What could go wrong?
Old Trooper sends us a link of an article about the Russians building an ammunition factory for 7.62×39 AK47 ammo in Cuba. Now why would Cuba, after all of these years need to start making ammo? I know it’s probably a cheap source of labor for the Russians, but why don’t they manufacture cheap plastic crap like the Chinese and sell it to Walmart if all they need is cheap labor?
It does feel a little bit like 1979, though, when the Soviets stationed a combat brigade in Cuba after they began their invasion of Afghanistan to scare Jimmy Carter into a dickless response.
I’m pretty sure they’re not making ammo to insure peace anywhere in the world. You may have noticed that AK47s are the weapons of choice among terrorists and terrorizers. I’d sure hate to be the guy that has to test fire that first batch though.
Category: Foreign Policy
They could be trying to cash in on cheap labor and a pliable government in order to ramp up production in a world ammunition market that’s still tight after the great Gun and Ammo Rush of 2009. IIRC, there’s a new AK-Clone factory in Venezuala, so maybe Fidel is interested in manufacturing ammunition to sell to Pugsley.
Chavez is dying, Ortega still rules in Nicaragua, Ecuador wants to flex its muscles, and Colombia is a friend to America.
Business outlook for ammunition producers: very, very good.
I think it’s for the muslims. They use that ammo for everything from weddings to funerals, occasionally for terrorism and once in a while for wars they never win. I think the only muslim manufacturers are in Pakistan, Turkey and possibly Egypt. Eid celebrations alone must be worth several million.
Baseball, ice cream, 1950s Chevys, and a nearly dead Fidel. Who could ask for more? To paraphrase Frank, “My kind of town, Havana is…”
I go with Dave, Chavez is probably close to assuming room temp, and Putin is hedging his bets. After all, Raul will be around for a while. And after he kicks, I’m sure there’s another good communist in the wings.
And, AirCav, you left off the 1949 Studebakers still tooling around Havana.
Cuba has to put a lot of folks to work after they laid off a third of their government workforce….and ammo exports are lucrative.
It’s all about the money.
The real money is in making the gunpowder……. everything else is after-market bling. 🙂
But seriously, if I had the money to invest, I’d build a powder-manufacturing facility, for everything from black powder to smokeless modern powder. You’d always have customers.
And? DuPont gets a chance to practice communist capitalism.
I think its the same reason they parked a couple of guided missile cruisers (and they’re actually cruisers not destroyers with more shit in them like ours) in Chaves’ back yard a while back. They chafe at the fact that the US can operate with relative impunity, and can do so in a sustained manner. This is a barb to remind America that Russia is still powerful (now give me more money to disarm my nukes)
They could never “Red Dawn” us, but sometimes they sure would like to get it in our minds that they could
I suspect more folks are buying AK ammo in the US, for plinking, than most other countries are buying it for the military….
@11: Why? The AK is imprecise, and really a bit of a shitty weapon. Designed for spray and pray. I like the AR design, if not the ammo size.
I like what they did incorporating the gas piston system into the IAR (M27). The chamber and bolt foul alot less than with a direct impingement system. The AK is very durable, but it is a volume of fire weapon. You can get about 300 yds out of it, 400 if you know what you’re doing. Most people like the AK because you dont have to clean it, and it is very reliable under the most extreme conditions. Hell I’ve had an Egyptian AKMS for about 5 years now and aside from the occasional bore punch I haven’t cleaned it once, I know without a doubt if I slap a mag in it, rack it and squeeze the trigger it’ll fire.
@#12…. “….bit of a shitty weapon…. designed to spray and pray?” An interesting take on one of the most reliable weapons ever massed produced. Shitty no… Deadly… Absodamnlutely! Happened to carry it on a combat patrol or two with No malfunctions… Ever!