AK 47 The Contractor's Weapon

by James Corder jcorder@sgcgroup.com
(Brentwood, TN)

With the vast majority of people entering the Private Military Contractors (PMC) market coming from NATO militaries, few contractors have been exposed to the AK-47 (unless it was shooting at them).

With most PMC’s acquiring weapons from the area which they are contracted to operate in this is the weapon the contractor will likely receive. The reason for this is the AK-47 was the cheapest and most reliable military small arm to manufactured in the last 60 years.

It is thought that between 50 -70 million AK-47’s and its variants have been made. The next most common battle rifle is the G3, which estimates put at 15-20 million. The AK-47 in terms of performance, reliability, and ease of maintenance has run circles around its competitors.

When field striped there are only 4 parts, gas piston, bolt, piston tube, and the barreled receiver. Compared to most other assault weapons, have 5 times that many.

The renowned reliability of the AK-47 can be attributed mainly to simplicity of design ( KISS ) and the gas piston system. Unlike the M-16/ M4 weapon system the AK-47 does not “Shit where it eats” in that when a round is fired, the AK-47 due to its gas piston system, expels most of its gas and carbon fowling residue in the gas piston tube vent forward of the hand guard.

With an M-16/ M4 weapon system the gas tube expels its gas and carbon fowling residue almost directly into the gun’s action and bolt. U.S. troops learned this lesion the hard way with the M16A1 in Vietnam, while it was found that the type of gun powder being used was the culprit, it did point out an inherent flaw in the design of the weapon.

While some M-16/ M4 weapon system manufactures have begun to address this issue in the past few years by designing a upper receiver that mimics the AK-47’s gas system. The HK 416 and the Liter Wise Rifle Company have made vast improvements in the M-16/ M4 weapon system, however they are very few in number, are not compatible with any other M-16/ M4 weapon system parts, and have only been made available largely to U.S. Special Forces.

Because of three key factors the AK-47 is the contractors primary if not the only weapon option.
1. Sheer numbers produced. (between 50 -70 million)

2.The collapse of the Soviet Union that backed the AK-47 and all of the AK-47 plants around the world these countries sold the vast majority of there military hardware to anyone who would buy it.

These also happen to be the places PMC’s are likely going to be operating for the foreseeable future i.e. North Africa, Eastern Europe and the Middle East. Consequently this means the AK-47 is the gun in which replacement guns, parts, and ammunition is most easily found.

3. Cost. The New York Times reports in Africa an AK can be purchased for as little as $30 in areas where they are in good supply, and the U.S. is supplying Iraqi Security Forces with AK’s for $60 per rifle. Baklan AK’s are going between $50-100 as reported by EUFOR.


The round the AK-47 shoots, the 7.62x39mm round is arguably one of the most effective military small arm round to be developed. Its shortcomings are few, a slower velocity and the inability to penetrate most battlefield body armor than its NATO counterpart the 5.56mm.

Neither of these factors affect the contractor because it is very unlikely any insurgency or terror group would poses body armor. The advantages of the 7.62x39mm are numerous a bigger bullet = bigger hole = more damage to the target. Due to Geneva convention rules, and overall availability, the only round likely be available is the full metal jacket round.

While fans of the 5.56mm claim the round tumbles when it hits soft flesh, it has been confirmed by U.S. Troops that they have been forced to engage targets multiple times to neutralize the threat.

Whenever a operator might be forced to engage a car the 7.62x39mm is the better round than the smaller 5.56mm. In most cases the 7.62x39mm posses enough power to go through the interior compartment of a car. The 5.56mm had clearly gone into the car but once it hit, its velocity slowed to the point that it could not make it through the other side.

At the inception of the AK-47 the Kremlin preferred the spray and pray method. This is reflected in the AK-47 fire control – Safe – Auto – Semi, as opposed to the M4 Safe – Semi – Auto / Burst. Therefore it is easy to infer the designers and manufactures of the AK-47 never intended it to be a precision weapon and therefore relatively few out of the factory had optics capability.

If the operator desires there are a number of AK-47 accessories that the operator can place on the AK-47, such as rail system and a gas tube that has a rail that makes it possible to mount optics and sighting devices.

Also available are replacement stocks that mimic the M4 collapsible stock and furniture that give an American Operator who is used to an M4 and that weapons feel.

No matter if you love it or hate it, if you are an operator working for a PMC an AK-47 is going to be the weapon you are going to get for the reasons mentioned in this article. But given the fact this weapon has been used very extensively in every conflict this world has had in the past 50 years, and is not likely to be replaced by anything any time soon, the AK-47 will have a very secure future in the PMC world.