Century International Arms is an importer and manufacturer of

firearms A firearm is any type of gun designed to be readily carried and used by an individual. The term is legally defined further in different countries (see Legal definitions). The first firearms originated in 10th-century China, when bamboo tubes ...

that is based in the United States. The company was founded in 1961 in

St. Albans, Vermont St. Albans, Vermont may refer to: * St. Albans (town), Vermont, established 1763, a town in Franklin County, Vermont, U.S. *St. Albans (city), Vermont, established 1902, a city in Franklin County, Vermont, U.S. See also * St. Albans Bay, Vermont, ...

, with offices in Montreal. In 1995, the company headquarters and sales staff moved to

Boca Raton, Florida Boca Raton ( ; es, Boca Ratón, link=no, ) is a city in Palm Beach County, Florida, United States. It was first incorporated on August 2, 1924, as "Bocaratone," and then incorporated as "Boca Raton" in 1925. The population was 97,422 in the ...

and to

Delray Beach, Florida Delray Beach is a city in Palm Beach County, Florida, United States. The population of Delray Beach as of April 1, 2020 was 66,846 according to the 2020 United States Census. Located 52 miles (83 kilometers) north of Miami, Delray Beach is in the ...

in 2004.

History

The company was started after William Sucher, a

typewriter A typewriter is a mechanical or electromechanical machine for typing characters. Typically, a typewriter has an array of keys, and each one causes a different single character to be produced on paper by striking an inked ribbon selectivel ...

repairman, took a

Lee–Enfield The Lee–Enfield or Enfield is a bolt-action, magazine-fed repeating rifle that served as the main firearm of the military forces of the British Empire and Commonwealth during the first half of the 20th century, and was the British Army's sta ...

rifle in trade against a typewriter he had repaired for a customer. Having no need for the rifle, he posted a newspaper to sell it and received more queries about the rifle than he had for typewriters. He then sought sources of surplus rifles that he could sell for a profit. With his brother-in-law, Manny Weigensberg, Sucher made contacts in foreign countries for the importation of military surplus rifles and handguns and by the 1970s, Century became the single largest importer of firearms in the United States and Canada. When sources of importable surplus firearms have become scarce, Century has manufactured their own firearms. The company has manufactured versions of the G3,

L1A1 The L1A1 Self-Loading Rifle, officially "Rifle, 7.62mm, L1A1", also known just as the SLR (Self-Loading Rifle), by the Canadian Army designation C1A1 (C1) or in the US as the "inch pattern" FAL,Especially on the American surplus market. is a Br ...

AK-47 The AK-47, officially known as the ''Avtomat Kalashnikova'' (; also known as the Kalashnikov or just AK), is a gas-operated assault rifle that is chambered for the 7.62×39mm cartridge. Developed in the Soviet Union by Russian small-arms d ...

and sporterized

Mauser Mauser, originally Königlich Württembergische Gewehrfabrik ("Royal Württemberg Rifle Factory"), was a German arms manufacturer. Their line of bolt-action rifles and semi-automatic pistols has been produced since the 1870s for the German arm ...

s among others. The company also imports Turkish-made Canik pistols.

Firearms

Canik

* Mete SFt * Mete SFx * SFx Rival * TP9 (clone of Walther P99) ** TP9 SF ** TP9 SFx ** TP9 SA ** TP9 v2 ** TP40 v2 ** TP9 SF Elite ** TP9 Elite Combat ** TP9 Elite Combat Executive ** TP9 Elite SC ** TP9 DA ** TP9 SFL

Others

*C308 (a clone of the

CETME rifle The CETME Model 58 is a stamped-steel, select-fire battle rifle produced by the Spanish armaments manufacturer Centro de Estudios Técnicos de Materiales Especiales (CETME). The Model 58 used a 20-round box magazine and was chambered for the 7.62 ...

) *C39/C39V2 (clones of the

) *

*RAS47 (clone of the AKM) * SKS rifle * SSG 82 *

vz. 24 The vz. 24 rifle is a bolt-action carbine designed and produced in Czechoslovakia from 1924 to 1942. It was developed from the German Mauser Gewehr 98 line, and features a very similar bolt design. The rifle was designed in Czechoslovakia sho ...

vz. 50 The Vz. 50 (also known as the CZ 50) is a Czechoslovakian made double-action, semi-automatic pistol. Vz is an abbreviation of the Czech (as well as Slovak) term "vzor" meaning model. History Design After the Second World War, Czechoslovakia's M ...

WASR-series rifles Wassenaar Arrangement Semi-automatic Rifles (commonly referred to as WASR-series rifles) are a line of rifles sold in the United States by Century International Arms. The rifles are manufactured in Romania by the Cugir Arms Factory and are a semi ...

* Zastava M57 * VSKA(clone of the AKM) * BFT-47(AKM clone with RPK-style front trunnion)

Ammunition

In addition to importing bulk surplus ammunition, Century is the US importer and distributor for

Red Army Standard Ammunition Red Army Standard Ammunition is a trademark associated with Century International Arms (CIA), an arms and ammunition corporation in Delray Beach, Florida, United States. The official spelling of the brand's name is faux Cyrillic, written as RЭD � ...

References

{{reflist Firearm importation companies of the United States Firearm manufacturers of the United States