To: seventh_son who wrote (10081 ) 8/4/2006 2:35:28 PM From: AK2004 Read Replies (1) | Respond to of 37332 re: "The AK-47 is simple and inexpensive to manufacture and easy to clean and maintain. Its ruggedness and reliability are legendary." simplicity of AK-47 is it's main advantage. IMHO, though there is a difference between simplicity of the design and been able to built it in a small shop. Spring coil alone, no matter how simple it is, should be a problem for a small shop, I think re: Phd in physics My formal education is in physics as well but, to be honest, that does not give me a special insight into small shop production. It is just that no matter how simple the design is I would be afraid to fire AK-47, probably one of the most reliable rifle out there, knowing that it was produced in a small shop. re: In fact his wife was in the US military and when they went poking around where these weapons were being sold, they came close to being killed. I was never in the army and was never shot at so I do not possess that quality of expertise. But my scores with ak-47 qualified me as a marksman by russian army standards. Of course that was back in the late 70s when I was in high school. Boy, I feel old now. re: When you read about this Pashtun people, you understand that they have a military culture where almost everyone has and carries a gun, and they have a cultural imperative of being totally independent I have read similar things and I have no reason to doubt that they are very tough people. But I do doubt that they can manufacture the weapon in a small shop. Maybe the reference was to assembling ak-47 from spare parts but that is not a big trick. In fact the weapon is so simple that after relatively few lessons I was able to assemble ak-47 blindfolded in 15 sec. just my 2c