This year it was announced that Steyr sold Iran (800) 50 cal. sniper rifles and the USA and British protested. I wondered how long it would take to get into the enemy's hands.
London Telegraph reports the killing of an American soldier and the capturing of many of the rifles.
Steyr rifles including Cooper's Scout should be boycotted in the USA and England.

sorry Burlington Rd, but I don't agree with you, I don't want to offend you, but one should keep the ball flat....

Boycotting Steyr for delivering weapons to the Iran is like offending Winchester to be responsable for the death of many Native Americans or boycotting any Mauser 98 system because Americans were shot with them during WW II.

Don't get me wrong..... but for me your point of view is very ignorant (friendly spoken...).

Sniper 66

The logic of your argument escapes me. I am talking about real time and interests not 70 or 130 year history.
If I were interested in buying a new quality rifle, the fact that Steyr recently sold 50 cal. sniper rifles that were likely to be used against our soldiers would exclude the Steyr Scout from consideration.

quote:

Originally posted by Burlington Rd:
Sniper 66

The logic of your argument escapes me. I am talking about real time and interests not 70 or 130 year history.
If I were interested in buying a new quality rifle, the fact that Steyr recently sold 50 cal. sniper rifles that were likely to be used against our soldiers would exclude the Steyr Scout from consideration.

Burlingtont Rd,

you can be sure, that the Steyr rifles were not sold with the intention, that Aerican soldiers will be the victims. They were sold like every other weapon that is sold.
A weapon or the company that sells it is not evil per se, hm? All depends on the spirit, in which it is used. To come to a point, I accept your point of view, but i might add, that I miss fairness......

Ignorant point of view? Comparing Mausers to Steyr? Your argument is way off base. First of all we fought a war with Germany, why wouldn't they supply their country with their own weapons? Austria is not a member of NATO, but is supposed to be an ally. Several European countriesand the US objected to the sale of these sniper rifles. It was pointed out to Austria that Iran was supplying jihadi's across the middle east.
Low and behold we are finding them in Iraq, who would have ever guessed that. Yes, this does piss me off, because it is just one more thing I get to think about before I do another tour over there.
Sorry if my ignorance offends you Sniper

quote:

Originally posted by munchie:
Ignorant point of view? Comparing Mausers to Steyr? Your argument is way off base. First of all we fought a war with Germany, why wouldn't they supply their country with their own weapons? Austria is not a member of NATO, but is supposed to be an ally. Several European countriesand the US objected to the sale of these sniper rifles. It was pointed out to Austria that Iran was supplying jihadi's across the middle east.
Low and behold we are finding them in Iraq, who would have ever guessed that. Yes, this does piss me off, because it is just one more thing I get to think about before I do another tour over there.
Sorry if my ignorance offends you Sniper

munchie,

I don't feel offended at all, it is your point of view and that's okay for me.
Noone says that we have to be of the same opinion. I just wanted to point out that every medal has two sides and can be seen from both sides. Upon that, I am not quite sure, that you got my point, but that does not matter at all.... have fun and stay cool....

Why the hell do the European countries supply all those small arms to America? So we can shoot each other?
Business is business. It's like not being able to pump gas at certain gas stations. I agree with sniper66.

OK I'm in. I will not buy a Steyr rifle

That was hard

Terry

I believe that the sale took place a couple of years ago, under the idea that the rifles were to be used for Iran's police.

Keep in mind that Iran also manufactures G3 rifles as well as machineguns, under license from HK. They also issue some form of Sig 9mm pistol.

I believe they also have an extensive inventory of M16 rifles, purchased from the US prior to 1979.

I believe in voting with your wallet, but if want to boycott companies for political reasons, you will be boycotting more than one.

It is also my understanding that nothing from Steyr has been imported to the US lately, pending their most recent sale of the corporation.

No Steyrs for me either if this is the case.

I am however currently sporterizing a really cool 1903 Greek Breda Mannlicher.

I'm gonna throw my persian rug out!

Hey, "Guns don't kill people, people kill people" isn't that the slogan? How come it doesn't work over there?
Peter.

sniper66,

Ignorance is defined as a lack of education or knowledge, unacquainted (with) or unaware (of).
Stupid, on the other hand, is defined as a lack of ability to grasp the situation, and generally very low intelligence.
There is a very thin line between the two, and you appear to be straddling it here. No offense.

Anyone capable or turning a television set on and setting the channel to CNN knows that the Iranians are committed to the destruction of Israel and the West. Can you get a clue as to why they are working on nuclear weapon capability? So in an estimated 340 years when they run out of the large deposit of oil they are sitting on they can build power plants? Anybody at Steyr, or posting on this web, with the IQ of the average house plant knows that the Iranian police department didn't get those rifles for crowd control. 50 BMG rifles, in the hands of a government are used for just one thing...killing people at extended ranges.
The fact that Coalition Forces have captured a number of them in Iraq should be enough for even an eighth grader to figure out why they were bought. Steyr had the decision strongly protested by the US and NATO allies before it went down. You must be the only person on the planet that didn't figure out the impact of the deal.

Snipers are persons trained to engage human targets at extended ranges. These days they aren't armed with paintball guns.

Wake up and smell the coffee!

Rich
DRSS

It's everyone's right and instinct to defend themselves. If they wouldn't have arms there would be no war, just hunt. I see some of us just want to men hunt.I don't think is fair. Besides what's wrong with appreciating quality.

Too bad game can't defend themselves. Would be less "esztelen"hunters among us.

almost forgot: I wrote my congressmen to suggest that we disallow importation of any firearms from Steyr because of this. One of my senators wrote back and said he would read this information into the congressional record, and see what can be done.
So did my representative.

Support a Steyr-free America.

Rich
DRSS

Ge, you guys have the power, just sunday Mark Franklin said Styer had gone bankrupt,, Jessie Jackson could not have done better.. REALLY, REALLY good job.

I think, but I could be wrong, that in the grand scheme of things, we ought to be more worried about Shiites with nukes than the fact that their military or police may have got their hands on a few Austrian .50 caliber rifles.

Gentleman,

it was not my intention to offend or to blame anyone. All I did was to bring up my point of view in this thread.
Things can always be seen from more than one point of view. And that is okay, hm?

Idaho, I know what a sniper is, believe me.... and concerning Steyr.... they're not bancrupt at all, in contrary.... they got a new owner. And they are not only producing sniper rifles as I'm sure you know. ...
Concerning the sniper rifles,...... did you know, that the sniper rifles found in Irak were not made bye Steyr?? They are copies of the Steyr sniper rifles due to the fact, that the patents on that rifles are not valid anymore since a certain time.
I have a good buddy at Steyr and I called him and he told me, that this is true. He also told me that in such cases the authorities usually turn to them to clarify serial numbers of the rifles to identify which way a rifle went and until now noone turned to them.

Okay, enough for me,... I'm out!

Have fun

quote:

Originally posted by Burlington Rd:

you can be sure, that the Steyr rifles were not sold with the intention, that Aerican soldiers will be the victims. They were sold like every other weapon that is sold.
A weapon or the company that sells it is not evil per se, hm? All depends on the spirit, in which it is used. To come to a point, I accept your point of view, but i might add, that I miss fairness......

I agree with you BUT, let's be honest: Why else would a country purchase 800 .50 caliber sniper rifles for? White-tailed deer hunting?

That said, I don't support a boycott of steyr rifles.

Steyr is a privatly owned company without connections to or contracts with the US government. They filed all the applicable paperwork and sold the rifles to Iran via a LEGAL international transaction.
Belive it or not the United States does NOT run the world and has no say in who sells what as long as it follows international rules with regards to arms transfers.
Steyr didnt smuggle them in.

Yeah, stop buying and importing chinese stuff. There's chinese made AK's all over the world, used against us soldiers. Let's see what happens?
It seems like fellas around here are shooting at unconfirmed targets. What do we know for sure about this whole story?
Whatever the first post said.

Just bark at the moon.

Steyr sold the rifles to the Iran national police force under the guise of drug eradication along the border.

This from an article earlier this week: How could the good guys find 100+ of the 800 rifles?
While the purchase of (800) HS 50 rifles may have been legal, Steyr must have suspected that they would find there way into Iraq. Therefore I would not buy a Steyr Scout rifle.

Daily Telegraph of London is reporting:


Austrian sniper rifles that were exported to Iran have been discovered in
the hands of Iraqi terrorists...

Austrian sniper rifles that were exported to Iran have been discovered in
the hands of Iraqi terrorists, The Daily Telegraph has learned.

More than 100 of the.50 calibre weapons, capable of penetrating body armour,
have been discovered by American troops during raids.

The Steyr HS50 is a long range, high precision rifle
The guns were part of a shipment of 800 rifles that the Austrian company,
Steyr-Mannlicher, exported legally to Iran last year.

The sale was condemned in Washington and London because officials were worried that the weapons
would be used by insurgents against British and American troops.

Within 45 days of the first HS50 Steyr Mannlicher rifles arriving in Iran,
an American officer in an armoured vehicle was shot dead by an Iraqi insurgent
using the weapon.

Without getting too far into this politcal debate, if one is going to boycott the arms industry of any country for supplying weapons to people who have used them to kill other humans, the two countries most deserving of boycott are the United States and Russia. They provide the overwhelmingly great majority of arms floating about in the hands of terrorists/freedom fighters (whichever they are) throughout the world.


Besides which, a story in the Daily Telegraph is hardly a reliable source of accurate information when it comes to guns, their sources, their intended original use, or their current use. It is after all written by a newspaper reporter, and it is any reporter's intent to write in such a manner as to catch the eye of the reader, excite or infuriate them, and thereby attract readership.

quote:

Originally posted by Alberta Canuck:
Without getting too far into this politcal debate, if one is going to boycott the arms industry of any country for supplying weapons to people who have used them to kill other humans, the two countries most deserving of boycott are the United States and Russia. They provide the overwhelmingly great majority of arms floating about in the hands of terrorists/freedom fighters (whichever they are) throughout the world.


Besides which, a story in the Daily Telegraph is hardly a reliable source of accurate information when it comes to guns, their sources, their intended original use, or their current use. It is after all written by a newspaper reporter, and it is any reporter's intent to write in such a manner as to catch the eye of the reader, excite or infuriate them, and thereby attract readership.

No kidding, I can imagine the 100+ 50 BMG's were lying next to the Iraqi nuclear missiles.
To me sounds like "buy Barrett, buy Armalite!!!
Buy those, cause Steyr is definetly not for you.

Is the 50 BMG Steyr a muzzle loader by the way?

how many US troops have been killed by .50 cal rounds?
How many by IED's?
non-issue.

It's a non issue unless your son or daughter is killed by one.

My question is when was the sale made. It would not have been as obvious three years ago that Iran was involved in arming terrorists as it is now.

Found another more complete source for this story today.

www.strategypage.com

"How Austria supports terrorists"

USA put sanctions on Steyr for military purchases.

If you really believe that Austria supports terrorism, you have a problem up there!
In the way the article explains, to me US supported terrorism since early ages.

perhaps we should find out who is making the 50 caliber ammo that is being shot in the steyrs and boycott them to.
what if they have federal components?
what if they are using an IMR powder?
you still gonna tow the line then?

Maybe they use Leupold or Nighthawk scopes.