![]() Many to most of the Kalashnikovs that saw Iranian service during the Iran/Iraq War, as an example, originated in China. Military versions were widely exported across the world. Production of the Type 56 AK began at State Factory 66, and then moved to Norinco and Polytech. The rifle he was packing came from the same factory as did the author’s. The author shot this picture of a Chinese Marine in 1997. This was the variant most frequently encountered by our troops serving in Vietnam. Those earliest Type 56 Chinese AKs were the forged receiver sort, just as the earliest (after a failed attempt at an early stamped receiver) Russian AKs were. This simple but effective combat implement went through several iterations to become the most produced firearm in human history. ![]() Mikhail Timofeyevich Kalashnikov birthed the original AK rifle in the years immediately following World War II. Good luck on running a similar import company in the Golden State today. This Chinese-made military rifle was imported through California. This included a Chinese SKS, an RPD and lots and lots of AKs. As they designated their weapons based upon the year of introduction, several mass-produced guns got saddled with the nomenclature Type 56. Back in the 1950’s and 60’s, China’s forte rested mostly in copying others’ designs. Type 56 Origin Storyġ956 was a big year for the Chinese. These Chinese guns flowed into the country in various forms and in profound numbers until the 1989 import ban under Bush the First turned off the tap. Each rifle was beautifully executed and came with three magazines, a bayonet, a sling and a cleaning kit. I bought my folding stock Chinese Norinco Type 56 AK from a pile of NIB versions at a gun show for $325 in 1985. This relationship ultimately precipitated a tsunami of business. Their first shipment of wood-stocked Norinco Kalashnikovs consisted of 2,000 rifles that retailed for $259.95 apiece. Navy/MC2 Daniel BarkerĬalifornia was not the gun owner’s wasteland it is today, so Golden State Arms Distributors sprang up in Manhattan Beach, California. A Bangladesh navy sailor fires a Type-56 assault rifle aboard the Bangladesh navy frigate BNS Bangabandhu during a surface gunnery exercise in 2011. American consumers were looking for something that hearkened back to the Vietnam War that was still fresh on everybody’s minds, so these versions sold poorly. They were superb rifles, but they featured polymer furniture. ![]() These guns were made by the Chinese company Norinco. The first of the genre was imported by Clayco. This prime folding stock Type 56 set the author back $325 new at a gun show back in 1985.Įverybody likes money, and around 1983 the Chinese figured they could get some if they started building semi-auto versions of Kalashnikov rifles for the U.S. Prior to that time, Finnish Valmets stood in for Kalashnikovs in movies like Stripes, The Dogs of War and Firefox. Once the Egyptians began exporting Maadis, they appeared in such classics as Heartbreak Ridge, Commando and Red Dawn. It was simply that most normal folk couldn’t afford them. But, I seem to recall they cost $1,000 apiece even back in the early 1980’s. One slightly more accessible option was the Egyptian Maadi AK, a superb semi-auto rendition of the AKM service rifle. The Type 56 AK rifle as imported in the 1980’s was a superb piece of kit. Even if you could find a gun, the 7.62x39mm ammo it fired was comparably scarce. Vietnam bring-backs were an option, but they were and always have been both rare and expensive. Despite tens of millions of copies in service, they yet remained vanishingly rare on our side of the pond. In the late 1970’s, Kalashnikov rifles were the most common firearms on the planet.
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