page_title: AK-47
section_title: Illicit trade
hierarchical_section_title: AK-47 / Users / Illicit trade
caption_attribution_description: English: AK-47 copies confiscated from Somali pirates by Finnish minelayer Pohjanmaa during operation Atalanta, photographed in Manege military museum. Suomi: Miinalaiva Pohjanmaan Atalanta-operaatiossa takavarikoimia somalimerirosvojen käyttämiä AK-47 rynnäkkökiväärien kopioita.
context_page_description: The AK-47, officially known as the Avtomat Kalashnikova, is a gas-operated, 7.62×39mm assault rifle, developed in the Soviet Union by Mikhail Kalashnikov. It is the originating firearm of the Kalashnikov rifle family. 47 refers to the year it was finished.
  Design work on the AK-47 began in 1945. In 1946, the AK-47 was presented for official military trials, and in 1948, the fixed-stock version was introduced into active service with selected units of the Soviet Army. An early development of the design was the AKS, which was equipped with an underfolding metal shoulder stock. In early 1949, the AK-47 was officially accepted by the Soviet Armed Forces and used by the majority of the member states of the Warsaw Pact.
  Even after seven decades, the model and its variants remain the most popular and widely used rifles in the world because of its reliability under harsh conditions, low production costs compared to contemporary Western weapons, availability in virtually every geographic region, and ease of use.
context_section_description: Throughout the world, the AK and its variants are commonly used by governments, revolutionaries, terrorists, criminals, and civilians alike. In some countries, such as Somalia, Rwanda, Mozambique, Congo and Tanzania, the prices for Black Market AKs are between $30 and $125 per weapon and prices have fallen in the last few decades due to mass counterfeiting. In Kenya, "an AK-47 fetches five head of cattle (about 10,000 Kenya shillings or 100 U.S. dollars) when offered for barter, but costs almost half that price when cash is paid". There are places around the world where AK type weapons can be purchased on the black market "for as little as $6, or traded for a chicken or a sack of grain".
  The AK-47 has also spawned a cottage industry of sorts and has been copied and manufactured (one gun at a time) in small shops around the world (see Khyber Pass Copy). The estimated numbers of AK-type weapons vary greatly. The Small Arms Survey suggest that "between 70 and 100 million of these weapons have been produced since 1947". The World Bank estimates that out of the 500 million total firearms available worldwide, 100 million are of the Kalashnikov family, and 75 million are AK-47s. Because AK-type weapons have been made in many countries, often illicitly, it is impossible to know how many really exist.
caption: AK-47 copies confiscated from Somali pirates by Finnish mine-layer Pohjanmaa during Operation Atalanta, photographed in Manege Military Museum. The stocks are missing on the top three AKs
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