Posted on 12/10/2014 3:53:53 AM PST by wetphoenix
It is probably the best-known weapon in the world, brandished by everyone from Che Guevara to Osama bin Laden. But the Kalashnikov assault rifle has failed to produce a profit for its makers for years.
Things were just starting to improve when the firm was hit by Western sanctions.
With Russian military stores full of the famously durable Kalashnikovs, and dwindling orders from abroad, the company had turned its attention to civilian firearms markets.
In January it finally secured a foothold in the biggest of them, sealing a lucrative deal to supply up to 200,000 rifles a year in the US.
But in July, Kalashnikov was placed on a US list of eight arms manufacturers sanctioned for Russia's role in fomenting the crisis in Ukraine. The deal was halted with under half the initial order delivered. It was added to an EU list in September.
"Of course I was upset, because I didn't understand why we'd been sanctioned," Kalashnikov director Alexei Krivoruchko told the BBC, arguing that the firm was no longer wholly state-owned since he and another Russian businessman had invested in a 49% stake.
Also, he points out, it primarily produces firearms for the civilian market.
"The US was a key market for us, one that we planned to develop," Mr Krivoruchko says. "It's a big loss, there's no point saying otherwise."
There are now some 200 models of Kalashnikov, still produced at the original factory in Izhevsk, two hours' flight east of Moscow.
In Soviet times, the sprawling plant manufactured around 600,000 rifles a year for the military. Last year it turned out one tenth of that number and 80% were civilian firearms.
(Excerpt) Read more at bbc.com ...
Sure made money for lots of other folk though.
They could charge to do factory tours. I’d pay to see that.
I’d like to have another AK74. Shouldn’t have sold that one. Fun shooter, wicked fast little bullet. Would be cool to see how they are manufactured.
Like the A-10. Low tech but effective.
I briefly owned an AK74. It was sold in the light green steel box with spare magazines.
Was yours the real deal? Mine was a SAR2 I think. Made in Romania.
I didn’t own it long enough to know the difference.
It came to me consigned by the widow of a dear friend who had passed.
He had a gun collection, including the AK.
I mentioned it to a customer in St. L and he was all over it.
Mine is an Egyptian Maadi.
They are very fun to shoot. Unfortunately I had a boating accident . . .
I think original AK-47s were already banned by one of those bills banning the import of firearms that had “no sporting purpose”. This new bill from dear leader went the rest of the way and banned parts.
http://blog.cheaperthandirt.com/buyers-guide-ak-rifles/
Barry’s EO only affected Russian AK parts, I believe the Polish, Serbian, Bulgarian, etc, parts and rifles are still
being imported.
I have a dream, that one day the NFA, GCA, 922(o) and 922(r) will be repealed, then we can buy dirt cheap surplus AKs by crate!
Has what I believe as a Romanian AK47/WASR. Was a bit more naive about guns and bullets and where to purchase accessories back then, so traded it away for a shotgun.
If I know then what I know now, I’d have two of the most prolific firearms in the world, all accessoried up.
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