Now we all know that the AK-47 is everywhere. You can barely walk into a conflict zone without stepping on someone's AK. But with hundreds of different types of rifels made over the last 100 years, how did it come to be that there are so many AKs all over the world?

I've always been under the impression that the AK-47 is one of the most durable rifles around. Do what you want to it, the thing will still fire. I'm also assuming it was/is easy and cheap to produce (and use for that matter).

you reminded me of some news footage i saw the other week from the darfur region, amonst all the AK's carried by the "militia" there was one guy with an MP44!

Yeah, that's why I want to know. We know that the market is flooded with AKs but why did this happen; how did this happen; and why are they everywhere anyone needs a rifel?

two words:


cold war.


everywhere the AK is present was a past battlefield of global politics. africa, SE asia, the middle east. every conflict where one side was backed by the USSR and the other by the US.

the AK was designed (like other soviet era weapons) to be simple, robust and easy to use by a conscript army. what better weapon for some of the worlds biggest hellholes?

where US weapons tend to be more sophisticated, you can hardly bury an M-16 and come back two years later and expect it to work straight away. also because the USSR and the many countries who made AK's under licence manufactured the in huge quantities, the economics make them as cheap as chips.

Chewie sums it up well, the USSR gave all its allies AKs and let them build there own versions also AKs are dirt cheap so the poor african and asian nations can afford them unlike M-16s, FNs etc. and due to the durability they have lasted for decades appering in numerous conflicts.

Another reason for the AK's success is that it is so simple to build - about the only part of it that I canont make in my garage, is the barrel! The receiver is simple bent plate metal - anything from mild steel to stainless can be used. The AK is also exceptionally durable - if not all that accurate - that's why there is a special stance that most countries teach their soldiers to take when firing it. You can't hit a side of a barn with it, but ammo for AK's are so cheap and the rifles so plentiful that it is a very effective spray and pray weapon.
If you've ever had a chance to fire an AK47, you would understand why it is so loved - it is a bare piece of metal, fairly heave and IMO, the ultimate close quarters weapon - don't ever try to fire a military AK at anything past 150'. The commercial ones are more accurate though.

Easy and cheap to build, durable, large caliber, and very few working parts, thats the AK.

You can chuck it an mud and then in sand and the dam thing will still fire, they may not be the most accurate weapon in the world but they seem to be almost idiot proof as far as maintenance goes.

Ya. If you want something similair but more accurate and larger caliber get an M14.