Stalwart
Well-known member
- 1,739
- 33
- 48
- Location
- Redmond, WA
After seeing a fully functional T34/85, you couldn't give me one. I'm glad Paul Allen has one in his collection.
-
Steel Soldiers now has a few new forums, read more about it at: New Munitions Forums!
Can you legally own a functional T34?
- Thread starter Robo McDuff
- Start date
- 2,865
- 1,409
- 113
- Location
- Czech Republic
Well, this one in parts might be easier to import and not too expensive 
Personally, I'll stick to the 5-ton M39 series
(although a different gearbox would be nice, like an 18-speed one maybe?)
Personally, I'll stick to the 5-ton M39 series
(although a different gearbox would be nice, like an 18-speed one maybe?)
EZFEED
New member
- 880
- 0
- 0
- Location
- Lafayette, LA
Sure you can, in fact here in the U.S.A. you can reactivate the cannon and mount live registered DP in the coax.
The plus side of where you are is that europe still has all the goodies and still relatively cheap. A good solid T-34 proect that's complete can be had for about $10K USD and there area whole slew of other vehicles that can be had for little to nothing if you make the right deal. My Jesterka cost me $3,500 USD plus about $4,000 to ship and it was near perfect condition but I knew the people and they cut me a deal. Here in the US try to touch one of the three Jesterkas here and you'll be looking in the ballpark of $35,000 or more. Stuff is just way too overpriced here because of rarity.
There where you are, near Bazar Roudnice there is a junkyard with T-72's that can be had for about $5,000 if you can haul them. It's just location.
Weapon activation we are good here whereas there you cannot own anything like this LIVE that expells a shot. Here we pay the appropriate tax and undergo a background check and you can register it with a live gun, also if you have the coin you can mount a live fully automatic DP in the coax. Each peice of ammunition for the main gun must be registered too at around $200 a piece on top of unit cost IF the munition is antimaterial/antipersonnel in nature or can be construed as such. You can legally take empty 85mm cases and load them as blanks, bean bags, flares, or pyro like fireworks/starburst if it uses under the specific regulated amount of filler.
The plus side of where you are is that europe still has all the goodies and still relatively cheap. A good solid T-34 proect that's complete can be had for about $10K USD and there area whole slew of other vehicles that can be had for little to nothing if you make the right deal. My Jesterka cost me $3,500 USD plus about $4,000 to ship and it was near perfect condition but I knew the people and they cut me a deal. Here in the US try to touch one of the three Jesterkas here and you'll be looking in the ballpark of $35,000 or more. Stuff is just way too overpriced here because of rarity.
There where you are, near Bazar Roudnice there is a junkyard with T-72's that can be had for about $5,000 if you can haul them. It's just location.
Weapon activation we are good here whereas there you cannot own anything like this LIVE that expells a shot. Here we pay the appropriate tax and undergo a background check and you can register it with a live gun, also if you have the coin you can mount a live fully automatic DP in the coax. Each peice of ammunition for the main gun must be registered too at around $200 a piece on top of unit cost IF the munition is antimaterial/antipersonnel in nature or can be construed as such. You can legally take empty 85mm cases and load them as blanks, bean bags, flares, or pyro like fireworks/starburst if it uses under the specific regulated amount of filler.
- 2,865
- 1,409
- 113
- Location
- Czech Republic
Sometimes, I really really am getting very tired of these little pin pricks life is dealing you with a funny hand.
EZFEED, I checked your vehicle, found an interesting group here and find out that there is a meeting planned that I definitely want to go to, talk with people, show pictures and ask questions, see if they have US stuff...........
....................organizers are a nice little museum, by the look of it.........
If you check the announcement at the bottom of their page, even without knowing Czech you probably can figure out that all these guys are now sitting in any pub telling nice stories after a good meeting and I am 80 miles away and am
EZFEED, I checked your vehicle, found an interesting group here and find out that there is a meeting planned that I definitely want to go to, talk with people, show pictures and ask questions, see if they have US stuff...........
....................organizers are a nice little museum, by the look of it.........
If you check the announcement at the bottom of their page, even without knowing Czech you probably can figure out that all these guys are now sitting in any pub telling nice stories after a good meeting and I am 80 miles away and am
Darwin T
Active member
- 1,185
- 10
- 38
- Location
- Port Arthur, Texas
hi EZFEED, we can reactivate the cannon on russian stuff, and American stuff also? where would you find rounds for "easy eights" or M60a1 Main Battle Tank, and how long before Homeland Security issue you your own full time satilite. even if you were a class 3 dealer i think you would drop some B of A T & F jaws when you walked in with the paperwork.
EZFEED
New member
- 880
- 0
- 0
- Location
- Lafayette, LA
Yep I've seen that club, I think they or one of their sister museums put this together and for some others too. http://www.massimocorner.com/afv/Surviving_Praga_Jesterka.pdfSometimes, I really really am getting very tired of these little pin pricks life is dealing you with a funny hand.
EZFEED, I checked your vehicle, found an interesting group here and find out that there is a meeting planned that I definitely want to go to, talk with people, show pictures and ask questions, see if they have US stuff...........
....................organizers are a nice little museum, by the look of it.........
If you check the announcement at the bottom of their page, even without knowing Czech you probably can figure out that all these guys are now sitting in any pub telling nice stories after a good meeting and I am 80 miles away and am
So you are a U.S. citizen working in CZ? Do you mean you want to reimport U.S. stuff back into the U.S.? If that's the case then no, we can only bring in foreign stuff. U.S. stuff requires State Dept reclassification and that almost never happens.
- 2,865
- 1,409
- 113
- Location
- Czech Republic
Jokes apart, when did that happen? Probably five or more years ago? Over the last years, prices on this kind of stuff have exploded. Nobody is talking below $ 4 K anymore. Check this: $ 4,500. They guy of the bazar is selling something the same, (maybe even be it) but without mentioning price. With that junk going for $4k any rarity (and that Jesterkais not that common on the market) no way that today you are going to get it for that price.
Czech out this site, with a lot of prices "on request". The $ is about 18 Kc (lucky if you want to buy Czech, not nice for us).
A Ford Mutt M151 A2 for $17 K, some nice tracks for $ 25K, a tracked bridge layer for about the same. An M715 for 16K. Even the standard Praga V3S, the cheap Czech version of a deuce, is already going for around $2.5 to $4K. Agreed, these are the top international sellers, but most bazars know prices around here now as well. Maybe somebody has something cheap in the backyard, but the moment you really have cash in your hand, prices suddenly are a lot higher than talked about.
EZFEED
New member
- 880
- 0
- 0
- Location
- Lafayette, LA
Heck yeah, as long as it's here then you're fine. Even if you had to build a whole new main gun you could still register it as a DD. The only restriction to new manufacture is machine guns/automatic weapons.hi EZFEED, we can reactivate the cannon on russian stuff, and American stuff also? where would you find rounds for "easy eights" or M60a1 Main Battle Tank, and how long before Homeland Security issue you your own full time satilite. even if you were a class 3 dealer i think you would drop some B of A T & F jaws when you walked in with the paperwork.
And you won't find any rounds, not unless you bought the components across the pond. Reloading empty cases and manufacturing your own solid shot is what everyone does for stuff like that. Solid proj's are considered anti-material and the complete round with solid shot is a DD and must be registered. Once you pass background thats about it but I would guess you are on a list for a while until deemed safe. I use my truck to haul hay, pull a livestock trailer, tow stuck folks, as a 14.5KW generator for neighbors who lose power, and as an emergency vehicle during hurricanes to clear the roads and such so I can legitimize it and I guess if they wanted to watch me they would see that? I think once you jump through all the hoops and show you adhere to demil you really aren't seen as too much a threat unless you have a prior history or are into some shady sh*t.
Dunno man...I have always had good luck with ATF, they don't seem the boogey men everyone makes them out to be at least not locally. A buddy of mine had some so called 'pre ban assault weapons' in his truck during the ban years and was stopped. Lafayette PD seized the weapons and told him he was not getting them back. I said maybe he ought to call ATF about it and go figure, in a day he had the option of either picking them up at the station or having the officer who siezed them deliver them back to his home. I said bravo to ATF that day.
Last edited:
- 2,865
- 1,409
- 113
- Location
- Czech Republic
Just posted the pics on the Ural and Tatra of this guy in the Russian and East-Europe section
overlordofmars
Member
- 308
- 11
- 16
- Location
- Bear Creek PA
I want one, I can take it to the grocery store !
tvoss
Member
- 38
- 1
- 8
- Location
- Chuluota, FL
You don't have to register practice rounds, but you would have to register rounds that contain explosives.
unclemikey
New member
- 484
- 97
- 0
- Location
- south west
Oh My........What would the HOA say? 
Jones
Well-known member
- 2,237
- 83
- 48
- Location
- Sacramento, California
Anything armored makes law enforcement nervous since defeating it is a real chore.
You can own it but they don't make it easy for you and there are a lot of hoops to jump through before you can get approval.
Might get around large bore ammuntion like the cannon shooters do; by shooting a non-standard projectile (like concrete-filled beer cans or bowling balls). Bagged powder loaded in behind isn't "fixed ammunition".
In addition to making the recoil system, firing mechanism, and breech block inoperable, "deactivated" means "a hole in the gun tube equal to the diameter of the bore"... and that's back by the chamber, not up near the muzzle.
Guns can be reactivated but only with PRIOR permission and all the permits and tax stamps in place.
This all has to be in accordance with state laws too. Even though the feds say I can own an anti-aircraft gun, local laws can bring everything to a screeching halt. Here, federal approval does not mandate state approval.
They even tell you how to secure and store. No parking this stuff in your garage; it has to be in a locked, alarm-protected enclosure.
Out here in California, a lot of this kind of equipment is owned by movie companies but their ordnance is set up to only chamber and fire blank rounds.
You can own it but they don't make it easy for you and there are a lot of hoops to jump through before you can get approval.
Might get around large bore ammuntion like the cannon shooters do; by shooting a non-standard projectile (like concrete-filled beer cans or bowling balls). Bagged powder loaded in behind isn't "fixed ammunition".
In addition to making the recoil system, firing mechanism, and breech block inoperable, "deactivated" means "a hole in the gun tube equal to the diameter of the bore"... and that's back by the chamber, not up near the muzzle.
Guns can be reactivated but only with PRIOR permission and all the permits and tax stamps in place.
This all has to be in accordance with state laws too. Even though the feds say I can own an anti-aircraft gun, local laws can bring everything to a screeching halt. Here, federal approval does not mandate state approval.
They even tell you how to secure and store. No parking this stuff in your garage; it has to be in a locked, alarm-protected enclosure.
Out here in California, a lot of this kind of equipment is owned by movie companies but their ordnance is set up to only chamber and fire blank rounds.
woodwalker
Member
- 71
- 7
- 8
- Location
- boone colorado
I am sure glad I don't live there Here in Colorado the only problem with owning armor is coming up with the money to pay for it!
AMX
New member
- 360
- 3
- 0
- Location
- Walland tn.
Years ago I was in the market for a sherman tank, the breech was welded shut with a large steel plug. REALLY REALLY welded!
AMX
New member
- 360
- 3
- 0
- Location
- Walland tn.
Had a 20mm cannon and each explosive round had its own tax stamp.
Driver_Neil
New member
- 57
- 2
- 0
- Location
- Essex, UK
One of the crazier things in life is here in the UK a thing like a tanks main gun, a 25 Pdr field gun etc. can legally be owned live on a shotgun certificate. We have s number of T34's with live main weapons - also Chieftains, Abbott SPG's, T55's, T72's and so forth
Virtually everything else is impossible to own - rifles have to be kept at a shooting range, handguns are a virtual no-no. (unless you are a crook of course....)
BUT - we can own intact armour with live main guns.. Work that one out!!!
I was talking to a guy from Germany at War & Peace last year; he was astounded that we do not have to cut our armour - apparently over there all round the driver must be cut away and replaced with thin sheet that the police 9mm rounds will penetrate...
In some ways we are still lucky....
Virtually everything else is impossible to own - rifles have to be kept at a shooting range, handguns are a virtual no-no. (unless you are a crook of course....)
BUT - we can own intact armour with live main guns.. Work that one out!!!
I was talking to a guy from Germany at War & Peace last year; he was astounded that we do not have to cut our armour - apparently over there all round the driver must be cut away and replaced with thin sheet that the police 9mm rounds will penetrate...
In some ways we are still lucky....