Posted on 09/29/2009 10:25:23 AM PDT by Schnucki
It produces the most popular automatic rifles in the world but the company that makes the Kalashnikov, or AK-47, is in trouble. It has had to deal with a slump in arms exports and competition from the makers of copycat versions around the world. Now a shady businessman has filed bankruptcy proceedings against the company.
Even in his old age, Mikhail Kalashnikov still worries about the invention that defined his life. At a conference on the 60th anniversary of the weapon that he invented in 1947 -- the Avtomatni Kalashnikova (Automatic of Kalashnikov) or AK-47 -- the elderly weapons designer, who is still chief designer for the state controlled company that makes the guns, lamented that, "there are counterfeits all around the world now which are plainly not of the same quality as the Russian example."
The legendary Kalashnikov is a Russian export success story. The guns are used by 60 armies worldwide, account for up to 80 percent of all assault rifles and are known as the weapon of choice for terrorist groups and rebel movements. But the Izhmash Arms factory in the central Russian city of Izhevsk, where Kalashnikovs are manufactured, has long been concerned about forgeries.
According to Izhmash Arms' parent company, the Rosoboronexport State Corporation -- which has a monopoly on supplying Russian arms to the international market -- there are about eight countries in which dozens of business are making their own versions of the Kalashnikov. And they are doing this without passing on any licensing fees to the Russians.
And now it appears that the financial difficulties facing the weapons manufacturer have reached crisis point: its very existence is threatened. A businessman in Izhevsk has filed a motion to declare Izhmash Arms bankrupt because of outstanding debts of around 8 million rubles (around €180,000
(Excerpt) Read more at spiegel.de ...
Chinese copies make the round... and almost every third world dictatorship is producing them already locally.
Should have enforced their patent rights.........................
Why pay $800 for a Russian model when my Romanian WASR-10 works just as good for half the price?
I shot with an AK snob back in March who had to down talk my WASR. He had a Russian, a Hungarian, and a U.S. version. They were a little tighter, but not worth two to three times the price. An AK will always feel like an AK. For $800 to $1000 I’d rather get a gun that feels high-quality.
That being said, the AK gets a 10 for the reliability and the fun factor!
I credit George W. Bush. 7 seven years of recession for terrorists. Soon it will be boom times again for them, unfortunately.
My WASR had to go to the gunsmith when the pin of the mag release came out. Of course even then it still functioned as a single shot weapon. It was partly the fault of the aftermarket not-so-good translucent plastic mag which stuck just a bit.
One dealer told me that none of the semi-auto versions were origninally made in Russia but my wife trained on semi-auto versions when she was in the 8th grade in the USSR.
You'll like this site, then: http://7.62x54r.net/MosinID/MosinHumor.htm
60 years is a long time to keep trying to drain the same cash cow.
Anyone know about the feed problems with an SKS and a third party detachable mag (and how to fix it)?
A friend was asking about it - I wouldn’t know.
A few gun-heaps they gave away for free to impoverished rebels. They gave away the plans and tooling, and even re-designed the AK-47 into the simpler AKM, dumbing-down the manufacturing for Third World primates.
Now they're whining about the consequences.
Maybe they should covertly sell some to the good guys for once in thier life!
Let’s start with some Iranian students.
"Sturmgewehr" - Haenel / Schmeisser MP 43 MP 44 Stg. 44 assault rifle
That is a simple fix, deposit the detatchable mags in the nearest dumpster, where they belong. Put the fixed 10 rounder back on, get some stripper clips, and learn to load with them.
Problem solved.
Russia makes more money selling their air-defense junk to the islamic regime.
The third party detachable mags for the sks are usually junk. They are not machined properly to begin with...caveat emptor.
They look very similar but functionally not the same. There are videos of Mikhail Kalashnikov talking about this. He had handled the STG-44 and obviously it affected his design outwardly, but internally they aren’t the same. Kalashnikov made a much simpler and easier to produce rifle in keeping with Soviet methods at the time. It truly was brilliant in its simplicity and should be required study for mechanical engineers for the KISS method.
A passer by who I don't know says: "Throw the magazine in the scrap bin and use the 10 round fixed."
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