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AK-74M Azerbaijan has started serial production of AK-74M assault rifles under licence from Russia. The Khazri assault rifle has some different features from the Russian original. They include the possibility of installing night vision devices, laser targeting, optical sights and lighting. The design of the rifle has also been changed slightly, but the weight remains the same. The rifle is being produced under licence from Kalashnikov's producers, Izhmash, the Izhevsk Machine-Building Plant. Under the State Defence Order Program, the Ministry of the Defence Industry will produce 5,000 AK-74M Khazri assault rifles this year for delivery to the Defence Ministry.APA...

Romanian 5.45x39 jams a lot.

Police Arrest Witness Accused Of Lying To Sniper Investigators Falls Church Man Faces 6-Month Jail TermFairfax County Police have arrested and charged Matthew Dowdy, 37, of Falls Church, Va., for allegedly making false statements to police.Dowdy was arrested Friday afternoon, one day after police said his account of Monday night's sniper shooting outside the Home Depot store had been discredited.He is charged with "knowingly and willfully make(ing) a materially false statement or representation to a law enforcement officer who is in the course of conducting an investigation of a crime by another". He faces up to six months in jail.Dowdy's...

Ballistic Fingerprinting will be a joke soon, or why the Moose can't admit the shooter has a AK-74 Chief Moose and others involved with the investigation into the sniper shootings can't lend any credence to the witness who claims he saw a AK-74, because it would point out the ineptness of all of the ballistic testing to date. After Moose, the ATF and others trotted out all of the Mini-14's and AR-15 variants that used .223 ammo, they know they are in trouble if it turns out to be a AK-74. While the tests that show all of the rounds...

I was flipping channels past MS-NBC news tonight, and I heard Brian Williams report that the Maryland sniper is believed to be using an AK-74. He mentioned that they even asked the police if it was OK to report this, and that the police gave them the go-ahead. I have no idea how they would determine this - does a '74 leave distinctive marks on the brass? I recall that some AK-style rifles are available in .223, but aren't most of the '74s chambered for that 22 caliber Russian round? Seems like an odd choice for a sniper weapon, and...