Jim Choate wrote:

Sorry you are the one to bring this one up... Forwarded message:

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Subject: Re: Lock and Load (fwd) Date: Mon, 22 Dec 1997 21:45:46 -0600 (CST) From: ichudov@algebra.com (Igor Chudov @ home)

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AK-47.

The Chinese Norinco version will certainly do so, I've fired a couple of them. Never seen a real soviet model but they are supposed to be piece for piece interchangable. But will check into it and get back to you.

You can't lock and load an AK. I remember that very well even though it has been a while. The bolt just would not go far enough back to pick up the cartridge. The bolt carrier's charging handle would only go as far as to allow for the weapon inspection. You can only load and lock. And I think that it is the right design, because a soldier cant accidentally get the weapon loaded. I could field strip an AK (mind you, with all military gadgets) in 11 seconds and assemble it back in 21 seconds. What crypto relevance does it have? - Igor.

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1 At 10:37 PM 12/22/97 -0600, Igor Chudov @ home wrote:

You can't lock and load an AK. I remember that very well even though it has been a while. The bolt just would not go far enough back to pick up the cartridge. The bolt carrier's charging handle would only go as far as to allow for the weapon inspection.

I own a Norinco MAK-90 (a semi-auto only AK variant) and it is designed so that a round cannot be chambered with the safety on. If the weapon is not cocked, the hammer hits the top of the sear (which is locked by the safety) and prevents the bolt from traveling more than 1 inch to the rear. If the weapon is cocked, the charging handle on the side of the bolt hits the front of the safety lever, which stops the rearward travel of the bolt at about 2.5 inches, which is not sufficient to chamber a round. The magazine can be inserted or removed regardless of the position of the safety or the bolt. On my Winchester 1300 Defender 12-gauge, (a pump gun with a 7-round magazine) the safety cannot be engaged until the weapon has been cocked, which requires the action to be cycled. This will chamber a round unless the magazine is empty. On my Norinco Model 320 carbine (a semi-auto only Uzi lookalike) if the weapon is not cocked, and the grip safety is not depressed, the bolt is locked in the forward position, which makes it rather difficult to chamber a round. However, the safe/fire selector (the sliding button on the left side of the grip) has no effect on the bolt. Neither safety has any effect on inserting or removing a magazine. ObOddGunTrivia: One of the oddities of the SKS is that a magazine cannot be inserted or removed unless the bolt is locked in the rearmost position. The sides of the bolt have grooves machined in them that the lips of the magazine occupy when the bolt is forward. This can make changing a half-full magazine kind of annoying. -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: PGP for Business Security 5.5 iQA/AwUBNLEyTMJF0kXqpw3MEQIp+QCg1btR4CI1QthIVV2AYTTi7ztS6r0AoNlB LkkRQf7554PRxVe/Q+IsPqLs =SAYC -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- Jonathan Wienke PGP Key Fingerprints: 7484 2FB7 7588 ACD1 3A8F 778A 7407 2928 3312 6597 8258 9A9E D9FA 4878 C245 D245 EAA7 0DCC "If ye love wealth greater than liberty, the tranquility of servitude greater than the animating contest for freedom, go home from us in peace. We seek not your counsel, nor your arms. Crouch down and lick the hand that feeds you. May your chains set lightly upon you; and may posterity forget that ye were our countrymen." -- Samuel Adams "Stupidity is the one arena of of human achievement where most people fulfill their potential." -- Jonathan Wienke Never sign a contract that contains the phrase "first-born child." When the government fears the people there is liberty. When the people fear the government there is tyranny. RSA export-o-matic: print pack"C*",split/\D+/,`echo "16iII*o\U@{$/=$z;[(pop,pop,unpack"H*",<> )]}\EsMsKsN0[lN*1lK[d2%Sa2/d0<X+d*lMLa^*lN%0]dsXx++lMlN/dsM0<J]dsJxp"|dc`