How many AK-47s are there in the US?

[Kaleva]

I talking about the actual assault rifle and not one of the look alikes. When I was googling thru the websites of class III gun dealers, I only found one, located in Philly, that had one such weapon listed for sale. At a gun message board, a poster made a comment that since the importation of AK's was prohibited in 1968 and the domestic production of same for civilians was made illegal in 1986, AK-47 assault rifles are rare in the US and he went on to say that there are only about 10, maybe 20. I'm not sure if he meant that there are only 10 to 20 legal guns in the entire country or that there are only about 10 to 20 of such guns available for sale in the US at any one time.

[TheWraith]

1. I doubt anyone but the BATF knows for sure.

I think it's more than 10 or 20, since some of them got brought back as souvenirs during Vietnam. But chances are it's not very many at all.

[yay]

4. Dude I doubt even the BATF knows

The BATF is horrible at keeping records.

I'd place the number at a couple hundred. Might be 10-20 for sale at anyone time but I know there are more than that already collected.

[cliffordu]

2. I don't know how many either...But I'd bet it's under 15.000.....

Just a guess....

[mduffy31]

3. So you are talking about the ones made by Kalashnikov by the Russian Military?

[Cobalt-60]

5. Geneuine Kalashikov? Not many

Fully automatic military issue AKs are machine guns.
And they're pretty tightly regulated as such.
There are are a large number of Chinese civilian versions of the AK.
They are available in semi automatic form. I have one called the MAK 90.
It has all the rugged simplicity of the AK with a thumbhole stock and semi automatic fire only.
Real Kalashnikov, made in Russia with the milled receiver costs like caviar .
I would have liked something domestic.
But the MAK-90 is a more reliable weapon than the M16 variants at a third the price.

[MrModerate]

6. So help me out. Your civilian AK-47 clone . . .

(A concept I'm having some difficulty getting my mind around) is semi-automatic. What does that mean in practice, vs fully automatic?

[dashrif]

7. I am happy to help

Very good info on AK-47 clones http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ysf8x477c30

[Caliman73]

8. Clone just means that it is a copy, not manufactured by the original arms company...

Presumably Kalashnikov. Many countries reproduced the Soviet designed AK-47, some of which were Hungary, China, Yugoslavia, and other communist bloc countries. Russian American Armory produced the Saiga which is a civilian "sporting rifle" based on the AK-47. It is semi-automatic. Now, semi-automatic v. full auto: In practice, semi-automatic or self loading means that you pull the trigger, the cartridge fires, the action ejects the empty round that has been fired, loads a new cartridge, and resets or cocks itself to fire another round. One trigger pull, one round fired. Fully automatic means that one trigger pull fires and cycles until all rounds are expended. Automatic fire is best for suppressing fire, semi-automatic is best for aimed fire.

[MrModerate]

10. Thanks. I've heard the terms for years but for some reason . . .

Never got around to looking them up.

[krispos42]

27. The design of the AK-47 isn't patented, I don't believe

So anybody can design and make them. Just like, say the Colt Peacemaker. The patents have expired, so anybody with a machine shop can make replicas or "clones". As a result, lots of different companies make their own variants of Peacemakers.

[benEzra]

28. To compare to non-firearms, an office stapler is semiauto; a sewing machine is full auto. (n/t)

[Cobalt-60]

9. one pull of the trigger = 1 bullet out of the barrel

Gas pressure drives the mechanism that immediately moves another round to the magazine.
But it won't fire again until after the trigger is released.
As a practical matter it can be fired at the same rate as a World War II era US Army rifle.
Full automatic means that rounds fire successively so long as the trigger is held down
and there are rounds in the magazine.
In regard to fire arms the term automatic was used to describe the first semi automatic pistols.
This stuck well through the 20th century.
A good example is the US Army Colt .45.
It is a semi automatic pistol often referred to as an automatic.

[Tim01]

16. If I understand your question ....

A quick search found a fully auto for sale for $15,999.00 yes, 16 thousand dollars.
A semi-auto is in the $500.00 range, more or less. More now because of the panic buying.

[yay]

25. easy

One shot per trigger pull, fully auto will shoot until the magazines runs out or you let go of the trigger.

[krispos42]

26. Only fires one shot per pull of the trigger

Genuine, military-issue AK rifles can fire either semi-auto (one shot per trigger pull) or full-auto (gun fires as long as trigger is depressed). There's a selector switch on the side; take your pick. These kinds of guns are called "select-fire".


The AK rifles commonly sold in gun stores are either made specifically as semi-auto-only for the civilian market or they were military-issue select-fire guns that were decommissioned and the innards removed and modified so they were turned into semi-automatic-only guns. The Communist Bloc used to have large military reserves and they stockpiled lots of AK-47s. After Communism collapsed and the Eastern European nations demilitarized, large numbers of SKS rifles (which are semi-auto only) and AK's were made available to the US market.




It is important to note that full-auto and semi-autos look exactly the same from the outside.

[gorfle]

11. This web site...

http://machinegunpriceguide.com/


This web site gives pricing information and a list of dealers for machine guns.

[Tejas]

21. Everybody knows "the good stuff" shows up on

Sturmgewehr dot com

;)

[jeepnstein]

12. I know of only a few...

Our local Class III dealer has one.

The truth of the matter is that full auto of any kind available for transfer to private citizens is a rare commodity. That makes them very expensive.

My best guess is maybe several hundred real AK's are up for sale at any given time. Good luck finding enough change in the couch cushions to pay for it.

[slackmaster]

13. I've seen only one personally in my life

A dentist in Nevada allowed me to fire it at a gun shoot a few years ago.

There aren't very many, that's for sure. I would guess the number is in the hundreds at most. (Some bring-backs from Vietnam were registered during the 1968 NFA amnesty.)

[one-eyed fat man]

14. pre-68 bring backs

Any of the 7.62x39 caliber weapons brought back from Viet Nam had an ammunition problem until the late 70's and early 80's. Ammunition was pretty much not available on the civilian market, either foreign MILSURP or domestic manufacture. It took the initial flood of Norinco AK clones and ammo to change that.

Lake City arsenal, did produce ammo for the DoD prior to that, but unless you were on active duty and had a need to familiarize or qualify with Combloc weapons you likely never saw it.

[slackmaster]

15. It was certainly available in the '90s after the collapse of the European east bloc

I bought quite a bit, even still have a sealed tin or two of milsurp.

[Furyataurus]

17. Not to mention that the "clones"

are designed to be semi-auto only. IIRC, you'd need special equipment to make it full auto.

[Endangered Specie]

19. You would also need alot of lube for the 10yrs of prison you would get...

[benEzra]

18. Someone once told me there were "less than 200." I don't know the source of that,

or the exact number. I would assume that counts only legal civilian-registered pre-1986's, and does not count examples possessed by the military or police, or those illegally smuggled into this country from Central America or Southeast Asia.

[scrinmaster]

20. I've seen a few real ones, albeit deactivated, in museums.

I own two semi-auto clones, though. A Romanian WASR-10, and a Russian Saiga sporter, which I need to convert to take standard AK magazines.

[Tejas]

22. F/A AR's are much more plentiful,

if you're a LEO all it takes to get one is a letterhead from your department requesting a "demo gun".
A "demo" is a post-May '86 weapon that has been legally converted. LE dept's can have as many demos as they want, but I believe they're limited on the amount of demo sub-machine guns.

[X_Digger]

23. And even then..

The BATFE recently busted a LEO for using his department as a means to get a personal M16.

[jeepnstein]

24. Police Departments...

can get anything they want, cheap. DRMO sells M16's for something crazy like a hundred bucks. Full Auto from any other source is about the same price as a retail AR15 minus FET. The firearm has to be on the department's inventory and cannot transfer to an individual, cop or otherwise. There are cops doing time for cheating on this paperwork and claiming the firearm as their personal property.

[old mark]

29. You mean REAL AK's, not the usual semi autos that are sold here?

I'm sure it's under a thousand, and most if not all are rich men's toys.

I can give you an example of a price diference using the M-16/AR-15, that is, the standard US military weapon (M-16) compared to the semi auto civilian rifle (AR-15)
A decent AR-15 copy, not a Colt, sold before the currend run on guns for around $700 to $1500.You don't need any special license or paparwork other than the record of transfer to own one - you could buy it in a shop, do the background check, fill out the form, and take it home.

An M-16 sold for around $10-$18 thousand dollars, before the gun craze, and has to be bought theough a class III firearms dealer, the same background check and sales form are required, but there is a one time tax of $200, plus another series of Federal forms, including a fingerprint card, plus a form to be filled out bu your local law enforcement honcho (sheriff or chief) stating they are aware you are buying this weapon, and they have no objection to your owning it.
When all this is complete and corretc, you can take your new gun home and try to find somewhere to shoot it. Most general ranges and sportsman's rod and gun/fisn and game associations don't permit full auto fire, even rapid fire at all and will throw you out for trying it.

The AK's are slightly less expensive but the process is the same.

mark