Photo Of The Day and we’re off to the Republic of Cabo Verde, an archipelago and island country in the central Atlantic Ocean consisting of ten volcanic islands. In these images, U.S. Army Rangers assigned to the 3rd Special Forces Group teach the Cabo Verdean National Guard tactical movements, although the Rangers themselves are not visible.

Special Projects Division of Meridian Defense Corporation has unveiled the fourth rifle in the 7 Sins series of limited edition custom AKs – the SLOTH. This is a Khyber Pass-themed rifle, that’s why it’s built with a combination of parts borrowed from various AKs, particularly, a Romanian “dong” lower handguard and an AKS-74 triangle side folder stock are used. Don’t be lazy, read on to learn about other specs and features of this rifle.

Welcome everyone to the 163rd edition of ‘Hot Gat or Fudd Crap?’, one of our many series here on TFB. If you’re new to the series, this is where we look at the most obscure firearms that are actually for sale and ask the question – is this Gat a sweet deal or only has a Fudd appeal?  Each week the TFB staff weighs in with their thoughts, but readers get the final say in the poll at the bottom of each article.

This week sees India’s premier military exposition, Defexpo, get underway in Gandhinagar, Gujarat. One of the attendees is Russia’s Rosoboronexport, a subsidiary of the Rostec State Corporation, who will be in discussions with Indian officials to finally get production of the AK-203 in India organised.

Frontier Armory, an importer of African and European gun parts, has announced two new modernization packages for the original Galil, the Kudu and the Oryx. These kits add additional rail space and other improvements to facilitate use with optics and accessories. Both kits will be available for the longer gas system of the standard (or R4) rifle, or the shorter SAR (R5) carbine.

In recent weeks we’ve examined how the UK has procured various 7.62x39mm AK-pattern rifles for use in training Ukrainian troops in the UK. The latest video and photographs from the training the UK is providing show that alongside the previously identified AK variants a number of Chinese Type 56-1 rifles have also been procured.

It’s been a hot minute since Chinese AKs were imported into the US. Back in the mid to late 80s, you could purchase multiple configurations of these rifles including models featuring side folding stocks, underfolders, milled receivers, stamped, and spiker models like this one that PSA has finally released to the public. These of course came from a few different government factories going by Norinco, Polytech, and before them Clayco.

The Egyptian Maadi, specifically the Steyr imported ARM, has always been one of the better examples of imported AKM pattern rifles. These rifles are built on Russian-made tooling by Russian-trained technicians and workers. Back in the ’80s and ’90s, it was as close as you could get to an actual Russian-made AKM. Unfortunately, only a couple thousand of the fixed stock model ARM and even less (some say only 50) of the “Crutch” style folding stock models were imported.

In December of 2021, TFB was the first firearms media to publish information about BW20, a new family of roller-delayed blowback rifles developed by Pakistan Ordnance Factories. In February of 2022, the entire family of weapons was officially presented in Saudi Arabia at the World Defense Show exhibition. Now, there is a new member in this family – CW39, which stands for “combat weapon chambered for 7.62×39”.

Despite the fact that the first AK went into production over 74 years ago, new companies and new countries are beginning to manufacture their versions of Kalashnikov rifles every year. At least 31 countries produced various AK variants, and now Turkey is joining that list, thanks to Sarsilmaz.

The ongoing conflict between Azerbaijan and Armenia brought a lot of attention to the military-industrial complex of Azerbaijan. And while many of their heavy weapon systems were procured abroad, when it comes to small arms, Azerbaijan demonstrates a surprising abundance of domestically produced firearms, which were demonstrated at the ADEX 2022 defense exhibition in Baku. That is especially interesting considering the fact that after the collapse of the Soviet Union, Azerbaijan did not inherit any significant firearms manufacturing capability and their entire military industry was built from the ground up in the last 30 years.

Welcome to TFB Weekly Web Deals 24. Aside from the AR-15 in the United States, few firearms worldwide are as recognizable as the AK. Originally designed and first produced in the years following the conclusion of the Second World War, the AK-47 and its derivatives have spread across the globe in great numbers and are still in some forms used to this day by militaries, private citizens, and rogue organizations. Despite decades of it being the “enemy’s gun” during the years of the cold war, the AK-style rifle has gained a healthy following in the western world, and both fans and detractors of the AK rifle can at least appreciate its mass adoption, legendary durability, and simplicity of design. In honor of that achievement and to perhaps help one of you budding AK enthusiasts out there find the deal you’ve been waiting for, we’ll be featuring all AK-style rifles and pistols for the TFB Weekly Web Deals 24.

A Galil has been on my bucket list since my youth. Unfortunately, the classic Galil was banned from import many years ago and original guns are very expensive these days. American Tactical Incorporated stepped up to meet the demand of gun nerds everywhere by building Galil clones from imported parts kits with US-made receivers and barrels. These guns are marketed as the Galeo.

Volunteer Defense Groups are small groups of Ukrainians local to a town or village who have been organizing to augment the other more regimented security forces. The small groups will also act as partisans if their region is occupied. Overt Defense has recently had the chance to examine some of the small arms issued to the Volunteer Defense Groups in the field.

In this episode of TFBTV, James Reeves is at Zastava USA visiting with the Zastava team to discuss why AK-47 imports into the United States are absolutely terrible. Fortunately, Zastava has figured out a way to get by the hurdles presented by ridiculous U.S. laws, and the Serbian AK-47 manufacturer is glad to show the TFBTV team how they comply with the law while still producing an excellent AK, just like the AKs from the mother country.

It’s not too often we have an AK-style pistol caliber carbine in our Photo Of The Day. But thanks to a new (to us at least) star in the sky we have some wonderful pictures to show of the Kalashnikov USA KP9. All of these photos are from Bravo42 Photography, check out his excellent images below.

The rifle sling – one of the oldest and most useful rifle accessories which despite often being underrated, is a must-have for carrying a rifle in the field, more important than a lot of other things we accessorize our rifles with. A well-designed sling is not only a mean for carrying your rifle but will allow you to improve your weapon manipulations and increase the stability of the gun while shooting. While any sling is better than no sling, having one specifically designed for your particular weapon system should in theory be much more preferable. In this article, we’ll find out if it is so in practice in the case of AK rifles and the Blue Force Gear Standard AK Sling.

During the ARMY 2022 exhibition, Kalashnikov Concern unveiled a number of new firearms, both for the military/LE and civilian markets. Among the new guns are two rifles chambered in 7.62x51mm NATO / .308 Winchester – the AKV-721 and AK-308. Let’s take a look at each of these new firearms.

Kalashnikov USA teamed up with Outlaw Ordnance to create a trio of limited edition AKs – the KR-9S Patriot pistol caliber carbine, the KS-12T Valhalla shotgun and the KR-103 Tanker Green rifle. The Outlaw Ordnance did the custom engravings and Cerakote job on these KUSA guns. Only 100 rifles and shotguns, and 25 PCCs will be made. Let’s take a quick look at each of the Kalashnikov USA / Outlaw Ordnance limited edition AKs.

In this episode of TFBTV, James Reeves is at Zastava USA to discuss the new import of the Zastava M77 rifle. This .308 rifle is very similar to Zastava’s flagship M70 AK-type rifle and almost identical to the Zastava M90 .223 rifle, with a few differences other than the obvious caliber difference. Note that per the video, furniture that works with the M70 and M90 should also work with the M77. Zastava now offers three calibers of AK to the US civilian market, including 5.56/223, and of course 7.62×39. Check out this overview for a description of the features and accessories available for this new .308 AK.

Back in 2020, Rifle Dynamics and Thunder Ranch introduced the Thunder Ranch AK, a rifle made to Clint Smith’s specifications. The two companies have teamed up again to release another AK, the limited edition Thunder Ranch RD700 pistol. This AK pistol bears the Thunder Ranch logo and has an exclusive Tigerstripe finish.

TFBTV’s James Reeves and Ryan Ogborn have been spending some quality time out in the Chicago area hanging out with the good folks from Zastava USA. Zastava is most well known for its very popular lineup of AK rifles and pistols including the ever popular ZPAP 92, and of course the ZPAP M70 rifle. Zastava released some information on an upcoming project that has been requested, asked for, demanded by Zastava customers for quite some time – a new M70 Underfolder AK. TFBTV will have all of the details in a full video from Zastava USA in the next few weeks.

We’ve been running our Photo Of The Day article series for almost 10 years, and the archives keep growing every day. Today it’s time for the 7.62 RK 62, made in Finland. This is the second in a series of articles TFB is doing on some of the firearms used by the Finnish Army.

Kalashnikov USA and CMC Triggers have teamed up to introduce the new AK 2.0 Trigger which is presumably the new generation of CMC’s AK triggers. The AK 2.0 is a drop-in non-adjustable single-stage trigger that according to Kalashnikov USA, has been tested extensively in KUSA rifles and provides positive ignition with a wide variety of ammunition. Let’s take a closer look.

Palmetto State Armory continues to increase their AK accessory lineup under their Soviet Arms line of products with the new Soviet Arms Rail Mount for optics. Milled from billet 6061 aluminum and adjustable for not only different spec side rails, but the rail can also be moved forward or back on the mount to suit the end user’s needs.

On the 9th of July, the UK’s Ministry of Defence announced that as part of its agreement to train 10,000 Ukrainian soldiers it had acquired a significant number of AK-pattern rifles. Initially sharing only one, fairly low res photograph the official announcement stated that:

Welcome everyone to the 153rd edition of ‘Hot Gat or Fudd Crap?’, one of our many series here on TFB. If you’re new to the series, this is where we look at the most obscure firearms that are actually for sale and ask the question – is this Gat a sweet deal or only has a Fudd appeal?  Each week the TFB staff weighs in with their thoughts, but readers get the final say in the poll at the bottom of each article.

Wolfpack Armory has announced that their WP47 pistol is now available for preorder. The Wolfpack Armory WP47 is an AK magazine fed AR style hybrid firearm chambered in 7.62x39mm. Let’s see what features Wolfpack has packed in this gat.

JMac Customs 360 line of muzzle devices has been expanded with the addition of a new KeyMo/KeyMicro compatible muzzle brake. What sets this muzzle device apart from other members of the 360 family is that it is designed for AK rifles with 24×1.5 right-hand metric muzzle threads (AK-74, 100-series pattern guns). JMac Customs claim that this is the first and only solution to attach your KeyMount/KeyMicro compatible device to your 24-1.5RH threads.

H.R.1808, the so-called “Assault Weapons Ban of 2022,” just passed the House last night. It faces slim odds before the Senate, however, that doesn’t mean that this ban couldn’t come back during the next election cycle, or that certain imported AK-47s couldn’t be banned by executive order. With this on his mind, in this episode of TFBTV, James Reeves discusses the Top 5 AKs to get before there’s a ban or executive order put into place preventing you from getting one altogether.