[Gravel]

In Friday's CBS-TV network news, correspondent Clarrisa Ward, reporting from Syria, said the availability of Kalashnikov rifles [for the rebel fighters] is so tight that the going price is around $2,500 [US] per rifle, and she went on to say that price is about five-times higher than the average cost of such rifle.

I was impressed that, for a news reporter, she was well-versed with weaponry nomenclature. Referring to the name of the rifles as Kalashnikovs, and not AK47s. And price-wise, the $500 price tag is about right, too.

I realize there are those of lower prices, but balance that out with higher priced ones, and I'd say the $500 price was a reasonable average price to use in her report.

I also admire her courage with beinig with the rebel forces in a combat hot-spot, too.

 

[ij70]

See, reports like that make me want to know prices in Lebanon. Oh well.

 

[jonny c.]

Yeah, but those a full-auto. At $2500, they are about 10x under US price for a comparable rifle.

 

[jaegermeister]

I saw that too. Scott Pelley, the news anchor with whom Clarissa was speaking understood what she meant when she said "Kalashnikov". He added (probably to clarify for those watching that are not familiar with guns), "When you say Kalashikovs you mean AK47's..." or something to that effect. On a similar note in the same broadcast, Hillary Clinton was speaking to a leading Saudi official who supported arming the civilians "so they could defend themselves" and Clinton nodded approvingly. NOW THAT WAS REALLY INTERESTING!

 

[jepari]

See, reports like that make me want to know prices in Lebanon. Oh well.

Expect they have gone up a bit (as long as we aren't talking about Lebanon OH) since the unrest in Syria is rubbing off, and it's also fairly simple to smuggle stuff from Lebanon into Syria (if you are local ) and the direction of the smuggling now is going in direction of Syria.
A friend of mine bought one in Tyre in May(ish) last year and brought home with him (not to the US). Soviet underfolder AKM , in very good condition with a number of mags ..can't remember but 4,6 or 8. He paid $750 for it.
About a year ago he paid, IIRC $1100, for a AKS-74U, but said they were hard to find.

 

[Gravel]

Yeah, but those a full-auto. At $2500, they are about 10x under US price for a comparable rifle.

Ah! Silly me! It did not occur to me about those Kalashnikovs used in combat are Full-Auto.

Gee! The world market price of a full-auto Kalashnikov at $500 [US]. What a bargain! [just joking]

But, the price of those full-autos have gone up over the past 20 years. I had heard accounts that at one-time the world was so a-washed with Kalashnikovs that they could be had for $100 [US] in third-world countries. Of course, in those same countries, the condition of such rifles would be suspect.

Ah! But it just came to mind that the American dollar is not as strong today as it was 20 years ago.

And jaegermeister . . . thanks for catching and commenting about H. Clinton's video clip in the same newscast. Maybe since her days in politics are nearing its end, she is not concerned about offending the liberal anti-gun voters.

 

[jjk308 In Memoriam RIP]

I heard reports that right after the USSR came apart you could buy AKs in Africa for $25 each. That's because they had nothing. No more ammo shipments, no food, no money to buy more so the AKs were just a useless hunk of metal and wood to them once the USSR's support of its Cold War clients ended.

 

[DK PHILLIPS]

used in africa $25...new $50....$75...762 x 39's i was told

 

[howiebearse]

hillery was thinking to herself I cannot wait till my good friends at the UN get in here and clean out all these nasty guns. She hopes to get it done here too if she can get the rest of the world on the bandwagon to deny ownership of private guns

 

[DK PHILLIPS]

MOST free in WVA.....not that a KENYAN would want one of ours or the trailer and 5 kids and two grand kids 3 coondogs!

 

[Looter]

Some intel people familiar with the region think the al Qaeda (AQI) supply lines running from Syria into Iraq will reverse themselves now, moving weapons and fighters from Iraq into Syria.

 

[richarduk]

saw a photo recently of a syrian insurgent with an Israeli FAL, I will post a copy if I can find it again

regrds

richard

 

[richarduk]

as mentioned in my post above, here is the IDF FAL

 

[jonny c.]

Very interesting. I would guess it came out of Lebanon, supplied to an Israeli ally back in the 1980s.

 

[1918Militaria]

Who has them to sell there in the first place? Are they coming in from outsiders?

 

[jepari]

Very interesting. I would guess it came out of Lebanon, supplied to an Israeli ally back in the 1980s.

Interesting ...it could also be war booty from 73 or so.Leb Army seemed to have mostly M16's and some HK's by the 80's.

The Israeli "sponsored" militia in Lebanon (SLA) in the 80's usually carried AK's of all kinds and to some degree M16/AR's. Can't recall seeing a single FAL in their service, but I don't doubt they might had had some.

 

[jonny c.]

At various times Israel supplied Maronite, Phalange, and Druze militias, as well as the SLA. FALs were popular in Beirut.

 

[jepari]

At various times Israel supplied Maronite, Phalange, and Druze militias, as well as the SLA. FALs were popular in Beirut.

Yep, when I think about it I saw FAL's once or twice at Phalange check points in Beirut.Still way more AK's and M16's than anything else. Actually bought my first PPSh 41 in the Bekaa Valley. Sort of a dream for a gun collector - cold find almost anything...still can l guess

 

[ij70]

http://forums.gunboards.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=518256&d=1330210443

Sweet Simonov!
☺

 

[Archivist Dick]

These were available for sale in the good old U.S. back in the 1950s and 60s IIRC. Ammo was available too.

PTRSs rock.