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U.S. Army Buys Nearly 600,000 Soviet AK-47 Magazines
By: Kit Daniels
Each fully loaded, magazines combined hold almost 18,000,000 rounds.
The U.S. Army is buying almost 600,000 Soviet AK-47 magazines, enough to hold nearly 18,000,000 rounds of 7.62x39mm ammo which is not standard-issue for either the U.S. military or NATO.
All the magazines combined weight more than the operating weight of a C-5 Galaxy. Credit: USAF
All the magazines combined weigh more than the operating weight of a C-5 Galaxy. Credit: USAF
A U.S. Army solicitation on the Federal Business Opportunities site asks for approximately 592,825 new AK 30-round magazines.
The solicitation even refers to the magazines as being for “non-standard weapons.”
More specifically, they are for the AK-47 designed by the Soviet Union at the start of the Cold War, which is now commonly used by opposition forces in proxy wars around the world.
This magazine order is an astronomical amount.
Assuming an individual, unloaded magazine weight of 0.95 pounds, all of these magazines combined weigh more than the operating weight of a Lockheed Martin C-5 Galaxy, one of the largest aircraft in the world.
The C-5 Galaxy wouldn’t even be able to carry all of these magazines. Two trips would be necessary.
To put it in another perspective, all these magazines combined weigh more than seven 18-wheelers each carrying the maximum legal load of 8,000 pounds.
The U.S. Army Armament Research, Development and Engineering Center (ARDEC) made the request for the immense amount of magazines, which seems excessive for only research and development purposes.
Chances are these magazines will end up in one of the numerous conflicts around the world.
This isn’t the first time that the federal government has made massive bulk purchases of guns, gun parts, and ammunition which are extremely popular with private gun owners but not in NATO use.
Last month, we reported that the army bought 2,550,000 live rounds of 7.62x39mm ammo.
The army is storing a portion of the ammo at Camp Stanley in Boerne, Texas, which is also supposedly a CIA outpost.
The Obama-backed Syria rebels could definitely use the 7.62x39mm for their AKs, especially considering that Congress has already cleared the CIA to openly ship munitions to them.
In 2012, ARDEC looked for a vendor who could “reach around the world at any given moment to gather and provide multiple types of weapons and weapon parts.”
The weapons requested included both foreign non-standard and obsolete U.S. military weapons, such as the aforementioned AK-47, 1911s and M1903 Springfields.
Expect to see even more large orders for “non-standard” ammunition in the future.
By: Kit Daniels
Each fully loaded, magazines combined hold almost 18,000,000 rounds.
The U.S. Army is buying almost 600,000 Soviet AK-47 magazines, enough to hold nearly 18,000,000 rounds of 7.62x39mm ammo which is not standard-issue for either the U.S. military or NATO.
All the magazines combined weight more than the operating weight of a C-5 Galaxy. Credit: USAF
All the magazines combined weigh more than the operating weight of a C-5 Galaxy. Credit: USAF
A U.S. Army solicitation on the Federal Business Opportunities site asks for approximately 592,825 new AK 30-round magazines.
The solicitation even refers to the magazines as being for “non-standard weapons.”
More specifically, they are for the AK-47 designed by the Soviet Union at the start of the Cold War, which is now commonly used by opposition forces in proxy wars around the world.
This magazine order is an astronomical amount.
Assuming an individual, unloaded magazine weight of 0.95 pounds, all of these magazines combined weigh more than the operating weight of a Lockheed Martin C-5 Galaxy, one of the largest aircraft in the world.
The C-5 Galaxy wouldn’t even be able to carry all of these magazines. Two trips would be necessary.
To put it in another perspective, all these magazines combined weigh more than seven 18-wheelers each carrying the maximum legal load of 8,000 pounds.
The U.S. Army Armament Research, Development and Engineering Center (ARDEC) made the request for the immense amount of magazines, which seems excessive for only research and development purposes.
Chances are these magazines will end up in one of the numerous conflicts around the world.
This isn’t the first time that the federal government has made massive bulk purchases of guns, gun parts, and ammunition which are extremely popular with private gun owners but not in NATO use.
Last month, we reported that the army bought 2,550,000 live rounds of 7.62x39mm ammo.
The army is storing a portion of the ammo at Camp Stanley in Boerne, Texas, which is also supposedly a CIA outpost.
The Obama-backed Syria rebels could definitely use the 7.62x39mm for their AKs, especially considering that Congress has already cleared the CIA to openly ship munitions to them.
In 2012, ARDEC looked for a vendor who could “reach around the world at any given moment to gather and provide multiple types of weapons and weapon parts.”
The weapons requested included both foreign non-standard and obsolete U.S. military weapons, such as the aforementioned AK-47, 1911s and M1903 Springfields.
Expect to see even more large orders for “non-standard” ammunition in the future.
