It is said 100 million Ak 47's have been made. But how many are Russian?

[6644kp]

So basically we all know the AK 47 very well and it is said 100 000 000 have been made. But how many are acually Russian and thus AK's. There are about 20 other nations who have managed to reverse engineer the gun and make or made their own copy cat version. Such as the Chinese Type 56 and the Iraqi "Tabruk Rifle". So out of the 100 million what % is accualty Russian and what % is a copycat?

Im guessing something like 50% Russian, 50% copycat.
But does anyone have offical numbers or a better educated guess?

[Rapax]

Well, I found this in another forum:

I went through and calculated all of the AK and AK variants produced around the world. I only came up with 50 million rifles. Russian production numbers were a lot less than I had thought.

Russian production:
Milled AK's: 5 million
AKM's: 10 million (Half given away as military aid)
AK-74's: 5 million
All other variants: less than 5 million.

China: 15 million AK's of all variants. Perhaps 5 million more produced in secret and given away as military aid.

All others: less than 5 million.

The old man says the number is 70 million, but that is probably a tad over optimistic on his part. Most of the smaller nations received considerable amounts of AKM's as military aid. Production numbers from sattelite countries is considerably less than you would think. Maybe 40,000 rifles here, 75,000 there. Nothing to come close to 100 million rifles. Even Galil and Valmet production was rather limited.

http://glocktalk.com/forums/showpost...3&postcount=26

That said, there don't seem to be any official numbers, just estimates.

[6644kp]

Well, I found this in another forum:


http://glocktalk.com/forums/showpost...3&postcount=26

That said, there don't seem to be any official numbers, just estimates.

Interesting so the copycats are only about 20 to 25% ? Of which 15 to 20% are Chinese.

So that means that about 75 to 80 % are legit Russian guns. i though the figure would be much lower. espacially with the large number of nations able to produce copies but I suppose they just cant make them in the vast amounts the Russians can and I suppose Russian ones are prefered.

[thursgun]

May I ask why is it relevant? (no trolling intended)

[Pious Agnost]

May I ask why is it relevant? (no trolling intended)

Relevant to what?

[0N3]

Someone must have a huge pile of ak's somewhere

[43rdFoot]

Someone must have a huge pile of ak's somewhere

It's called Africa.

[Ojf]

It's called Africa.

So because they are black they must have guns? Isn't that slightly racist?

[thursgun]

Relevant to what?

Why is it so important knowing how many AKs are Russian?

[Каие]

No ad hominem please. You may theories that something is racist, but you cannot accuse people of being racists, or indeed call them racists. Return to the discussion at hand if you will. Africa, black people and racism are not the topic at hand here.