The AK47

and similar rifles

The Avtomat Kalashnikova was designed by Mikhail T. Kalashnikov for the Soviet Union in 1947.

As we all know, the AK47 was farmed out to all of the Communist Bloc countries and includes as many variations as there were countries making them. It was also one of the favorite ''Come, comrade, and join us'' technology transfer items of the CCCP for non-combloc potential friends of the family.

The Egyptian Maadi, Romanian RPK, Chinese MAK90 and numerous other national flavors of AK-style firearm are available to the American collector. Many other varieties, including the true AK47 are difficult to obtain. In the majority of cases (as with the true AK47), these were either select-fire or fully automatic firearms making simple possession of them a violation of the NFA regs.

An instance comes to mind in which I was editing a news story by one of my co-workers. The story noted that a suspect in a certain incident had used "an AK47 rifle." I asked the reporter if the weapon being identified was a Russian rifle. The reporter did not know the origin of the rifle and made a phone call to the local police to ask. They replied that it was a Chinese rifle.

I then asked if the firearm in question was capable of fully automatic fire.

"Of course not!" came the reporter's terse reply.

"In which case," I responded, "It is not an AK47. The AK47 is a Russian rifle and is capable of fully-automatic fire. It's probably a MAK-90, but we'll call it 'a Chinese AK47-style rifle' for the story."

"Boy you're picky," the reporter grumped. "An AK47 is an AK47 as far as I'm concerned."

"Is a Ford Escort a Mustang?" I responded. "If 'an AK47 is an AK47,' then an Escort would also be a Mustang. A Ford is a Ford, as far as I'm concerned." The reporter got it and the rifle went into the newspaper as a Chinese AK47-style rifle.

BTB, you will find the links below to be the same as those on the Egyptian Firearm page Maadi AK section.

*If you are an AK47 freak and want an absolute AK-gasm (click here to view) and knock yerself out!

*Here is an interesting photo of an Albanian special services soldier with an AK-based RPD (I believe) looking after his fellow citizens in Tirana. (click here to view) Hit browser Back button to return to this page.)

This is a photo of an actual Russian Avtomat Kalashnikov (AK) 47. Note the military standard ''pistol grip'' stock as compared with the ''thumbhole'' Dragunov-style stock of the Egyptian Maadi (above) and the Chinese MAK-90 (below).

At left is a photograph of one of the new (July, 1999) so-called MISR 90 AK-style rifles. These are designed on Egyptian receivers with just enough U.S. made parts to qualify as legal with pistol-grip and stock. If you purchase one of these and outfit the rifle with any magazine of greater than 10-round capacity, be certain the high-cap magazine is of U.S. manufacture. If it is an imported mag, one slips across the border into Illegal Land. These are not to be mistaken for the new-production MISR-10 which has been redesigned for a single-stack magazine and will NOT accomodate ANY of the old double-stack, high-cap magazines.

I have acquired one of the MISR-90s (I refer to it as my Ameri-Maadi) and have found it to be a perfectly acceptable AK47 variant. My only objection to the Ameri-Maadi is a standard for many AK47-variant owners-- the stock is about an inch too short. Those of us (myself included) who are accustomed to the longer Dragunov-style stock will find that the missing inch plays hell on accuracy. Granted, that may be as much psychology as physical drawback, but the problem exists. Were it not for my concern with an authentic appearance to the machine, I would seriously consider putting one of the hard-rubber buttpad/extenders on this little jewel.

As it stands, however, I plan on keeping my Chinese MAK-90 with the Dragunov-style stock as a shooter. I am hopeful that I can also overcome this psychological-or-whatever dilemma with the MAADI and bring my accuracy with it up to par.

Another rather interesting wrinkle to the development tale of the AK47 is the Saga of Saiga.

Saiga shotguns
And this is just what every homeowner needs for the wife. (That's just an excuse if she's a better shot than you are). To the left, Vanna is holding a delightfully delicate Saiga .410 shotgun, which is basically an AK47 semi-auto shotgun which will carry up to five rounds in the detachable magazine. It offers all of the features that have made the Kalashnikov AK47 the housewife's favorite in ALL of the trendy ComBloc communities AND it features the Big Boot of a shotgun.

These are current-production items (non C&R). The pistol-grip stock is available only to Law Enforcement, however, (I believe) the tasteful Monte-Carlo stock variety qualifies as a fit ''sporting purposes'' item to fit any home decor. Not available in New Jersey. Pink rubber buttpiece must be custom made. Also available in .12 and .20 gauge for the brawnier Natasha.

The Saiga line of sporting firearms does not end here, however. These current-production firearms are also available in standard .308 and 7.62x39 calibre. I don't have a Saiga (yet), but they appear to me to be an attempt at compromise to fit the ever-squirming U.S. line between "military-style" and "sporting" firearms. Quite frankly, I'd really like a Saiga .410 for some reason.

Maybe it's just the idea of an "AK47 shotgun"...

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6/24/00