Limited Technical Inspection

Limited Technical Inspection (LTI) Program 

We speak with a lot of customers who have recently acquired an old military rifle or pistol, many of which have been long obsolete and saw numerous years in military service. After military use, they may have been shipped to third world countries as part of a military assistance program, only to be repatriated at a later date. Thus, there is no way of telling the amount of use (or abuse) these firearms faced.

The James River Armory Limited Technical Inspection (LTI) program is designed to help our customers determine if the weapon is safe to use or if it instead should be a “wall-hanger”.

James River Armory has an outstanding team of very experienced armorers that have spent years rebuilding and refinishing a wide variety of obsolete military arms. Initially, the LTI service was provided to importers who would send crates of used, obsolete military guns to us. Our team would disassemble, then check each firearm for function and safety. After many people have asked us to offer this service to them as individuals, we have decided to do just that.

The LTI service includes:

• Disassemble and clean firearms
• Visual inspection for obvious flaws in major components, and excessive wear on parts
• Visual inspection of metal and wood condition
• Check headspace
• Inspect and gauge chamber and muzzle wear, and bore condition
• Reassemble and properly lubricate
• Check for function – action cycle dummy rounds
• Test fire with five rounds of the proper ammunition
• Provide a recommendation on the ammunition type that should be used with the firearm
• Return actual test fired brass with firearm
• Provide the customer an LTI printed summary with each inspected firearm, including opinion on safety

We provide this service for military arms in the following calibers:

.30-06 (M1 Garand, Springfield 1903)                                    5.56 NATO (AR15, Galil, AK)

7.62x54R (Mosin-Nagant, M44, 91/30, 91/38)                        .30 Carbine

8x57 (Mauser)                                                                       .45ACP

7.62x51 NATO (M14, BM-59)                                                    9mm

7.62x39 (AK series)         

NOTE: Most of the firearms we encounter are well over 70 years of age. Ammunition designed for these weapons often became civilian cartridges with different design and performance characteristics. For example, 30-06 Springfield ammunition designed for a modern bolt action rifle will often damage an M1 Garand and should not be used. In addition, soft commercial brass may fail in a “looser” military chamber with the higher pressure involved creating a “case head failure” severely damaging the rifle. It is very important to use the correct ammunition to avoid a really bad day at the range.See, "Important Ammunition Requirements" page on the website. 

                                                      Basic LTI cost is $75 plus return shipping.

If your rifle requires additional parts to properly function or be made safe, we will contact you to explain the necessary work that would be required, and additional expense involved, so that you can make an informed decision.