The Royal Armouries has acquired 3 live AN-94s, and fired them

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.

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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.

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GremlinX_ll@reddit

Ukraine's sent captured equipment to allies before.

Not sure why we ever did it, when we need everything for ourselves

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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.

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GremlinX_ll@reddit

I don’t think you’re in any position to criticize them

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.

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cgn-38@reddit

They sold these for enough cash to buy 20 aks. lol

These are but completely useless.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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wunderbraten@reddit

See here https://www.reddit.com/r/ForgottenWeapons/s/JOMPek0eb3

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RaiderCat_12@reddit

Man I wish I had contacts in Ukraine so I could get VSS Vintorez’s, AVS-36s, SVT-40s and whatnot

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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.

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Kagenlim@reddit

That and the an94 is a rare gun that parts are hard to come by too

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RamTank@reddit (OP)

And if that super complicated mechanism fails you in the field, good luck fixing it even if you had the parts.

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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.

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ST4RSK1MM3R@reddit

In the comments he says where: From CANADA of all places. Apparently they got a few in the 90s for evaluation

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RamTank@reddit (OP)

So these things were sitting in some reference collection in a Canadian Forces armoury somewhere?

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Sonoda_Kotori@reddit

Canadian armories has a bunch of random things. A couple hundred QBZ-97A for example.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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TheDarkRider@reddit

Some sketchy guy from Russia

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levels_jerry_levels@reddit

Ahhh so the same way we get our Zenitco shit in the US

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TheDarkRider@reddit

да

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levels_jerry_levels@reddit

Well shit, where do I find a sketchy gopnik to send me 3 AN94s?!

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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

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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.

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RamTank@reddit (OP)

Ask for payment in advance.

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TheDarkRider@reddit

It worked for me …

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Trooper1911@reddit

Ukraine for sure. Saw some fairly recent captures of some of these more exotic weapons.

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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.

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Sekret1991@reddit

Souveniers from some British "Tourists" in Ukraine would be my guess!

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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.

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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.

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DukeOfBattleRifles@reddit

New shipments outta trenches of Ukraine!

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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.

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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?

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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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