Thread: Guns in Laos

KSO, doing an exploration contract here working for an aussie company

Hungarian AMD-65 one of the local militia boys was carrying that I had with me one day. Apparently for my protection from "tigers". Reality was because we are close to the Vietnam Border and they are dodgy af.

Is that a Hungarian ak 74 u?

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Originally Posted by Russian 22.

Is that a Hungarian ak 74 u?

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Hungarian AKM copy @Beavis ?? Potentially this one was a Chinese copy of the Hungarian AKM copy. Not sure. Was to busy looking at rocks most of the day and yelling at the militia guy to keep it pointed in a safe direction and to stop playing with it. Ended up confiscating the magazine at one point and taking it off him to make sure it was clear. Muzzle control isn't in their vocabulary.

Looks like an AMD 65 without the autistic vertical grip. I don't think the Chinese copied that pattern but I could be wrong.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AMD-65

Originally Posted by Beavis

Looks like an AMD 65 without the autistic vertical grip. I don't think the Chinese copied that pattern but I could be wrong.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AMD-65

My comment regarding possible chinese copy is due to everything here is virtually a Chinese copy. I very much doubt some conscript in the middle of the back blocks would be running around with a Hungarian manufactured AKM. The black market AK's for $50 USD are Chinese and typically never cleaned, bit rusty and the laminate needs a sand and oil. Ammunition is never one brand but an assortment.
Though I did find a cardboard box of CCI 22lr like 3 hrs up a stream at one point. But I know that one of the villagers from the local village down stream has a Norinco single shot bolt 22lr. Obviously it goes without saying that having firearms over here is illegal. Unless you are the Army...

@paddygonebush have you read the book gold rush? English writer. Good read he was in Laos in the 1990s and writes about it.
Have a look.

Very interesting.

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Interesting thread. I live and worked there a few years ago - field work in every province except Phongsaly & Huaphanh. I was based in Vientiane.

Noted plenty of guns around the villages, even the odd 1911. If you have $$ over there, you can pretty much get anything.

I've seen trail cam footage from WWF of tigers in North East provinces but mostly hunted out like most of the wildlife

If you get a chance head out to the Vientiane shooting federation, from memory it was a fair way out of the city.

I know a few Laos, given their drinking habits it must get quite interesting with guns around.

Spent a lot of time in Laos,and saw a lot of Chinese knockoffs.....paddy,...I flew in a bunch of yanks,they were contracted by the Laos Govt to take water samples of the Mekong,they had a lot of equipment.Met them back in ho chi min a few weeks later,had a chinwaggle with them about the water quality,they said it was off the scale.

The surprising revelation from them was the amount or arsenic and other deadly chemicals,in the water,used in illegal gold mining operations that locals had set up,.....care to comment on that,??,never actually saw any myself,and tramped all over the place.Interested to hear your thoughts on that.

The yanks told me the water (Mekong)was very polluted,even the so called “clean” water had sizable amounts(ppm)of excessive chemicals.I managed to get crook a few times over there,.....could shit through the eye of a needle at 20 paces and not even touch the sides,all due to water contamination

Originally Posted by A330driver

Spent a lot of time in Laos,and saw a lot of Chinese knockoffs.....paddy,...I flew in a bunch of yanks,they were contracted by the Laos Govt to take water samples of the Mekong,they had a lot of equipment.Met them back in ho chi min a few weeks later,had a chinwaggle with them about the water quality,they said it was off the scale.

The surprising revelation from them was the amount or arsenic and other deadly chemicals,in the water,used in illegal gold mining operations that locals had set up,.....care to comment on that,??,never actually saw any myself,and tramped all over the place.Interested to hear your thoughts on that.

The yanks told me the water (Mekong)was very polluted,even the so called “clean” water had sizable amounts(ppm)of excessive chemicals.I managed to get crook a few times over there,.....could shit through the eye of a needle at 20 paces and not even touch the sides,all due to water contamination

@A330driver the stories i could tell. I don't really want to respond to this on a public forum given that we are currently still doing some work and trying to get another contract through the client. If you are interested pm me.
Regarding getting crook guts. That was weekly to fortnightly. There is a saying "It is a brave man who farts in Laos". Let's just say I am a bit gun shy even being back in NZ/Aussie...

It was used to illustrate a point in a case that was brought over the theoretical 'manufacture' of a firearm by converting a blank-firing pistol. The Police were concerned that such 'pot metal' things could be converted to fire live ammo. My water pipe gun was to demonstrate how easily almost any innocuous thing could become the basis of a firearm with the appropriate basic skills and knowledge. I also pointed out to the judge that I could convert the tubular steel witness chair into a 'multi-barreled firearm' in less than an hour.

Originally Posted by gundoc

It was used to illustrate a point in a case that was brought over the theoretical 'manufacture' of a firearm by converting a blank-firing pistol. The Police were concerned that such 'pot metal' things could be converted to fire live ammo. My water pipe gun was to demonstrate how easily almost any innocuous thing could become the basis of a firearm with the appropriate basic skills and knowledge. I also pointed out to the judge that I could convert the tubular steel witness chair into a 'multi-barreled firearm' in less than an hour.

@gundoc

LOL. The judge from that day noticed that chair every time he looked in that direction, I bet. Life could never be the same again... unless of course they got in a replacement wooden witness chair.

Yes, I recall the police arms code had a rather strict view of what was a firearm, something like basically anything that could be converted into a firearm. A heck of a lot of discretionary power of interpretation that would give the police if that was law.

Back over 20yrs ago, my brother had a Beretta M9 lookalike 8mm blank firer. Pretty sturdy metal built it appeared. Only used for blanks. He must have fired less than 100 blanks before its receiver cracked just to the rear of the barrel, crack going diagonally downward and back on the left hand side. Yes, looked impressive, but pot metal all the same.

That said, have heard of some PPK 8mm blank firers being converted in the UK to fire steel ball bearings, there was actually a setup who had done about 50 of them and selling them on -- and that in a country where the punishment for getting caught doing that sort of thing is ... hefty. Two UK cops actually visited the original ?Italian blank firer manufacturer and asked them to stop exporting the particular blank firer to the UK. No overt threats made, but they listened. Can't really see the crap things firing anything stronger than .25acp. We've all heard .25acp can be stopped by a winter coat, but few wear heavy woolen overcoats these days... )-:

Not Beretta M9, but M92