Quote:
Originally Posted by Mandolin1
I saw that one, but I thought that they were Type 84s or something like that.
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Neither the Type 56 nor the Type 84 was being imported to the U.S. at the time that MASH was on the air. The Valmets, on the other hand, started coming to this country in the late-70s, so they would've been available.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Nyles
Well, the PPSh makes total sense, but not only are Valmet M/76s pretty distinctly Finnish, the Chinese never had AKs in Korea. Hell, I don't even think many Soviet units had any at that point - when they adopted it the AK was originally supposed to be squad leaders of troops armed with the SKS. It's only when the Soviet army went fully mech that it became general issue.
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That's how the Chinese used AKs for most of the 1960s, too - they classified their AKs as the Type 56
submachine gun, which implies it was meant to be issued only to squad leaders. Their SKS copy was called the Type 56 carbine, and was the standard-issue to most PLA soldiers.
As for the Soviets, I believe it was after the Hungarian Uprising (in 1956) that they realized that the AK was better used as a standard-issue infantry rifle than as a submachine gun only (even though Mikhail Kalashnikov himself had always intended it to be an infantry rifle). This is also part of the reason that the AKM was developed.