've only seen a handful in person. They were never imported (outside of a few that were imported in the early 1960's), most of the ones here are brought back from Vietnam

Here is an example of a complete MAC 1950 rig, that was brought back from Vietnam by a Lieutenant Colonel, with several pages of original paperwork listing it by serial number. In addition to the bringback paperwork, I also have several pages of military records of the vet. For privacy reasons, I have blurred his name, social security number, address, etc, in the following photos

This particular example is estimated to be dated 1954-55, making it a C&R

[Jimja]

[aeropro90]

PM sent

[steel30]

Very nice!

[HUTCH 7.62]

Amazing

[k1dude]

Fantastic!

[pitfighter]

A moments from the Indo-China conflict brought back under authorization of MACV Special Forces - That's about as cool as it gets - ! Period.

[aolis110]

That is a beauty. Is it safe to say that the Vietnam war was the last war military personnel were allowed to bring back firearm war trophies? When my son was deployed, he was repeatedly told "Don't even think about it, no way no how".

[Jimja]

That is a beauty. Is it safe to say that the Vietnam war was the last war military personnel were allowed to bring back firearm war trophies? When my son was deployed, he was repeatedly told "Don't even think about it, no way no how".

It wasn't the last. There are documented (and undocumented) firearm bringbacks from the invasion of Grenada (Operation Urgent Fury), these are mostly Czechoslovakian VZ 52 rifles and Mosin Nagants from what I've seen. Take a look here:

https://wwiiafterwwii.wordpress.com/2015/10/18/urgent-fury-1983-wwii-weapons-encountered/

There are also bringbacks from the invasion of Panama (Operation Just Cause), but they were not papered, brought back "unofficially"

Lastly, there are quite a few firearms brought back from Afghanistan. The only stipulation is that they have to be legally anitques, made in 1898 or earlier. The vast majority of those came with paperwork issued at the Bagram Air Base. This "antique" status wasn't enforced very well, Afghan vendors often would scrub dates on rifles and restamp new ones. I know one soldier that brought back (well, mailed them home, with official paperwork) at least 25+ rifles through Bagram

I've seen papered "antique" guns come out of Afghanistan that were, for example, an 1873 dated Mosin Nagant (made in the 1920's), an 1898 dated WWI era Enfield, etc

Plenty of guns also came back unofficially from Iraq and Afghanistan, like the non-import SVD snipers and Tariq pistols that pop up on gunbroker every once in a while

[Enfield47]

What a great find just for the pistol, but to have the bring back paperwork too is pretty awesome!

[Buddy]

American Rifleman magazine ..... dated June 1961

[Saigon1965]

Superb rig P!

I have one brought back by a Colonel - He told me at the end of one of his tour they took him to a warehouse full of captured arms and said to pick out a rifle and a pistol! LOL!

He picked a 1950 instead of a Tokarev because he can shoot the 9mm -

By the way - I've been looking for a 1950 that was part of a 3 gun bring back on same docs - I know needle in a haystack -

@Buddy - That small batch of import was stamped France on right side frame above trigger guard -

[DrewN]

I have 2, one is my dad's Viet Nam bring back, one I picked up in Algeria in the early 80's. I'd happily grab another if I found one.

[Cato]

Super cool!

It’s a shame today’s military doesn’t permit war trophies anymore.