Increased Kalashnikov demand

**AK-Gunner** · 05-02-2017, 11:08

What I've heard and seen, the 'Murican AK's are more or less useless pieces of crap. The myth of an AK being a "easy and low cost" product is just a myth.

There aren't many considerable civilian firearms markets around the globe but the USA to which Russian firearms are not allowed to export due to sanctions against Russia. However, those sanctions were set by Obama administration and that's a red flag to president Trump, so there may be a change coming to the status of those sanctions. Then there would be a huge demand for original AKs.

Also, one should remember that Kalashnikov Group makes lots of products, not just AK-family rifles. News reporters don't care about the fact, that the original press release didn't even mention "AK-47" or any other particular product...

**WhiteCottonFluff** · 05-02-2017, 17:37

Hopefully this will give us cheaper Saigas too.

**AK-Gunner** · 05-02-2017, 17:45

Well, according to the laws of commerce, increased demand don't usually bring prices down...

**WhiteCottonFluff** · 05-02-2017, 17:57

Originally Posted by AK-Gunner

Well, according to the laws of commerce, increased demand don't usually bring prices down...

True, look at 9mmP, every Dick has one yet prices go ever higher.

**FNBROWNING** · 05-02-2017, 19:47

Originally Posted by WhiteCottonFluff

True, look at 9mmP, every Dick has one yet prices go ever higher.

In time value of money terms 9mm pistols are cheaper than they have ever been.

**GAZZAMCK** · 06-02-2017, 08:36

Originally Posted by HK416

The demand for AK'S is world wide.

Looking on the interwebs and clips from the shot show 2017 the amount of Merican companies producing AK's and variants of it is increasing year on year. Quality of these platforms seems good and getting better all the time. Products and accessories are plentiful. AK's are on the wish list of more and more sport shooters , increasing the demand for it.

not very many quality american made ak47s, I.O and century arms seem to be horrible items
DDI and ARSENAL seem to push out quality products

the balance is imported eastern european kits

oh and if they could get them, chinese, even factory 313s as we have here are regarded quite highly there

AkGunner, it will always be an"AK47" its as generic as old toppies calling a vacuum a hoover

**Fumbles** · 08-02-2017, 01:51

Not for here in the US that's for sure. Thanks Obama you king sized douchebag.

**Fumbles** · 08-02-2017, 02:24

Originally Posted by AK-Gunner

What I've heard and seen, the 'Murican AK's are more or less useless pieces of crap.

Note to self: It's just his opinion....it's just his opinion......it's just

Dude......there you go again!

I'll let you know how this all 'Murican made useless piece of crap is doing in a few months after I have a few hundred more rounds through it. Sorry to make you wait, it's very new right now. Yeah, I know the plastic protector piece is supposed to come off the charging handle.

A good friend has one just like it and he treats it like a hammer.....shoots the shit out of his.....not a single problem. Besides you can always upgrade parts etc.

Also, perhaps you have not heard of this guy......Jim Fuller. http://rifledynamics.com .

Builds amazing AK's. Costly too.

**GAZZAMCK** · 08-02-2017, 08:18

fumbles

you shot a RAS47 or I.O yet?

Those DDI are freaking awesome!! Jim puts the craftmanship back into the game thats for sure

**AK-Gunner** · 08-02-2017, 08:41

Originally Posted by Fumbles

Note to self: It's just his opinion....it's just his opinion......it's just

Dude......there you go again!

Brother, it only looks like I try my best to rub you the wrong way, it's just coincidental, not by design :)

I know about Fuller's reputable and costly AKs (well, what happened to AK's "inherent qualities": low cost and reliability?), but they seem not to be a norm, but an exception. I did a lot of research on US made AK's for a Finnish firearms importer a few months ago and talked to my US friends who work in the industry, read a tonne of articles and customer feedback concerning US made AK's: the chatter was mainly negative, positive feedback being the voice of a small but somewhat tenacious minority, like those but a few really good specimens should paradoxically equal good overall quality. The result was a no-go for import.

This is sad, since AK's are supposed to take a huge amount of normal use without wearing down into broken pieces, but the use of cast parts instead of forged, poor or totally missing quality control and failed blueprinting looks like the main problem with the "normal" manufacturers. A just your everyday functional AK shouldn't be a boutique custom weapon, it's supposed to be like a carpenter's hammer: correct materials, proper heat treating and functional design thus you have a reliable tool. I think it's the myth of "AK equals to low cost" which has driven the manufacturers to cut corners.

Up here in Finland we have a good selection of AKs from Europe and Russia (for some reason Norinco importer doesn't have the Type 56 in their selection) and they cost about the same as an entry level AR-15, about 1000€/R14.000. Why so pricey? AK is pretty costly to manufacture if you really build it to the specs with correct materials. A brand new $600 AK made in the USA by US workers? Somebody cut some corners, I'd say...

I had a quite heated conversation with a gun salesman in the USA who posted a video of an US made AK which didn't reset trigger every time so he had to rack the slide after every few rounds, the slides will jump out of rails rails if you didn't use a buffer (bad, bad blueprinting), cast front trunions break etc... And he had those rifles with their issues on the shelf. I asked him "do you think it's OK to sell nonfunctional firearms to your customers?" and he said "well, they do sell Hi-Points, don't they?" I didn't understand the logic, but maybe it's just me... :)

There's this guy, Rob Ski who likes to treat AKs the way they are designed: beat'em and shoot'em. One of his tests is a 5000 round challenge, DDI and I.O. AKs succumbed at quite low numbers between 1000 and 2000. I shoot about 1000 rounds with a rifle during a weekend training session a few times a year, plus 200-400 rounds twice a month, so I wouldn't trust these AKs suit my needs. Palmetto State seemed like a happy exception with only minor issues. Naturally I don't base my observation solely on this guy's experiences, but a whole lot of data floating around the net and the industry, him being just one of many sources. And I'm not happy with the feedback.
I really hope your rifle is one of the good ones, I really do