Posted on 03/20/2017 2:23:28 AM PDT by Brad from Tennessee
PALM BAY — Just down the road from a Krispy Krunchy fried chicken store, in a nondescript Brevard County business park, a 60,000-square-foot factory produces about 2,500 AK-47 rifles a month.
The Tampa Bay Times reports that Ulrich "Uli" Wiegand, a German immigrant who started the company called Inter Ordinance Inc., sees a bright future for the American-made version of the Kalashnikov, the classic Soviet-bloc weapon with the iconic banana-shaped ammo magazine. It is the world's most popular weapon.
There were as many as 150 million Kalashnikovs as of 2012, according to Aaron Karp, senior consultant to the Small Arms Survey, a Geneva-based research institute.
But Wiegand wants to put Florida on the map as the place where the best AKs are made, combining modern American manufacturing prowess with the original design by Russian Lt. Gen. Mikhail Kalashnikov. With the help of a Tampa-registered company called Purple Shovel, he wants to double his capacity and his workforce, and switch the bulk of his business from consumers to governments.
"We are taking the best features of American manufacturing and infusing them into an AK-47, with 100 percent American-made parts," said Wiegand, who moved the company to Florida from North Carolina in 2013. . .
(Excerpt) Read more at orlandosentinel.com ...
For some reason the thread title reminded of “Heartbreak Ridge” with Clint Eastwood using an AK 47 with live rounds to whip a ragtag recon group into a solid unit.
Any marines here see that movie and how realistic/far from realistic was it? :)
Love the movie, but I know Hollywood takes license, to say the least!
Too bad IO makes the worst quality AKs. THE WORST. I’m talking real trash. Rivets not sunk right, gas blocks walk out, seen one try to explode after its 4th round. One would be much better off buying a WASR10
[Any marines here see that movie and how realistic/far from realistic was it?]
Reconnaissance is a voluntary MOS, requiring specialized training including scuba and airborne schools. Members of battalion recon and force recon are highly motivated individuals, unlike the platoon depicted in the movie. But I did like the movie.
I was in the Marine Corps then. It was a cartoon.
Yes, IO is not what the East German Wieger 940 was
It is true, all ak-47s are not made alike.
A person might have forgotten how anti-2nd Amendment HGW Bush was.
The best AK is of course the Finnish RK-95 which was made in semi auto as the Sako M92S and that would be a great rifle to reproduce in the US.
Of all the weapons in the vast soviet arsenal, nothing was more profitable than Avtomat Kalashnikova model of 1947. More commonly known as the AK-47, or Kalashnikov. It’s the world’s most popular assault rifle. A weapon all fighters love. An elegantly simple 9 pound amalgamation of forged steel and plywood. It doesn’t break, jam, or overheat. It’ll shoot whether it’s covered in mud or filled with sand. It’s so easy, even a child can use it; and they do. The Soviets put the gun on a coin. Mozambique put it on their flag. Since the end of the Cold War, the Kalashnikov has become the Russian people’s greatest export. After that comes vodka, caviar, and suicidal novelists. One thing is for sure, no one was lining up to buy their cars.
Not only as a marine, but also as an Eastwood fan, that was one of his all time worst. It’s hard to believe a guy with so much talent made something that bad.
Haven’t logged in for a while but this is worth it.
Bears repeating.
IO is the WORST.
THE WORST.
Century RAS-47 not much better with it’s increasing headspace issues.
Palmetto State Armory having QA/QC issues.
DDI got snapped up by PSA and is becoming their premium line after a very embarrassing spate of QC issues.
Not knowing what the reality of being a marine is, I enjoyed it.
Hard to enjoy something when you know how wrongly it’s depicted.
I was in a psych unit for a few weeks after a head injury.
The insomnia and pain etc. were getting to me.
Now when I see shows taking place in psych wards I either laugh or curse because they are so wrong about so many thing and patently absurd.
I think that’s how you felt about this! :)
Another better alternative is a Galil or in US, a Golani. looks similar to a Valmet, AK based, but better quality and MUCH better sights. Sort of a product improved (by Israelis) AK.
And why are ALL American-built AKs trash? Unless you’re running a $2600 Rifle Dynamics or similar custom job like Definitive Arms, our barrels are junk, our rivets are never right, we still cast high-pressure parts that explode with normal use and all that fun stuff. Of yeah, and their sights fall off. You don’t see ANY of that in ANY other AK manufacturing country anywhere. Ours are THAT bad.
Your screen name rocks. That pretty much describes me haha
I remember back in 1989 when G. H. W. Bush said, “We’ve got to do something about those automated weapons.” Jackass.
Stamped != Forged
Just sayin’ . . .
Really? Not so much.
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