Russians have the Americans in their sights
Posted: Wed Aug 15, 2012 9:41 pm
THE nickname of the Russian town of Izhevsk, home of the factory that makes Kalashnikov rifles, is the ''Armoury of Russia''.
Over the years, it has armed many other countries, too, as the lathes and presses of the Izhevsk Machine Works clanged around the clock to forge AK-47s and similar guns for insurgents and armies.
But these days, many are headed elsewhere: the US. Despite the gun's violent history, or perhaps because of it, American hunters and gun enthusiasts are snapping up thousands of Kalashnikov rifles and shotguns. Demand is so brisk that the factory has shifted its focus from military to civilian manufacture over the past two years.
US sales of the civilian versions, sold under the brand name Saiga, rose by 50 per cent last year, according to officials at the factory, known as Izhmash.
Overall, the US is the world's biggest market for civilian guns, partly because of the comparatively lenient gun ownership laws, a topic of renewed debate since the Colorado movie theatre massacre.
Russian weapons accounted for a tiny portion of the US gun market last year, but Saiga sales rose far faster than the overall growth of 14 per cent in 2011.
''I bought a Saiga because it was made in Russia, right beside its big brothers, the AKs,'' said Josh Laura, of Tennessee, a former US Marine. ''No rifle in the world has been as reliable as this one.''
Selling rifles to Americans is fundamental to the efforts to save Izhmash, which has made Kalashnikovs since soon after they were developed in 1947 but is now struggling.
Used AK weapons have flooded the market, and cheap Chinese knockoffs are stealing many of the customers that remain. For American gun enthusiasts, an authentic Russian-made Kalashnikov is appealing, not only for its historical importance as the weapon of choice in so many global conflicts, but also because of its reliability.
Although the civilian versions cannot fire bursts of bullets with a single trigger pull - a military feature known as fully automatic mode - it does share many features with military guns.
Maksim Kuzyuk, a board member of Izhmash and a former chief executive, said he studied the global market for small arms before deciding to focus on the US. ''Typically, an American family will have five or six short and long-barrelled guns,'' said Mr Kuzyuk, ''Some collectors have more than 20 guns.''
In the US, Izhmash cannot be underpriced by Chinese competitors.
The federal government has banned most imports of Chinese weapons since 1994.
Americans are now buying about the same number of Kalashnikov-style weapons from Izhmash as do the Russian army and police.
This shift has been encouraged by the Kremlin, which wants to revive some military industries by improving their economies of scale and helping them blend military and civilian manufacturing.
NEW YORK TIMES
