These pictures are starting to make the rounds on the internet, but it seems to have originated from a certain Instagram profile by the name of Jon Wayne Taylor, who in turn received the pictures from one of the managers at Underground Tactical. Why or how the CEO of that company just so happened to be in Africa, and around confiscated weapons from poachers, is a mystery. But we are left with these images, of what is reported to be a fully function Chinese Type 56, patterned off the milled receiver Soviet AK47. The top receiver cover is gone, the trigger guard is non existent, the pistol grip and stock are improvised, the entire metal surface of the firearm is pitted with rust. There rear sight is being held together by wire around the trunnion, the handguards are held together by some sort of string or wire. And yet the thing miraculously still fires!

The CEO of Underground Tactical sent me this pic of an AK47 he pulled off some poachers in Africa. It still worked. Impressive.

Whether you subscribe to the whole AR versus AK debate or not, I would challenge a devout AR devotee, to come up with an AR as old, and in as bad condition as this Type 56, and have it still in working condition. It is certainly a testament to the design, that these rifles are still in working condition.