Century International Arms
Importer and manufacturer of military surplus and modern firearms.
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MostEpic · CC BY-SA 4.0
Century International Arms (CIA) is a U.S.-based firearms importer and manufacturer. The company got its start in 1961 in St. Albans, Vermont, when typewriter repairman William Sucher accepted a Lee–Enfield rifle as payment for fixing a customer’s typewriter.
He placed a newspaper ad to sell the rifle and got far more inquiries than he ever did for typewriters, leading him to find sources of surplus rifles to sell for profit. With his brother-in-law, Manny Weigensberg, Sucher established contacts abroad to import military surplus rifles and handguns. By the 1970s, Century had grown into the largest single firearms importer in both the United States and Canada.
In 1993, the company moved its headquarters and sales staff to Delray Beach, Florida. In November 2000, CIA bought a 100,000-square-foot warehouse and factory in Georgia, Vermont, located at the Arrowhead Industrial Park. When importable surplus firearms became scarce, Century began manufacturing its own guns, including versions of the G3, L1A1, AK-47, and sporterized Mausers, among others. The company also imports Turkish-made Canik pistols from Canik arms.
Century has a sister facility in Quebec, Canada, operating as Century International Arms, Ltd. Its firearm lineup includes the Canik series (such as the Mete, TP9, and SFx Rival models), the Draco pistol, and clones like the C308 (based on the CETME rifle), C39/C39V2 and RAS47 (AK-47 clones), L1A1, SKS, SSG 82, vz. 24, vz. 50, WASR-series rifles, Zastava M57 and M70, VSKA, BFT-47, and BFT-556. In addition to importing bulk surplus ammunition, Century serves as the U.S. importer and distributor for Red Army Standard Ammunition.
Lore & Background
Century International Arms was founded after William Sucher, a typewriter repairman, took a Lee–Enfield rifle in trade for a typewriter repair. He posted a newspaper ad to sell the rifle and received more inquiries than he had for typewriters, leading him to seek sources of surplus rifles for profit. With his brother-in-law Manny Weigensberg, Sucher made contacts abroad for importing military surplus rifles and handguns. By the 1970s, Century had become the single largest importer of firearms in the United States and Canada.
In 1993, the company headquarters and sales staff moved to Delray Beach, Florida. In November 2000, CIA acquired a 100,000-square-foot warehouse/factory in Georgia, Vermont at the Arrowhead Industrial Park. When sources of importable surplus firearms became scarce, Century began manufacturing their own firearms, including versions of the G3, L1A1, AK-47, and sporterized Mausers. The company also imports Turkish-made Canik pistols from Canik arms.
From Typewriter Shop to Firearms Empire
William Sucher was a typewriter repairman in St. Albans, Vermont, when in 1961 a customer settled a repair bill by trading him a Lee-Enfield rifle. Sucher had no use for the military weapon, so he placed a newspaper advertisement to sell it. The response caught him off guard: far more callers asked about the rifle than about typewriters. That single anecdote became the seed of an entire enterprise.
Sucher began hunting down foreign sources of surplus military rifles and handguns to import and resell for a margin. He enlisted his brother-in-law, Manny Weigensberg, to help establish contacts abroad. Together the two men built what would become Century International Arms, a company that by the 1970s had grown into the single largest firearms importer in both the United States and Canada. What started as one unwanted rifle in a small Vermont town had become a dominant force in the North American arms market.
Scaling Up and Expanding Operations
As Century International Arms grew, its physical footprint expanded considerably. In 1993, headquarters and the sales staff relocated from Vermont to Delray Beach, Florida, signaling a shift toward a more corporate, distribution-oriented operation. Then in November 2000, CIA acquired a 100,000-square-foot warehouse and factory at the Arrowhead Industrial Park in Georgia, Vermont.
This facility gave the company a substantial manufacturing and storage base in the Northeast. Beyond the United States, Century also operates a sister facility in Quebec, Canada, under the name Century International Arms, Ltd., allowing the company to serve the Canadian market more directly. The geographic spread—from a small Vermont town to Florida offices, a large Vermont industrial park, and a Canadian subsidiary—reflects how a one-man surplus rifle operation evolved into a multi-state, cross-border firearms enterprise with dedicated manufacturing, warehousing, and sales infrastructure.
Manufacturing and the Broad Product Catalog
When reliable sources of importable surplus firearms began to dry up, Century International Arms pivoted to manufacturing its own weapons. The company produced versions of the G3, L1A1, AK-47, and sporterized Mausers, among others.
Its catalog of manufactured and imported rifles is remarkably wide: the C308 (a CETME clone), C39 and C39V2 (AK-47 clones), RAS47 and VSKA (AKM clones), the BFT-47 (an AKM with an RPK-style front trunnion) and its 5.56mm sibling the BFT-556, plus WASR-series rifles, Zastava M57 and M70, SKS, SSG 82, and Czech vz. 24 and vz. 50 models. On the pistol side, Century imports the full Canik lineup from Turkey, including the TP9 family in numerous variants—TP9 SA, TP9 DA, TP9 SFL, TP9 v2, TP40 v2, and the striker-fired SFx and Elite series—alongside the Mete line and the Draco pistol. The breadth of this catalog underscores Century's role as a one-stop source for a vast range of military-pattern and sporterized firearms.
Ammunition Distribution and the Red Army Connection
Beyond firearms, Century International Arms has built a significant role in the ammunition market. The company imports and distributes bulk surplus ammunition, catering to shooters who need large quantities of cost-effective rounds. More specifically, Century serves as the United States importer and distributor for Red Army Standard Ammunition, a brand that carries a strong association with Soviet and Eastern Bloc military surplus.
This ammunition line complements the company's core business of surplus and military-pattern firearms, creating a natural pairing for the shooting community: buy the rifle or pistol from Century, and pick up the matching surplus ammunition at the same time. The Red Army Standard Ammunition partnership reinforces Century's identity as a company rooted in the military surplus tradition, even as it has expanded into manufacturing and importing modern Turkish-made pistols like the Canik. The ammunition arm thus bridges the company's heritage in foreign surplus with its broader contemporary product portfolio.
Reader's Guide
Century International Arms holds a significant place in the firearms industry as a major importer and manufacturer. Its origin story—a typewriter repairman turning a bartered rifle into a business—illustrates the post-war surplus market that shaped the company. By the 1970s, Century became the single largest importer of firearms in the United States and Canada, dominating the flow of military surplus rifles and handguns. When surplus sources dwindled, the company adapted by manufacturing its own firearms, producing clones of iconic designs such as the G3, L1A1, AK-47, and sporterized Mausers.
Its product line includes the Canik pistol series (clones of the Walther P99), the Draco pistol, and various AK-pattern rifles like the WASR-series, RAS47, and VSKA. Century also imports and distributes Red Army Standard Ammunition. The company's ability to shift from importing surplus to domestic manufacturing reflects broader trends in the firearms market, and its products remain widely available in the United States and Canada.
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Sources
Compiled from Wikipedia and the sources listed below. Text from Wikipedia is available under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is adapted from it.
- Wikipedia: Century International Arms (CC BY-SA 4.0).
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