Century International Arms is an importer and manufacturer of

firearms A firearm is any type of gun that uses an explosive charge and is designed to be readily carried and operated by an individual. The term is legally defined further in different countries (see legal definitions). The first firearms originated ...

based in the United States. The company was founded in 1961 in St. Albans, Vermont, with offices in Montreal. In 1995, the company headquarters and sales staff moved to

Boca Raton, Florida Boca Raton ( ; ) is a city in Palm Beach County, Florida, United States. The population was 97,422 in the 2020 United States census, 2020 census and it ranked as the 23rd-largest city in Florida in 2022. Many people with a Boca Raton Address, ...

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, 2020 United States Census. Located in the Miami metropolitan area, De ...

in 2004.

History

The company was started after William Sucher, a

typewriter A typewriter is a Machine, mechanical or electromechanical machine for typing characters. Typically, a typewriter has an array of Button (control), keys, and each one causes a different single character to be produced on paper by striking an i ...

repairman, took a

Lee–Enfield The Lee–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 standard service rifle of th ...

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 Military surplus is goods, usually materiel, that are sold or otherwise disposed of when held in excess or are no longer needed by the military. Entrepreneurs often buy these goods and resell them at surplus stores. Usually the goods sold by th ...

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 (SLR), also known by the initial Canadian designation C1, or in the U.S. as the "inch pattern" FAL, is a British version of the Belgian FN FAL battle rifle. The L1A1 was produced under licence and adopted by the arme ...

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

and

sporterized Sporterising, sporterisation or sporterization is the practice of modifying military-type firearms, either to make them more suitable for civilian hunting or shooting sport, sporting use, or to make them legal under gun law. Modifying for sporting ...

Mauser Mauser, originally the Königlich Württembergische Gewehrfabrik, was a German arms manufacturer. Their line of bolt-action rifles and semi-automatic pistols was produced beginning in the 1870s for the German armed forces. In the late 19th and ...

s among others. The company also imports Turkish-made

Canik Canik is a municipality and district of Samsun Province, Turkey. Its area is 264 km2, and its population is 100,641 (2022). It is located to the east of the city center of Samsun. Canik means land of Tzan/Can Laz people and became one of the ...

pistols from Canik arms.

Firearms

Canik

* Mete (An updated version) ** Mete SFt ** Mete SFx ** Mete MC9 * SFx Rival * SFx Rival-S * TP9 (clone of

Walther P99 The Walther P99 () is a semi-automatic pistol developed by the German company Carl Walther GmbH Sportwaffen of Ulm for law enforcement, security forces and the civilian shooting market. History Design work on this new generation sidearm began ...

) ** TP9 SF (Striker Fired) ** TP9 SFx (Striker Fired Competition) ** TP9 SA (Single Action) ** TP9 v2 ** TP40 v2 ** TP9 SF Elite (Striker Fired Compact) ** TP9 Elite Combat (Striker Fired Compact) ** TP9 Elite Combat Executive (Striker Fired Compact, Black Instead of FDE) ** TP9 Elite SC (Sub-Compact) ** TP9 DA (Double Action) ** TP9 SFL

Draco

Draco Pistol The Draco Pistol, or more commonly known as simply a Draco, named after the Dacian dragon-like battle banner, is a series of Romanian-designed gas-operated semi-automatic pistols sold by Century International Arms. Origin Three of the four D ...

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. ...

) *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 similar bolt design. The rifle was designed in Czechoslovakia shortly ...

* vz. 50 *

WASR-series rifles Wassenaar Arrangement Semi-automatic Rifles (commonly referred to as WASR-series rifles) are a line of Romanian-designed gas-operated semi-automatic rifles sold in the United States by Century International Arms. Namesake The WASR series ta ...

* Zastava M57 *

Zastava M70 The Zastava M70 ( sr-Cyrl, Застава М70) is a 7.62×39mm assault rifle developed in the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia by Zastava Arms. The M70 was an unlicensed derivative of the Soviet Union, Soviet AK-47 (specifically the Type ...

* 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