Posted on 09/30/2011 4:32:57 AM PDT by sukhoi-30mki
Russia stops buying Kalashnikov
The Russian army has said it will stop buying the country's famous Kalashnikov assault rifles until its designers come up with a genuinely new model.
By Andrew Osborn, Moscow
The current modification of the weapon – the AK-74 – was developed in the early 1970s and the defence ministry says its warehouses are "overflowing" with millions of the Soviet-era rifles, stocks of which are likely to last for a further twenty years.
"The guns being offered to us are hardly any different from those in the warehouses," a defence ministry source told the daily Izvestia newspaper.
"You don't buy three fridges for the kitchen or five TVs," the source added.
The gun's makers, Izhmash, said they were afraid of telling the weapon's legendary inventor Mikhail Kalashnikov, 91, that the army was no longer buying his guns for fear of upsetting him.
"We don't want to risk it and break such news to him. Maybe he wouldn't survive it."
Lieutenant General Mikhail Kalashnikov shot to fame in 1947 when he designed the AK-47 assault rifle or Kalash. It quickly became the Red Army's standard issue rifle and was revered for its reliability and its simplicity to build and use (it only had eight movable parts).
The robust weapon soon became ubiquitous in revolutions and guerrilla wars around the world with an estimated 100 million guns or close copies being churned out.
The AK-74, the gun the defence ministry says it does not want to buy any more, is a modification of t
(Excerpt) Read more at telegraph.co.uk ...
Aside from the loose surplus, I’ve never had Russian surplus not go bang. Out of three 1000 rd. case purchases, I’ve only had a half-dozen misfires, stovepipes, or hangfires. It usually always goes bang!
Russian ordnance WORKS! That is a fact — even their old corrosive primed stuff does.
Ugh! The Berdan primed stuff is bad. I usually carry a little spray bottle full of Windex in my range kit. Spray that down the barrel of a rifle firing Berdan primers after a long day at the range, and you should keep corrosion at bay until it can be cleaned.
There have been plenty of instances where I took more to shoot than I could clean later, and the Windex seems to work pretty well. Haven’t fouled out a barrel yet.
better:
If you can find the old WW2-Korean War G.I. issue rifle bore cleaner, that stuff was designed to handle corrosive primers. Otherwise it's hot, soapy water, dry completely, and give a light coat of oil on the day you shoot and every day for three days thereafter.
This brings to my mind a comparison of the (also) marxist morons who want to reinvent the former U.S. Constitution. The arguments (except the inventory factor) are similar.
In fact this article is a bit misinterpreting.
That MoD really told is they don’t buy anymore because they already have enough ak-74s, let alone surplus ak-47s, akms to arm every household numerous times and they are waiting for an all-new design to replace ak as a standard rifle in a few years.
IMO it is a kind of upgraded AEK design from Kovrov manufactures once rejected in 1974 for 5.45 ak.
It was much superior to ak in terms of accuracy but military ditched it as too complicated for average conscript.
AFAIK ak makers are busy to adopt AEK technology right now to bid as well.
I remember reading years ago that they were planning to adopt the Nikonov AN-94, but that it apparently proved to be too expensive for general production.
I read an article where the Russians are interested in “dual burst” technology. This is where two rounds are fired with a single trigger pull and a single recoil impulse.
Designers came up with an idea that used a pulley system. I can’t remember exactly how it was supposed to work, but it sounds like a failure waiting to happen.
IMO, An-94 ‘dual burst’ technology’s pros and cons are obvious and it’s balance leaves no chance for this thing as a standard issue rifle.
An-94 single advantage is a capability to fire super accurate two-bullets burst at a price of Ak’s simplicity and reliability.
It just not worth it for average soldier.
It is usable in a few tactical situations. For example storming a building or taking out hostage takers. Dual bursts just let you alter tactics replacing single fire with dual bursts to make sure if you hit something it won’t ever hit back (more lethality).
So they are used by police and KGB agents, army is barely interested.
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