Royal Tiger Imports

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holdenarm

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Folks -- curious your reaction and experiences. I've heard plenty of bad things but boy I'm tempted to roll the dice on one of those Ethiopian Mausers. Talk me out of it.
 
I have bought from them with no problems. I think the main issue is that rifle grading is a subjective thing and some folks read too much into (or out of) the descriptions. As a result, they have unrealistic expectations as to what they will get - versus whatever monstrosity might be waiting for them at the bottom of the grading criteria. If you go in expecting to get the worst example they have, you won't be disappointed. If you go in thinking you are going to get a pristine example of anything out of Ethiopia, you are going to be disappointed. As long as you accept going in that you are rolling the dice and getting whatever is laying on top of the pile when they fill your order, and it might not be the best one they have, you should be good.
 
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Do you have a link?
 
I bought several sks rifles from them in the past, including a couple broken stock specials. One had a trigger with missing parts... I called them up as it said complete rifles and they sent out a replacement. Purchased a couple other from them as well. I had no issues but that was a good 6 years plus years ago. 2014-16 time frame when all the sino-banians were coming in.
 
They generally are a legit business, if a little over exaggerated on the quality of the product. If you do wind of buying from them, its very hit and miss. "Playing the lotto" is the phrase I commonly see in the Military surplus subreddits when dealing with them. It almost always comes with a lot of cleaning and scrubbing, but if you want to gamble go right ahead. Most people are jumping on their $134 carcano sales at the moment
 
The good has been used up in most of the Ethiopian weapons that RTI bought. Don't expect much at all and then you won't be disappointed.
 
Heard rough things my father had ordered a Mauser from them and it was from Ethiopia and it was pretty rough with a decent bore, take their ratings with a grain of salt if it’s good condition it’s poor etc
 
The shipping is a bit high ($78 to NC), but the pricing on this is still not that bad at all considering the current market for spam cans of good, noncorrosive surplus 30-06 in clips and bandoliers.

384 round Crate of US Surplus 30-06
 
Thought i got a nice all colt M16A1 kit from them a few years back and ended up with a C7 upper instead.
 
Jw24 said:
Thought i got a nice all colt M16A1 kit from them a few years back and ended up with a C7 upper instead.
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If it was a Colt C7 upper, it may have been worth more than a standard A1 upper.
 
I have not purchased from them but I've done a good bit of research on them since they are in the C&R space. I'm not sure if they are a subsidiary of I.O. Inc or just owned/run by the same guy. I.O. built some of the absolute worst AKs on the market and sold them with a lifetime guarantee. At some point in the last 5 or so years they shut down AK manufacturing to "improve their tooling and manufacturing process". They never started making AKs again as far as I'm aware. They stopped honoring the lifetime guarantee of the products they sold, and for a short while they issued $200 gift cards or something along those lines for people that sent their guns in for warranty work to use at their RTI store. They weaseled out of the lifetime guarantee by stating that they no longer make the product. The last time I checked Inter Ordnance Inc had an F rating with the BBB and there were a lot of angry complaints from gun owners who had faulty/malfunctioning guns. There are a lot of shady and misleading practices from this business.
 
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I dealt with IO inc 20 years ago when they were in Monroe NC importing mg parts kits and russian captured rifles. After some issues with the BATF, Uli relocated and started RTI as the import company.
I got some good deals from them in the old days, but I don't see many good deals from them anymore. Their weapon grading system was always questionable.
They're just people making money on surplus. But to be honest, it seems they were always on the edge of shady.
 
Rhw1225 said:
I dealt with IO inc 20 years ago when they were in Monroe NC importing mg parts kits and russian captured rifles. After some issues with the BATF, Uli relocated and started RTI as the import company.
I got some good deals from them in the old days, but I don't see many good deals from them anymore. Their weapon grading system was always questionable.
They're just people making money on surplus. But to be honest, it seems they were always on the edge of shady.
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Me too, I tried ordering a mag on their website only to have the order cancelled because it wasn't available yet. Saw it again on their site a few months later ordered again same outcome. I asked them why they list it for sale if they don't have it. That experience was with IO. I had one of their AKs and mine seemed fine for what it's worth. Bummer they ceased making them because they just could not get them right in general.
 
jnchilds said:
Their carcanos have been tempting me something fierce for a while now!
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I’ve ordered six of their Carcano carbines. All have been in great shape for the price with nice bores.
 
I was at a LGS a few weeks ago.

I don't know who it was from, but he had a rifle that was supposed to be a surplus from Ethiopia.

Customer was shipping it back. It was essentially a smooth bore. It was sold as good condition
 
A lot of their stuff from Ethiopia is ROUGH. With that said, a lot of it is fairly rare and may be the only example of that rifle that you will get for your collection. I’ve transferred a fair number of the Ethiopian rifles to collectors here. They are a trade off for those wanting an example in their collection.
 
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