Gevarm A3

[Tbird_65]

Saturday, I picked up a "Gevarm A3" at our local gun show. My neighbor works on scopes/guns/and is known in the area for knowledge of old military weapons. His forte is to rebuild WW1 scopes and repanagraph them etc. He and I work for a gun dealer. He mentioned to me that of the guns he has/seen he has only seen photos of the "Gevarm A3". I have been racking the internet to find anything about it, and so far I only get small bits and pieces. Depending on whom you listen to; they are either the worst thing that ever hit the market or the best thing that France ever created.

The piece is fantastic and the blueing is almost out of the box new. It is one of the group that fires in the open bolt location. I do have 1-8 rd clip with the gun. My neighbor places it at about 98/99% on the value line. He and I cleaned it Saturday nite. What a load of junk was in that receiver. I have not shot it yet. Hopefully tonite I will have a go at it. The gun has the original leaf rear sight; graduated for 25-100 meters and windage; and, peep front sight with all 5 target inserts; 4 of them were locked in the pistol grip compartment.

I am not new to the shooting market, but I have never seen or heard of anything marked "Gevarm". Anything you would care to share with me about the 22? I already know finding a magazine is darn near impossible. The same goes for information printed about the A3.

[samuraifishin]

I wish someone out there can point me to where I can get parts for an A3 or A7. There is no inscription as to whether this is an A3 or an A7. My friend and neighbor gave me this rifle with the spring and magazine both missing. I am not much in to shooting but would like to have the rifle complete before it goes into my collection.
Thank you very much.

[goofy]

Good morning! I am in no way up on these guns but i looked in the books and found this. GEVARM manufactured in Saint Etienne,France.I only can see one gun listed the E-1 autoloading rifle .22 cal 19" barrel,open sights,walnut pistol grip stocks worth $300-$150.I know this is not much but maybe a place to start looking...........GOOFY

[Graeme11]

Hi Guys,
The Gevarms are great rifles with a pretty dedicated following in this part of the world. Made from about 1950 to the early eighties, mostly 22 semi autos but a few center fire models as well. Ive had an A3 since about 1970, currently have 4 or 5 various models. The 22s are rare in the US and Canada as they were banned from import as being too easy to convert to full auto. Parts are hard to find but you can get new mags now from www.gunclips.net, about USD40 I think. Very reliable, will handle all types of ammo and most are extremely accurate for a semi. The 22s fire from an open bolt except the A7. I think they are the best 22 semi ever made, but thats just my opinion.

[pauljbrennan]

How can you tell the difference between the A3 and A7 ?

[cantom]

Originally Posted by pauljbrennan

How can you tell the difference between the A3 and A7 ?

I had a brand new condition A7 about 2 years ago. What a piece of junk!

The A7 is the closed bolt model of Gevarm. The rest of them are open bolt. And what a difference!

I took the bolt assembly out of the gun to clean it on the A7. Between the springs, the spring guides, the firing pin/striker and it's springs, extractor and spring, ejector...there must have been 30 pieces. What a complicated contraption!

If I had lost a single part I would have been completely screwed. I was terrified till I got it all back together. Sold it off immediately.

Couple that with even worse news....the A7 uses proprietary magazines, not the same as any other Gevarm...now why would they do that?? (actually I can answer that. The A7 has a separate ejector, the other models use the feed lip on the magazine as an ejector- totally different setup) The mag had a little sticker on it that said A7 and would not fit into my A3. In other words, you are never going to find a mag for it. The regular ones are hard enough to find.

And, it gets worse yet! My plan in buying the (reasonably priced) A7 was to steal off all of the really nice, new looking parts, put them all on my beater A3 and then sell off all the junk on the A7! But not one thing was compatible...it didn't work at all. It truly is a totally different gun.

Contrast that with the A3- 2 main moving parts. The bolt and the bolt spring assembly. No extractor, no ejector, nothing but a solid bolt with the firing pin being machined right into the bolt face. Basically an unstoppable little gun as it sets off any crap ammo, the pin hits from one side to the other.

Here is the A7 for your viewing pleasure. Thank your lucky stars that you don't own it.
I really wish now I had taken pics of it apart, should have but you have to understand, I was terrified and I'm not joking. (but it is funny now)