Most Common Weapons

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sprice

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What are the most common weapons (firearms only please) in todays world?

Please include all types. I'm guessing ak's but i'm not sure about handguns or what model of ak.

Also I'm talking about the whole world not just the good ol' US of A.
 
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12 0r 20 gauge shotguns
a r 15's
glock
heckler and koch
30 30
30 06
it all depends on what you need the weapon for. it also depends on how much you want to spend on ammo. then you have to take into account if you are going to shoot on a regular basis or just buy a handgun or shotgun for home protection.
 
.22 lr is supposedly the most commonly shot ammo in the world. I'm sure the vintage of gun shooting it differs from place to place. I'm not certain it counts as a "weapon" in this context; I'd bet other countries use it mainly for plinking & hunting the way we do here.
 
true, I wonder how much .22 ammo just the U.S. goes through in a year. Probably enough to make up for everyone elses whole ammunition expenditure.
 
Forget the Glocks or indeed any handgun. They're simply not made in sufficient numbers, and they never have been.

The most numerous would be rimfire rifles in .22 LR. After that probably AK-47's and variants. After that most likely the Mosin-Nagants. Then Mauser 98 pattern rifles. AR's would be well down the list even now.
 
I think Hi powers would be common world wide, much more than the 1911.

Sigs, they are used by a lot of LEOs world wide.

AR's: both civilian models and military models.

Aks of all types.

And thats about all of the heavy hitters I can think of off the top of my head.
 
I would have to agree with ak's then m-16 types. What about FAL's? I have seen a lot of MP-5's around the world.
 
You need to narrow it down a bit. Are you talking about

most common make/model of firearm on the planet?
most common firearm in U.S. homes?
top selling rifle, pistol, and shotgun in the USA?

etc.

The most common firearm on the planet is probably the AK-pattern rifle.
 
AKs are generally cheaper than buying potable drinking water, in most parts of the world.

After that I would guess bolt action rifles, in general, any caliber.
 
T.N.T. - No, wait....... that's for fishing. Never mind.

rifle................ Ruger 10/22
handgun......... 1911
shotgun.......... Rem. 870
muzzle loader... G_d Da_nned @*&^%@@# (at least that's what my friend called his as it failed to ignite while pointed at a gorgeous buck.)
 
Varies wildly by region. In the U.S., you'd be hardpressed to find a firearm more ubiquitous than a Marlin model 60, or a Ruger 10/22.

In the Czech Republic, CZ rifles and pistols are the most prevalent.

In former Soviet-bloc countries, AKMs and variants thereof are quite prevalent.

In other parts of the world where private citizens are denied their right to keep and bear arms, the prevailing firearms would be those issued to local military and law enforcement (or those preferred by drug cartels and other powerful crime syndicates, depending on the country...).
 
At the range? Mausers by far. .30-30's and .22's. Most of the latter are in weapons made in the last century. AK's, sks's, ar's make bulk of the rest that I see.
 
OP said firearms as weapons world wide

AKs
I would guess none else would qualify as anything even close to
too many competing models in every other genre
USA has only ~5% or so of total world population, what dominates here really doesn't carry that much weight
"gun culture" is really not a EU trait, nor a Chinese trait, nor an Indian trait but the African sub-continent... that's a whole other thing, population and gun numbers
 
In millions and millions,

6 million M1 carbines,
5 million+ M1 Garands,
~6 million Winchester 94s (with Marlin 336s catching up or surpassing if you count the parent Marlin 1893s and 36s and Glenfield 30s),
12 million Marlin Model 60 .22s,
17 million Mosin-Nagants,
at least 40 million extant Aks (not count lost or scrapped)

ADDED: what is weird is to see so many CZ52 pistols when only 200,000 were made between 1952 and 1954.
 
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There are something like 100 million Mauser 98k's produced before 1945 by Mauser and licensed subsidiaries and plants like BRNO that were taken over by German troops. Additionally more were produced at FN post war, and Mauser, CZ and Zastava continue to make rifles based on that legendary action.

At one time .38 special was the most common caliber for revolvers in the world, as many companies in the US, South America, Spain etc. made them before the 9mm 'came into its own' in the early 80's.

I'd wager 22LR rimfire is the most 'common' cartridge in civilian hands worldwide.
 
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