Alphecca

I have yet to see any pictures of US troops actually using AKs-and from what I hear of the condition of most weapons captured from the insurgents, I wouldn't be too keen on using them, unless I was out of ammo for mine, or it was completely non-functional.

I've seen tons of pics of guys (and gals) posing with AKs, which is totally different.

The only Russian/Soviet weapon I've actually seen in a picture being used was a PPSh.

Even it Kalashnikov is right, it may be more of an indictment of the lack of effectiveness of the 5.56, not the weapon firing it.

I understand what you mean by the 'out of money' (just got the call that my car will be done soon with an unexpected $900 AC fix).

What's 'the license' nonsense? Just something fun they slap on you to keep you away from EBRs? Here in Missouri all I need for an AK is a bit of cash and clean NICS check.

Don't have one myself, but the ever-indulgent wife loves hers. I've got a PSL instead. ;)

Steve, I'd wager Jeff is talking about a REAL AK-47, the fully automatic kind...

Jeff -- Pick up a good AK now. One day you'll have the 07 FFL and SOT. Then you can convert the gun legally to select fire and have full auto fun. Even if you don't elect to do this, it's still a fun shooter as is. Jack

Don't get me wrong. I like the AK for the same reasons anyone else does, but..
I never missed the 300 meter target with the 16 any time I qualified. Never. and I am just a pretty good shot, I am no Carlos Hathcock. The accuracy difference between the two would make me choose the M-16 and it's decendants over an Ak if I had to bet my life on making a long range shot.
They conveniently forget that AK users died and continue to die by the bushel when going up against any version of the M-16 even the earliest, most problematic version, in part because of the difference in accuracy.

Ak-47 is a tough gun. I had both in Vietnam. M16 is good also. very accurate. It is climate sensitive. AK-47 is not. The U.S. needs to combine the good traits of both and come up with a really superior rifle. We are waiting UNCLE SAM!!!!!!!

I'll second that. They are looking to replace the M4. I forget which magazine it was in but I read a good article detailing a long list of possible candidates. If I can find it in my stack of gun mags, I'll post which one it was so anyone interested in reading it can find it.
From what I read, the day of the 5.56 will be over soon as well. A new 6.8mm round is getting attention from the people in charge.

I WAS referring to the fully automatic one. A friend has one and it's definitely cool.

L1A1.

During Somalia, I carried a Chinese Type 56 (a Chinese variant of the AK-47) around in my Humvee.

It was a good carbine. Plus with the folding stock, it was easy to store and use from inside the vehicle.

The only problem I really remember with it was that it could be a bear to fire in full auto, and the ammo was sometimes no good (but that's not the fault of the rifle).

I do know that it was nowhere near as accurate as my M-16A2, and you could feel the parts rattle inside of it if you shook it, but all in all it was a pretty solid weapon.

As for ammo, that was never a problem. The old 7.62x39mm ammo was all over the place. You could buy it dirt cheap in the markets down in Kismaayo if you had to.

I thought I read that in Vietnam our troops usually did NOT use the AK, even when available, because its distinctive report was likely to draw US fire. Special forces types on individual missions, maybe, but not the ordinary grunt on the line.

As to acquiring a "real" AK at some point in the future, there are some substantial limitations. First, you cannot transfer a machine gun made after 1986, and it's my impression that the number of "transferable" full-auto AKs in this country is exceptionally small - i.e., they are REALLY expensive even if you can find somebody to part with one. Second, I believe that there is a total ban on importing a machine gun, so even if you could find one abroad that you could prove was made before 1986 you couldn't get it into the country. Third, it's my understanding that under current law it is NOT legal to "manufacture" a machine gun (by installing a full-auto fire control group in the receiver) without some sort of machine gun manufacturer's license (imagine the paperwork THAT must involve, not to mention ongoing "audits" from our friends at the ATF). In part, you'd end up with a machine gun made after 1986, and we all know how exceptionally evil and destructive those guns are. If anybody knows that these impressions are wrong I'd like to learn.

Even if you could get a full-auto AK, one of the downsides that I've read about is that they get REALLY hot, to the point where the front handguards will just burst into flame (or melt, if they're plastic.) One of the "you know you're an AK fanatic when . . ." experiences.

That said, I've got a real hankering for an AK myself (with a folding stock, no less) -- just because. I understand the plusses of the AR rifle, but I still want one of those AKs. Maybe someday.

Seen about half a dozen selectve fire ones this morning, in the hands of a bunch of semi-literate muppets. The old fella has a right to brag. he made a gun that is pretty much muppet proof, and that's what matters.

the British peice of crap (in heavy barrel form) is probably more accurate than your m16, but you wouldn't want one...

Kalashnikov's tool is as indestructable as small arms come, it goes of when you ask it to and it delivers a lot of hot lead more accurately than you can point it in action. What more can you ask of it?

oh yeah, if you run out of ammo - it works as a club or a spear until you find some more.

I want one, preferably finnish made.

Before you guys get all upset that an American did't design it, take a close look...

it's pretty much an m1 carbine with the operating rod staightened up and put into the shell of a 1900's remington semi auto...

simple but brilliant

Full auto ones are available with no need for a special license, Jeff.

Going market rate seems to be $8000-$12000, plus any applicable state or local sales taxes, plus the $200 federal transfer tax.

Happy shootin'. :)

I could care less who designed it. I have a wall covered with combloc designed weapons. I will point out things as I see them though.

$8000-$12000. Is THAT all? Shoot, I'll take two!

So.... I'm in the jungles of Vietnam. I succesfully kill a NV soldier, who is carrying an AK-47 which he decidedly wasn't capable of killing me with, with my M16, and I'm going to abandon my M16?

Something stinks, and it isn't the jungle rot :)

Ah yes, you do need a license for the happy noisemaker variety, at least under current law.

There are very few circumstances in which full-auto makes sense to me. Shooting for the pure joy of it is one of them, however. ;)

We've had the wooden handguards smoking on the ever-indulgent wife's AK, mostly when using the 75-rd drum. And that's just a normal semi-auto (WASR-10, in fact). Flames seem like a real possibility with full-auto AK's.

Full auto weaponry is the fastest way to convert currency into noise. :)

The AK family did switch to 5.45mm in the Seventies, and I've no idea which calibre is floating around in Iraq.

Most guns from the 1940s onward have features which were seen earlier, and Hiram Maxim is reputed to have patented just about every basic possibility. There's a very big design toolbox to pick and choose from, and the genius is in picking the right elements.

Anybody ever thought of what a Lee-Enfield, chambered for 5.56mm and suitably scaled, would shoot like? Sort of a bolt-action version of the Mini-14 idea.

DaveB, a .223 Lee Enfield, a subject that has been much on my mind...

in these days of CAD and 5 axis CNC machine tools, a lot of the difficulties of producing small numbers of the more elaborate actions are overcome, so it's a case of do the CAD drawings and get a machine shop to run off a prototype or two.

It would be interesting to use all of that weight bonus (with the shorter bolt throw and narrower bolt channel) to cook up a new balance between action rigidity and the ability of Lee actions to compensate for different bullet velocities at long range.

A .223 lee, let's think what we'd stick on it:
Swing off scope bases
No4 type aperture sites
m16 mag compatibility, with stripper slot
?cock on opening
safety left as on No4
2 peice stock (so rifle is still strong enough to use as a club) with option of single piece stock. (that's the beauty of CNC production)

ps, take a look on the BBC news website for England and see the cops putting peasants through metal detectors and arresting them if they find a knife. the BBC think this is a good thing

Nice site http://stacey-keebler.blogspot.com/