Flaming AK-47

While rooting around on YouTube, I found this amazing video.



How is that possible? And why didn't he burn his hand on the bolt when reloading?

edit: I appear to have failed at YouTube linking. It works now.



[edit on 29-10-2007 by ShadeWolf]

Originally posted by ShadeWolf
How is that possible?

The AK's ruggedness isn't a secret. They have huge tolerances from design and cheap production methods which, while lowering accuracy to some extent, make the things invincible.

Well from the looks of it, he never had his hand in the flame for more than a few seconds at a time.

Not to mention firing an ak on full auto at that intensity, your not ganna notice the heat much at all.

looks like the heat from the barrel has ignited the wooden guard.

and thats what the fire is

That was pretty cool, I wonder if it did that in combat if that would scare the enemy. Then again, im sure most people are aware of it.

Originally posted by jca2005
I wonder if it did that in combat if that would scare the enemy.

Probably not. It would be kind of like a ninja being on fire in combat; hooray for the awesomeness, but you would just be wrecking combat capacity and make for a good internet story. Though, I figure a story about a ninja on fire during actual combat would spread a lot farther than just throughout our beloved series of tubes, whereas an AK on fire story wouldn't.

Originally posted by ShadeWolf
...
How is that possible? And why didn't he burn his hand on the bolt when reloading?

Easy: too much weapon oil. It has nothing to do with the weapons ruggedness, one could pull this stunt with many firearms - its just not advisable.

The heat needs a while to fully transfer to the cocking handle. And as was said, he only touches the handle for short times.

Remind me to find a different foxhole than the one Billy-Bob is in.

This guy holds the world record for the slowest reload in history. Maybe it's the "Miller High-Life" talking to him but man he sure struggles.

Agree with the poster above, enough oil and heat and we can make any firearm flame for you.

Humorous video none the less. Thanks for posting it.

Becker

Sick video. SICK

[Becker44] - no offence but i'd like to see you reload a flaming gun in X number of milliseconds. Really, no offence)

reply to post by gone_wrong


No offence taken young man, you seem like a nice feller'

My comment was only a joke really. Loading any kind of drum magazine is time consuming on a cold weapon. They're cumbersome and made really for a fixed position.

Have a good one.

Becker

First thing is that he really doesn't strike me as the kind of guy who would have a Class III permit, and I would be willing to guess that the gun is an illegal modification which would mean 7 years in Club Fed, but I could of course be quite wrong. I have heard in some anecdotal conversations that it is possible to convert an AK to full auto with nothing more than a small zip tie. I have not tried this on my own weapon, and will not post the recipe here, but supposedly it can be done.

His wooden handguards have caught fire, likely helped by some residual Cosmoline.

The bolt doesn't get anywhere near as hot as the barrel, and remember that it's also slamming back and forth in the breeze, which helps cooling a fair amount too.

The barrel is also quite possibly "shot out" after that little performance, although with an AK loss of accuracy is a relative term

Now if someone would run an M-16 with C-Mags side by side with the AK with its drum mags and we could see which one suffered a stoppage first, that would be really interesting.

i agree with lonestar,
the reason is most likely for much oil or something of the sort.
plus the ak is rugged enough to withstand quiet a bashing, although ive read about times in iraq and other combat situations where the actual barrel has melted to vehicles and such,...so as for invincible not quiet...BUT CLOSE!
those ruskies where sure good about the AK

Good day,

Being retired Army as I'm sure there some of the ATS members who are either in my postion or are still active members I have a question

Did anyone else have the following phrase immediately come to mind?

"cook off"

I can't think of where to begin if that would happen.

Thank you all for your time,

Arcticnull

I think he started the fire himself. Watching the video, the fire appears to have already been started before first shot is fired. Plus who knows how long he had been shooting the gun prior to putting on video?

I sure wouldn't want to have to rely on him for back-up.