Article

2011-09-30 Science & Technology

End of an Era - Russian army stops buying Kalashnikov rifles

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Posted by Anonymoose 2011-09-30 00:00|| || Front Page|| [1 views ] Top

#1 Probably the only Soviet invention that ever and always worked.

Posted by European Conservative 2011-09-30 01:02|| 2011-09-30 01:02|| Front Page Top

#2 Of course, it was based on the German sturmgewehr. Cleaned up the sturmgewehr's problems and made it into something that could be turned out by third world metalworkers.

Posted by gromky 2011-09-30 01:06|| 2011-09-30 01:06|| Front Page Top

#3 According to wikipedia it was techniocally closer to the M1 Garand than to the Sturmwgewehr

Posted by JFM 2011-09-30 01:53|| 2011-09-30 01:53|| Front Page Top

#4 They haven't been buying classic AK-47s since the late Fifties, have they? The most-commonly made variant was the AKM, and it's been AK-74s and variants since the late Seventies in Russia proper. The AK-74 doesn't even use the classic heavy AK round... - CNN screwed up, it's the AK-74 series which is being dropped. Way to go, CNN editor - you managed to jabber on about AK-47s for entire paragraphs without once mentioning the actual weapon series being discontinued for Russian government purchase.

"We are designing new firearms, and we currently have 10 million Kalashnikovs for our army of one million servicemen," said General Nikolai Makarov, chief of the armed forces general staff.

Huh, so the Russians have no plans to keep armories for call-up of the militia, in case of oh, I don't know, Chinese invasion of Siberia? How untypically Russian of them.

Posted by Mitch H. 2011-09-30 08:35|| http://blogfonte.blogspot.com/ 2011-09-30 08:35|| Front Page Top

#5 Sounds like they are just waiting for a next gen AK. Not really a big deal.

Posted by Iblis 2011-09-30 10:31|| 2011-09-30 10:31|| Front Page Top

#6 To Iblis

How many of your own troops did your nation manage to get killed in Vietnam using jamming and faulty M16's?

Posted by Devilstoenail 2011-09-30 18:01|| 2011-09-30 18:01|| Front Page Top

#7 What does that have to do with the discussion, Devilstoenail? It seems to me the others were praising the AK series rather than otherwise. Fortunately, there are other things we do better than they, or you and we would all be speaking Russian now, and my husband wouldn't have put a good deal of time in traveling on business over there.

Posted by trailing wife 2011-09-30 18:07|| 2011-09-30 18:07|| Front Page Top

23:35 Dale
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