Posted on 09/23/2009 12:02:21 AM PDT by kingattax
THE Russian producer of the Kalashnikov assault rifle, the world's most ubiquitous firearm, is facing bankruptcy owing to falling orders.
A court in the Russian region of Udmurtiya has accepted a bankruptcy petition filed against Izhmash, the country's biggest arms manufacturer and the maker of the rifle.
The iconic weapon has been produced in the millions and adopted by 106 armed forces across the globe, but production in its home land is now in doubt.
Another Russian company, Gremikha, claims that the AK's maker owes them £8 million, and has now gone to court to get its money.
Arms sales have crashed and Izhmash has frozen production of the AK-47 at its Molot factory due to a lack of orders from the state. But analysts believe that bankruptcy could allow the company to be restructured and then restarted without its debt burden.
Izhmash has made no comment over its financial future
good....................
The price of Saigas, especially their shotguns, is about to go through the roof! Get’em while you can.
This is where all the foreign copies bite them in the butt.
Yep.
I'd better go out and grab a Saiga 12.
Why is the Russian manufacturer of the AK47 almost going out of business? That’s because a large fraction of the world’s output of AK-47s is now coming from China and India nowadays, and most armies and terrorist organizations want more modern weapons such as the Norinco-manufactured QBZ-95.
A shame. A good weapon.
I always get annoyed when I’m at the shooting range and some wannabe banger shows up with one of those horrible cheap Romanian knock-off AK’s. The spent cartridges blast straight out at eye level towards whoever happens to be on the shooter’s right.
—those with which I am familiar will do 3-6 inch groups at 100 yards with iron sights. On semi-auto the heavy AK has little recoil—
The Molot rifle were hard to get to begin with.
Now VEPRS will be down right rare.
Molot. Finest AK in the world
aw dammit.. they make good guns. wish i had the dough to go out and get a Saiga-12.. my Saiga 7.62x39 is a great gun.. er, was before the boating accident where it was lost to the murky depths............
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jugmbARIVtM
This is one of my favorite saiga vid’s.
Our own AR-15 was designed in 1958, but is still a very fine rifle. The Remington 870 shotgun was designed in the 50s. The M1911 (”Colt .45” style pistol) went into service in 1911, and there are a dozen companies making all types of them today with shooters tricking them out in every way imaginable. Even “modern” pistols like the Glock are getting close to 30 years old.
Yes, the AK is crude, but as a C&R license holder I can tell you age alone doesn’t make a firearm obsolete—we could throw a bullet down a tube a hundred years ago with great accuracy, and there are tons of guys shooting M1 Garands and the like. My commie pistols (CZ-52 and TT-33) sat encased in cosmoline for 60 years, and while they may be crude in design, underneath the preservative they were brand new and shoot like it.
The AK is uncontrollable if you’re some ignorant thug in Somalia firing full-auto from the hip. Any passable shooter can shoot decent groups at 100 yards with one, and beyond that if they put some work into accurizing it. If you want to do real distance shooting you can spend the money on a Romanian PSL (AK-pattern SVD Dragunov knockoff), but as far as real world uses go 100 yards should have you covered.
As far as recoil goes, it’s all relative. Yes the combination of crude clearances and the piston system make it a bit “rougher” firing, but the actual kick is minimal because it’s an “intermediate” round (~1300 ft-lbs energy) like the AR-15, not a real rifle round. For comparison, a .45 is about 500 ft-lbs, a .44 Magnum is about 1000, and true rifle rounds like the .308 range from 2500-3500 ft-lbs.
There are already so many AK’s floating around, the weapon is a victim of its own success.
Very true.
But burgeoning despots know that using revolutionary troops and otherwise ill trained spray and pray cannon fodder, you need a simple weapon with a good rate of fire that is accurate (close in) and that works clean or dirty.
When I set myself up as the head of some African crap hole, I'm arming the boys ith the AK, no question.
My son hit a target with just iron sights at 100 and 200 yards. Doesn’t kick too bad . Try a 45-70 in a H&R Handi-rifle if you want a mule kick.
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