LAV just posted another great video showing off a Russian “Alpha Clone” AK he put together with the intention of cloning/replicating the AK’s observed while filming with the Alpha FSB. The rifle is closely related, with a few variations, to the Alpha rifle photo he posted some time ago.
That was cool.
On another note, how the heck are the Russkies getting EOTechs and American-made railed top covers? I seem to recall something called ITAR…
Man, that railed top cover was vibrating hella bad in slow motion.
Not to mention PEQ-15s and a whole host of other U.S. made parts that may, or may not, be covered under ITAR. But remember this is a Russian gov’t organization, not civilians, and I am guessing they had a proper channel to source this stuff until recent friction with the US.
The side fold feature on Larry’s AK is lame since it cant even fold 180 degrees with a tele-stock on there. I’m guessing those Russians aren’t doing AK push-ups with their TWS dog leg top cover set-ups b/c AK Operators Union tried that and it did NOT hold zero for shit afterwards.
Yeah, good point. I forgot to add the PEQ-15 to my list there.
I still thing this is B.S. to have ITAR in place, when the goddamn Commies are getting our stuff. Isn’t that the whole point of ITAR, or just make life difficult for civilian gun-owners in other countries?
The “commies” that are getting our made in the USA stuff aren’t commies any more, and up until recently probably had no issue importing our goods. While Russia is a long time ‘bad actor’ in international politics, they are not communists, or our enemy right now. Unfortunately our relationship with Russia has seriously degraded under Obama.
ITAR covers a lot more than just firearms parts and accessories. It covers most all defense related items and information. Feel free to read up here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Traffic_in_Arms_Regulations
As for the purpose of ITAR?; the company line is that it is to safeguard out national defense, i.e. do not let our weapons/defense technology fall into enemy (enemy nations, or terrorist groups) hands so that they cannot use it against us or compromise our defenses. When you think about it this covers everything from small arms to the computer software that runs our satellites. A pretty broad spectrum that many people feel doesn’t make a lot of sense. I have no idea how much of a difference it actually makes to national defense, or if it is entirely bureaucratic feel good B.S. But this is all really an entirely different topic than what this thread is about.
You may be right. I call them commies, for nostalgia’s sake. They certainly aren’t our friends or allies, that’s for sure. As for whether our relationship with them has improved or worsened under Obama, that is actually a complicated question. We have certainly been weakened during this time frame, whether that is intentional or not.
Anyways, back to the topic at hand: Cool gun.
I genuinely wonder how Russian electronic sights/red dots compare to American and Swedish counterparts.
They have the machinery, armorers, and tools in abundance for the AK 47/74 and all that equipment has long been payed for. For them, the reality is more than just “should just get an M4.” If you listened closely to the video one of those Russian Secret Squirrels was running around with an M4. Imagine what he has to go through for replacement parts or service.
Nothing is done legitimately in Russia. Everything is sleight of hand, back-channeled, and of questionable legality. Nobody cares about, nor knows what any of the laws are. They’ve been acquiring top-end US and NATO products for a long time now, to include Schmidt and Bender, NightForce, NOD’s, laser aming modules, Aimpoints, Eotechs, gear, clothing, you name it. They send representatives to all the trade shows like the Chinese, so they can buy quality with large contracts.
They have guys all over the US who are posing as SME’s with engineering backgrounds, assessing and gathering everything they can. Rules of the road since they don’t have the industrial or engineering capacity after the combined Soviet Times and post-collapse times. Most engineers and technically inclined professionals escaped when they could during the Yeltsin years. Putin put a crack down on former intel and technically-trained persons from obtaining visas since there was a huge brain-drain. I doubt they’re recover.
One of their CT units had the magazines stolen out of the cases when they acquired Glocks. That’s how Russia works.
So they should NOT have these items, and are using domestic straw purchasers to buy them in bulk, and then illegally export them to circumvent ITAR restrictions? I completely get that Russia is crooked from the very top down, but do they need to circumvent our laws to procure this stuff?
Nope, I do not. If you read back in the earlier posts you would see that I did not bring it up, just responded to someone who did. I also essentially stated the same thing about ITAR.
My last post was merely a question to another poster who described what he believes is the method which the Russian gov’t uses to procure this stuff.
Not only are there the Alfa guys eluded to earlier, there are probably some users - including some regular members here - who are Russian cyber warfare/propaganda agents tasked with making Russia look good (or at least less terrible) to the people perusing this and other websites.
Compared to Russia’s government, ours is a choirboy.
