postban
09-22-2009, 07:09 AM
Sharing this because I know most gunly folks are also history buffs to a degree.
Long read but if you like AK47s it might be worth it to you. :surprise:
I was recently researching one of my rifles. It is a GSAD AK47S in 7.62x39, very early import, circa 1984 to Golden State Arms Dist. Inc of Manhattan Beach, CA.
This was one of the first import points of AKs into the US. I wanted to know how many were brought in, where were they sold, did they import other brands (rumor), any official info at all.
If you search GSAD and variations of the full name you get spotty results. I tried a couple different ways and did not find anything really definite. Here is one;
http://www.m1carbinesinc.com/carbine_santafe.html
Golden State Arms Distributors, Inc. (GSAD)
Golden State Arms Distributors, Inc. (GSAD) was incorporated in California in July 1984. This business was another surplus arms importer, with a retail store located at 1097 Aviation Blvd. in Hermosa Beach, CA (N/W corner of Prospect at Aviation). They utilized a warehouse at 630 Mary Ann Drive in Redondo Beach, CA. The importer marking on a number of their surplus imports indicated GSAD MANH. BEA., CA, presumably for Manhattan Beach, CA.
This company and it's owner were not affiliated with Golden State Arms of Pasadena, CA or any of their affiliated company names.
[NOTE: all the info at that link is correct]
And this
http://www.chicom47.net/Importers/ImportCompanies.htm
G.S.A.D: Golden State Arms Distribution located in California. They had many locations including Redondo Beach, Manhattan Beach, Pasadena, and Santa Fe, CA. These guns are the most mysterious as they arrived in America about the same time as the Clayco guns, except they had less manufacturing markings. They simply state 7.62x39mm “Made in China” GSAD, in a usually faint roll stamping, that’s it…no factory codes and no exporter markings. Many argue these got here before the Claycos, thus the reason for the additional markings on the Claycos. The majority of these rifles were bought up by companies in Hollywood to be used in the production of movies and have come to be referred to as “movie guns.” In the late 1980s, production of movies showcasing the Vietnam War had tapered off and the movie guns were sold by the hundreds by the movie houses to distributors nationwide. GSAD however, had been in the firearms importation business for many years prior. Their claim to fame was being an importer of Enfield type rifles. They also imported weapons under the name Globco as early as 1957. GSAD is also to have been rumored as the source of firearms for the Bay of Pigs invasion, as well a clandestine asset of the Central Intelligence Agency. GSAD is known to have imported rifles in the 053xx range, as well as atleast serial #'s 0787x through 09xxx, in both fixed stock and underfolding configurations. "Double-underfold" models with folding spike bayonets and underfolding stocks have also been reported. GSAD imports are usually marked over the trigger guard on the left side of the receiver:
[NOTE, numerous errors later proven to be wrong, I sent the site owner all this info so he will correct it soon, he is a mod on http://www.theakforum.net ]
[GSA and GSAD never related, neither was CLAYCO. GSAD was early, same time as Norinco but before Polytech and CLAYCO, maybe Steyr-Maadi and Sile, B-West. Some Valmets may predate the chicoms still, assume late 70's, might search that next. Sold my M76 a while ago so not on the front burner]
Kept searching, found some more. One of them found this guy "erik from gsad" on gunsamerica.com (http://www.gunsamerica.com/902997545/Guns/Rifles/AK-47-Rifles/Full-Stock/GSAD_JING_AN_AK47_SN_0003.htm). He was selling the last GSAD rifle, serial # 0003.
I imported thousands of these in the 1980's through my company, GSAD Inc. of Manhattan Beach, Ca. I kept this gun, serial number 0003 for my personal collection. Due to California law, it will ship from Oregon (where it is stored). The gun is as new, but has been fired. These are top quality AK's with and are considered among the best pre-ban Chinese AK-47 rifles.
The serious AK collector will never be able to surpass this as the center piece of an AK collection.
Bingo! I had a first name and the name of a corporation. Searched CA corporations for the company and Erik and found this;
http://kepler.ss.ca.gov/corpdata/ShowAllList?QueryCorpNumber=C1253492
GOLDEN STATE ARMS DISTRIBUTORS, INC. Number: C1253492 Date Filed: 7/27/1984 Status: suspended Jurisdiction: California Address * 1097 AVIATION BLVD.HERMOSA BEACH, CA 90254 Agent for Service of Process ERIK J. BERRY 630 MARY ANN DRIVE REDONDO BEACH, CA 90278
Full name and address but it turned out to be old. Searched the area for the full name and found this;
http://activerain.com/bchguyx
I sent that guy an email on the chance it was "Erik from GSAD", it was.
Got this info back from him;
Hi Dave
In 1984 I formed GSAD (Golden State Arms Distributors, Inc) We ripped off the name from the original Golden State Arms the was in business in Pasadena, Ca. in the 50's and 60's.
Our address in Manhattan Beach was 205 South Kuhn Street, which was the back door of my retail outlet, Beach Cities Armoury. I was a distributor of all the major firearms manufacturers. I imported surplus military guns and also newly manufactured AK rifles from China. We brought in one 40' container per month, each container held 3900 rifles. I was also an importer and seller of machine guns for law enforcement agencies. We exported guns as well. I had several retail stores, South Bay Armoury in Carson, California, Cerritos Armoury in Artesia California, and Fremont Discount Guns in Fremont, Ca.
The AK rifles we imported were made by "Jing-An". Jing-An was the manufacturing arm of the Chinese Police/secret police agencies, as opposed to Norinco who was affiliated with the army. As I recall, in the begining, we imported the Norinco product as well. There was only myself in LA, Ed Faust at Pacific International in Sacramento (Inter-American Import-Export and Armex were his other names)and someone in New York (Jovino?) importing those guns in the begining.
I have some of my old files of import licenses, advertising and mailing materials, etc. I would be delighted to scan some of that and share it with you if you'd like.
Feel free to ask any question you like and if my memory has an answer I'll share it with you happily.
Warm regards,
He later also sent this, my questions in grey, his reply in red;
Hi Erik,
Thanks for the quick reply and information. Wow, 3900 per month! Not sure how many months in a row we did that, or maybe it was bi-monthly. There were a ton of those things sold, most (96%? are probably never re sold) They are so rare to find on the market today.
Now was that 3900 GSAD GSAD only marked guns or did it include other importer/reseller marks like Clayco or Sile?
Any pics of containers or stacks of guns or the stores would be very much appreciated by myself and other AK fans.
Old Sale papers or ads, manuals also.
Did you bring in spare parts or only whole guns? Guns only
Can you determine import date or who the guns were sold to retail by tracking the serial number?Sent all records to BATF archives in 1992
So from all that I can reasonably assume the rifle I have #34xx was in the first container they brought in, 1984. No way to know how it got to Michigan in 2001 for me to buy.
CLAYCO top (also made at Jing An)
GSAD bottom
http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f49/postban/GSAD/100_3948.jpg
Long read but if you like AK47s it might be worth it to you. :surprise:
I was recently researching one of my rifles. It is a GSAD AK47S in 7.62x39, very early import, circa 1984 to Golden State Arms Dist. Inc of Manhattan Beach, CA.
This was one of the first import points of AKs into the US. I wanted to know how many were brought in, where were they sold, did they import other brands (rumor), any official info at all.
If you search GSAD and variations of the full name you get spotty results. I tried a couple different ways and did not find anything really definite. Here is one;
http://www.m1carbinesinc.com/carbine_santafe.html
Golden State Arms Distributors, Inc. (GSAD)
Golden State Arms Distributors, Inc. (GSAD) was incorporated in California in July 1984. This business was another surplus arms importer, with a retail store located at 1097 Aviation Blvd. in Hermosa Beach, CA (N/W corner of Prospect at Aviation). They utilized a warehouse at 630 Mary Ann Drive in Redondo Beach, CA. The importer marking on a number of their surplus imports indicated GSAD MANH. BEA., CA, presumably for Manhattan Beach, CA.
This company and it's owner were not affiliated with Golden State Arms of Pasadena, CA or any of their affiliated company names.
[NOTE: all the info at that link is correct]
And this
http://www.chicom47.net/Importers/ImportCompanies.htm
G.S.A.D: Golden State Arms Distribution located in California. They had many locations including Redondo Beach, Manhattan Beach, Pasadena, and Santa Fe, CA. These guns are the most mysterious as they arrived in America about the same time as the Clayco guns, except they had less manufacturing markings. They simply state 7.62x39mm “Made in China” GSAD, in a usually faint roll stamping, that’s it…no factory codes and no exporter markings. Many argue these got here before the Claycos, thus the reason for the additional markings on the Claycos. The majority of these rifles were bought up by companies in Hollywood to be used in the production of movies and have come to be referred to as “movie guns.” In the late 1980s, production of movies showcasing the Vietnam War had tapered off and the movie guns were sold by the hundreds by the movie houses to distributors nationwide. GSAD however, had been in the firearms importation business for many years prior. Their claim to fame was being an importer of Enfield type rifles. They also imported weapons under the name Globco as early as 1957. GSAD is also to have been rumored as the source of firearms for the Bay of Pigs invasion, as well a clandestine asset of the Central Intelligence Agency. GSAD is known to have imported rifles in the 053xx range, as well as atleast serial #'s 0787x through 09xxx, in both fixed stock and underfolding configurations. "Double-underfold" models with folding spike bayonets and underfolding stocks have also been reported. GSAD imports are usually marked over the trigger guard on the left side of the receiver:
[NOTE, numerous errors later proven to be wrong, I sent the site owner all this info so he will correct it soon, he is a mod on http://www.theakforum.net ]
[GSA and GSAD never related, neither was CLAYCO. GSAD was early, same time as Norinco but before Polytech and CLAYCO, maybe Steyr-Maadi and Sile, B-West. Some Valmets may predate the chicoms still, assume late 70's, might search that next. Sold my M76 a while ago so not on the front burner]
Kept searching, found some more. One of them found this guy "erik from gsad" on gunsamerica.com (http://www.gunsamerica.com/902997545/Guns/Rifles/AK-47-Rifles/Full-Stock/GSAD_JING_AN_AK47_SN_0003.htm). He was selling the last GSAD rifle, serial # 0003.
I imported thousands of these in the 1980's through my company, GSAD Inc. of Manhattan Beach, Ca. I kept this gun, serial number 0003 for my personal collection. Due to California law, it will ship from Oregon (where it is stored). The gun is as new, but has been fired. These are top quality AK's with and are considered among the best pre-ban Chinese AK-47 rifles.
The serious AK collector will never be able to surpass this as the center piece of an AK collection.
Bingo! I had a first name and the name of a corporation. Searched CA corporations for the company and Erik and found this;
http://kepler.ss.ca.gov/corpdata/ShowAllList?QueryCorpNumber=C1253492
GOLDEN STATE ARMS DISTRIBUTORS, INC. Number: C1253492 Date Filed: 7/27/1984 Status: suspended Jurisdiction: California Address * 1097 AVIATION BLVD.HERMOSA BEACH, CA 90254 Agent for Service of Process ERIK J. BERRY 630 MARY ANN DRIVE REDONDO BEACH, CA 90278
Full name and address but it turned out to be old. Searched the area for the full name and found this;
http://activerain.com/bchguyx
I sent that guy an email on the chance it was "Erik from GSAD", it was.
Got this info back from him;
Hi Dave
In 1984 I formed GSAD (Golden State Arms Distributors, Inc) We ripped off the name from the original Golden State Arms the was in business in Pasadena, Ca. in the 50's and 60's.
Our address in Manhattan Beach was 205 South Kuhn Street, which was the back door of my retail outlet, Beach Cities Armoury. I was a distributor of all the major firearms manufacturers. I imported surplus military guns and also newly manufactured AK rifles from China. We brought in one 40' container per month, each container held 3900 rifles. I was also an importer and seller of machine guns for law enforcement agencies. We exported guns as well. I had several retail stores, South Bay Armoury in Carson, California, Cerritos Armoury in Artesia California, and Fremont Discount Guns in Fremont, Ca.
The AK rifles we imported were made by "Jing-An". Jing-An was the manufacturing arm of the Chinese Police/secret police agencies, as opposed to Norinco who was affiliated with the army. As I recall, in the begining, we imported the Norinco product as well. There was only myself in LA, Ed Faust at Pacific International in Sacramento (Inter-American Import-Export and Armex were his other names)and someone in New York (Jovino?) importing those guns in the begining.
I have some of my old files of import licenses, advertising and mailing materials, etc. I would be delighted to scan some of that and share it with you if you'd like.
Feel free to ask any question you like and if my memory has an answer I'll share it with you happily.
Warm regards,
He later also sent this, my questions in grey, his reply in red;
Hi Erik,
Thanks for the quick reply and information. Wow, 3900 per month! Not sure how many months in a row we did that, or maybe it was bi-monthly. There were a ton of those things sold, most (96%? are probably never re sold) They are so rare to find on the market today.
Now was that 3900 GSAD GSAD only marked guns or did it include other importer/reseller marks like Clayco or Sile?
Any pics of containers or stacks of guns or the stores would be very much appreciated by myself and other AK fans.
Old Sale papers or ads, manuals also.
Did you bring in spare parts or only whole guns? Guns only
Can you determine import date or who the guns were sold to retail by tracking the serial number?Sent all records to BATF archives in 1992
So from all that I can reasonably assume the rifle I have #34xx was in the first container they brought in, 1984. No way to know how it got to Michigan in 2001 for me to buy.
CLAYCO top (also made at Jing An)
GSAD bottom
http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f49/postban/GSAD/100_3948.jpg