When did AK-47 Clones Become Widely Available

[Number 6]

This has been bugging for awhile. I know when the AR-15 was introduced for civilian sale, but when were AK-47 clones introduced for sale into the United States?

 

[Dave Markowitz]

Back in the early 1980s, and they were the Chinese AKs. Other AKs were imported in the 80s, e.g., Valmets, Galils, Yugos and Hungarians, but they were much less common. When the AWB went into place in 1994 they mostly dried up for awhile until about '99, when the first Romanian SARs became available.