The most highly reproduced, imitated, and common assault weapon in the world...
For years, the AK-47 assault rifle has been the world's most popular weapon, the gun of choice for dictators, gang members and Third World revolutionaries. But the global recession and a proliferation of copycats has left the Russian maker of the Kalashnikov, OAO Izhmash, in financial turmoil. Monday, a court in Russia said it will consider a bankruptcy application filed against Izhmash by a supplier owed more than $13-million (U.S.). According to reports out of Russia, Izhmash has been losing money for years on its small-arms business and closed its largest gun factory in Izhevsk for much of 2009.
The company, which makes other military weapons and hunting guns, has blamed its problems on falling orders from the cash-strapped Russian army and a flood of AK-47 look-alikes from factories in China, Bulgaria, Poland and elsewhere. By some estimates, copycat versions of the gun outsell Izhmash's legitimate variety 10 to one. “They have been having this trouble for at least five years,” said Larry Kahaner, a Virginia-based journalist. “We are at the point now that because it's so easy to make, anybody can make it,” said Mr. Kahaner, who wrote a history of the gun called The AK-47: The Weapon That Changed the Face of War .
Izhmash's troubles stand in contrast to some U.S. gun makers, such as Sturm Ruger & Co. Inc. and Smith & Wesson Holding Corp., whose sales and profits jumped sharply this year. That's largely due to specialty products and political issues in the United States where people have been buying guns out of concern President Barack Obama will tighten gun control during his tenure...
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