Web, you seem to be going to a great deal of trouble to justify having 100,000 AK-74 rifles turn up in the US during the Twilight War. You clearly have your heart set on it. Why? Did you have an image in your mind of the Shogun's forces being armed with AK-74s and can't bear the thought of not having it happen in your campaign background, or is it something else?

I’d say it’s more of a character failing. In this particular instance, I have become fixated on a certain idea that has certain ironies that appeal to me. I challenge myself with ways of seeing how unlikely things can be explained. Then I get involved in the business of testing ideas, which is where my pettiness comes out. This is good in that the devil is always in the details. This is bad in that the urge to be “right” can outweigh the merits of the idea itself. Looking at the behavior more in a positive light, I might say that I refuse to yield the point to a counterargument that doesn’t hold enough water. If you were to say that I might be better served by spending more time developing the characters and less time developing certain details, you’d probably be right.

I can be similar when I look at a discussion as a debate and I try to "win". My apologies if that part of me had a negative effect on this discussion. I will try to keep my comments more positive.

Of all the people on this board, Kato, you have the least to apologize for.

I appreciate that, but I still think I will try a bit harder to focus on how things are possible not how they are impossible.

honestly i could easily see a conex or two with any kind of weapons stashed near the border in the SW US. if for no other reason than cartel wars. lets face it cartels have use some strange equipment during their clashes with governments and each other and you'd be surprised at what some of the engineers and mechanics they hire can come up with. so for this reason alone i could see a great deal of AK74's or even AK47's converted to 5.56N and stashed somewhere even if it's just pre-positioning for a major territory grab that the war interrupted.

Going with what happened after World War Two, likely places for these weapons to end up:

* taken home by soldiers

* used by soldiers who have worse kit

* given to friendly governments fighting insurgency

* given to insurgents who are on your side, or at least fighting your enemies or maybe that you just want to influence (particularly deniable allies)

* used for own national troops familiarization

* used by henchmen of movie villains ten to twenty years later

* I had lots of Soviet kit given to the Germans for the Ost units that had trained on it previously (see my Warsaw Pact Small Arms Guide for details)

* In TW2000 maybe used to equip units where you are short of weapons (I even have a few UK based units equipped with it (see my UK Small Arms Guide)