Oh yeah! One of my favorites as well.
Posted on 06/12/2016 4:51:13 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
U.S. Special Operations Command wants to see if it can slap a "Made in the U.S.A." label on the world's most popular weapon — the Russian-designed AK-47 assault rifle.
In war-torn countries like Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria, where the United States has an interest, the iconic AK-47 with its curved ammo magazine is a favorite of insurgents and allies alike because it is inexpensive to own and operate. Compared to U.S. weapons like the M-4 assault rifle, it's also more durable and uses ammunition that's easier to find.
Now, U.S. Special Operations Command is scouting for companies that might have the interest and ability to manufacture the ubiquitous gun and other Soviet-bloc-era weapons here in the United States....
(Excerpt) Read more at tampabay.com ...
Kalashnikov USA was my first thought too. Not sure if they’re being made there yet, but they were moving to Bradenton, FL. Their most expensive commercial rifle is the “Modern AK”, 7.62X39, with polymer furniture, Picatinny rails, etc., for about $925 MSRP. Personally if they’re planning to go to a AK round, I’d recommend the (formerly CZ) VZ.58 currently made by Czech Small Arms and imported thru CzechPoint-USA. Awesome AK variant.
I have both and enjoy both, but in the end if presented with the option of only one my SLR-95 stays.
FRegards
You can’t leave out 7.62x54R, there’s nothing like a short barreled Mosin at dusk. ;)
“Awesome AK variant.”
Or so I’ve been told....
The nicest AK I have seen is the Valmet.
If it shot as well as it looked it would have been a good one. I came within a hair of trading for one many years ago.
Oh yeah! One of my favorites as well.
I had to look it up, a model 1895 in 30-40 wow! Lurkinanloomin likes 7.62X54R. Model 1895 was also chambered for that round. 7.62 rules!
I had a Valmet 76 folding stock model,excellent shooter.The problem was parts-had a firing pin break and it’s not the same as any other AK.It took months to get a replacement.
Yes that would be almost like a flamethrower.
Back around 1963 I ordered a 95 Chilean Mauser along with some FN head stamped 7mm ammo. Even with a 29 inch barrel the thing roared and belched fire.
The Armalite AR10 in .243 is awesome too.
I’ve got a Persian mauser carbine in 8mm,17.7 inch barrel.
The muzzle blast is pretty raw.
RAS-47 has been a totally failure and is a POS!
Couldn’t even make it to the 5,000 round mark in many tests. Just look on youtube.
Best AK I ever owned was an Ishevsk from Saiga. We have much to learn from the Russians.
” ... There are some variants made by higher end manufacturers that are very accurate.
The reliability of the AK is undeniable - especially in comparison with the AR platform (it’s main rival). ...”
Higher-end gunmakers can indeed produce a more accurate Kalashnikov, but they cannot do it for less money (most such “special” items cost more than most ARs).
And they are accurate only when firing higher-end ammunition ... so another advantage of the Kalashnikov is thus negated. Use any old stray rounds picked up from battlefields around the globe, and you won’t get much of a result to be happy with.
Reliability degrades also in the costlier versions ... the Kalashnikov’s reputation for reliability of function is based almost entirely on evaluations of average to low-end factory specimens, which are fitted with such loose tolerances that their accuracy is very poor (four to five times the CEA of an AR).
You can have reliability, or you can have accuracy. Not both. That’s just the way a tradeoff works.
Additionally, 7.62x39 ammunition has a shorter effective range than 5.56x45 NATO.
Once again, it is shown Americans yearn for defense on the cheap. They yearn in vain.
Pity they won’t get someone like Ruger to make one. I’d love to have a Ruger quality version to play with.
If you do an honest 5.45x39 vs. 5.56x45 comparison, you’ll find that the Russians outdid NATO by a lot.
The 5.45 isn’t velocity dependent on performance and will out-penetrate even a 7.62NATO under 100 meters.
.223 versus Kevlar
What bothers me, is the amount of weapons we destroy.
I recall in Vietnam, they’d have a cache of commie guns, and destroy them. Perfectly good guns with lots of ammo they could issue to the ARVNs.
Fast forward to Iraq. Betcha the whole Iraqi army was outfitted with US arms, and their Russian stuff canned.
Just dumb, plain dumb.
Same with vehicles. Need parts, buy’em from the Ruskies. Save some bucks. Look what happened to all the humvees anyway, the muzzie militants have them. Just stupid.
The velocities developed by 7.62x39 cartridges work fine with unjacketed hardened cast bullets. This is an important consideration for someone who casts their own bullets. You can easily heat treat cast lead alloy using a normal oven, then add a homemade gas check made from aluminum or copper sheet metal and depending on the care used when making up your own cartridges they are as accurate as copper jacketed bullets.
This might be an important consideration one day if the government starts trying to regulate commercial ammunition. With 7.62x39 you have a much larger and heavier projectile traveling at a slower speed than 5.62x45. The molds I use produce a 155 grain bullet as compared to the typical 5.62x45 bullet which weighs only 55 to 65 grains. The high velocities of 5.62x45 bullets basically means that they must be jacketed which makes them difficult to produce without special equipment.
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