AK-47: Iconic weapon

BBC Online (UK) ^ | 12/05/2005 | Staff

[1066AD]

Might be fun to listen to the programs.

AK-47 is broadcast on BBC World Service's World Today programme every day from 4 to 8 December, 2005, at 0205 GMT.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4499478.stm

[RetiredArmy]

"The AK-47, the preferred weapon of your enemy. It has a distinctive sound. Get to know it." Gunny Highway in Heartbreak Ridge.

[Gordongekko909]

Here's a "deluxe" model that used to belong to Saddam:

And then there's Mozambique's flag:

[GSlob]

"The best there is" would be the Finnish Valmet copy. AK is a paint sprayer, and the Finns somehow managed to tighten it up without sacrificing reliability.

[.cnI redruM]

I've fired an AK-47 once, and it was like the crack cocaine of assault weapons. I loved it. No wonder Che got all the babes.

All joking aside, the AK-47 was a brilliant design. If you have an unskilled militia with no O&S structure whatsoever, you want a weapon that pisses lead, is impossible to break, can be operated by an illiterate and will fire anything you care to load into it other than roofing nails or chewing gum. That pretty much is what an AK-47 provided our enemy for about 50 years.

[04-Bravo]

"...and, with only nine parts, easy to dismantle..."

NINE parts? Who proofreads this stuff for the BBC?

[EastIdaho]

Speaking of AK-47s, this was on local news today...
Local Man Robbed at Gunpoint with AK-47


http://www.localnews8.com/home/2056027.html

[absolootezer0]

In the film Jackie Brown, gunrunner Ordell Robbie calls the the AK-47 "the very best there is... accept no substitutes".

"The best there is" would be the Finnish Valmet copy. AK is a paint sprayer, and the Finns somehow managed to tighten it up without sacrificing reliability.

i'd prefer an HK PSG1 or a 91/G3.

[Redcloak]

...talking to the people who trade in it, the people who carry it, and the people whose lives have been destroyed by it.

I was unaware that the BBC had a necromancy desk.

[PsyOp]

The AK-47... The third worlds answer to the condom. Retroactive population control.

[Designer]

"..perhaps the most iconic..",

Amazing to hear constantly, but the average numb-skull reporter who would not know a rifle from a shotgun knows "AK-47" by rote - even without knowing what the initials and number stand for.

Iconic, isn't it?

[Gordongekko909]

I was unaware that the BBC had a necromancy desk.

What's so strange about that? The DNC has one.

[PsyOp]

"Iconic, isn't it?"

You meant "Ironic", didn't you?

[WilliamWallace1999]

Got one of those. It is a work of art. Rosewood stock and the reciever is machined from a billet and not stamped out. I is the semi-auto in 5.56 and is one of my "life keepers" in the gun safe. My daughters fight over which one gets it when I dead.

[GSlob]

De gustibus... And $$$, too. IIRC, PSG was about 10K.

[Blood of Tyrants]

It is a peasant's weapon with poor accuracy good only for close in fighting. Ask the AK-47 armed Iraqis who charged the soldier of the 507th who died after killing numerous Iraqis at 200 yards.

[absolootezer0]

actually, they started about $5,000... before they got banned. there were very few of them, and there really wasn't much difference between them and the 91. bolt close assist, adjustable cheek piece and hand grip, a $1,500 scope, and a much nicer trigger group.

what's "De gustibus"?

[wolfpat]

In the film Jackie Brown, gunrunner Ordell Robbie calls the the AK-47 "the very best there is... accept no substitutes".
He had a qualifying statement during those 3 dots, but we can't repeat it here.

[GSlob]

"De gustibus non disputandum est" - Latin proverb = "There is no arguing about one's tastes [or preferences]"

[joesnuffy]

The 'civilized' Western nations wont allow their honest citizens to own firearms or to become proficient with them
and keep up their skills...while their enemies nations
are swimming with such weapons...

Brilliant!

Luckily the AK family is still crap compared to the AR family...

Of course an AK is still infinitely better than no weapon
at all....

imo