[Old Teufel Hunden]

"Then a few years later the Chicoms were exporting legal AK’s so I bought one & stayed legal."

Yeah, but those ones aren't fully auto like the ones you saw in Vietnam. During the Gulf war there were all kind of AK's everywhere, but if you got caught trying to smuggle one back you were up poop creek without a paddle....

Our ops officer collected a whole bunch of them up along with other military items for "display" in a unit museum. True enough they did make a museum once we got back. I just wonder how many "extra" pieces never made it to the museum and into the hands of some of our officers...

[elcid1970]

I worked at an Army Reserve maintenance shop & one day I was handed an AKMS & told to render it inoperable by cutting a gap in the chamber (used air gouger) & then welding the bolt carrier to the front trunion. It was returned to the unit where it was added to the property book by serial number.

IIRC during OEF 1 a unit had to get a G.O. to sign off on their adding a full auto weapon to their museum & again it went on the unit property book by serial number before they rotated out of theater. I had to cut up a brand new Krinkov, enough to make grown men cry.

Some O-6 got busted in Iraq trying to smuggle out six AKMSs on a C-130, it helps not to get greedy.