[unkated]

Originally Posted by Webstral

I greatly appreciate the feedback, gentlemen. I especially appreciate the subject matter expertise on gun smithing.

I don’t think I did a good job of explaining the mechanism and thought process I see behind bringing AK-74 (possibly among other rifles) to the US for resale on the civilian market. The two principal goals would be a modest revenue stream that could be used to support US allies (albeit very modestly) and building some domestic involvement in the war among people not involved in the arms industry.

By selling them over-priced (multiply taxed as you said below) used weapons?

• People who don't generally buy weapons will be disinterested.
• People who are interested in weapons for use will not be interested in expensive worn weapons when better can be had (read as Galil) at the same or better price.
• There will be some who will buy them for the cachet of a weapon used in combat. But see below.

By the end of October, 1995 the PRC should find herself in possession of a significant stock of AK-74, among other weapons. By this point in the real world, the AK-101 had been introduced. I’m not yet prepared to comment on whether this system would have been introduced in the Twilight v1 chronology.

Real-world introduction of the QBZ-95, QBZ-95B & QBB-95B (Assault Rifle, carbine & LMG chinese weapons that fire the Chinese 5.8mm cartridge) were introduced in 1997. In the midst of war, wishing to ramp up production and to not complicate munitions needs at the front, I'd suggest that they would most likely stick to the Type 81 asslt rifle and LMG, that fire 7.62mm S.

So, AK-74s hold no immediate interest for the Chinese, unless they captured a lot of ammo also. Of course, the US could retool factories and sell 5.45mm WP to china (export! or at least pay down our trade deficit) and domestically. Better revenue stream.

However, I’m imagining that some enterprising individual suggests buying some of these rifles from the PRC and modifying them for sale on the US civilian market. I’m imagining, perhaps fancifully, that someone would have crunched the numbers on costs to figure out whether these reworked rifles could have turned a profit.

Congress could be convinced to allow the rifles into the country for sale on the civilian market as a special effort to support our Chinese comrades. China gets some money from selling the rifles to the US, which the PRC promptly spends on materiel from the US. The US government taxes the rifles at every step in their transition from China to the hands of eager buyers in the US. The tax revenues, though comparatively modest, can be earmarked for something or other that will get Congressmen who haven’t bought into the idea on board.

So what I’m gathering from the commentary above is that the reboring job would be difficult because the tolerances would be very tight.

Beyond the barrels, don't you also need to replace the receiver? NATO case is significantly (~5mm). The rounds are close to the same length (.4mm difference), but the shoulders on a NATO round are much taller than the WP round. Will it fit in an AK-74 receiver, or does that need to be replaced too?

So, now you're reboring or replacing the barrel, the receiver, the trigger and the magazine feed. How much of this is still an actual war weapon?

Why not just have a 5.45 WP factory in Nevada?

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.

While true for the long run, during the war I wouldn't think the Heer would want to take East German units out of the line to re-equip; and also the E Germans already have ammo factories producing 5.45 ammo

Uncle Ted