The Firearm Blog

I previously reported that a new line of AKs will be developed by Izhmash. Pracda.ru confirms this:

Anatoli Isaikin, the Director General of the state arms exporter Rosoboronexport, met recently with the creator of the Kalashnikov rifles, the head of the Izhmash Company, Mikhail Kalashnikov. The meeting’s objective was to look into developing a new generation of AK-100 series rifles.

The rifles in this series share a number of innovations that were introduced to the models AK-47, AK-74 and later. Like the AK-47, AK-100 models operate on the explosion of gas produced by the firing of ammunition. The gases eject the used cartridge and insert new ammunition into the chamber.

The models AK-101 and AK-103. AK-101 already use the standard NATO 5.56 mm caliber. AK-103 – Size: 7.62mm. Kalashnikov is a milestone in terms of small arms, especially because of its recognized and insurmountable resistance to all kinds of abuse by users even today. In other words, they are the best in the world. Besides this much appreciated characteristic, the weapon is also easy to maintain and use.

Hat Tip: THR.us

The problem with blogs is that shortly after something interesting is posted it is moved to the dusty archives in the recesses of the blog and only ever uncovered by the occasional google visitor. I came across, courtesy of google, a series of articles at SaysUncle on building an AK all the way from a flat receiver which was written before I started reading gun blogs.

The start of the project. From Part 1.

If you missed this series back in 2005 I highly recommend having a read of it.

Jennersen has just started down the homemade AK path and is blogging his progress. Expect some interesting posts from him in the future.

Jane’s Intelligence Review, via Burmese (Myanmar) news website Irrawaddy, reports that the United Wa State Army (UWSA) rebels in northern Burma have begun manufacturing AK-47s and ammunition for themselves and to sell to their allies in the region.

Burma (From Wikipedia)

Like the Taliban their arms revenue supplements their drug income. Previously they had been purchasing arms from China and then reselling to other rebel groups.

The Times reports the Mumbai police are now complaining about having to use WWI rifles (probably not quite true) and WWII helmets. Can you believe the audacity of these cowards!

The contrast between them was vividly illustrated yesterday by CCTV footage of two militants attacking Chhatrapati Shivaji terminus, Mumbai’s main railway station, last Wednesday.

It shows the gunmen spraying automatic fire while two constables cower behind pillars, one armed with a .303 rifle similar to the Lee-Enfield weapons used by British troops in the First World War.

Lee-Enfield Rifle No 4 Mk I

In other words: locally produced .303 Lee-Enfield Rifle No 4 Mk I. rifles (Used by the Allies in WWII) or Ishapore .308 Lee-Enfields. Now you may think its an unfair fight with the terrorist rate of fire far higher than the police but consider this:

Terrorists: 16
Mumbai police force: 16,308 (based on India’s ratio of 126 officers per 100,000 population)
Approx. ratio of terrorists to officers: 1:1000

AK Rate of fire: 600 rounds per minutes (effective rate of fire of fire when taking into account reloading is much less)
Lee Enfield rate of fire: 20+ aimed rounds per minute (a well trained operator).

Terrorist rate of fire: 9600 rounds per minute.
Police rate of fire: 327,600 rounds per minute.

The majority of the force would not be front line officers nor would they have 16,000 rifles, but you see the point I am trying to make.

“The helmets used last week were World War Two-era, not designed for combat,” he said.

I need not comment on this ridiculous statement.

Y. P. Singh, who retired after 20 years in the Maharashtra police in 2005, said that he knew of two batches of body armour that had failed tests in 2001 and 2004. “They couldn’t take rounds from AK47 or AK56,” he said. “The bullets pierced the jackets.”

(No doubt they are referring to the Chinese Type 56 AK clone. There is no AK-56)

Most police forces around the world likely use Type II armor. I don’t think anyone expected the cops to charge the terrorist with fixed bayonets.

Most of the police involved were carrying .303s or self-loading rifles like those adopted by the British Army in the 1950s.

Some officers said that they were not given enough weapons training because of a shortage of ammunition and shooting ranges. In theory, all officers shoot 50 rounds a year in training. In practice, senior officers get their full quota with small arms.

They then admit that their arsenal also includes the [likely semi-] automatic 7.62mm NATO FN FAL. From their performance I would have guessed they never trained with arms.

Type 56 (Top)

I would be criticizing any police force, from any country or city, if they performed this badly.

mattling posted this comment on the poor police response on the previous post where I discussed the attacks:

Numerous reasons:

1. Everyone’s gotten used to bomb blasts in Mumbai and Delhi.
2. Police forces still carry equipment from WWII (not that old but the factories all make replicas)
3. Even after years of dealing with the mob and terrorism, police hierarchy is simply not equipped to deal with these kinds of threats.
4. Private citizens can’t import modern guns, make do with homemade and unreliable pistols.
5. No intelligence on the ground and lack of inter-agency coordination.
6. Corruption plays a part as well.
Pretty much the same reasons that led to 9/11 and that lead to general police incompetence in any american city, except here the police vans don’t have kevlar lining in their doors and ambulances are cramped 10 year old suvs converted for private use. All these factors (and more) led to a domino effect which resulted in a days long siege where it would’ve ended in a matter of an evening in America.
You know there’s something wrong when police are setting up cordons with bungee cords. How do you expect them to contain these attackers on the move? Senior officers were killed within the early hours leading to even more chaos on the ground. The joker couldn’t have schemed it better. (And he’s the ultimate schemer of them all, despite all appearances and catchphrases).
Horrible analogy, but this was Heat turned into “The Kingdom”.

In unrelated new: I am kicking myself for recently turning down a Lee Enfield mk. 5 Jungle Carbine (a real one) for a very good price.

[ Photos from Wikipedia ]

The Indian National Security Guard (NSG) have stooped pretty low. They are claiming part of the reason the Mumbai terror attacks were so deadly was because the terrorists were carrying MP5s and the NSG Commandos only had AK-47s. DNA India reports:

The MP5 is far superior to the AK47 and is only used by the security forces of various countries. This led the NSG to believe that the terrorists were more heavily armed than they had thought. But the mystery was solved when they realised that the terrorists had seized Major Sandeep Unnikrishnan’s weapon after killing him. The NSG feel that the acquisition of this weapon had extended their resistance by a few hours. This is also an indication, said a senior officer, that the terrorists were trained in the use of this sophisticated weapon as well.

…

Overall, the HK MP5 is the weapon of choice for most European forces and the US. More notable users include the United States’s Navy SEAL, the German GSG9 group and the British SAS. It is also used by civil protection forces such as police and special SWAT team units.

The thought that these “special forces” were scared off by 9mm submachine guns when they were armed with 7.62×39mm rifles is a joke. Chances are they also had 7.62mm NATO G3s FALs on hand as well.

Pakistan Ordnance Factories MP5

The fact that the terrorists were carrying MP5s is likely to have embarrassed Pakistan and fueled India’s rage. I would put money on the fact that those MP5s were manufactured by POF, the Pakistan government owned small arms and ammunition manufacturer. I coincidentally mentioned that POF produces licensed MP5 yesterday.

Hat Tip: MP.net

Over at SaysUncle and GunPundit, Uncle and Murdoc asked if anyone could identify a left handed AK charging handle. I just happened to come across the AK Lightning Bolt today and it is definitely the same system.

The bolt system was designed by Colorado Shooting Sports. It looks like it offers a significant improvement in reloading time:

One of the true AK innovations of the last 60 years. A left-side cocking system. This project started over a year ago and already hundreds of AKLB units are in service here in and abroad. Several units just finished a punishing 7,000 round torture test.

1.)Make tactical reloads faster and operate more ergonomically to ensure that you stay focused on the threat not on your weapon.

2.)Allow you to keep your hand on the pistol grip which will make you safer and remove movements that take time to learn to do well with a standard right side cocking mechanism.

3.)The top covers charging handle openning will allow your rifle to cool faster during high rates of fire.

The AKLighting bolt is available for the following weapons: AK-47 and all variants, AK-74 and all variants including the AKS-74U Krinkov, Israeli Galil, Finlands Valmet, Saiga rifles and shotguns, RPKs, VZ-58s, All Yugo AKs,STGs, and many more.

The AKLightning Bolt is being sold by Tactical Response Gear for $225.

Italian police caught gangsters trying to purchase half a million AK-47s from Norinco (the Chinese state arms exporter) on behalf of a Libyan.

Apparently they were only purchasing 10 million round of ammo. Thats 50 20 rounds per gun – less than two one magazines worth.

They obviously did not watch that educational firm “Lord of War” which made it clear to all would be rebels that guns need
ammo.

Yuri Orlov (Nicolas Cage) negotiating the
purchase (theft) of Ukrainian AKs in “Lord of War”

More at GunPundit

Samson are now making a rail system for the AK-47 and clones called the K-Rail Model 1.

Fits most AK-47’s. Two piece design clamps to the barrel trunion area. Low upper rail with clearance slot for use of iron sight. Four 1913 mil spec rails for mounting all popular lights and accessories. Lower rail cut out for underfolder stock. Side clearance for side folding stock.

A round fires out of battery throwing the dust cover off and giving the security contractor a scare. A good example of why shooting glasses should always be worn!

A couple of cool youtube videos on using the AK-74 (called AK-47 on youtube).

Apparently from a series called “Kadochnikovs martial arts”

Tactical magazine changes.

Hat Tip: MilitaryPhotos.net

This must be a first!

This photo was taken in 2006 at the Somali Islamist Court training camp outside the Somali capital, Mogadishu

They have since been kicked out of the city by Somali and Ethiopian forces.

Hat Tip: MilitaryPhotos

… and their use, or lack of use, of iron sights amazes me.

From MilitaryPhotos.com

Palestinian police officers loyal to President Mahmoud Abbas violently dispersed a demonstration against the Annapolis peace conference, and medical workers said one protester was killed in Hebron, a West Bank city, according to The Associated Press. A Palestinian police officer pointed his weapon at protesters during clashes in Hebron.

In case you did not notice, the above ‘police’ officer is holding the rifle sidewards ‘gangster’ style. Why these soldiers/’police’ officers cannot be taught to aim their full auto AKs is beyond me. I know some people think iron sights are hard but I started shooting with them and to this day still do most of my shooting with iron sights. I think they are easier to use than scopes once you know what to do (obviously depending on the application).

Here are some of those classic Liberian rebel photos

More of the above photos here.

A photo of arms and ammunition recently captured from militants in Kashmir. The condition of the firearms is just awful. I suppose that the fact they keep functioning is a testament to the design of the weapons.

Ammunition and bodies of suspected militants lie on ground at an Indian Army camp after a gun battle in Pattan, 30 kms north of Srinagar, 09 November 2007. Five Islamic militants and four Indian soldiers were killed in a long gunbattle in Kashmir, officials said. A police spokesman said the fighting had started on the evening of 06 November when Indian troops were attacked by a group of rebels

Hat Tip: Military Photos

A classic post by ‘dstorm1911′ over at Surplus Rifle Forum

Folks due to members on another forum going on bout how the AK is a spray and pray rifle at best etc… or theirs won’t hit accurately because its got a wore out bore or the trigger is crap or….. a plethora of other excuses I decided to run a little test.

I took a 1964 Rommy “GP” (regular army full auto) parts set that’s been sitting on my desk for months (I use it for demo pics etc..) and put it together this morning on a NODAKSPUDS NDS-3 receiver, it is by far the most worn out AK I have either assembled or still in kit form, Below are a few pics to show just how worn out it is.

I used ALL the original components for this test; other than the Full auto disconnector and the rest of the full auto parts and receiver of course otherwise it was tested EXACTLY as it was last used by a Romanian soldier who ran easily a couple hundred thousand rounds through this thing in full auto ….

More here.