Nomenclature: Should WASR-10s be referred to as AK-47s?

That's kind of like calling every 1911 a "colt" and every AR an "M4A1", so I'm going to vote "I have a banana in my ear."

Technically incorrect, but widely accepted, I don't have a problem with people calling WASR-10's AK's. I do have a problem with people calling AR-15's M4A1's though. Maybe if I owned a WASR-10 I'd be the same way with it as I am with the AR/M4 thing.

For the record, don't put options like that on the poll. I can't resist.

I suppose it matters which audience you are talking to. A gun group will know the difference. The general public will not know the difference.

I usually refer to my WASR-10 as my AK. But since I own both a 7.62 and a 5.45, I simply just call them the 47 or 74 depending on which one I am talking about.

But, like DarkCharisma pointed out, it is technically incorrect but widely accepted. Ak-47 is a select fire weapon, while the WASR is a semi auto only AK style weapon.

I would call the WASR-10 an AK-pattern rifle.

I'd accept calling them an "AK" in casual conversation.

But calling them an "AK-47" is incorrect. It would be like calling a Dodge Neon a Dodge Charger.

I don't even call my SAR-1 an AK-47. I don't even call it an AKM. I sometimes call it an AK, unless I'm surrounded entirely by gun people, in which case I call it an SAR-1.

Call your WASR-10 a WASR-10. You can even call it an AK if it makes you feel good. But don't call it an AK-47.

Technically, it's a K-47, since it's not automatic.

AK = Avmotat Kalashnikov, avmotat meaning "automatic".

If a person takes personal offense to people using an incorrect or wrong name for a gun they need to get out more.

To answer the poll...I don't think it will make a difference to call a WASR-10 an AK-47. This is just MHO.

I call my SAR-1 "Nadia."

Nobody said anything about personal offense. It's just silly to call something a specific name for something it is not. Calling a Dodge Neon a Dodge performance sedan is fine, albeit probably stretching the point. Calling it a Dodge Charger is just plain wrong. It's like calling a Yugoslavian M48A a "German Mauser Kar98k" (but, "The crest on the receiver says, "1943"!").

it's an AK-47-style rifle - not an AK-47, since it doesn't have the happy switch.

But because I don't feel like being that anal about it, I call my converted Saiga an AK.

To the uninitiated,aka,almost everybody,it IS an AK-47. As is everything else that LOOKS like an AK.

Depends upon how technical and anal you want to be, and who your audience is. Technically speaking, AK-47s and AKMs were only made in Russia. Most of the satellite and client states had their own model designations for the design: for example, a Romanian rifle would be the PM md.63, a Chinese rifle would be a Type-56, and so forth. In fact, the Romanian AK design is probably among the closest to the original Russian design; it's virtually identical.

To use the car analogy that seems to be proliferating in this thread, look at it this way: Mercedes-Benz, for example, makes the E-class sedan. They come in different trim levels, but they're all considered E-class cars. So, both the E350 and the E550 are E-class, but the E350 is not an E550 and vice versa. Accordingly, the WASR should be considered an AK rifle, but not necessarily an "AK-47" - it's sort of like a different trim level than the AK-47 or AKM.

It would be absurd to say the WASR is not an "AK" - it has the same barrel, trunnions, gas system, stock, safety, bolt, bolt carrier, etc.; the cosmetics and most of the working parts are effectively the same. It just has a slightly different trigger group and a slightly different receiver (primarily because most were designed to take single stack mags and then modified upon importation).

Of course, most people don't know what a WASR is, or even an AKM. They do know what an AK-47 is and can picture one with little additional description. Therefore, I don't think there's anything wrong with telling the uninitiated that it's an "AK-47" - so long as you emphasize the fact that it's semi-automatic.

I call my converted saiga an my AK as well. While perhaps not technically acurate it does a better job of conveying what I'm talking about than a more technically correct term. I would compare AK to a trade name like kleenex, band aid etc. It is so widely used it is acceptable.

If it LOOKS like a duck and QUACKS like a duck --- it must be a AK-47.

No, they're stamped receivers, therefore they are more related to AKMs. AK47s are milled receivers.

The WASR has as much right to be called an AK-47 as any other semi-automatic civilian-legal Kalashnikov clone.

The difference between the AK-47 and the AKM is another one of semantics. Same basic weapon, just by your criteria, all stamped receiver AKs are more properly referred to as AKMs. This would include not only the WASR, but the majority of AK-clones on the market right now.

If my history is correct, the only clones not capable of being referred to as AKMs would be the milled receiver rifles, mostly Yugos, Chinese, and Bulgarian.

AK-47, AKM, I don't think it matters what you refer to them as, so long as you recognize the differences between the select-fire rifles and the semi-auto rifles.

I vote "technically incorrect but common usage."

IMO, the only "AK-47" is an actual AK-47. I prefer to use the term "AK" or "Kalashnikov" for all of the semi-auto clones we have here in the US. If you say "It's a WASR-10", no one will know what it is, unless he's a shooter. If you say "It's an AK", everyone immediately groks the concept.

Mike

that's like asking if garands should be referred to as pocket pistols

sturmgewehr667 said:

that's like asking if garands should be referred to as pocket pistols

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WASR-10
http://www.mustangmods.com/data/14815/img_0036a.jpg

AK-47

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikiped...3004402!AK-47_type_II_Part_DM-ST-89-01131.jpg

Compared to,

http://www.capitanhipower.com/Photos/M1Rifle.jpg

http://passtheammo.com/hick/files/pta/texas_defender_derringer.jpg

I think that was a bit of a reach.

Coronach said:

I vote "technically incorrect but common usage."

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I agree. "Kalashnikov-style semi-automatic rifle" just doesn't have the same ring.

With the AR platform ,there is a clear term for the semiautos (AR-15) and clear terms for the select-fires (M-16 and M4). I too dislike people using "M4" to refer to any 16" semiauto, but I don't get too bent out of shape about it. I don't really think they have an M4.

Similarly, when somebody mentions their AK, I assume (correctly, so far) that it is semiauto.

I generally refer to my WASR as an AK, mostly because my non "gunny" firends understand it. To my gunnies, I call it a WASR usually.

I agree with what some others here have stated - I refer to them differently based on who I'm talking to. I may go so far as to say "AK47" when I refer to my SAM7 (milled) or "AKM" while talking about the SAR1, but usually just go with AK. The funny thing is I have corrected my gf on it before and she actually remembers. A few friends were asking about my AK47s and, just as I was about to let it slide (didn't feel like trying to explain at the time), my gf pipes in with "they actually aren't AK47s, technically they can't be an AK47 since they aren't fully automatic and there are some other silly differences..." I just gave her a proud nod. I can't even get her to the range, but at least she's learning.

I call it an AK because it's based off the AK47 and most people I talk to doesn't know anything about guns. I usually say "WASR-10 AK" because it's a WASR but most people haven't heard that whereas AK is well known when referring to guns.

Real AK47's are fully automatic.

Kind of like how AR15 doesn't equal M16.

Technically, it's a K-47, since it's not automatic.

AK = Avmotat Kalashnikov, avmotat meaning "automatic".

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ill just call mine a SAK-47 then, keeping things all kosher since is is a SEMI-AUTOMATIC

it's an AK-47-style rifle - not an AK-47, since it doesn't have the happy switch.

Click to expand...

They (SAR's and WASR's) are AKM clones or semi-automatic Romanian AKM type rifles. For simplicity they could even be refered to as AK type rifles without being incorrect as long as the context does not suggest that they are fully automatic, but not AK-47.

AK-47's or any AK-47 Type rifles (Bulgarian, Polish, Chinese and whatnot) are MILLED!

Anything with a stamped recievor is either an AKM or AK-74 type/based rifle or clone. (save the type I AK-47 that was never in full scale serial production, and was basicly an overly produced design prototype)