The AK-47 Rifle

AK-74

At present, present ammunition shortages are purportedly caused by either Middle East wartime conditions or the Russian mafia, depending on which source you believe. Irrespective, 7.62mmx39 and 5.45mm is becoming more expensive and harder to find. Backorders are common, although domestic supplies seem less affected.

From an operational perspective, the Kalashnikov is very easy to support. The magazines can be loaded singly by hand or en-masse with stripper clips and charger guide. The Kalashnikov rifle is so reliable that failures of any kind are generally a curiosity and regarded as a rare event. After firing, they require little in the way of maintenance aside from cleaning. Plastic furniture is more durable in wet weather than wood, as the clear coating on wood furniture does not completely seal moisture and will lift if moistened. While this won't affect operation, it is annoying to feel the wood being damaged.

Cleaning is almost as fast as describing the process: pressing the receive cover latch button, lifting the cover off, pulling the carrier and bolt out and maybe pulling the gas tube off. After this, a good swabbing with suitable bore cleaner appropriate to the type of ammunition used. Note that corrosive priming is common with military surplus ammunition, and requires a slightly modified cleaning procedure to remove the corrosive priming compounds from the internal surfaces. This is rarely more than running a patch soaked with windex or ammoniated cleaner to remove the priming residue. Also, commercial products are appearing specifically for corrosive priming residue. Two sample online articles are at http://www.geocities.com/Yosemite/Gorge/4653/corrcln.htm and http://64.82.96.51/clean.htm.

There is more unsaid about this fine rifle than what's printed here, time and space don't permit more. Hopefully it's been informative enough to give a little history and insight what it's like to use one.

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