INAS rifle (courtesy wikipedia.org)

The Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) is the largest of India’s Central Armed Police Forces. According to our good friends at economictimes.indiatimes.com, “The force has sought to procure 20,000 new AK series rifles for its troops deployed in the Left Wing Extremism (LWE) affected areas in various states and counter-insurgency theatres in the North-East after it found that the INSAS rifle was not proving to be as ‘operationally suitable’ as the Russian made AK-47 and -56 series of combat rifles.” Reading between the lines, the INAS gun must really suck. “Field commanders of the force deployed in the anti-Naxal operations grid said they were increasingly sending the INSAS to the weapon repairs store of the force.” I wonder how many years and how much money was given to whom before that change went through . . .

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41 COMMENTS

  2. 1. What is it about the NE of countries that draws LWE (Left Wing Extremism)?

    2. Speaking as a software guy, I’m sure an uncomplicated design will be helpful.

    • A firearm based on simple software design principles…
      Goodbye world?

      If you get the joke, you’re a computer geek. If you think it’s funny, you’re a nerd with no social skills.

  3. The INAS just looks cheap.

    Interesting though, when I was in India, and this was over 5 years ago now, not an INAS in sight. A lot of the army troops in the city were still using AK’s and the local police, if they were armed at all, were carrying old L1A1’s. By old I mean OLD as it was obvious they had seen a lot of usage. Also spotted was a Beretta 1951(?) (Whatever the precursor to the M92 was) in a police officer’s waistband(!) and an old Sterling SMG.

    Local army troops at Golconda Fort, which is really more of a tourist attraction, also had L1A1’s.

    I’m not so sure there is a lot of confidence in the INAS. Unfortunately, none of the Indians I work with were in the army so I can’t really ask with any certainty.

  4. The INSAS is not generally well received… India tried to combine aspects of the AK and FAL, in some ways that might have been more well executed had they not tried to do it as cheaply as possible.

    http://indiansforguns.com/viewtopic.php?f=13&t=9131

    Old AKs are quite popular – as well as old Enfield rifles – in India’s border areas, where many villages are armed against Pakistani incursion.

  5. Well if they don’t need them anymore… I’ll take some of those INAS Rifles any more I’ll take some…

  7. A Camel is a Horse designed by a committee. I wonder how many were on the INSAS design committee?

    I’m seeing elements of AK-74, FN-FNC, and a touch of H&K (the charging handle).

    • A bastardized mash-up of a rifle designed by a committee and built by the lowest bidder — who’s using the cheapest parts possible so they can still skim the till: how could you possibly go wrong with that?

  8. As an added bonus they get plausible deniability when they “accidentally” shoot a non-combatant.

  10. Wow, steel stamping with plastic magazine, now that’s a rifle, love the baby shit color too. A guy could buy 8 of them and have money left over for some baby wipes and a can of spray paint.

  11. I eagerly await the flood of inch pattern FAL parts kits flooding into the US market, just like the Turkish G-1s a decade ago. Oh wait….never mind.

  12. I initially read the headline as “Indiana Reserve Police Force Ditches INAS Rifles for AKs”

  14. The INSAS is a joke, only the Indian government could make a German AK suck THAT bad.

    Also, there’s a typo in your header, it should read INSAS (Indian National Small Arms System, not INAS)

  15. The Indian military is one of the better militaries in that neck of the woods. And they are dismally served by the Indian defense industry. The INSAS is, in microcosm, the Indian Military Industrial Complex.

    They are never satisfied with a well-tested, foreign system (T-72, AK-47, MiGs). Invariably some idiot gets a wild hair up his butt and decides that they can do it better at home. There then follows some moronic (and corrupt) attempt to copy/reverse engineer the foreign-made weapon system and then “improve” it. This is how they got the Arjun (their abortion of a Main Battle Tank) and the Tejas (their abortion of a light strike fighter). The Indian Army refuses to accept any more Arjuns, and the Indian Air Force is investigating a “new” fighter to follow the Tejas. And, last I checked, they are still trying to build an indigenous nuclear attack sub. Yes, the same committee that brought out the INSAS is trying to build a nuclear sub. With a reactor that won’t fit inside the boat’s pressure hull… Ghandi’s probably spinning in his grave.

    • It’s the Indian “babu” system at work: thousands of over-educated, over-paid bureaucrats (from the “right” families) who need to produce busywork to justify their budgets.

      We do the same thing here, but in politics.

  16. India has “Left Wing Extremism affected areas,” we have Washington DC, Sacramento, Maryland and universities, to name just a few. Same sh1t, different countries.

  19. I would just like to take this opportunity to express my admiration/appreciation/drooling for the women of India and Sri Lanka.

  20. What about the left-wing extemism-affected areas in the U.S.? If only we could deploy 20k people with rifles to those places to ensure that our rights were not being infringed.

  21. You guys have no idea how happy it made me to see “AKs” and not “AK’s” in your title. You continuosly rebuild my faith in America and her people.

  22. It is hard to mess up making a rifle.

    If you need to arm your country with something decent. Then an AK with a rear peep sight, galil thumb safety and AR mag conversion (if using 5.56) would suffice.

    • @Lolinski, I’m a dyed in the wool AR guy, but I see no benefit to going with a 5.56 AR mag conversion in an AK. Especially in that part of the world.

      • Nato uses STANAG, AR mags are STANAG. I think that is a good enough explanation.

        For the civvy user it means easy/cheap access to mags. For millitary it means compatibility + less R&D.

        • Could change, besides it would be really annoying to have to stock up on another kind of mags in case we can buy their gats (for cheap if I might add). It would also be annoying for them if they joined/half-joined NATO and had to scrap their mags for STANAG mags. Thinking about the future is all.

          Y’know, I hate to admit it but I kinda like standardization. AK mags for AK calibers, AR mags for AR calibers, G3, M14 and FAL mags for 308 and derivatives, it doesn’t matter if the firearm in question isn’t an AK or AR. Do you know how annoying it is with bolt action rifles that use 3 shot mags that cost 50-200 bucks a piece (that last figure is actually the cost of a BAR mag here in Norway)? Especially when I can get a 20 round mag in the same caliber for much less, as in ten times less. Sorry for the derailment, think I vented a bit.

        • Not even all NATO countries use STANAG mags for their 5.56 firearms in stock configuration. AUG and G36 are two prominent examples. Also SG55x, though Swiss aren’t in NATO – but they’re still much closer aligned with it than India is likely to ever be.

  23. Read somewhere online about three years ago that India was having problems with the INAS , they had ordered more AKs then too . As for their armament they use SMLE’s , Sterling SMGs , L1a1s , AKs , some H&Ks , I have even seen some AR- 15s in some news reports , as for their handguns a lot of Enfield .380 break top revolvers , some Webley revolvers , a host of Browing autos , and some other assorted autos . I guess standardization is off the table , it would be too easy , or they might have the if it ain’t broke don’t fix it attitude . Be prepared and ready . Keep your powder dry .

  25. Can I just say that at first glance I thought it said Indiana not Indian and yet upon reading the article I didn’t find it odd that Indiana would station troops on the illinois border. Also I just assumed that the left wing extremist description was automatically referring to Illinois. And yes I’m an Illinois resident but thankfully not a Cook county one.

  26. Indian bureaucracy that it is, I’m not so surprised that it took them so long to realise the INSAS sucks (I mean look at it) but more that they even got to the point of starting a switch to an AK platform.

    • Not a big fan of bolt action rifles but stuff with a short bolt throw like the SMLE or the Sauers I would trust in (relative) close quarters. Mainly because I am fast with them.

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