The Royal Armouries has acquired 3 live AN-94s, and fired them
Posted by RamTank@reddit | ForgottenWeapons | View on Reddit | 51 comments
Posted by RamTank@reddit | ForgottenWeapons | View on Reddit | 51 comments
JBL_17@reddit
Anyone have a link to the two part article Jonathan mentions?
ihatelifetoo@reddit
I’m jealous of his job
cgn-38@reddit
That would depend on how much time he has to spend cleaning old ass guns.
Thrifikionor@reddit
Cleaning old ass guns? That makes me even more jealous of his job
bteam3r@reddit
Gets access to all that crazy stuff at work, but can’t own even a simple Glock personally. The ultimate monkey’s paw
levels_jerry_levels@reddit
Where did they get not 1, not 2, but 3 working AN94s?!
BobbyRobertsJr@reddit
Jonathan actually personally captured them during his service in Ukraine. He has 128 confirmed kills thus far.
Nurhaci1616@reddit
Remember when Russia accused Boris Johnson of personally leading commando raids against them in Ukraine?
It was actually just Jonathan, but you'd think he's a whole platoon from the volume of fire and the speed at which he moves between fire positions.
Content-Signature480@reddit
Last thing Russian soldier hear’s “What a fine specimen you have there…”
PlentyOMangos@reddit
Your AN-94 will make a fine addition to my collection
levels_jerry_levels@reddit
I choose to believe this is the truth
rulepanic@reddit
Haven't watched yet, but probably Ukraine. They've been used by Russians in their war against the Ukrainian people. Ukraine's sent captured equipment to allies before.
sandalsofsafety@reddit
Mr. Ferguson made a comment specifically stating that they did not come from Ukraine, but rather a different allied nation that purchased them for T&E a number of years ago (someone else here said Canada). While it wouldn't surprise me if the Royal Armouries would take in recently captured weapons, I would think that the political sensitivity around them would prevent them from filming & publishing them.
GremlinX_ll@reddit
Not sure why we ever did it, when we need everything for ourselves
Kozak170@reddit
Considering the amount of equipment the rest of the world has dumped into Ukraine I don’t think you’re in any position to criticize them sending back 3 wildly niche prototype weapons for archiving. Such a shitty and greedy mentality.
GremlinX_ll@reddit
Why I can't criticize my country, again ?
I got you point, bu I am Considering that we soon will be put on dry ration, because one specific newly president decided to drop support, so it's not about having "shitty and greedy mentality" - it's about preserving every thing possible, when resources are extremely limited and stretched.
Also, it could be done after the war settle down, when excess captured equipment will be put on storage, but not in the middle of fucking war.
cgn-38@reddit
They sold these for enough cash to buy 20 aks. lol
These are but completely useless.
Kozak170@reddit
As explained by plenty of others in this thread, these rifles are worthless from any sort of practical military perspective, but they’re worth quite a lot to a historical archive. Ukraine is not having any remote shortage of small arms anymore, thanks to in sizable part the very country they gave these prototypes to.
I just find it absurd to be mad about Ukraine doing one incredibly minor thing to pay back one of the very countries that is the reason why it hasn’t fallen.
RamTank@reddit (OP)
I know Ukraine lacks heavy weapons and artillery shells, but is Ukraine really hurting for small arms right now? And even if they are, I don't think they'd really want AN-94s on the frontline.
thePonchoKnowsAll@reddit
Could easily be a an exchange system, send Britain some of these pieces of equipment so they can study them, Britain sends more of its domestically produced equipment.
So could be a Ukraine sends 3 rifles and receives 9 situation.
wunderbraten@reddit
See here https://www.reddit.com/r/ForgottenWeapons/s/JOMPek0eb3
RaiderCat_12@reddit
Man I wish I had contacts in Ukraine so I could get VSS Vintorez’s, AVS-36s, SVT-40s and whatnot
levels_jerry_levels@reddit
I don’t think they said in the video but that was my guess too. My first thought was “why wouldn’t Ukraine keep and use them” but I’m guessing the juice ain’t worth the squeeze for such a niche small arm.
Kagenlim@reddit
That and the an94 is a rare gun that parts are hard to come by too
RamTank@reddit (OP)
And if that super complicated mechanism fails you in the field, good luck fixing it even if you had the parts.
AceArchangel@reddit
Also not as versatile as standard NATO style weapons, no rails, no attachment points. plus it requires a different sort of training than standard weapons.
ST4RSK1MM3R@reddit
In the comments he says where: From CANADA of all places. Apparently they got a few in the 90s for evaluation
RamTank@reddit (OP)
So these things were sitting in some reference collection in a Canadian Forces armoury somewhere?
Sonoda_Kotori@reddit
Canadian armories has a bunch of random things. A couple hundred QBZ-97A for example.
levels_jerry_levels@reddit
That actually seems pretty reasonable, I know a fair amount of cops in Alaska use AKs because they are more reliable in cold weather.
420_Braze_it@reddit
Nome, Alaska issues AK-47 for the reasons you stated, but this is an aberration as far as I'm aware. It is often unimaginably cold there so it's understandable they would issue them. Most narcotics police (and I would assume state troopers) in Alaska use standard M16A2 (it could be another configuration of M16 but the ones I saw appeared to be A2). That is unless something has changed within the past few years.
KungFluPanda38@reddit
In a few years they'll be able to buy in Sako M23's which are basically just AR's optimised for extreme cold weather environments.
cgn-38@reddit
The russians are so desperate for weapons they are opening all their armories. If it shoots it goes to the front lines.
These were at some level an actual issue rifle. They probably made a shitload of them that never got used. Stored away in some armory in cosmoline. Now in desperation they are getting pulled out of storage and issued to the meat assault teams.
Around couple of weeks ago the Ukrainians captured a shitload of them from russian conscripts. The meat guys.
TheDarkRider@reddit
Some sketchy guy from Russia
levels_jerry_levels@reddit
Ahhh so the same way we get our Zenitco shit in the US
TheDarkRider@reddit
да
levels_jerry_levels@reddit
Well shit, where do I find a sketchy gopnik to send me 3 AN94s?!
TheDarkRider@reddit
Set you Tinder to Eastern Ukraine and post “looking for hot singles in my area “ talk some dudes and say will trade nudes for AKs… it that simple
levels_jerry_levels@reddit
Well let’s hope the fine people of the Donetsk and Luhansk “people’s republics” are willing to trade AN94s for a 30 year old guys nudes.
RamTank@reddit (OP)
Ask for payment in advance.
TheDarkRider@reddit
It worked for me …
Trooper1911@reddit
Ukraine for sure. Saw some fairly recent captures of some of these more exotic weapons.
leto78@reddit
There know not ask certain questions. The Royal Armouries is not just a museum but also the keepers of reference collections, which are used for defense assessment reports, such as evaluating capabilities, costs, manufacturing processes, etc.
Sekret1991@reddit
Souveniers from some British "Tourists" in Ukraine would be my guess!
Strikerrr0@reddit
There are allegedly some that have made it to Ukraine.
There are also parts kits that are sold on the grey market that have been repaired like that one that some US youtubers reviewed.
RamTank@reddit (OP)
I know right! Jonathan didn't say in the video but if I had to guess I'd go with somewhere in Ukraine probably.
DukeOfBattleRifles@reddit
New shipments outta trenches of Ukraine!
Foxxo_420@reddit
This feels similar to some of the backgrounds you'll see when Johnathan Ferguson does stuff for Gamespot.
Theres several times during "experts react" where he's sitting in a room with like 8 EM-2 rifles sitting casually behind him on a wooden gun rack, which are never talked about.
Imagine being able to casually sit in front of 8 guns any firearms nerd would kill for or being able to show off three different AN-94's in one video.
Unfathomably based.
Moppyploppy@reddit
This is Jonathan Ferguson, the keeper of firearms and artillery and THREE GOD DAMN WORKING AN94'S at the Royal Armouries Museum in the UK, which houses a collection of thousands of iconic weapons from throughout history?
RamTank@reddit (OP)
This is Jonathan Ferguson, the keeper of firearms and artillery and THREE GOD DAMN WORKING AN94'S at the Royal Armouries Museum in the UK, which houses a collection of thousands of iconic weapons from throughout history including THREE GOD DAMN WORKING AN94S.
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