Red Dot Arms Forum

http://money.cnn.com/2015/06/30/news/com...index.html

If the interpreter is correct and says Kalashnikov lost 80% of their sales when they were sanctioned in the U.S.. That's an amazing statistic for any Russian company selling ANYTHING to the U.S. consumer market. It really makes me wonder whether it's a positive or negative thing to have Russian companies setup shop in the U.S.., even if they employee U.S. citizens. It also makes me wonder how many guns that 80% is. I doubt whether there's even a Russian Vodka distillery selling 80% of their product to the U.S. public.

Kalashnikov USA is not, repeat is not, Kalashnikov Concern. It is a renamed RWC, an importer who decided to take advantage of the ban on Kalashnikov to take the name knowing that they couldn't be sued in the US for copyright infringement as long as the ban is in effect. They are in no way connected to the true Kalashnikov Concern from Russia and this CNN article is misleading on that front. There was an interview with the CEO of Kalashnikov Concern a couple months ago in which he said there could be legal action against Kalshnikov USA if the ban is lifted. So far the only thing that they have produced is a terrible conversion of a "sporterized" Saiga rifle or shotgun back to a standard AK format. If you want true US made AK pattern rifles look at the Century C39 and RAS47, the DDI milled or stamped rifles, or the Definitive Arms DAKM-4150.

Never trust CNN, Huffpost, etc., etc. when they write about gun related issues.

They are mostly dishonest, and when they are honest, they are ignorant.

rwhite135, you are correct! It is good to have someone that knows the AK's and the AK market very well. The advice on here for stocks, Red Dots, and scoping AK's has been some of the best I have seen anywhere. THANK YOU!

(06-30-2015, 08:15 PM)rwhite135 Wrote: [ -> ]Kalashnikov USA is not, repeat is not, Kalashnikov Concern.

Ironically, here is another story from a CNN branch, money.cnn, which has an interview with the owner of Kalashnikov USA. Apparently, they decided to manufacture the weapon because baracKarl obaMarx issued a ban on imports from Russia.

http://money.cnn.com/2015/01/20/news/kal...de-in-usa/

Thanks for clarifying the fabricated interview on CNN. I haven't seen any of the RWC knockoffs yet. It was just a bit surprising to hear Kalashnikov mentioned with the 80% figure.

It's not a knock off that RWC is making. What they do is take what limited supply of "sporterized" Saiga AKs and shotguns they could get their hands on before the Kalashnikov Concern ban and do a poor conversion back to a full fledged AK, which they should have been to begin with. Instead of using welds to fix holes in the receiver that are left from the conversion process they use poorly done rivets or rubber plugs, which is cheap and unreliable. A properly done conversion uses welds to fill in the holes or at the very least a good rivet job. A "sporterized" Saiga AK looks like the following:



and a properly done conversion looks like the following:



That conversion has the receiver done properly which RWC has not shown the ability to do. The above conversion is only a partial as the handguard is still the "sporterized" version and it doesn't have a threaded barrel. The two rivets above the pistol grip are where the FCG pins were located before the rifle was converted. It's the easiest indicator that the rifle was once a "sporterized" Saiga, as they are the only rifle to have had that done to them. You can better see what I'm talking about in the following picture of the unconverted rifle:



When the conversion is done correctly they are one of the best AKs you can buy.

BTW, the unconverted rifle above is an AK-74 and the converted is an AKM, the modern version of an AK-47. It should be noted that the unconverted rifle is New York state compliant with no modifications needed.

(07-01-2015, 08:17 AM)BelieveIn308 Wrote: [ -> ]rwhite135, you are correct! It is good to have someone that knows the AK's and the AK market very well. The advice on here for stocks, Red Dots, and scoping AK's has been some of the best I have seen anywhere. THANK YOU!

No, problem. I'm glad to be able to have the opportunity to pass on what little knowledge I can.

(07-01-2015, 10:01 AM)Brian S Wrote: [ -> ]It was just a bit surprising to hear Kalashnikov mentioned with the 80% figure.

The fact of the matter is Kalashnikov Concern lost 100% of their US sales, all the rifles that are currently for sale were already paid for before the ban by the retailers, but they still do a healthy business in other parts of the world. I can see the loss of the US market being a heavy blow but I question if it really is the 80% that CNN claims.

Here's a picture of a perfectly executed Saiga conversion:



If you look above the pistol grip you can see how the holes from the former FCG have actually been welded closed instead of using the rivet method.

(07-01-2015, 06:23 PM)rwhite135 Wrote: [ -> ]

(07-01-2015, 10:01 AM)Brian S Wrote: [ -> ]It was just a bit surprising to hear Kalashnikov mentioned with the 80% figure.

The fact of the matter is Kalashnikov Concern lost 100% of their US sales, all the rifles that are currently for sale were already paid for before the ban by the retailers, but they still do a healthy business in other parts of the world. I can see the loss of the US market being a heavy blow but I question if it really is the 80% that CNN claims.

rwwhite, I understood Kalashnikov lost 100% of any new U.S. sales. I understood from the CNN report that the U.S. was relied on for 80% of their worldwide sales. I'm sure 80% is extremely high and fabricated.

You also seem to know AK's very well. What are your thoughts of whether a good gunsmith or machinist replacing the welds with either screws or fitted pins?

Again thanks for your clarification.

(07-05-2015, 07:55 AM)Brian S Wrote: [ -> ]

(07-01-2015, 06:23 PM)rwhite135 Wrote: [ -> ]

(07-01-2015, 10:01 AM)Brian S Wrote: [ -> ]It was just a bit surprising to hear Kalashnikov mentioned with the 80% figure.

The fact of the matter is Kalashnikov Concern lost 100% of their US sales, all the rifles that are currently for sale were already paid for before the ban by the retailers, but they still do a healthy business in other parts of the world. I can see the loss of the US market being a heavy blow but I question if it really is the 80% that CNN claims.

rwwhite, I understood Kalashnikov lost 100% of any new U.S. sales. I understood from the CNN report that the U.S. was relied on for 80% of their worldwide sales. I'm sure 80% is extremely high and fabricated.

You also seem to know AK's very well. What are your thoughts of whether a good gunsmith or machinist replacing the welds with either screws or fitted pins?

Again thanks for your clarification.

Screws are okay for doing things like adding a side scope rail to a rifle that doesn't have one but should not be used to fix things like broken welds or rivets. Even in the case of adding the side scope rail rivets are the optimum and if using screws high temp Loctite is recommended or the screws will come loose and that will kill your zero. Pins should only be used to hold in the barrel and the FCG. Don't replace any rivets with pins as they will not stay in place. The ones for the FCG and barrel have items that retain them in their positions. If you have to get rivets fixed make sure you go to someone that knows how to properly work on an AK. A bad rivet job can lead to a disaster happening with the rifle. Just look at some of the videos of what has happened with IO made AKs to see what I'm talking about. I hope that answers your question and if not let me know.