[Webstral]

As always, thank for taking the time to share thoughts, gentlemen.

SSC, this is exactly the kind of feedback I was looking for, even though I didn't realize it when I asked the question. Assuming that reboring is cheaper than buying a new barrel, this option provides me with a gateway into a characterization and plot development issue. If, as you point out, a rebored barrel is okay for plinking but not hard service, some distributor might decide that the cheapest possible rebuild for AK-74s is the way to go. The existing barrels get rebored and not chromed. A shop doing work of this type is operating in Nevada. (I'll have to figure out why 99th Wing doesn't take or destroy them on the way out of Nevada in early 1998.) The Shogun obtains the remaining stock of these rifles for his motorized army. The quality issues begin to show up, adding to his problems.

Regarding the issues of getting AK-74 from China to the US and onto the market, I think some good points have been raised. Regarding whether China keeps the AK-74s or issues them to troops, I think we would have to ask ourselves what the Chinese bean counters are going to say about equipping their troops or millions of militiamen. I am inclined to think that the militia are going to get SKS rifles manufactured in the PRC. If the sale of a single AK-74 using a non-standard type of ammunition can pay for 2 or more SKS for the militia, the Chinese bean counters may find this a desirable course of action.

Regarding the manufacture of 5.45B ammunition in the US, there are some political considerations. If there is a shortage of 5.56N ammunition, which may be the case once the war scare arising from events in the Far East takes effect domestically and globally, Congress may be convinced that an additional production of small arms ammunition suitable for assault rifles ought to be in 5.56N. On the other hand, it may be possible to convince Congress that a 5.45B line could provide some export revenues.

Were I a bean counter addressing the board of a major 5.56N producer, I would tell them that our lobbyists should be telling Congress to mandate all 5.45B weapons be standardized for 5.56N. If they are allowed onto the market firing another ammunition type, then either the company has to invest in tools and fixtures for producing that ammunition (assuming no one in the US produces 5.45B in 1995 or 1996), or the company has to forgo the profits of selling that ammunition. Neither option is attractive. Therefore, a lesser sum of money ought to be disbursed to ensure that Congress passes the right law governing the import of AK-74 from China for sale on the civilian market. And if the same company manufactures 5.56N barrels already, then the position of the company is a no brainer. The question then becomes how influential that company can be regarding the attitude of the right members of Congress.

The equation changes yet again when the war spreads to Europe. Whereas I have postulated that the PRC might be willing to endure some logistical headaches in order to get as many Western countries invested in Chinese victory as possible, West Germany might not be as tolerant. They aren't going to reequip the Bundeswehr with weapons firing 5.45B. They might want to keep some AK-74 around to equip East German units that need spares, but the long term goal will be to standardize equipment to West German norms. By the time NATO has pushed the Pact back across the Oder in December, 1996 the FRG will be swimming in captured AK-74--and war debt. The motive to sell a quarter million to the US at $100 each will be very, very strong. Now that the US is involved in the shooting war, the motive to sell captured AK-74 to civilian distributors at $225 each (just picking a figure of $25 per rifle for shipping and handling back to CONUS) will be very strong. Given that the labor for reworking the rifles and selling them will be taxed, as will the sale itself, there is a tidy and useful sum to be gathered from private hands in the US without raising taxes or selling bonds. If the pattern for mandating 5.56N standards for selling AK-74 has been established already, then the only that might need to change is the scale.