Communist Sources of Manufacture

   The North Vietnamese used Com-bloc weapons made in the Soviet Union and her proxy states. The main arm of the NVA forces was unanimously the AK. It was dependable, rugged, and took little to keep maintained. They also used leftover WWII surplus however. There is record of Soviet made Mosin Nagant’s and SKS's- both rifles- and the PPSH 41, a submachine gun. These WWII era firearms were well out of date compared to what the U.S. had at its disposal. You may ask, why did not the Vietnamese not make their own rifles or improve already established designs? The NVA were lacking metallurgic experience and gunsmithing. However, they did manufacture some forms of the AK, named the K59. The North Vietnamese did not also have the resources nor the expertise to open up an arsenal to produce such new firearm innovations. Given Vietnam’s colorful history and exchange of power, it is understandable why this manufacturing capability was squashed. I wanted to give a general overview of the mainstay weapons used by each side before diving into the individual weapons themselves.