This may seem an off the wall question, but this is the best place I can think of for the answer-
I am representing a defendant who is charged with murder. At the crime scene, the CSI types recovered a number of .223 cases. Witnesses statments have placed an AK47 in the hands of th4 defedant just prior to the shooting. some 60-100 rounds were fired. An AK47 was recovered upon the arrest of the defendant. No 7.62mm cases or bullets were recovered at the scene nor were .223 rounds recovered at the place of arrest. The no .223 rifle was recovered.
My question is- Has anyone heard of an AK47 chambered in .233? Is such a thing even possible? If it is Would it be reasonable to find such a firearm on the street?

The Police are insisting the Ak47 is the murder weapon. I have not been allowed at this time to examin it.
Judge Sharpe

Judge, I do believe some AK's chambered for the .223 (5.56x45 NATO) have been imported. Heck, they have made this thing with different designators in many different calibers, from 22LR (AK-22) all the way up to .410 shotgun, the Saiga, IIRC.
You really need to get your hands on the piece and determine if it is indeed a .223; or it may be chambered for the Russian .223, actually the AK-74 which is 5.45x39. I don't think there would be any way the .223 ammo could have been used in the AK-74 but you need a qualified, card carrying expert witness if it comes down to this bit of data being the tie-breaker.
Goos luck to your client, it sounds like he is going to need it.

I believe that Trapper is correct. Check on some of the other gun blogs - www.FALFILES.com has a good link to an AK forum. I believe that the Chinese and/or the Russians shipped a few of them over to the States to test the waters as it were.

Almost forgot there are a couple of other rifles out there that are superficially similar in appearence to the AK-47. These were assembled here in the States from imported parts I believe.

There are a bunch of AKs chambered in .223 on the US market from Bulgaria, China, Russia, Romania or assembled by US companies..

JudgeSharpe:
Your answer can be found here.
Http://www.gunsamerica.com
put into the search box 976786594
This will bring up an ak 47 chambered in .223/5.56x45
Good luck with your case

muck

Both Valmet and Galil have imported AK variants in .223

Search www.gunbroker.com for .223 AK or 5.56 AK Lot's of 'em

Why beat around the bush? I guess the obvious answer is to ask your defendant if it's the murder weapon.

Of course, if you're trying to sell your side of the story, (warning, unscientific number follows) only about 1 in 10,000 AK's is anything but 7.62 x 39...

to the first question about the ak47 the answer could be yes, no, maybe, to the last question about the man running about the woods, probably safer if he walked.

.223 REM (5.56X45mm NATO) ammo cannot be fired in a 5.45X39mm chamber. It is too long and too small at the base.....

quote:

I don't think there would be any way the .223 ammo could have been used in the AK-74 but you need a qualified, card carrying expert witness if it comes down to this bit of data being the tie-breaker.

My response was to this statement by TrapperP... I had no problem understanding the basic question. You need to read the whole thread. Or did you just misunderstand what Trapper said??

I hate it when I do that... My bad, I saw the "x39" but mis-read the 5.45. Offensive post deleted.

Sorry

If they've got the weapon (and it sounds like they do) and they've got the .223 cases, it'll be easy to match them.

The AK in .223 (or any other caliber) make a distinctive "smiley" mark on the fired case. This is caused when the fired case strikes the receiver cover upon ejection.

The cases are usually thrown forward and right from the weapon at an approximately 45% angle.