AK-22

An AK-22 "Trainer" is a semi-automatic rifle loosely based upon the AK-47 in its design, and chambered in .22 long rifle calibre. The firearm currently sold on the civilian market in the United States of America dubbed as the AK-22 "Trainer" is manufactured in Romania by S.C. Uzinele Mecanice Cugir S.A. Despite the common belief, the AK-22 is not normally used to train regular troops either in Romania or in other countries. While until recently the use of rimfire rifles replicating the standard service rifles in its dimensions and features had been common in several countries for training soldiers in basic firearms handling and marksmanship, at present this use has been abandoned due to the enormous availability of service weapons and ammunition already in stock, and the fact that a rimfire rifle, with its low recoil, doesn't help accustom a recruit to the recoil of the regulation rifle they will use in their normal service life; rimfire rifles are however used in many countries for basic firearms handling and standard marksmanship training within Armed Forces' "Youth Corps" (Cadets). The AK-22 is thus intended merely as a civilian sporter rifle. Its average price ranges within 200 and 500 US$.

The AK-22 should not be confused with the weapon commonly sold in America as the Armscor AK22 Sidefolder, which is a sporter, rimfire AK-47 semi-automatic version manufactured in the Philippines as the MAK-22F and sold with a side-folding stock. The two weapons are extremely different both cosmetically and internally.

Besides reference to commercial .22 rimfire models of the AK rifle, the terms AK22 and AK-22 are also used to refer to illicit underground manufactured .22 rimfire weapons designed to mimick the appearance of the AK rifle, such as the weapons used in the July 2016 Dhaka attack.^[1]

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