Thread: factory AK calibers
Retrieved: 01/02/2013

I built a list of calibers AKs have been available in. It got out of hand... and when I'd find a reference to one, it would often mention some other cartridge I didn't know had been chambered in.

These are all factory chamberings. Many weren't imported to the USA. I looked for anything in .300 Savage, which seemed like an obvious factory chambering (FALs were made in .300 for sale in countries that prohibited civilians from owning .308) but I didn't find anything.

Anyway, here for your perusal:

factory chamberings:

AK-47 / AKM pattern
7.62x39
5.45x39
5.56 NATO / .223 Remington .308 Winchester - Valmet, Galil
(7) .30-06 - Valmet
8mm Mauser - Yugo M-76
(8) .243 Winchester - Valmet
(9) .222 Remington - Valmet
(10) .22 Long Rifle - various

Saiga
12ga, 20ga, .410
.308 Winchester
7.62x39
(1)(5) 5.6x39
(6) 5.45x39
.223 Remington
(1) 9.3x53R
(2) .30-06
(4) .35 Remington
(11) .270 Winchester

Bizon
(1) 9mm Parabellum
(1) 9x18 Makarov
(3) .380 ACP
(3) 7.62x25

Romanian PSL
7.62x54R

Tigr
(1) .308 Winchester
(1) 7.62x54R
(1) 9.3x64

(1) www.izhmash.ru
(2) though .30-06 Saigas have been imported to the USA and pictures and reviews are plentiful, the '06 is no longer listed on the Izhmash site as of 12/09
(3) Wikipedia lists .380 ACP and 7.62x25, which are certainly doable, but not listed on the Izhmash site on 12/09.
(4) One of Saiga's promotional pictures showed a rifle plainly marked ".35 Remington". I can't find any hits on google now, though, so that might have been only a prototype
(5) they don't list 5.45x39 on the Izhmash page, so I think this might be what they're calling 5.45 now? 12/09
(6) 5.45x39 Saigas exist in the US market, though the caliber isn't listed on the Izhmash web site as of 12/09
(7) Valmet Hunter
(8) valmet.org, Valmet M76, European market
(9) valmetweapons.com, M76 for French market
(10) East German training rifles, commercial (Italian?) models imported to the USA in the 1980s
(11) "Shooting Industry" magazine, April 2003, said EAA would be importing Saigas in .270. Not listed on the Izhmash site as of 12/09

TRX
07-02-2010

Looks like Saiga has thinned out their product line. Back in Dec '09 their web site listed:

9.3x53R
.35 Remington
.30-06
.308 Win
7.62x39
.270 Win
5.6x39
5.45x39
.223 Rem

As of 07/02/2010:

9.3x53R
.308 Win
7.62x39
5.6x39
.223 Rem

They've dropped .30-06, .35 Rem, and .270... and they're not listing 5.45 any more, though a bunch of those hit the US market not long ago.

I'd never heard of the 5.6x39, and just spent a bunch of time comparing case dimensions before I found that it's called the ".220 Russian" over here, and mostly known for being the parent case of the 6mm PPC wildcat.