Can anyone help identify this AK?

the writing looks arabic , some middle eastern variant?

Iraqi

daefash said:

Iraqi

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Iraqi would be Yugo patterned; the one pictured is Hungarian/Russian/Polish.

The markings don't look like any Arabic I've seen before, nor Persian.

The markings are Iraqi

A very early Iraqi markings before they started to build their own Yugo pattern. The word صلي means full auto is only used in Iraqi dialect, not in any other arabic country dialect

Interesting. I can speak but not read or write. The cubic nature of those characters are unfamiliar to me.

So that's still an Iraqi-made rifle then, or an import marked for Iraqi end-users?

It's the sort of stylized "modernistic" Arabic font that became popular in the 60s-70s, particularly in the secular Arab states (Egypt/Syria/Iraq) of that time.

It is just Iraqi marked, The gun is probably Russian. I wonder how it ended it up in Mali

Spent some time in Mali.Old stuff was always Russian; Newer stuff was ChiCom..

If it in the hands of the Malian army, then I would say its a Russian gun with export selector markings....

The Algerians, and Sudanese make AKs as well, but they are Chinese pattern. Ethopians make Russian pattern, but they have the model name on them.

pinakar said:

If I had to guess..... Its a mid 70's IZZY AKMS.......

Why? Well the equal length ribs on the stock arm tell me its either.. Hungarian, Early Polish, or Russian....

Now we know its not Hungarian by the CAST Gas Block......

And we know its not Polish because the CAST gas block and Equal length ribs on the arm were never used together...

Russians always had equal length ribs on the stock arm and used Cast Gas Blocks between 1970-1977 - But mostly 1972-1977

So my guess.... 1972-1977 IZZY AKMS

EDIT.... To take it a little further... The flared top Cover I believe started in 74....

So my new "guess" would be a 1974-1977 IZZY AKMS

That's my final answer Alex......

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Spoken like a true boss.

Thanks for the info John!

22many said:

Spoken like a true boss.

Thanks for the info John!

Click to expand...

Well Dave I have to put some of this useless knowledge to use... We all know its not going to be a category on Jeopardy..... :beer:

The question is how a russian AK with Iraqi markings got to Mali

daefash said:

The question is how a russian AK with Iraqi markings got to Mali

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Up until the 70s or 80s, Mali was aligned with the Soviet Union. They even tried a form of light communism..As a result, they received allot of Soviet equipment.

I went there twice with work; Once in the late 90s, we were in the capitol Bamako.. The Malian "Air Force" consisted of about a dozen Russian Mig 15-21s... The only one that was still operational was the two seat Mig19, and that was when the Russian merc Pilot flew it.

That same trip, we "broke in"to an office located in the hanger we worked in.. It belonged to the Russian advisors that were there at one time.. The guys must have left in a hurry, as the paperwork was all there, even the B&W family photo on the desk.

Another trip to the north in 2003, we fired Russian AKMs, RPDs, and even the main gun of a PT76 light tank.

And this this is why I come to this forum, level of knowledge here is pretty amazing. I knew it wasn’t a Yugo and that was it for me.

pinakar said:

If I had to guess..... Its a mid 70's IZZY AKMS.......

Why? Well the equal length ribs on the stock arm tell me its either.. Hungarian, Early Polish, or Russian....

Now we know its not Hungarian by the CAST Gas Block......

And we know its not Polish because the CAST gas block and Equal length ribs on the arm were never used together...

Russians always had equal length ribs on the stock arm and used Cast Gas Blocks between 1970-1977 - But mostly 1972-1977

So my guess.... 1972-1977 IZZY AKMS

EDIT.... To take it a little further... The flared top Cover I believe started in 74....

So my new "guess" would be a 1974-1977 IZZY AKMS

That's my final answer Alex......

Click to expand...

Did Tula use the cast gas blocks? Sorry, I'd know if the photobuckets hadn't developed holes in them.

This deserves a bump. One of the most amazing Russian pieces I've ever seen.

I bet it was used to jump start a truck also.