Russian "Alpha" AK - Larry Vickers Video

[Firefly]

I feel kinda silly now that you said that and now that I think about it. Pretty logical.

Still, I find the Russian using the M4 more interesting than the modded AK.

[superr.stu]

Guessing China. Norinco makes a couple AR-15 clones.

Or when they overran Georgia and took a bunch of M4's back home with them.

[eodinert]

Or when they overran Georgia and took a bunch of M4's back home with them.

You mean these M4s?

[Fox33]

open air heat treating....nothing a little CLP and elbow grease couldn't solve

[MountainRaven]

Or when they overran Georgia and took a bunch of M4's back home with them.

I'm pretty sure those M4s were mostly Bushmasters and either ended up in museums, military/intelligence reference collections, or being destroyed in the field.

That's not to say that they couldn't have real Colts in their armories for actual use as the US has generally not had much of a problem acquiring Russian AKs through less than legitimate means for military/intelligence reference collections.

However, I'm pretty sure that when US SOF use AKs - as when the US acquires them on behalf of an allied nation - they generally source them brand new from AK-manufacturing US allies, rather than relying on battlefield pick-ups and clandestinely acquired examples of unknown and potentially dubious quality. And that, therefore, it follows that the Russians would more likely rely on their AR-15-manufacturing allies (such as China and perhaps only China) for actual military use, rather than battlefield pick-ups and clandestinely acquired examples - which include weapons made by Bushmaster (as reported by Larry Vickers during his visit to a military small arms museum during his visit to Russia last year or the year before) and other hobbyist-grade carbines. This would include replacement parts, I imagine, and not just the weapons themselves.

ETA: This, of course, puts the US and Russia both in the potentially ironic situation of acquiring versions of each other weapons from the Chinese. Possibly even from the same factory (but different lines in that factory).