Home AR-15 The Most Produced Rifles in History

The Most Produced Rifles in History

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These are the most successful weapons over the last century

At number 5 we have the Lee Enfield. Used by over 30 countries in some capacity, most notably the UK, Australia, Canada and India during WW1 and WW2, this 10 round bolt action firing .303 has had over 17,000,000 units made since 1895.

At number 4 we have the M16 derivatives. The M16, the M4 and AR-15s are amongst the most well known, controversial and successful firearms ever made. The M16 was used heavily in the vietnam war, the M4A1 is still the US standard service rifle and the AR-15 is the best selling rifle in the US Commercial market with over 20 million owned by civilians in the states. So it’s no surprise over 30 million M16 derivatives have been produced since 1964.

At number 3 we have the Mosin Nagant. This 5 round, bolt action entered Russian Military Service in 1891,was the primary rifle for Russia in WW1 and WW2 and is still being used on the battlefield today as pictured in Ukraine. So it’s no surprise over 37,000,000 of these have been produced.

At number 2 we have the Mauser Gewehr 98. Entering German Military service in 1898, this 5 round, bolt action was used heavily during WW1. Now only 9 or so million of these were produced from 1898 to 1945 but it spawned a metric F ton of derivatives rifles, which in total result in over 100,000,000 units produced.

Lastly there can only be one winner and that’s obviously the AK-47. Without doubt the most iconic rifle ever made, this Soviet masterpiece has been used in almost every major conflict since its creation in 1947. It’s been used by over 100 countries and has undergone a whole host of variants. So it’s thought that anywhere from 100-150 Million AKs have been produced making it today’s winner.

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23 COMMENTS

  1. AR-15 also has a lot of clone like HK416 and chinese QBZ-191, Mauser's bolt action feeding are bases of alot of modern hunting rifle and even anti-material rifles, finally most of the clone or copy of AK produce are not from AK-47 they are form AKM which produces from 1959 up to now.

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