Tariq 9MM Pistol: Saddam Hussein’s Version of Beretta 1951
Hey guys I decided to do a quickie about a gun that came in, that I know very little about. It is the Iraqi Tariq. Now, I said I don't know a whole lot about this, I just want to clarify because I never claimed to be a gun expert. I do know a lot about Walthers and World War II Lugar's and I’ve done quite a few videos. But some of you are just a little bit mean. Whenever I do a gun, a modern gun or even a machine gun, a lot of times I say I'm not an expert on these but I just love to show them to you. So I could either just shut up and put these away, or I could bring them to you and we could learn together. I’m not an expert on these if you happen to know something about these guns, please just send us a comment and we'd be glad to respond. But let me tell you what I know about this.
The Iraqi Tariq
This is considered a modern weapon. It’s actually an exact replica of a Beretta 1951. These were pretty popular throughout the Middle East and Northern Africa and in fact, Italy sold all of the machinery and the equipment to Iraq so that they could make these in the gearing up to the Iran Iraqi war. Now that was an eight-year war from 1980 to 1988.
A Little about the War
It’s considered a stalemate meaning neither side won. There was over a million people who died. It was a lot like World War I, in that it was a war of trenches. It was a war of chemical gas. It was a war of barbed wire, of massive assaults, of people going across open land and just being mowed down by machine guns. Brutal war between Iraq and Iran. Lasted for eight years and during that time they were banging these out pretty fast.
Back to the Gun
Now I've never shot one of these but I did watch Ian on Forgotten Weapons and he mentions that these are pretty poorly made. They're not really dangerous to shoot but they're not well made. So he was saying just be really careful if you decide to shoot one. This one in particular you can see the corrosion on the finish. Probably spent a lot of time in Iraq, again desert dry climate but still you can see the corrosion on the metal, the finish is almost completely gone. This bronze or gold looking insignia which I believe is general Tariq. Now somebody else did a video, said it was Hammurabi from the Babylonian Empire, but it looks like Tariq to me. Actually you can't see much at all. Again you if you know let us know, his exact name I can't say. Here it is. I'm going to call him General Tariq but he has a longer name than that. And actually in 711 AD he was the King in that area, it was actually Syria and Iraq and he invaded Spain. Took most of Spain and was one of their great leaders. So they named this gun the Tariq after him.
More on the Tariq
The gun comes in nine-millimeter. It's fairly simple to take down, there's a takedown lever, you just pull it back, line these up, it takes down I'm not going to take it down that's easily accessible online. It does have a safety button but I noticed it doesn't work very well you have to push really hard and sometimes it doesn't work. So I see what they mean about they weren't well-made. There is a button here that releases the magazine. Again it holds 8 rounds, at least that's what I read, holds 8 rounds. Functions a little bit like a p38, has the grips like a p38. It also has a locking block like the p38 and the inscription… this is in English it does say Tariq made in Iraq in 9 millimeter. I'm told that this is written in Iraqi and it says basically the same thing, it says Iraqi Tariq made in Iraq.
Here is the Fascinating Bit
However, what's most fascinating about this gun and the reason I wanted to show it to you, you’re probably already fascinated by this is, how did this get in this country? These are not importable. Now there are exceptions to that, I think if you know somebody really high up in the military or political part of the government you could probably figure out a way to import one of these. But you won't find import marks on them, but generally they are not obtainable unless you can smuggle them into the country. So that's what I find is fascinating about this and why whenever we get one, even in this bad of condition they sell immediately. I think this lasted about ten minutes on the site, at around $1600 or $1800.
Anonymous Delivery
But back in 2017, take a look at this one. This one very mysteriously showed up at our door. The guy that brought it in did not want to give us his name. He said he was former Special Forces and he was in the second Iraq war which was Operation Iraqi Freedom. And that was the one where we actually invaded all the way into Iraq and as part of his Special Forces team they went to several of Saddam Hussein's palaces. He picked up this gold-plated one. I did confirm that the inscriptions said it was a presentation from Saddam Hussein to one of his generals. He picked that up, brought it over to us, he didn't want to be associated with it. He said he had to smuggle it in and if his superiors found out that he brought it in he would have been arrested. That sold for $4,500. I suspect I could have gotten a lot more, I wish I could get that one back. But we sold that back in 2017 and since then we've only gotten a couple of these including this one that came in this week.
They are Impossible to Smuggle
Okay so to wrap up the story about this gun in particular, and we have a lot of active duty servicemen who watch this channel and also people who are newly honorably discharged and you comment to me a lot about what really happened in the war. Actually a collector friend of mine was in Iraq and he said he did his darndest to get one back. But he said that he had to go through several series of metal detectors and then physically searched his backpack, everything taken out. Could not get anything into United States. So these are not importable as far as I know. The only way to get them is to a diplomatic pouch or if you somehow are smart enough to smuggle them in. But let's hear from some of our vets. You can change your name to protect the innocent but my understanding is these are impossible to get in and that's why these sell quickly at a premium.
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