Hunting in Communist Romania: Nicolae Ceaușescu's Finnbear 61 

Romanian here. Kudos for this episode, Ian! I would like to add some historical context, regarding the last years of Communism in Romania. By the second half of the 80s, Ceausescu became more and more concerned with his personal security, and worried by the idea of a coup against his regime, that would be engineered by agents of Western Powers, with possible domestic help. One of the outcomes of this perception was that the national regulations concerning keeping and using hunting guns were strengthened, as these were the only firearms available to population. After 1985, all the Romanian hunters were carefully re-registered with the Ministry of Internal Affairs and those who were deemed as "unsure elements" or "troublemakers" (from the perspective of the Socialist society...) were simply denied the (renewal of) weapon permit and their rifle was confiscated. Also, all the hunting rifles had their 'ballistic fingerprints' taken and recorded by the Militia [the name of Police service in Socialist Romania], and the hunters were demanded to account for every shot fired while hunting, by preserving and presenting the empty cartridges when they wanted to purchase new ones. Thus, by the end of the Communist regime, hunting was already a difficult-to-entertain passion in Romania, and some people simply gave up, just not to draw to themselves the attention of the secret police that protected the Communist regime - the infamous Securitate (Security, as in the Department for the State Security - the official name). I know all these because in 1988 (when I was 13 years old), one of my uncles had a rather difficult time explaining to Securitate agents how he managed to lose twenty unspent cartridges that he had for his hunting rifle (he was a forestry engineer working in a region with many bears, in the arch of the Carpathian Mountains). He was reprimanded at work, and harassed for several months by the secret police, who asked him to write down, again and again, about the incident, while inviting him openly to "disclose his real feelings for the Romanian Socialist society"... [later edit, for typos and clarity]

Touring Europe to look at cool guns is the ultimate vacation

The EOTechs on backwards on the rifles in the background is great lol

“It’s a good rifle” as Ian accidentally bangs it on the table at 5:46

I love the way Ian carefully navigate through political topics

This rifle was recorded in SAKO ledgers as having been made in 1977 and shipped out to Nokia HQ in August of that year (Nokia owned SAKO at the time). Some executive there probably gave it to him as a gift.

"Speciale per Nicolae Ceausescu" is Italian. In Romanian it would be "Special pentru Nicolae Ceausescu". It could have been a present from an Italian politician. Theoretically someboy could have engraved that after his death too to increase the value.

7:26 I know that Prague Spring is only a tangential topic in this conversation, but you said that troops were sent to "quell the uprising in Prague". There was no uprising. There was just a gradual loosening of the communist restrictions, and the country was in fact the most peaceful it had been in decades. The soldiers were sent to stop this and regain the Soviet tight leash on the country, because the Soviets feared this development would undermine communist rule and Soviet control in Czechoslovakia, and that it could also spread to the rest of the bloc.

I actually saw Ceausescu and his wife on his visit to Australia in April 1988. At the time, I was working for the Parliamentary Security Service and had to protect the evil bastard! At least he had good taste in guns...

My favourite fact about Ceausecu is that after that shot him and his missus, Romania immediately repealed the death penalty. That sorta draws a line under how much he was hated.

Beautiful rifle. Sako is about as perfect a rifle as you can get. This is a wonderful caliber for a beautiful gun.

tangentially, Romania has great game cuisine - i visited a traditional restaurant and had a game platter with deer, boar and bear. Very tasty!

It's pretty cool that ANCA's logo are a pair of crossed BSA Martinis. :)

Wow! As a Romanian, I must say, you are very well documented and you present the facts really well. Usually, foreigners mess up pur history but you were 100% right in words and spirit. Thank you!

Ceausescu may have been an avid hunter, but I don't think he was particularly good at it. In a couple of documentaries that I have seen on RU-vid about him, it was said that he often missed his target. To make it so he looked quite skilled as a hunter, there were game wardens nearby who shot the bears. Anything to keep the man happy. Also, I suppose it is rather depressing that Ceausescu cared more about the animals of Romania than he did the people.

This is pretty much on par with the Remington 700 that was gifted to Finland's President Kekkonen by the US Vice President Johnson in 1963

Not true! 7:30 Albania flat out left Warsaw Pact as a reaction to the invasion. Lookup Albanian-Soviet split on wiki.

So basically Nicky's method to create and maintain a worker's paradise was also the method to create and maintain a wildlife paradise.

Speciffic people's guns are always fascinating

Romania wasn't the only country of the eastern block, that disagreed with operation Danube (Occupation of Czechoslovakia in '68), Albania also did. In fact, that's why Albania decided to leave the Warsaw pact.

I love how Ian talks up the scope selection, and then immediately bangs it on the table.

There are some stories going round the former Yugoslavian Republics that told of Tito almost shooting Ceaucescu on the spot because of his "hunting" practices.

Interesting that period Sako scope mounts were not used. Scope looks quite high. Leonid Ilyich Brezhnev was also an avid hunter and car nut. During the era of "detente", around 1973, I recall seeing an article in G&A, or ST about some hunting rifles that Richard Nixon presented to him, in addition to a Lincoln Continental. He also loved Westerns, and his favourite actor, Chuck Connors, presented him with a pair of Colt .45's.

Wow, Ian being invited by A.N.C.A really shows how he's in the Zone Edit: Wow, I didn't expect so many people to like this without someone threatening to hunt me for sport

I remember Jeff Cooper mentioning that during the Romanian revolution, Romania's Olympic shooters took to the streets against government forces. There's some people I would not like to meet. But I've always wondered what they armed themselves with.

My Fiancée and her family have very few positive things to say about the Ceausescu regime, except for the fact that the forests and game preserves were always maintained immaculately. You have to respect nature. Excellent video as per usual. Must be a Polish rifle in the background with that Eotech mounted backwards.....

A bizarre episode is connected to Josip Broz Tito going hunting with Ceausescu: he and Tito shot a wild boar at the same time, so they could not agree on who was the main "killer". Then they looked for holes in their shots. As Nikolae could not find an entrance wound on the pig from his shot, the Yugoslav colleague raised the pig's tail and said: - Here, there is a hole here.

A strange situation in a country and time period where one couldn't even own a typewriter without a government license.

The Sako 61 Finnbear is a great rifle. I have a 30-06 and its accurate and reliable. The rubber butt pads always seem to wear and get brittle and usually need replacing.

That is a gorgeous rifle.

It's a good cartridge too. 7X64 being a bit spicier than 280 Remington.

Ian needs to do a dictators personal guns series... Hell yes! (edited for spelling)

I have had a Sako Finnbear 61r. Great precision. I also have had a Sako Hunter with the same style stock as the gun in the video. Scottish style checkering and wite inlays.

Queen Elizabeth of England hmm of the UK nice save there Ian. 😁

Prototype Uzi Pro next please! So we can transform it into a game model!

I really enjoyed this detailed explanation of the Finnbear 61 used by Ceasuşescu for his hunting hobby. I never knew that Romania was that popular as a hunting destination and that it had better relations with the west during the Cold War, well done Ian. I'm so happy that you're showing us so many guns with historical context.

Good morning Ian that’s a cool story and a good looking gun

cant look away from the sightmark and the backwards eotech on the hk416s in the background 😭💔

My grandfather had a gun license and double barrel in communist Romania, in the whole village 10 people had guns, mainly for pest control and dealing with wolves attacking sheep.

Ha! I have the exact same set up. :D Its a great calibre and a wonderful rifle!

That is a very handsome looking rifle.

In the US, the 7mm is the .270 Winchester. If you insist on the exact 7mm number, you can have the 7mm Rem Mag.

I do believe you are the first native English speaker that pronounced Ceausescu correctly, but only the first time :)) It really is pronounced -Cheaushescu- Thank you for doing the research

Ian, that is actually a Sako L61R Finnbear Deluxe - otherwise an excellent episode. 👍

Ian said “here”, so I presume he’s in Romania. I hope he can do a video on the collection at the war museum in Bucharesti!!

Is it just me or is the EoTech on the rifle in the background installed backwards?

Love the video thanks for all the hard work

I had an uncle that owned a Finbear in .30-06. It was a very fine rifle.

Beautiful rifles, terrible triggers. I sold a lot of these in the 1970s. They also made a very nice aperture sight for these. Interesting video!👍🏻

Ngl, read that wrong at first, thought it said hunting communists in Romania.

I am, and have been for along time, curious about the Sako VL63 Finnwolf. Hope Ian gets a chance go make a video about it at one point.

Oil, Jews and Germans, are our most important export commodities.” Nicolae Ceaușescu

It's what a shorter would choose says Ian and drops it scope first onto the table 😅

The backwards Eotech on that AR behind Ians head is killing me

Can we please get a video on the history of FEG hi powers? It’s pretty interesting and wild.

I know it won't happen, as the Russian firearms community is... preoccupied one way or another, but I'd love to have some sort of presentation on civilian hunting in the Soviet Union. One of the more interesting Hunting Rifles that came out of that was effectively a civilian variant of the Dragunov in 9.3x54R, the Medved. The Sporting Bookworm's Hermitage site had good articles on that topic, but as it's author was a Russian citizen with more than an allowable amount of brain-cells, the site's (voluntarily) gone dark recently.

7x64? Ron Spomer has entered the chat

Very similar to my c:a 1990 Sako Hunter.

More of a history lesson than talking about that gorgeous rifle bro..

Surprised the scope is a Zeiss and not an IOR (Interprinderea Optica Romana) scope.

Very interesting vid, thanks. Plenty of L61's still for sale 2nd hand across Europe. You could do much worse - if the barrel still has rifling it'll hit where you point.

That backwards Eotech on that MR223…

That's a really interesting story behind the waepon

5:46 very robust scope and mount ;)

"Do you expect me to talk, Ceausescu?" "No, Mister Bond, I expect you to flee!"

BRING BACK 1hr+ Q&A

Much awaited, much appreciated looking forward to excellent insights as always from you.

Due to the growth lines diagonal to the barrel axis and with the more rigid heartwood at the bottom, the wood tends to bend slightly more than if they were parallel, i.e. the recoil will throw the weapon out of position slightly more.

At the beginning of this video, it was perfectly sighted in. After... not so much.

Imagine how pleased Ceaucsescu, as an avid collector of fine hunting rifles, would have been if only he'd lived long enough to have been presented with his very own Cugir 92....😂

Those two dots on his left makes me think (that he's thinking about) the rifle on the rack.

Remarkably good taste in functional firearms for somebody who sat on a golden toilet while his people were starving.

Enward is a really funny name to give someone

Excellent... just a mundane hunting rifle, but with a link to history and the cold war.

Is what appears to be an Eotech on the black rifle behind Ian mounted backwards?

He go hunting, but does he hunts animals? Probably, probably not...

Damn, that's one hell of a beautiful rifle! I'm more interested in self-loading firearms but If I could own any real guns, now that I've seen this rifle, I'd go ahead and get one made to look like this, if I couldn't even get this particular one!

Excellent conservation program. ...just really, really don't ask about the orphanages.

Great stuff, bravo!

Wood grain is amazing. I wonder what type of wood is it.

West German Zeiss , scope. Honecker also liked west german weapons and optic also,,Heym, Krieghoff, and more .

He was good at…and bad at, I have stories, not unknown, some might be, but living in Transylvania and my region being prime hunting ground, I’ve heard stories.

Fricking early gang reporting for duty

Ian, Have you ever been to the J.M. Davis Arms & Historical Museum?

HK rifle in the background has an Eotech mounted backwards.....

Thank you for this!

Can't help but notice, is that eotech backwards on that black 416 looking rifle?

I tried watching the video, but all I see is the backwards mounted EOTech on the H&K in the vitrine...

I think in most combloc countries hunting with rifle was reserved only for selected group of people, some kind of a luxury sport/privilege to members of party and high ranking officials rest where left with shotguns and much more scarce rimfire rifles. Also rulers did not trust their people with high powered rifles. I think this also boosted (at least in soviet union) the development of many bullet designs for smoothbore shotguns to boost their capability to be utilized as ersatz rifle, I heard reports of successful testings for up to 300 meters.

Great video. The brief details about Romania were correct.

Thank you Ian. Pretty cool.

For me it is -1 point cuz the scope is not like the mosin's where you can also use the iron sights

Good video about a topic we never hear about

Hunted with a 7x64,killed by a 7,62

Great Video! Thanks!

Just one comment here. After the 80's it became difficult for really "common" people to obtain and mainain a hunting licence. For one ,you had to know the right people, to be deemed a "good and reliable" communist , to be in the good graces of local nomenclature. Second, a hunting gun, a basic 2 barrel russian one ( or other eastern block country) could cost more than a 1 year median salary ( if all your revenue was from official salary, no black market or corruption money). Sometimes for a second hand gun. Ammo was strictly regulated. Access to hunting areas were also regulated and not given to anyone without money ( or services or products) to the side of administration.

Incredibly interesting video

Very possibly used to "hunt" some Romanian peasants. Nicholae was known for doing such things. It was rumoured he was a cannibal, they found all kinds of weird shit in his house

everyone i know home in romania says ceausescu did two things well. Modern, electric railways and nature preservation

Am I the only one who noticed that the EOtech on the black HK in the background is backwards?