North Korean Type 58 AK 

Even North Korea can manufacture a better AK than Century Arms

The Maltese Armed Forces still uses the type 58, they were gifted from North Korea to Malta in the 1970's/1980's to help improve relations with the east.

Just imagine how many rare aks may be in Afghanistan or Syria just laying around and in the US are probably worth thousands and thousands of dollars

This thing will sell for thousands of dollars at that auction house as a "Class III machine gun".In Africa or Afghanistan it's probably worth one small goat or a few chickens. That's all I could think through the whole video.

You have really out done yourself here, this is simply one of the greatest firearm and history channel on YT. Imagine if someone gave you a TV show budget, all the crazy firearms you could see. Thank you so much for doing these videos.

I love all the scars and scratches. That gun has seen a lot in its life

"Sold for $54,625" Wat?

I wonder how many gigs of memory it would take to store all the knowledge you have in your head about these weapons into a digital format. Great video, thank you!

Personally, I love how the wood is in really rough shape. It really adds character to the rifle. Who knows how much abuse it's seen in its lifetime.

It was kinda weird to watch a video from Ian and actually think ''Hey, l know how that gun disassembles''.

Will Magpul furniture fit on this

Holy shit. This is one of the most beautiful weathered rifles I've ever seen

ㄹㅕㄴ is 연발 = Auto ㄷ ㅏㄴ is 단발 = Semiauto

The serial number does not start with "2L". It is, as you pointed out, the Korean letters ㄹ and ㄴ. The serial number is ㄹㄴ7952. And it looks like there's the letter ㅍ off to the side.

some people say kalashnikov rifles are ugly, I've always loved everything about them, including the looks, especially that battle worn look. I'm a sucker for purchasing kalashnikovas of any kind but this one is just a tad out of my price range!! beautiful rifle though

What few know about this particular rifle is that it wasn't captured during the Vietnam War, but defected to the West after getting caught visiting Tokyo Disneyland.

Great work Ian, love your stuff and how soft spoken you are with such deadly tools.

The serial number, ㄹㄴ 7952, the first two characters are Korean characters. At least the first character ㄹ, I'm sure it is. There is a number 2 on the last digit of the serial number, and that 2 looks different from the first character ㄹ. ㄹ is simply the 4th consonant character in the Korean letter system that pronounces like L or R in Roman alphabet. The system is called 한글(HanGeul) and was independently developed in the 15th century by a king named 세종. It is now used in both north and south Korea, and is also exported to many tribes in Indonesia and Africa which don't have their own writing systems for their languages. This system really does write sounds well, and is also very easy to learn. Smart foreign people even challenge mastering the writing system within one day. (And some of them actually make it.) He and his son(the next king) 문종 were also two greatest military technicians who developed many medieval firearms like 화차(Hwacha) which is popular in the western world as Korean multiple rocket launching system. Look at my profile photo. That's Hwacha. Search the kings' names if interested in early gunpowder-based rockets, bombs, guns in the far East.

Some say that over three years later, the buyer is still waiting on the ATF to get back to him about the transfer.

Seriously, way to go. Yet again antithetical informative video on rare firearms. Your channel is top notch

I had the same rifle, while serving in the army. I am from East Europe, ours had markings for our country, tho. You brought memories... It is really heavy rifle and one must take some time to get used to it.

Now this is cool! I don’t care too much if it’s full auto or semi, but the fact that you have something so rare from North Korea in your collection would be very interesting!

I like how you have all the flags in the thumb for your videos, it makes it easy to quickly scroll down the page and find things you didn't finish watch or are looking for.👍

Damn it, Ian. I was about to go to bed.

Awesome video! The history and your knowledge is admirable to say the least... Someone mentioned it a few comments down, you deserve your own TV show. They can cancel out one of the dozens of the fix em up car shows and give you a chance... I know they're not 'forgotten' so to speak, but it would be interesting if you did pieces in firearms that are no longer imported, like Ploytech, or FEG AKs... Things like that. Thanks again.

A really cool piece of history... Imagine how cheap it was to manufacture though! $54,000 for something which probably cost the modern equivalent of $10 to build 😬

your vids are very relaxing

your videos are a treat, sir. a treat. as in like, I feel spoiled now. because I got to see all of this beauty, so thankyou, sir.

The Type 58 and K2 deawoo are assault rifles that two North and South Korea soldiers use patrol along a barbed wire fence . Facing each other on the 38th parallel DMZ for almost a decade

Stamped AK Type 1 weight 4.45 kg Milled AK Type 2 and 3 weight 4.3 kg Stamped AKM weight 3.3 kg i took those information from Drs Cor Roodhorst's book. Soviet MOD demanded the gun to weight about than 4kg, because they think that a lighter gun would be uncontrollable in full auto. in 1955 they changed their doctrine, that was when the new assault rifle program was started, three designer participated: Kalashnikov(A-55 and RP-55), Korobov(TKB-517 and TKB-516) and Konstantinov(2B-A-45 and 2B-P-40). Soviet MOD demanded a light weight avtomat and a LMG version of that avtomat. In the end, Kalashnikov won, A-55 became the AKM, RP-55 became the RPK.

Another great vid, you've been posting some really nice vids lately Ian. Cheers from Czech Republic.

Thanks for the vid sir.

Also just a helpful hint. The serial number doesn't say 2L, it's the hangul characters "ㄹ" which is pronounced as "Rieul", and "ㄴ" which is pronounced as "Nieun". On the selector markings, "례" is prounounced as "Rae" and "대" which is "Dae" :D

KOREAN-> (ㄹㄴ) 7592 려ㄴ = 련 = AUTO 다ㄴ= 단 = SEMI

I really enjoy your videos, thanks!

i don't know how you do it but i start to have curiosity about any gun and you make a video about it. You are amazing!

This video felt like it’s lasted just a couple of minutes. Damn this was satisfying

I live in Vietnam and when i have my Military training, i saw one of these korean’s AK still served in the Army till these day

I love this channel. Weapon's history is awesome

I once saw one of these for sale in Sweden :D

Has anyone seen those pictures of North Korean Ak 74 with helical magazines. Is that really possible or is it an attempt to make themselves seem more advanced than they are? m.imgur.com/69zPSN2?r

Somebody with a lot of money is going to have an awesome conversation piece. 😀

Great Video! From what I've read in the past the type I AK had issues with the spot welding of the rails on the inside of the receiver.

It's never enough talking about historical AKs! Cheers, Ian.

Ian, what you described as 2L in the serial number at 5:15 is translated as the letters RN in Korean Hangul. Presumably short for Russian. The Korean word for Russian is essentially a Korean Loanword. Google translate has it as pronounced "leosiain". I know you have its provenance well in hand, but I thought you might find the extra evidence of interest.

*Best Korean type 58 AK

Hey Ian, love your insight into the production of these weapons. I'd be really interested to hear your insight into the design and manufacture of other objects someday. Say an Eames fibreglass chair or the plywood splint they made for the US army.

Thanks Ian.

I love this channel, I find it super relaxing, no offense but it reminds me of the show on pbs where the guy paints landscapes, anyway thanks

How many North Korean weapons have you come across?

I actually got to hold one yesterday, it was an underfolder though and stamped. But it was incredible.

Thanks for sharing.One of my favorites is my circle 386 milled chinese version.

"The only AK that will ever jam"

think I'm going to have to come back to this video every now and then, the humour is truely Seoul-less... I'll see myself out.

I love the way the wood looks compared to your typical AK

Well, I saw a forgotten weapons video and clicked on it, then realized that I saw it over at full30, but here it is, still playing.

Damn that Type 58 looks like it's seen a lot.

Is that bullet next to the auction house data shield for a Maxim Pom-Pom 37mm MG?

Cool video.

Can’t wait for the auction

Very cool! Would love to know what it ends up selling for.

The video is 9:22 long and is about an AK, 922r compliant... coincidence, i think not ;)

This is the gun gloriously leader kim chi un empty entire clip and sprayed all bulleyes. The bullets also reloaded themself in new brass then reloaded into the ak57.

looks like a very similar configuration to the old bulgarian milled AKs. Thanks for the vid Ian.

Rob Ski is currently bidding. jk

“Not a lot of stuff from North Korea has made it to the United States” Mostly because they haven’t figured out how to get it here by way of ballistic missile

Beautiful rifle, just damn beautiful.

Korea also made milled receiver RPK's, from around 1964 to 1975.

Thanks gun Jesus.

"The name is Kim Jong and I got the license to ill".....

I just got a 39A stevens arms bolt action .410 bore gun past down to me from my grandfather. you should make a video on that gun

Man milling that thing out of a block of steel would be some serious machine work

kim jong un must be one of the dislikes.

"... and they would use western type numbers for ..." Those "western type numbers" you speak of are called "arabic numerals", but probaby originated in India.

it would be nice to see type 73 on your review

I love the way he says if you want one of these, you can bid at the auction, you'd think he was talking about a candy bar, your darn right I want one, perhaps the NFA help me out with that one!

so, how did this gun come to the US ? Great video like always

I love how the North Korean national sign is almost a pentagram... makes you wonder about them... 😂

Here are the translations of the letters beside the selector. 'ㄹㅕㄴ' = '련' it's abbreviation for '련발' and it means automatic. 'ㄷㅏㄴ' = '단' it's abbreviation for '단발' and it means semi-automatic. And I think those first and second letters in serial number aren't 2 and L. I think those are Korean characters 'ㄹ' and 'ㄴ'

50000 ? well my encyclopedia says it's more like 800000 pieces that were produced by the Jyn Chul arsenal, that seems logical since the north korean use it for their military even to this day. The type 68 (AKM) seems even more rare in their military

Is that ak full auto?

I want to see a review on the North Korean anti aircraft gun that you do political house cleaning with. If you get a chance...

Well...I am sorry to point it out Ian but the 'L' character on the serial number seems to be a Korean alphabet known as 'ㄴ', shown in 5:07. The two markings on the receiver stand for '련발' - Korean for full auto, and '단발' - semi auto, respectively. I - even a South Korean - have never come across a North Korean AK, most likely because if they were even captured, they would have been sent to military training centers or de-milled and put in museums. Thank you for showcasing this very rare gem!Jack the Gun/History nut.

Honestly I think it's pretty cool that it has a different bolt in it then the original because that means the original soldier that had this changed the bolt out to a different one because it was broken or something... Adds to the story ya know

well the real name is democratic peoples republic of Korea or DPRK.

I would be willing to buy it for a million dollars but I aint got 50 bucks

Love those old Milled AK's!

What a beautiful piece. I wanna know how much this thing goes for.

Yeah the serial number is Korean, "2ㄴ7952 ㅁ" In English it's "2N7952 M". Next, 레" and "대" which is sort of like "lay"and "dyay". No idea what that means, the Pyongyang dialect it's different from the seoul version i know

Did ian ever shot this rifle? forgotten weapons please do a video shooting this north Korean ak

Could you do a video on a Star Z-84 or an Alfa-55? love your vids!

Wow over 50K!!

Kim Jong Un called, he asked if he can eat it.

“The North Koreans didn’t make that many of them” They just didn’t have enough metal

I’ve got an original North Korean turd, that was smuggled out amongst a box of type 58 AKs. Bidding starts at $25,000. This could be the legendary turd from then President, Kim Il-Sung.

Forgotten Weapons, can you test the trigger pull weight? It would be interesting to see the pull weight of all the historic firearms you come across.

Little known fact: The "58" actually stands for the the era North Korea has been perpetually time locked in for the last half a century. #TheMoreYouKnow :)

Holy fuck that thing is crudly made! And I thought the K98 was crude. Norwegian Krag rifles (Except the stomperud) now that is a finely made milsurp. This gun is one ugly beast. (Not saying this is a bad thing)

Ian is looking more like Buffalo Bill Cody these days...just needs a a big gallon hat..love ya!

If you find any Russian rifles that are graded in Arshins instead of yards or meters , the conversion is one arshin is 28 in or 71.12 cm. This is absolutely critical when sighting in at long range