From: alt1@snowhill.com (Al Thompson)
Date: Wed, 8 Apr 1998 02:13:03 -0700 (PDT)
To: cypherpunks@toad.com (Cypherpunks)
Subject: Re: Cost of Ak manufacture
Message-ID: <199804080912.EAA20228@frost.snowhill.com>
MIME-Version: 1.0
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At 11:20 PM 4/7/98 -0500, Igor Chudov @ home wrote:

>Judging by their construction, there is not a lot of costs and they
>should be a lot cheaper than AR-15s (against which I have almost nothing).
>
>So, the question is, it is realistic to expect that AK s will be
>manufactured here? Will the control freaks be able to stop it?
  
Two major problems.  There is VERY little domestic manufacture of 7.62x39
ammo, and most of what is already out there is not reloadable.  Even if AK
clones became widespread, all the feds would have to do would be to ban the
import of the ammo.
 
Secondly, while it would certainly be possible for a manufacturing facility
to construct an AK from raw materials, if "push comes to shove," it would be
much faster and cheaper for people to "reconstruct" the Sten parts they have
laying around.  This has the added advantage that ammo is readily available
for those.
 
While 7.62x39 might become hard to find, the common US military and NATO
calibers (7.62NATO, 5.56, and 9mm) will be widely available.