How AKs are made: A Photo Essay

[Moose242]

Well, as it turns out the company the makes the AK rifle (Izhmash) is now bankrupt-

http://www.thefirearmblog.com/blog/2012/04/23/izhmash-officially-bankrupt/

I guess their PR department released some photos of the friendly face's from the production line to garner some favorable public opinion. Photos are pretty interesting-

http://englishrussia.com/2012/04/22/how-kalashnikov-guns-are-made/

I am surprised at the lack of automation at the factory. Almost everything is done by hand with simple tools by individual workers. Almost no precision machining is present during the manufacturing of the AK rifle, yet another reason why the rifle is so crude by modern standards.

[BajaBob]

I am surprised at the lack of automation at the factory.

My guess would be that labor costs are so much lower than anything else.

[BajaBob]

Awesome.

[Ruffdaddy]

I am surprised at the lack of automation at the factory. Almost everything is done by hand with simple tools by individual workers. Almost no precision machining is present during the manufacturing of the AK rifle, yet another reason why the rifle is so crude by modern standards.

Where are you seeing the lack or precision machining? I didn't see a link that demonstrated any of the piece parts being made... I just saw an assembly line. Is there more data throughout the website?

[Downs]

Attaching a butt to an almost finished gun. Women can perform the task!

LOL next best thing to being in the kitchen I guess is building guns :P

And it continues to perfectly shoot! If 2012 will bring Apocalypse, and in some centuries our descendants will dig out Izhevsk Kalashnikovs, they will have to be careful, the guns will be still in a working condition.

[Moose242]

Where are you seeing the lack or precision machining?

You can't really see a lack of something can you

But you know, it's a stamped gun with a stamped receiver, stamped internals, and stamped pretty much everything except for a smattering of parts such as the barrel.

Take a glance at their factory (look at the overhead view with all the individual work stations) and compare it to an automated modern factory.

[Ruffdaddy]

You can't really see a lack of something can you

But you know, it's a stamped gun with a stamped receiver, stamped internals, and stamped pretty much everything except for a smattering of parts such as the barrel.

Take a glance at their factory (look at the overhead view with all the individual work stations) and compare it to an automated modern factory.

You absolutely can observe the lack of something. When I visit a supplier and notice they are not inspecting a part or performing a process, I see evidence of it not being done. I just don't see anything in this write up that gives evidence either way. Metal stamping can be precise, and we don't see anything about the manufacture of parts that require precision machining so you can't draw a conclusion. But I can bet there are lots of technically precise operations. While the assembly may not look like your definition of modern, it's a function of cost. As mentioned by someone else...overhead is cheap. If the design is good, you won't always need special tools.

I think you may be trying to say something else...or just haven't been around enough precision manufacturing to get a feel for what it can involve.

[War Machine]

You absolutely can observe the lack of something. When I visit a supplier and notice they are not inspecting a part or performing a process, I see evidence of it not being done. I just don't see anything in this write up that gives evidence either way. Metal stamping can be precise, and we don't see anything about the manufacture of parts that require precision machining so you can't draw a conclusion. But I can bet there are lots of technically precise operations. While the assembly may not look like your definition of modern, it's a function of cost. As mentioned by someone else...overhead is cheap. If the design is good, you won't always need special tools.

I think you may be trying to say something else...or just haven't been around enough precision manufacturing to get a feel for what it can involve.

nah, he doesn't like em, so he thinks theyre shit automatically

[Moose242]

You absolutely can observe the lack of something. When I visit a supplier and notice they are not inspecting a part or performing a process, I see evidence of it not being done. I just don't see anything in this write up that gives evidence either way. Metal stamping can be precise, and we don't see anything about the manufacture of parts that require precision machining so you can't draw a conclusion. But I can bet there are lots of technically precise operations. While the assembly may not look like your definition of modern, it's a function of cost. As mentioned by someone else...overhead is cheap. If the design is good, you won't always need special tools.

I think you may be trying to say something else...or just haven't been around enough precision manufacturing to get a feel for what it can involve.

I have toured numerous manufacturing facilities here and in other countries (given none of them were weapons plants, but I have seen several videos and documentaries with weapons plants). That factory is reminiscent of a turn of the century water mill. Hell, I am surprised that they didnt have belts running up to a single overhead rotating beam to power their workstations.

Like the owner of the firearm blog said "By the sounds of it the company needs to be reorganized from a WWII/cold-war weapon mass production manufacturer to a modern sporting goods manufacturer".

nah, he doesn't like em, so he thinks theyre shit automatically

You would be hard pressed to admit that the guns that roll out of that factory are on par with with firearms being produced in Western Europe or right here at home.

And I own two firearms from that factory, but we'll let that be our little secret.

[Ruffdaddy]

I have toured numerous manufacturing facilities here and in other countries (given none of them were weapons plants, but I have seen several videos and documentaries with weapons plants). That factory is reminiscent of a turn of the century water mill. Hell, I am surprised that they didnt have belts running up to a single overhead rotating beam to power their workstations.
]

Working technically with precision manufacturers on a daily basis, I can assure you you're confusing integration with precision manufacturing. If you want to tour a precision manufacturer give me a shout sometime and I can show you some stuff. Granted it's not low level weapons like an AK and I can't go into too much detail, I think it would open your eyes a little. Most times your idea of something is ahead of the actual process.

[Ruffdaddy]

I do agree btw that there are many more technically advanced weapons...I'm just saying there this gun involves more precision than you are thinking.

[War Machine]

You would be hard pressed to admit that the guns that roll out of that factory are on par with with firearms being produced in Western Europe or right here at home.

And I own two firearms from that factory, but we'll let that be our little secret.

People do call Glocks the AK47 of handguns

[John -- '02 HAWK]

the ak platform doesnt require precision greater than 40s era soviet stamp/ press technology. If a part doesnt work it just gets replaced with another 1 dollar part. That lack of fine precision is also why it worked better on the battlefield than the ar platform for years, and why it is the revolutionaries weapon of choice.

[YALE]

I do agree btw that there are many more technically advanced weapons...I'm just saying there this gun involves more precision than you are thinking.

Does it involve more than a press and a welder? If it does, I don't see where.

[KBScobravert]

I do agree btw that there are many more technically advanced weapons...I'm just saying there this gun involves more precision than you are thinking.

LOL Whaaaaaat?

It is an AK, back in the '80s we were having them built by the Chinese for $40 a pop and sending them straight into battle against the Russians.

There are people right now living in caves on the border of Afg/Pak that build them with rocks and they still go bang and are just as deadly as the gun originator intended.

Where is CJ with the "do you wonder why they look like there were made with a large hammer and a grinder?"