No, the Soviets hadn’t exported the technology yet. The Chinese were gifted with the tooling and prints for the SKS and the AK-47 in 1956, and almost immediately the Soviets and the PRC had a falling out which resulted in border clashes and cessation of military aid from the Soviets.
The first time Western intelligence agencies got a glimpse of the AK-47 was during the Soviet crackdown in Hungary in 1956.
The Soviets did provide a lot of military assistance to the Chinese and North Koreans in the form of German WWII infantry weapons that had been captured during the war.
The first time Western troops faced the AK was in Vietnam.
Ummm… I know there are a bunch of youngsters on his forum (I’m feeling old now), but can you guess who was supplying and supporting the Indians of the AIM and at Wounded Knee, fighting the US Government, during the Cold War?
This is true, although some don’t consider the M62/S to be a “true” AK.
The first real semi-auto AKs were the Steyr, Secaucus NJ imported Maadis built on Russian tooling. They were imported in the early 80s and many were legally papered and converted to NFA and used in the film Red Dawn.
I have a very low serial number Steyr Maadi which I have since had completely redone by Marc Krebs with a full Russian laminated stock set and an original mag.
Imagine M4C being a tribe in a specific geographic location. The tribe is threatened, what do we all show up with? Our personal stash of assorted AR variants, long rifles, shotguns, pistols and ammo.
My guess is that the Native Americans in that pic are Vietnam Vets. Lots of GIs spirited away AKs, SKSs and other firearms from that war, including a few PPsh-41s, hand grenades, you name it.
I have had a few Korean made examples go thru the books over the years. None had amnesty papers with them nor ‘capture papers’. I was never inclined to do much research to determine if they were brought back during the war or even when the NK’s were tooled up the manufacture them. I should have kept one.
Marlon Brando?
I believe Templar is correct. IIRC, Valmet was the first AK imported followed by Clayco as the first ChiCom.
The Steyrs were the first Soviet Bloc style AKM’s imported. The problem with many of the conversions on these was the lack of the ‘rate reducer’ parts as they were not available at the time the conversions were done, or at least not many. Most that were converted were done quickly without to much concern as to the ‘authenticity’. Allot of them have been redone correctly over time with the parts added as well as the rail being repaired with the slot for the sear arm versus just grinding the rail out as many conversions had been done.
The Soviet Bloc AKM’s used 1mm sheet metal which though lighter causes vibrations in the receiver and bolt bounce. The ‘rate reducing’ parts slow it down a few milliseconds allowing the bolt to seat in battery. It was never designed to actually reduce the rate of fire. ChiCom AKM’s use 1.5mm sheet metal for the receiver, enough to negate the need for the ‘rate reducing’ parts.
I have the original Steyr supplied paperwork that came with one of the rifles around here somewhere if anyone is interested. It is serial numbered to a rifle, but still a neat piece of semi AK history. Shoot me a pm with your address and I will mail it to you if I find it.
Regarding an AK carried by the Lakota in the photo, keep in mind this was 1973. A.I.M (American Indian Movement) was stirring up Native Americans here in New Mexico as well the same year, with riots in Shiprock and Farmington. G.I. bring back is probable, but A.I.M. at this time in history was regarded as a quasi terrorist group and obtaining such arms via black market sources in central America was not out of the question.
The Times photo essay is interesting as well. It seems using an AK for the oppressed in other countries (or Native Tribes here) is acceptable, yet for collecting, sport or home defense for average U.S. citizens, no mention is made. I find the bemoaning of poor Izshmash interesting as well. I wonder what those poor folks think of all the kit building here with NDS receivers???
Years ago , I read Russel Means’ autobiography . He clearly states that they were illegally brought back from Vietnam by a couple of vets. IIRC , there were two of them and they had very little ammo .
Anytime a photographer was around or they were meeting with the authorities , they made sure the AK’s were around , so it would seem they were better armed than they were . They also mocked up a RPG/ rocket launcher out of pipes and junk and used it for the same effect .
I’ve got a question that’s semi off-topic, but along the same vein. Did any of the Type-III variants have a trapdoor in the buttstock for a cleaning kit?
Very unlikely. However, I had a friend who was very knowledgeable about guns and he said he saw several SKSs when he was in the Korean War. A good place to field test them.
As I recall, the first place AK47s were actually used in combat was the Hungarian Revolution in 1956.
I would like to know this as well because there is a pic of a NK soldier with an AK-47 type gun in one of my history books…but that’s the only place I’ve ever seen such a reference.
Not Gunz, but he had the real deal. He won’t have net access for a while.
The later Bulgarian polymer stocks and later “Classic” wooden stocks/buttplates didn’t have a provision for a cleaning kit suppository, but that’s the only variant that I know of like that.
As I recall, Russell Means stated that it was a Chinese rifle.
The ammunition supply was limited, so the AIM member that owned it (can’t recall his name off the top of my head) would run from one position to the next, letting off short bursts, so as to make the Feds think that there were multiple weapons being fired…
Not true.
There was only one AK used in the Wounded Knee conflict, and that was a privately “imported” rifle by a GI.
AIM received no armaments from anyone outside the US. All of the weapons employed by AIM during Wounded Knee conflict were individually owned weapons, and were not supplied to them by any entity.
Its interesting that the Soviets managed to keep the AK a secret for so many years given the size of their standing army at the time. I don’t care what the experts say (or even the designer), the AK had to be inspired by the STG44. As Templar has stated, the Germans were very inventive and ahead of their time in small arms (and many other) weapons development. I say inspired not becuase of the physical characteristics between the two (as most think) but from the standpoint of an intermediate cartidge in a select fire rifle. Since the STG44 was first used on the eastern front, the Soviets would have been the first to capture and evaluate the weapon. Just like the B-29’s that were “captured” by the Soviet’s, I suspect that Soviet industrial capacity could not duplicate some of the more complex parts for mass production of the German “assault rifle”.
