Why do they describe the AK-74 as "Soviet-era" when it's the main service rifle of both Russia and Ukraine and still being produced? That's like calling the M16 "Vietnam War-era".
this post was submitted on 21 Apr 2024
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Because every sentence in Western media is meticulously crafted to push a narrative. In this case I imagine they are trying to push the idea that Russian tech is inferior
Also the "Soviet-era" ended in the 90s, but the implication is always that it's WW2 technology. The M16 should be called "Nixon-era" or some other nonsense
The M16 is from the leaded gasoline era
Didn't Russia officially replace it with the AK-12 & AK-15? Or at least phasing it out in favour of.
Yep but aren't those also chambered for the same rounds more or less? Either way kalashnikov stays winning
That’s probably not going to happen until after the war is over. It usually takes a while for a big change like that. Getting AK12s to units has been a problem for the Russians and those who did receive them told the MOD that there were problems with them that they have recently fixed from what I understand. Many units still prefer the AK-74 because they still have plenty of suppressors and other attachments for those where as suppressors for the AK-12 are not as readily available yet.
The soviets produced a shit ton of them, so a good percentage were literally produced in the Soviet era. But in this context it doesn’t matter since both modern and soviet era AKs are largely unchanged, and using one or the other doesn’t really matter. It would make sense to specify the era if the production quality was superior or something.
Because it was designed 1974 in Soviet Union
Go figure, just like the artillery shells, NATO and the US specifically privatized all the ammunition manufacturing capacity and there's not enough capacity for a conflict.
There's barely even enough capacity for the panic buying of ammunition and components that happens every 4 years when people think the next election will decide between if they can buy guns or not.
Meanwhile the ammo companies just increase prices every time there's a panic and never invest in creating more primer or ammo capacity, and they mostly just manufacture enough to satisfy immediate demand. Because why would they manufacture enough to keep prices down?
The US ammunition production is state owned, by run by private companies lol. And the private companies bid on who produces it, so the quality varies. Like Winchester makes okay NATO spec ammo, but I would never trust a self defense gun with its white box.
Meanwhile the ammo companies just increase prices every time there's a panic and never invest in creating more primer
I remember reading that China produces most of the lead and primer that the US uses for ammo. Not sure if this is (still) true or just fudd lore.
There's barely even enough capacity for the panic buying of ammunition and components that happens every 4 years when people think the next election will decide between if they can buy guns or not
I believe that they prioritize military contracts first. Then civilians get whatever is left over or whatever they have enough time for. It’s why they don’t give a shit about “the second amendment” in actuality because government contracts can keep them afloat if guns are ever banned, which they won’t be.
I mean why would you invest in primer/ammo production capacity when you just said demand only spikes temporarily and for no good reason?
Because there is a moderate amount of capacity that could be increased that would allow them to sell a little more at these high prices, that wouldn't kill the market.
I would buy 5k of primers for around $150 during 2016-2019 that jumped to $1000 during the pandemic and has "settled" to around $400.
The other main issue is that if the USA is serious about fighting China or Russia they're going to need more ammo capacity. A peer conflict would use up all the stockpiled ammo very quickly and the production is a small fraction. For example on Radio War Nerd they talked about US artillery shell production being something like 100k a year and Ukraine is using like 50k a month or something insane. The point being production rate is far far below consumption.
Small arms production would have the same issue.
simple solution for ukraine war. give everyone on both sides nothing but a mosin and a shovel.
Are they seriously so desperate that we are sending small arms? I assumed all these packages were for weapons you couldn't just buy for a few hundred a pop.
The US wants to bring Ukraine into the NATO orbit, and making it dependent on the US for ammunition is a deliberate move so that there can be consequences for disobeying.
The problem with capitalism is that you eventually run out of ammunition to send to nazis
I don't think anything considered a sniper rifle is chambered in .556.
Are the rest of his unit necessarily snipers? AK-74s aren’t sniper rifles either
Good point.