That time the Danes tried to copy the Russian AK-47 rifle
courtesy rtbh.com

Because it’s an ultra-reliable rifle that shoots big-boy 7.62mm ammo . . . Why NATO copied Russia’s AK-47

The famous Soviet automatic rifle was such a success that even a NATO member state tried to create its own version.

Early in the Cold War the opposing sides in the East and West invented small arms that would later become their standard infantry rifles for decades to come – the AK-47 in the Soviet Union, M14 and M16 in the U.S.A, Germany’s G3, Belgium’s FN FAL and others.

However in the mid 50s Danish engineers created the Madsen LAR (light automatic rifle), a copy of the AK-47 that used Soviet 7.62×39 mm ammunition.

The Danes, though, were too late to the party. Oh, and their rifle wouldn’t accept AK magazines. Duh.

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12 COMMENTS

  2. The AK-47 is just a simplified M1 Garand turned upside-down with a magazine attached to the bottom, and worse sights and controls. Alot of people talk about copies of the AK, but very few designs are wholly original in concept.

    • Better not include your precious AR in there.

      All Stoner did was take stuff from the StG-44 (more than the AK), Melvin Johnson, and Erik Eklund. Hardly original either.

      I much prefer AK handling to the AR.

      • No one claimed the AR is totally unique. But for the longest time, Kalishnokov claimed the AK was never influenced in any manner by the STG, until admitting finally there probably was some foreign influence that seeped into the final committee design. Personally, I don’t care about that, but I find the ergonomics of the AR much better then the AK, and I do own both.

  4. The same Danish engineers probably designed the Madsen M49 bolt action rifle in the late 1940’s. Around 6,000 were sent to Colombia in the 1950’s and by then they were obsolete. Colombia never issued them and sent them to the USA. Most are in excellent condition. It’s a very cool, collectable 30-06 rifle.

  6. I’m a pretty big fan of the Danish. Cheese Danish is my favorite – you can get a good one at my local coffee shop.

  7. I forgot about the Finnish Valmet. The Rolls Royce of AK’s. I remember them being sold in gun shops back in the 80’s for ~ $450. 7.62 x 39 ammo for it was scarce back then. Another cool, collectible rifle.

  9. The linked article was less interesting than the-e-zine Russia Beyond in which it was printed. Is this another one of those propaganda pieces that we are warned against lest we vote for the wrong candidate?/sarc. I mean, after all, there was an article on the cooking link about what Mr. Putin eats. (I just gave you guys the opening – now work with it.) The Mini-30 and more so the Galil are distant variants of the AK, I suppose, so this rifle is just another interesting tidbit. Somewhere I read that Kalashnikov’s goal was to combine the best features of the M-1, the STG-44, and the Mosin, which makes the AK a variant of all of them.

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