AK 47 a Lord of war

[TsarSamuil]

First pics of AK-200!

[TsarSamuil]

Putin shown up-to-date Kalashnikov assault rifles.

Vid,
en.rian.ru/video/20100527/159184587.html
RIA Novosti. (106 sec./7.86Mb Views: 4090)

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin visited the small arms manufacturer Izhevsk Mechanical Works (Izhmash) and chaired a meeting on the production of close-combat weapons in Izhevsk.

[TsarSamuil]

Russia, Bulgaria address illegal production of Soviet-era weaponry.

Russia and Bulgaria have agreed to resolve issues related to unlicensed production of Soviet-era weaponry and equipment by Bulgarian companies, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said.

"We spoke about bilateral military-technical cooperation. There are some problems in this area that we must resolve together," Putin said after talks with his Bulgarian counterpart Boiko Borisov in Sofia on Saturday.

"They are related to unlicensed production of Soviet-era special equipment and weaponry," he said.

In particular, Russia is concerned about unlicensed production of Kalashnikov assault rifles by Bulgarian companies, including Arsenal, whose license expired a long time ago.

Russia insists that it suffers major losses from the counterfeit manufacture of Kalashnikov rifles in at least 15 countries.

According to Kalashnikov producer Izhmash, Russia accounts for only 10-12% of the million Kalashnikov rifles sold globally every year, with the rest being unlicensed copies.

Only China currently has a valid license to manufacture Kalashnikov rifles and their modifications.

SOFIA, November 14 (RIA Novosti)

[TsarSamuil]

Russia must replace Kalashnikovs with American and French rifles?

Pravda.Ru
Sergei Balmasov
17.01.2011 06:13

Russia's Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov has caused quite a controversy in the country with his remarks about Russian small arms, particularly the legendary Kalashkikovs and the Dragunov SVD sniper rifles. Mr. Serdyukov stated that the Russian small arms had become outdated, and added that Russia could purchase small arms from abroad after it was decided to acquire Mistral helicopter carriers from France.

What do Russian professions think on the subject?

"Foreigners admit that Russian small arms are one of the best in the world. Just show me a foreign rifle which would compete with a Russian one on all specifications, including the integrity level. How would a soldier feel in combat action if his rifle, which is widely, albeit unreasonably advertised as "more accurate," would unexpectedly malfunction? The main problem here is that Russia does not have anyone to work in the gun-making industry because of low salaries. Purchasing small arms from abroad can entirely destroy the industry in Russia," gun designer Dmitry Shirayev told Pravda.Ru.

"These arms are not likely to be become outdated ever. I am no stranger to either AK-74 or SVD, and I can say this for sure. I have not heard any bad comments about these rifles from any of my comrades-in-arms," Sergei Glussky, a former member of Rosich special task force unit, a participant of the counter-terrorist operation in Chechnya said.

"Terrorists from the Caucasus always use Kalashnikovs and SVDs. The funding, which they receive from abroad, gives them a very good opportunity to receive American and French small arms. They often use foreign-made communication systems at times, but they most frequently, if not always, use Russian-made rifles. All their snipers use SVD sniper rifles. This rifle stands out of criticism in all respects. What made Serdyukov think that Russian assault and sniper rifles are no good? What is good then? He did not say. Let him clarify the point, we will conduct the range practice and see what works better.

"The sitting Russian defense minister is not a military man - this is the problem. How can he judge the advantages and disadvantages of this or that type of weapon? The people who do not have an expert opinion in such questions should not make such important decisions, because they may lead to lamentable consequences in the future. Why does he think that Russia has no good sniper rifles? It brings up a story about Klim Voroshilov, which happened when he visited a field firing range. A Red Army soldier complained of Mosin's rifle to him saying that the rifle was bad. Voroshilov took the rifle and hit all the targets with it. I think we are now having a similar situation," the former military man said.

Alexander Khramchikhin, deputy director of the Institute for Political and Military Analysis: "There is a share of truth in what the minister said. It does not mean, though, that we should purchase arms from abroad. What is good about Kalashnikovs? They are simple and easy to use. This is an unrivaled rifle from this point of view. These rifles were designed for mass production, for large classic wars. However, Russia has other, more modern types of small arms, such as Nikonov assault rifle. However, unlike the Kalashnikov, the Nikonov does not have the advantages of the legendary AK-74 - its easy use, for example. Its flaws include insufficient accuracy and a high rate of the consumption of cartridges. Their accuracy range of 400 meters is not enough for present-day warfare realias.

"As for the Dragunov sniper rifle (SVD), this is a very good sniper rifle. However, this fine sniper rifle begins to go out of date too. It uses optical sights, while electronic sights are needed to increase the strike accuracy. It also needs a larger caliber.

"Before Serdyukov, Russia used to sell limited batches of sniper rifles to Britain and Austria. We still have many types of small arms that meet all modern requirements, but they are not in mass production yet. Russia needs competition with foreign arms, because competition is the driving force of progress - it will help us get rid of stagnation. It does not mean, though, that we must fully proceed to using foreign weapons," the expert said.

Viktor Litovkin of Independent Defense Review: "AK-74 is an old assault rifle indeed, not to mention other, earlier versions like AK-47, AKM, etc. One may set serious claims to this rifle today: when being used in action, this rifle gets diverted, no matter how solid you might be holding it. It has one big advantage, though: anyone can shoot from this rifle. If you drop it in the sand or in the dirt - nothing will happen to the rifle. Russia has another rifle that does not have such serious flaws. However, it does not have the advantages of AK-74 either. If it falls in the dirt, it will not operate, and it will take a lot of time to clean the rifle.

"There are claims to Russian sniper weapons. All our rifles are automatic. They lose precision after a first shot in gun action. Some Russian experts say that the nation's best sniper rifle is the old Mosin optical rifle. Another sniper rifle, known as Val, also receives a lot of appraisal.

"As for foreign small arms, let's take, for instance, American and Israeli arms. They are high precision weapons, but they are designed for very accurate and responsible soldiers, who do not forget to clean them. I believe that it is unrealistic and unnecessary for Russia to purchase small arms from other countries," the expert said.

[White Cossack]

Heresy! This guy should be fired... not only from his job!

[boroslav]

What a moron, indeed.

[pastir]

Terrorists from the Caucasus always use Kalashnikovs and SVDs. The funding, which they receive from abroad, gives them a very good opportunity to receive American and French small arms. They often use foreign-made communication systems at times, but they most frequently, if not always, use Russian-made rifles. All their snipers use SVD sniper rifles.

LOL, a little bit humorous to use this sort of an argument, but it's actually a good one. With militaries one minister - who could be a moron - makes a decision for hundreds of thousands of soldiers who have no say in the matter. But with the terrorists each one picks out a weapon for himself on his own. If they almost all pick weapons from one point of origin that says something.

[TsarSamuil]

That minister is controversial, he's behind cutting the Rus forces to size, to be 'modern' 'fast' 'efficient' many officers n troops protested n demanded that he should resign.

It's in this military forum somewhere I posted.

Edit: ah yes, here,

-------

Vid,
rt.com/politics/russian/russian-army-serdyukov-protest/

Rallying Russian vets say defense minister must go.

Hundreds of Russian veterans, servicemen demand defense minister's ouster, protests cuts.

SASHA MERKUSHEV
AP News
Nov 07, 2010 09:22 EST

More than 1,000 Russian military veterans and active servicemen rallied Sunday to demand the ouster of the defense minister, a civilian who is carrying out a radical reform of Russia's armed forces.

The rally was organized by veterans from the Airborne Forces, considered the most professional and proud branch of the military. But members of other branches also took part, as well as monarchists, nationalists and hardline Orthodox Christians.

Under Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov's reforms, as many as 200,000 officers have lost their jobs and nine of every 10 army units have been disbanded. The reforms, which have strong backing from the Kremlin, are aimed at turning Russia's bloated and inefficient military into a modern force.

Speaker after speaker accused Serdyukov of selling out the army, threatening Russia's security and acting in the interests of Zionists. Anti-Semitic sentiments permeated many of the speeches.

Retired Col. Vladimir Kvachkov, who served in military intelligence, said plans were being made to fight back.

"Paratroopers, we haven't carried out our main special operation, our main battle, yet," he said. "Our special operation, our main (missile) launch, our main campaign at sea are ahead."

Kvachkov, 62, spent three years in prison on charges of attempting to kill Anatoly Chubais, who was instrumental in the privatizations of Russian industry in the 1990s. He was acquitted in 2008.

The rally was triggered by Serdyukov's visit to the Airborne Forces Academy, where he gave a harsh dressing-down to the head of the academy over the unauthorized construction of an Orthodox church on its grounds.

Many of the participants in Sunday's rally said they were angry that Serdyukov did not want to see churches built on military bases.

They also bristled at being led by a civilian defense minister, the country's first in 90 years.

"We hope that civil servant Serdyukov — I cannot say 'comrade' or use his military rank, if he has one — will listen to us and submit his resignation of his own free will, but there is no tradition of this in Russia," said retired Lt. Col. Vladimir Bondarenko, 50.

[TsarSamuil]

Some crazy US-Russian with his AK n 'explosive rounds' Not sure he's Russian, his accent sounds pretty fake, probably just a stupid joke.



hmmm... a bunch of smoke it seems to me, any good with that? Hmmm...if u don't kill ur target, the smoke will make u loose sight of him...

[borislav01]

The most popular weapon in the world is Slavic

[TsarSamuil]

Ruling Party Despises Intellect, Wants to Arm Bulgarians.

Novinite.com
Domestic | March 15, 2011, Tuesday

Loyalty is better than intellect, and people should be allowed to carry guns, argues Krasimir Velchev, chair of the parliamentary group of Bulgarian ruling party, center-right GERB.

Speaking in an interview for Bulgarian large-circulation daily 24 Chasa, Velchev voiced his low esteem of the practice of deputees switching parliamentary groups or just leaving their own.

"I love God's Ten Commandmens of politics written by an American political institute. One of them is: A gram of loyalty is worth a pound of intellect," stated the front-bench MP.

In particular, he said he is not worried for any split-outs of the GERB parliamentary group, for his fellow GERB MPs shared his love of the above principle.

Velchev also said he laments, but does not much worry about, the splitting in the nationalist Ataka parliamentary group over the issue of supporting GERB.

The GERB functionary further strongly called for a return of staunch military training for Bulgarians, and a law permitting them to own and carry guns.

He argued that military training will instill in young Bulgarian men and women "stable work ethic, discipline and psychological control."

Regarding the ownership of guns, Velchev intriguingly argued that "honest Bulgarians" needed them both for day-to-day defence, and in the case that a "local war" erupts.

Velchev said that apparently owning guns will make ordinary Bulgarians more secure. He further claimed that in case of a war, Bulgaria cannot rely on its hired army.

[TsarSamuil]

Russians should have the right to bear arms – parliament speaker.

RT.com
5 July, 2011, 13:39

Russians should be given the right to bear arms, albeit with strict regulations, believes acting upper house speaker, Aleksandr Torshin.

“I believe that law-abiding citizens should be returned the lost right to bear small arms,” he told journalists, as cited by RIA Novosti.

According to the senator, carrying a gun is “a huge responsibility”, but “citizens should have an opportunity to defend themselves, their families' lives and their property”. Torshin believes that if people were allowed to carry weapons, they would have a fair fight with the “lamebrains and villains” in the event of an attack.

“If journalist Oleg Kashin had had a gun, his nighttime encounter [with his assailants] could have had a completely different outcome,” Torshin noted.

In November 2010, the Kommersant reporter was severely beaten not far from his home in Moscow by two unknown men. For several days, he teetered between life and death at an intensive care unit as he was forced to undergo several surgeries.

The Federation Council speaker stressed that the sale and use of weapons can only be carried out under the strictest of controls. Only mentally healthy people, with clear criminal records who have no dependency problems with drugs or alcohol addiction would be allowed to possess and carryguns. In addition, everyone who decided to obtain a firearm would be obliged to pass a training course on how to use it.

At the same time, the legislator approved the idea of equating non-lethal guns to their lethal counterparts and acted introduce tougher punishments for the illegal trafficking of so-called pain inducing (or non-lethal) weapons. According to Torshin, Russians currently have over 3.5 million non-lethal firearms.

“What had been created as a means of self-defense has turned into a big problem,” he observed. Within the last five years, about 70 people were shot dead and 600 wounded with non-lethal guns. According to the senator, owners of non-lethal weapons do not seriously consider the consequences of their use while the owners of lethal weapons would be a lot more responsible.

On December 28, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev signed a law that prohibits the carrying and use of items such as pneumatic pistols, as well as the sale of cartridges for non-lethal weapons without special permission.

These steps followed a sharp rise in crimes with the use of non-lethal shotguns, including an attack on RT's editor Natalia Arkhiptseva who was wounded in a downtown Moscow café in October of last year. After she reprimanded a drunken man who had insulted her, he drew a pistol and fired a bullet into her foot. In March of this year, 35-year-old Sergey Virolainen was sentenced to a year in a prison camp and ordered to pay 300,000 rubles in compensation for shooting Arkhiptseva.

In August 2008, Roman Romanchuk, a well-known Russian boxer, killed a resident of Russia’s Far East region, Oleg Meshkov with an Osa (Russian for “wasp”) non-lethal pistol. During a conflict between the two men, Meshkov fired his non-lethal gun at the boxer. Romanchuk wrestled the gun from the 22-year-old and shot him in the head. The silver medalist of the World Boxing Championship was sentenced to 1,5 years behind bars.

Torshin's initiative to legalize firearms possession has both its supporters and detractors.

Many fear that allowing people to have guns will result in a higher crime rate as conflicts between citizens end in bloodshed.

Others refer to some Western countries' – such as Switzerland and Finland – with high gun ownership rates and very low crime rates.

The US leads the world in gun ownership, with about 90 guns per 100 people. However, the country is also no stranger to mass shootings.In January, a gunman killed six people and injured others, including a US congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords in Arizona. Over 30,000 Americas die annually due to gun violence and an estimated 200,000 more are injured. Gun policy is one of the most hotly debated political issues in the country.

[TsarSamuil]

Kalashnik-off: Army rejects legendary rifle.

RT.com
27 September, 2011, 12:31

The Russian Defense Ministry has decided not to procure the AK-74 assault rifle, saying it is outdated. The producer, Izhmash, says a new version of the firearm is almost ready to be shown to the public.

The AK-74 is one of a family of firearms designed by weapons engineer Mikhail Kalashnikov. The rifle and its variants have been standard issue for many Soviet and later Russian troops since 1974, the year which gave the weapon its name.

However, after almost four decades in service, the assault rifle has become outdated, reports Izvestia newspaper. The Defense Ministry did not buy a single AK-74 in 2011 and has no plans to do so in the future.

The military say they have a plentiful stock of the firearms, with millions of pieces stored. Now, they want the Izmash plant to come up with a new personal weapon, which would be as reliable as the AK-74, but with a better range and accuracy.

“We have some sample weapons at hand and hope that the military will like them. In the meantime, we will focus on the export and production of sporting firearms,” a spokesman for the AK-74 producer told the newspaper, adding that a successor to the famous assault rifle is due to be unveiled before the year’s end.

Another option would be for Izhmash to produce upgrade kits for the AK-74. Its advanced version, the AK-74M, has an option for an optical sight, which greatly improves the weapon’s accuracy. However, neither the producer nor the Defense Ministry see this variant as the most desirable.

The man behind the rifle

According to media reports, employees of Izhmash are doing their best to keep the latest news secret from Mikhail Kalashnikov. The legendary designer is in his early 90s, but is still working at the plant. His colleagues fear that news of the army’s rejection of his creation may harm the old man’s health.

He began his career as a weapons designer in 1941, while being treated in a hospital for wounds suffered during the Battle of Bryansk. While convalescing, he heard complaints from dozens of Soviet soldiers about a lack of proper firearms. After his recovery Kalashnikov got himself assigned to the arms design section of the Soviet Red Army’s ordnance directorate. He started work on a new rifle in 1945, and completed its first version by 1947.

The weapon immediately drew attention for its reliability, ease of use and high stopping power.

Over the years there have been claims that the Kalashnikov’s original design featured elements of the German-built Sturmgewehr 44 rifle. However, the latter never developed into anything more than a top-secret prototype. Kalashnikov assault rifles, meanwhile, became the world’s most popular firearm, with production numbers (both legal and illegal) in the tens of millions. The claim, therefore, may very well be groundless.

Scores of modified versions based on the Kalashnikov platform were built in the years following the manufacturing of its initial model in 1947. They are still used in more than 70 countries – including not only former allies of the Soviet Union, but also former enemies as well.

[Dushko]

The most important characteristic of a combat is reliability. You certainly want it to fire under almost any circumstance. That’s the beauty of the Kalashnikov.
However, it is outdated, the fit and finish is rough and it could be packaged better to allow easier attachments of accessories.
A bullpup should be considered for its compactness and more polymer materials should be used.
Regardless, the robust action could probably be retained, perhaps with some improvements.
I have one!

[TsarSamuil]

Russia stays loyal to Kalashnikov.

20:44 21/12/2011
MOSCOW, December 21 (RIA Novosti)

The Russian military will not abandon the legendary Kalashnikov AK assault rifle, Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov said on Wednesday.

Chief of the General Staff Nikolai Makarov said in September that the Defense Ministry had stopped procuring AK-74 rifles because of oversupply, indicating that new models of small arms and light weapons would replace it.

But Serdyukov dismissed those suggestions as absurd.

“For some reason everyone decided that if the Defense Ministry has not signed large-scale contracts for the procurement of Kalashnikov rifles they will be taken out of service. That is stupidity of course,” Serdyukov said in an interview with Rossiiskaya Gazeta in an issue to be published on Thursday.

“We have large amounts of automatic rifles and it makes no sense to purchase more,” he said.

“There are 1 million servicemen in the Russian Armed Forces and enough Kalashnikovs to supply several such armies with weapons. First we need to deal with what we have.”

The AK-74 is the most widely used and well-known assault rifle in the world. It is used by some 50 armies around the world, as well as countless guerrilla movements. It is also featured on the flag of Mozambique.