I saw pics of US soldiers on the internet and..........

Some of them were armed with AK-47s! What's up with that? Arn't their weapons more effective then AK-47s? Why do they have them? Do they really use them in combat? Or do they just pose with them?

Well some of the pictures seen on the internet are just soldiers posing with AKs. Theres a boat load of them floating around with gold AK and such.

Others are infact using them in combat, Special forces for example have wide ranges of weapons they can select from. Even back in Vietnam SF used AK-47s on missions. Though normal soldiers were not allowed to back them because the distinctive AK chatter could easily draw friendly fire.

In Iraq some regular troop under certain circumstances are allowed to use AK-47 , for a bunch of different reasons. Some just need rifles any rifles, The AK and AK ammo is plentiful in Iraq. Other prefer the AK over the M-4, In desert conditions the AKs famed reliablity would be a huge asset. Many soldiers also has issues with stopping power of the M-4, the AK has a large round and more stopping power.

[edit on 18-5-2006 by ShadowXIX]

Not AKs. M4s made to take 7.76 mm I believe, or whatever size mag AKs use. They were made so that Soldiers need not to carry so many of their own mags in to battle, they could pick u what the enemy was using.
www.securityarms.com...
There is link to a whole page with a picture about SR47s

Yeah, probably using them. Well the AK is a pretty good weapon, though I would suggest to the US soldiers in Iraq to get their hands on some AKS-74Ms with scopes and underbarrel grenade launchers.

Ah I forgot about the SR-47 interesting concept.

Russian soldier you were talking about pictures of US troops with classic AKs right? The SR-47 looks more like a M-4 with acception of the clip.

yeah, I was talking about the normal AKs. The old AK-47. In Russia they are SOOOOOOOOOOOO old now.lol

Yeah those are the ones that they are picking up in Iraq in large numbers. Amazing they work so well considering how old they can be, Kalashnikov was the man

Ive also seen pictures of US troops using the SVD a fine sniper rifle aswell.

Check out some of these pictures
link

The burning pics make me sad though I would pay a good amount for one of those Gold SVD from Iraq just for a show piece

Soldiers have taken to using them because they're readily available. They make do with local guns in the absence of a stable supply train. Iraq's got plenty of guns, they can buy them legally at the stores with their credit cards (I think, someone correct me if I'm wrong).

The supply chain is so critical, letting it get to this point is terribly bad strategy. I could post literally thousands of articles speaking to this fact, or, to save a lot of virtual red ink, dogpile/google with the words 'Iraq supply chain problems' - there's 5.3 millions or so returns on google, so, plenty to choose from - some are even relevant.

You know, the looting at the pentagon is what's crippling the troops - it's direct cause and effect. The era of military service contractors is in full bloom, it's truly a spectacular stink blossom. It was bad enough when the vultures were just selling poison and ordinance to kill the enemy, now they're responsible for providing our troops with necessities like food and water.

Don't get me wrong, vultures gotta live, but there's nothing that says the animals gotta jump off a cliff on command, to provide a free meal.


[edit on 18-5-2006 by WyrdeOne]

[edit on 19-5-2006 by WyrdeOne]

While the US is using AK-47s Russia is using AN-94s
While the US is using SVD, Russia is using SV-98s.
Lol, just kidding, US got their own arsenal. And those old weapons ain't as bad after all.


Somebody please tell me about gold colored weapons! What's up with that? Why are they gold?

Originally posted by Russian soldier

Somebody please tell me about gold colored weapons! What's up with that? Why are they gold?

They are gold plated and mainly taken from Saddam's many palaces. They have found gold plated AK-47s, SVDs and MP-5 that I know of. Not really sure why Saddam liked them so much.

Heres a nice pic of AK with folding stock gold plated
pic

A few soldiers were already busted for trying to sneak them back to the US. I cant blame them I would have tried My grandfather brought home a type 99 japanese rifle back during WW2 complete with intact chrysanthemum flower stamp which I still have. Though I guess times have changed and thats frowned on now.

Gold an AKs are nice-as a souvnenier. In combat, they are great at...........GIVING YOUR POSITION AWAY. I'd keep a gold AKS-74 on my wall.

Yeah I think they were purely ornamental. The large number of them found leads me to believe they were given as gifts to high ranking Bathe party members or used in Parades.

Do y'all know if those rifles were even operable/ Were they just plated, and otherwise fully functional? That would be pretty interesting. Hate to see a useful tool turned into a dustable though...

If you just paint an AK gold it will still be functionable.

I assume they all still work they are gold plated which is usually only a few microns thick and it will take alot more then that to make a AK not work.

I never seen one fire but I think its just like a Gold desert eagle you would buy that works perfect with the plating. Theres a jamaican guy that comes to my range every once in awhile with a Gold plated DE.

That would be nice to see a gold plated battle tank, eh?

Maybe I am repeating a point here, but werent US APC and tank crews using AKs because of the logistical miscalculation that after the 'cessesion of military operations' such crews wouldn't need to be issued light arms and body armour vitally needed for the 'peacekeeping' style urban control operations that are underway now?

And I don't say this just as a flagrent bash... logistical srewups happen in ALL wars, and the bigger the operation the increased likelyhood of mistakes by the stratagests and bean counters (the MoD here in the UK are famous for their supply screwups).

Given that kinda choice, I would go with an AK47 any day!

Q

Originally posted by Senor_Vicente
Not AKs. M4s made to take 7.76 mm I believe, or whatever size mag AKs use. They were made so that Soldiers need not to carry so many of their own mags in to battle, they could pick u what the enemy was using.
www.securityarms.com...
There is link to a whole page with a picture about SR47s

Nope, they ARE AKs (mostly clones). The SR-47 you are speaking about was only bought in small numbers and, as your own link says, by the USSOCOM.

Originally posted by Russian soldier
Some of them were armed with AK-47s! What's up with that? Arn't their weapons more effective then AK-47s? Why do they have them? Do they really use them in combat? Or do they just pose with them?

As Westy said, a majority of the pics, even those when they are seen in "urban" terrain, are posing. The second most cause is that these AKs have just been taken away from someone, usually the soldiers will have their regular rifles over their shoulders, too. Lastly, SOME soldiers in Iraq used them when there was a shortage of own ammunition/equipment during the transitional time between the end of the war and the begin of the resisitance, as was described above.

the number of soldiers that really pick up an AK because they feel it is better is very limited, because any random AK picked up on the streets is a potential threat of being rigged, or simply are so worn out that they dont hit anything. After all, the CO has to allow it.

The SVDs and Tabuk sniper rifles wereused when it became apparent that with the short M4s, coupled with the usual CQC optics mounted, they needed a DMR to reach out farther than 300m. This has been compensated by reworked M14 that returned into service.

Originally posted by Russian soldier
While the US is using AK-47s Russia is using AN-94s
While the US is using SVD, Russia is using SV-98s.
Lol, just kidding, US got their own arsenal. And those old weapons ain't as bad after all.
...

Sorry, but Russia still uses the AK-74M. The AN-94 is way too expensive for the Russian forces as a general issue rifle. Also, the Russian forces still use the SVD (and its variants) in the context it has always been used: as a DMR. the SV-98 is a dedicated sniper rifle and is used accordingly, but these tasks are non-interchangeable.

Originally posted by Russian soldier
While the US is using AK-47s Russia is using AN-94s
While the US is using SVD, Russia is using SV-98s.
Lol, just kidding, US got their own arsenal. And those old weapons ain't as bad after all.


Somebody please tell me about gold colored weapons! What's up with that? Why are they gold?

Are Russian troops being issued Nikonov's? I haven't looked into it since the 94' was publicly introducted, but I remember hearing that was Izmash having problems making major sales to Russia based on cost of the new Rifle.

I'm dyin' to shoot one of those babies. Just gotta figure out how to find one in the US...

Soldiers in Iraq rarely use those AK-47s. There are just so many of them. I remember multiple infantry guys who said, "When I was over there, I had so many AK-47s." The soldiers don't use them because they are so cheaply made and it also just isn't a good idea. The barrel isn't rifled correctly, if at all, so the bullets just tend to tumble right out of the rifle, resulting in horrible inaccuracy. The quality AK-47 is different, but these are cheap ones. They collect the AK-47s because you don't just leave them lying around for someone to pick up.

It wouldn't make sense for them to use the AK-47s, except in an emergency. There was a Marine Lieutenant who's Humvee got attacked while driving. he ordered his driver to drive straight at the shooter, with the machien gunner firing. The Lt. ran out fired all his M4 rounds off, then drew his pistol and fired all the rounds, then picked up an AK-47 from a dead insurgent and fired it off, then picked up another AK-47 and fired some of it. He got a Navy Cross for that I believe.

But otherwise, it wouldn't make sense. The M4's are designed to have sights on them that work with the night-vision goggles, as well as other things. Also if you ran out of ammo, and the other guy has an M4, you can't borrow any ammo from him. The AK-47 also lacks the accuracy of the M4. And another thing is it is just un-American to use a Soviet-designed weapon system.

Special Forces soldiers use foreign weapons sometimes because for one, if they're going to a poorer nation, it looks rude to just waltz in with the super high-tech fancy weapons while the native soldiers have old stuff. Another reason is because it looks really good to the native soldiers that these foreign soldiers who will be teaching them are very proficient in the use of the weapons of their own country.