Zib Militaria – A Veritable Machine Gun Cave Of Wonders

As I had mentioned in the Brownells HK416 article, I got a chance to visit Zib Militaria and tour their facility while I was in Germany. Normally they do not offer tours to customers. They run a mail order business but they do allow local customers to come and pick up their orders. I told Heiko, the owner, that I was traveling from the US and would like to see his facility and some key items. He was more than accommodating.  Heiko started this business 12 years ago after he finished getting his Masters in Business Administration in Texas of all places. He fell in love with firearms and enjoyed exercising his 2A rights and acquired firearms while he lived in the US. After working in finance for a short stint he decided to work for himself. He started by reselling remote control tanks from China. Then moved onto Chinese-made military-themed objects. It was a success. He slowly made connections and acquired German surplus goods and put all his money back into the business and now he is the exclusive surplus firearm dealer in Germany.
Basket of MG53s ready for someone to buy them and give them a good home.
A small selection of deactivated German guns.
Germany has a different definition of a firearm. Here in the US, we consider the firearm the part with the serial number. This is usually the receiver like on an AR-15. But just because a part has a serial number does not mean it is a “firearm” like how Glocks have serial numbers on the barrel and slide besides the frame. In Germany, you are allowed to buy, trade and own “free parts”. These are everything except the barrels and bolts. This is why Brownells is not importing barrels and bolts for the HK416. They simply cannot get them. So what is a “free part”? Any machine gun part as long as you don’t have a functioning barrel or bolt. Take the HK416 as an example. You can have a full auto lower with trigger and sear trip. You can have it complete with a bolt carrier group but no bolt. Zib Militaria works with a manufacturer that makes deactivated barrels and gets certifications for their deactivated guns. So any of the machine guns you see with barrels are not real barrels.

Get Them Now Before It Is Too Late

Heiko was telling me that due to laws coming later this year, Germany may ban the sale and trade of ‘free parts”. At least what they consider free parts now will become banned. It is not certain if people will be grandfathered for the parts they already own. But if they follow the EU regulations it will make millions of magazines already in private citizens hands illegal.
1.) On the 14th september 2018 the EU-Firearms-Regulation 2017/853 will go into effect and will result in massiv, restrictiv changes and EU-harmonisation of gun law. Currently all our products are free products according german law, this will change. With the 14.09.2018 you will not find free gunpart sets, single receivers (complete ones and upper and lowers), fullauto modus grip units here. Also magazines with more than 10rds capacity for long guns and 20rds capacity for short guns will be forbidden for shooters. And lastly the sale of demilled guns will have to be registered in a trade book, where typ / serial / supplier and customer will be noted.  That is how we read the EU regulation which you can find here: http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/PDF/?uri=CELEX:32017L0853&from=DE
We have seen the EU regulation 2015/2403 for the deactivation of guns going into effect 08th April 2016 already which did end the trade of german spec (and other national spec) demilled guns and practical finished the decoration gun business in europe. We have had hundreds of request right after that date for deactivated guns which we had to reject because of new EU rules in effect. So we recommend any marksman and collector with interest in products in the segment facing ban or changes to buy their needs now. Now we have the national gun laws still into effect, this ends with the novelle of 14th september 2018. The coming changes are so massiv that ZIB does not know if we will continue serving this sergment at all yet.

Now Back To Our Regularly Scheduled Programming

So now that we got the public service announcement over with on to the pictures!
Anyone need a WWI Maxim machine guns?
Want to see something that will make you cry a little? WWII Thompson Sub Machine Guns. They are in this crate because thanks to new regulations in Germany, as of last year, Heiko cannot sell them. So he is stuck with them. Can’t even part them out.
Here is some AK goodness for you Kalashnikov fans. Izhmash milled AK-47.
M1 and M2 carbines.
M2 Carbines not your thing? How about Panzerfaust training units? These were cut in three places and epoxied back together again. For display only.
You thought HK416 blanks are cool? Well, this is cooler. It is a Panzerfaust receiver blank. Notice the HK stamp and the Safe/Fire markings.
Stumbled on this Chauchat just chilling on the floor.

We Are In Germany, Where Are The HK Goodies?

So I have become a bit of an H&K fan. You could tell from my HK416 article.  Here are some more H&K gun parts sitting in Heiko’s warehouse.
Brand new never been used MP5 stocks. All the boxed below it are the same.
brand new G3 stocks.
These are HK416 parts kits.
G3K brand new in the box. No barrel or bolt though.
You saw that clear G36 at the top? That is from a cutaway demo gun.
Brand new G36 magazines.
More G3 parts.

More Machine Guns At Zib Militaria

Here are the last of Heiko’s stock of MG42.
40 rd AR magazine from Bulgaria
DShK crate with ammo boxes and links.
DShK ammo box with links inside.
Anyone need some brand new UZI mags?
Just a pair of PTRS-41 anti tank rifles chilling in the corner.
FB PM63
Unfortunately, I was only able to spend about 3 hours there. The time flew by and I only scratched the surface. There are hidden gems at Zib Militaria. A huge thanks to Heiko for letting me poke around and giving me a tour. It was a truly wonderful time and even my daughter seemed to enjoy it. Although it was probably because he gave her a cookie.  If you happen to live in Germany or visit Germany I highly recommend visiting Zib Militaria. You probably won’t get a tour but you can buy any of these items, provided they are legal to own where you live, and you should probably buy them before Europe bans them.