migkillertwo
Member
- Joined
- May 29, 2010
- Messages
- 279
AR-15 type rifles are extremely INexpensive if you consider the amount of machining and metallurgy that goes into making them. Because they are standardized and sold in huge numbers, mass production has driven costs way down. The uncommon variants and larger caliber offerings cost more because there is far less economy of scale.
I don't have the source handy but remember reading that when the AR-15 was first designed, only 6 (8?) countries on earth had the machining capability to do all the machining operations necessary to build it. It's not like an AKM that can genuinely be assembled in an Afghan hut over an open forge.
A better question would be, why are US-market AK clones so darn expensive considering that it only costs Izhmash about $80 to make one, and Izhmash makes about the best out there.
well I have my doubts that it really only costs Izhmash 80$ to make one, but the reason we have to pay top dollar for those AKs is because we can't just buy them directly from Izhmash. We have to let them make some of the parts, ship them here, and let an American worker assemble it with the russian parts and some parts made in America.
Its all about whose salary you're paying.