Questions for the Iraqi & Afghanistan Vets....

[SEIndSAM]

Like many of you, I cruise a number of firearm related forums. I found a great thread on the S&W Forum that discussed the different weapons found when fighting the NVA & Viet Cong, along with the different weapons American forces used.
Unusal guns of Vietnam

Which lead to my questions, what unusual firearms did you see in either Iraq or Afghanistan? Along with the home-made firearms, did you see any relics from past wars?

Also, were any of the Iraqi weapons of a quality that you would have liked to used them yourselves?

 

[ScouT6a]

Bosnia was a little honey hole for weapons. I had a beautiful MG-42 the whole time I was over there. I saw Thompson SMG's, British Sten guns and a case full of unused Colts that were stamped AR-15, that had full auto selector switches.
The bazaars had lots of cool stuff in eastern Afghanistan. Martini - Henry rifles, percussion Enfields, Snyder - Enfield conversions, Jezails, SMLE's.

 

[Hkfiend]

Spent 3 1/2 years total in Iraq. My first deployment was the best as far as confiscating crazy stuff. Some stuff we let the people keep out of what it was. One guy had a German Luger, he kept in a felt lined box. We let him keep it because it was in almost excellent shape. Had a lot of Sterling sub machine guns. And of course a few nickel and gold AKs. My idiot squad leader reported finding a sniper rifle one night and when my team linked up with him, it was just a sks

 

[rooster]

Found some kind of Russian 25 cal pistol of unkno mufacture.it was basicly a pocket gun which is why I thought it was weird

 

[Taurahe]

The first time I deployed, it was six months into the war. We confiscated a lot of neat guns spanning the entire range ..... some of the more memorasble were pretty awesome.... a PPSH-41, a sterling, various bolt action rifles from all wars... a 1903, a turkish mauser... a Nazi marked K98... handguns were even cooler.... vintage 1911's, various revolvers in oddball european calibers.... we even had a webley !!! A lot of the guns we encountered were archaic by modern standards, but were still being used by the local farmers. Most of the guns we collected were brought to us. The local Iraqis did not want to be confused with the enemy combatants so they turned in the guns they owned.... wish i could have brought some of them home with me..... We did play with one at the range..... it was an AK with the stock cut off leaving the pistol grip, and the barrel chopped down to something like 6 inches, with no handguard. It had thick leather wrapped around the barrel instead. Incredibly inaccurate, but it was a hoot to shoot.

 

[Compatriot G]

Found some kind of Russian 25 cal pistol of unkno mufacture.it was basicly a pocket gun which is why I thought it was weird

Did the pistol look something like this:

Modern Firearms - PSM