I attended Rob Haught’s Tactical Shotgun class in Marietta, OH and had the opportunity to talk with Ken Hackathorn for a while. Ken is a fan of the Kalashnikov and took the opportunity to show off his new toy, a “Khyber Pass” AKMS built for him by Troy Sellars of InRange.
A “Kyber Pass” is a general term that has come into use to describe AK’s built or modified in the border region between Afghanistan and Pakistan. It’s most used to describe an AKM that has been fitted with the triangular steel folding stock of the Soviet AKS-74. This type of modification first came to light in an Al Quaeda propaganda video showing Osama bin Laden firing one of these weapons, pre 9/11/01.
There is some conjecture/debate about whether the Russians ever produced an AKM with this stock…it was generally accepted that it was never a Russian modification, and that all of these weapons have their origin in the Khyber Pass area. Recent pictures depicting Uzbek Federal troops with some of these weapons might change that. Personally, I think that the weapons the Uzbeks are fielding are modified AKM’s done at a depot level locally, and not contract. Having never personally examined the Uzbek rifles however, they could be anything.
In any case, adding an AKS-74 stock to an AKM is probably one of the smartest things someone thought to do to an AK, it adds greatly to the compactness of the weapon and it’s much more comfortable to fire than an underfolder.
Ken graciously allowed me to photograph his new toy. The workmanship is absolutely top notch, which isn’t suprising knowing Troy’s work. The rifle was built using a pristine Polish PMKMS (AKMS) kit and a DCI/Nodak stamped receiver.
The rifle that inspired the “Khyber Pass”…
Uzbek Federal Troops with the same type of AKMS…
AKMS Khyber Pass by Troy Sellars, courtesy of the Hackathorn Collection…
Looks great. Didn’t henderson defense make a similar gun off of romy g-kits? I remember wanting to get one, but went with a charles daly m4. It’s a great gun, but you can still buy M4s, I don’t see anybody making khyber pass AKs these days.
C4SP312- Yes, a “Khyber Pass” AKMS is basically a stamped AKM with the side folding stock of an AKS-74 attached.
Aristogeiton- That’s a Bulgarian drop pouch that their paratroopers use. Heavy cotton canvas construction with an internal pocket for a 30 rd. magazine. You use the sling of the weapon to carry it. Very low profile. I use one to keep my truck gun in, and it appears to be a rolled up tool case to most people, even gun people.
I doubt if K-Var will be able to get more back in, hopefully so.
SoDak- Henderson Defense did indeed offer a similar rifle for sale built using Romanian kits. The kit situation has really gotten bad, and I don’t know of any company offering these ready to go off the shelf. The Romanian kits weren’t bad, but the Polish guns were some of the finest AK’s ever made.
I’m still kicking myself for not buying romy kits for under $100. I didn’t know if it was worth the trouble of having them built and at the time I was happy with my yugo underfolder. I think what held me off those henderson defense builds was the whole “Why should I pay over $700 for a g-kit build?”. Should have known better. To try and make up for not getting a good AK I’m pondering on doing a saiga conversion since I got a trigger group and stock set during the last k-var sale. It won’t have the folding stock, but to be honest folding stocks don’t seem as important for me as they used to be, although I’d still get one if they were more available.
Actually, I think you have good instincts. The Romy guns are not of the same quality of Polish or Bulgarian weapons, IMO.
To try and make up for not getting a good AK I’m pondering on doing a saiga conversion since I got a trigger group and stock set during the last k-var sale. It won’t have the folding stock, but to be honest folding stocks don’t seem as important for me as they used to be, although I’d still get one if they were more available.
Or, you could type www.gunbroker.com into your browser, then type “Arsenal” into the search box and buy any one of 3 pages of well-made AK and AKM clones in a variety of calibers.
I’ve thought about arsenal, but I kept hearing about how arsenal guns had gone down in quality and up in price and I lost interest. I’m sure it was a bit overblown, but to be honest, when I saw what arsenals cost, I figured I might as well keep buying ARs. I would probably look closer at their saiga line, but I think I’ll take a shot at converting a saiga.
[QUOTE=Templar;453984]C4SP312- Yes, a “Khyber Pass” AKMS is basically a stamped AKM with the side folding stock of an AKS-74 attached.
Aristogeiton- That’s a Bulgarian drop pouch that their paratroopers use. Heavy cotton canvas construction with an internal pocket for a 30 rd. magazine. You use the sling of the weapon to carry it. Very low profile. I use one to keep my truck gun in, and it appears to be a rolled up tool case to most people, even gun people.
Pretty much all saigas imported now have the dimpled receivers, so you’re GTG in that regard. Just need a few AKM parts for the conversion and a good 'smith… oh, and that sidefolder assembly that is unobtainium right now.
Those marking are strange? The receiver is Polish, but the selector lever is marked in Cyrillic. Polish guns aren’t marked with Cyrillic writing. Their selectors are marked C= auto and P= semi.
Just a little poetic license on a USA receiver I gather. I had the 3rd khyber build ever after kracken’s first two. He used Maadi’s and I used a Polski kit on a globaltrades receiver (nodak wasn’t in business then). The funny story on it is when I got it back from azex mine had the correct polish markings …and I reaaaally wanted bolshevik hieroglyphs on mine, but that’s what you get when you don’t specify.
M_P, I’d be more than happy to explain how I arrived at this conclusion, but could we move the discussion to PM? I’ve got this thread derailed enough already.
The way you laid out the pics was like a strip tease!
