What makes the ak 47 so reliable

Not that the American military would buy its standard-issue rifle from its main geopolitical foe and potential World War III adversary anyway. These days, the U. Special operations forces from all branches might have to pick up an enemy AK at some point because of the nature of their work -- sometimes help isn't coming. The rifle was designed to be carried, maintained and fired by anyone in the area who happened to need its services. And if you need a weapon like the AK, you need to be able to use it fast, whether you're a professional soldier or a poorly trained conscript.

The worldwide availability and durability of the AK also makes it an attractive weapon for terrorists, militias and other illegal paramilitary organizations. Whether they're trying to take over a military base in frozen tundra or overthrowing a government in Sub-Saharan Africa, the AK works really well in every environment, is always available usually at a steep discount and will still work even if it falls into water, mud, sand or some other muck. The average lifespan of a terrorist in a gunfight isn't very long, so that rifle is likely going to hit the ground, and someone is going to need it to work when they pick it up.

The terrorist group is definitely going to need a cheap replacement. He can also be found on Twitter blakestilwell or on Facebook. Whether you're thinking of joining the military, looking for post-military careers or keeping up with military life and benefits, Military.

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All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. You May Also Like. Kalashnikov actually comes across as a deeply conflicted inventor in interviews and public statements. At a celebration of his 90th birthday, he said, ''I created a weapon to defend the borders of my motherland.

It's not my fault that it's being used where it shouldn't be. I would prefer to have invented a machine that people could use and that would help farmers with their work—for example a lawnmower. Semi-automatic look-alikes that is, rifles where you have to pull the trigger each time you want to fire a shot are legal in many areas, though.

Some enterprising companies have used this fact to their advantage. To see a contentious CNN interview with the dealer, click here. BY Ethan Trex. While Kalashnikov was convalescing he began poking around in small arms design. What made the AK so popular? We see terrorists and rebels with Kalashnikovs all the time. It would also order its Warsaw Pact vassal states to produce them. Toward the end of the s the Soviet Union had somewhat of a franchising model in place, providing factories run by other communist governments the specifications for the manufacture of countless Kalasknikovs.

Because of how easy it is to manufacture, more and more of the communist rifles were built. As their numbers grew, they started drifting from government hands. By the s, factories were incessantly mass-producing AKs in the planned economies of the Socialist Bloc where governments distributed and stockpiled them by the millions for no practical reason. By the s and s, with loose security and blatant corruption within the states holding them, the rifles became available to fighters for any or no cause.

After the Warsaw Pact unraveled and the Soviet Union collapsed, many successor governments lost custody of their surplus, which provided an almost boundless new supply.

Some of the AKs were supplied to proxy forces and devious arms dealers, some were stolen from weapons depots that were either insufficiently protected or uncared for, and others were smuggled to other countries, eventually reaching the drug cartels of Mexico. It was in the Vietnam War when the AK first saw widespread use. American soldiers witnessed how effective the AK was, as farmers armed with the rifles gave them a run for their money in the battlefield.

It was for this reason that the U. The influence of the AK and the weapons developed with it in mind whether to emulate its reliability or counter its threat became an integral part of most of the violent armed insurrections within the Cold War era. To counter this, the CIA provided the insurgents — the mujahideen — with endless supplies of Chinese-made AK-patterned rifles.