Nicolae Ceaușescu ruled România through much of its communist period, from 1967 until 1989. Ceaușescu was a passionate hunter, and owned more than 100 firearms, mostly for hunting. These included some gifts from foreign dignitaries, but also plenty of more humble examples. Under his rule, conservation was actually fairly well done in Romania, and hunting was possible for the regular folk. Today we are taking a look at one of his personal rifles, a Sako Finnbear 61…
Thanks to MP Armory and A.N.C.A., the Romanian national firearms collectors’ association, for making this video possible!
https://www.anca.com.ro
It all started from one Vladimir Ilych Ulyanov.
He happened to be a hereditary noble, sustaining himself as a “political refugee” in Switzerland on work of peasants toiling on an estate diligently administered by his mother, back in Russia. When he finally acquired the entire country (not a small one), he simply returned to his teenage hobby, giving an example to generations of commie leaders to come; to put it simply – he was hunting in the name of the people he represented.
https://lenin.shm.ru/en/v-i-lenin-is-hunting-in-gorky/
Nice tribute to a murderous dictator. I guess slaughtering wildlife is just a side note. I like the not mentioned American president who apparently was so enamored with this guy he gave him a Colt. Reagan maybe?
“And back home in Hartford, the Rumanian President, Nicolae Ceausescu toured the Pratt & Whitney machine tool plant and was given, you guessed it, a Colt six‐shooter with the explanation from a Colt vice president, Guy Shafer, that “we didn’t think you could carry a machine tool home on the plane.”
Dec. 8, ’73.
Romania was seen as a “friendly” Commie Country as they occasionally stood up to the Russians. I spent 60 days there on the Gov’t dime in 1993. Buildings in the capital still had bullet holes in them. The average educated Romanian asked why FDR sold them out to Stalin in Yalta. It was the only Communist Country after “The Wall Fell” that executed their crazy ruler and his wife and filmed it—rugged, hard-working people.
was it Kissinger (May he burn brightly) who said that it’s dangerous to be an enemy of the united state
but being a friend to it, is fatal?
cough cough, colour, cough cough, revolution, cough…
I’m not a fan of Sako rifles, they had a very moderate design, but, excellent workmanship.
That said, it’s not that bad. The 1970s skip line checkering is not totally obnoxious, the wood has come up well and it’s wearing a fantastic scope for its day and in excellent mounts.
also, give Old Nick ten out of ten for the choice of calibre,
7×64 Breneke, the cartridge that .270 Winchester and .280 Remington both wished that they could be :p
Keith’s ranking of dead dictators guns
1) Khruschchev’s Beesley action shotgun
2) Ceaușescu’s Sako
3) Sadam’s full stocked Ruger 77 Carbine