The most common weapons used during The Civil War Of Sierra Leone were Ak-47s, G3s and RPGs. All of these weapons are cheap to buy and are easily accessible worldwide, which is why both sides fighting in the civil war used these weapons. There are all kinds of different variants of these guns so I will just give you the basic run down of the three.
First up is the AK-47. The “A” in the name stands for automatic fire of the rifle, the K stands for “Kalashnikov” the creator of the gun, and the number “47” represents the year the gun was designed and first made in 1947. The AK was first created by the Soviet Union and began mass producing the rifle, which is why the gun still today is fairly cheap and easy to get your hands on. Other communists countries like China started to make clones, which further expanded the AKs market. Why is the AK s popular around the world? Because it is indestructible and the ammo is very cheap too. You can drop an AK in the mud and it will still function as if it was just cleaned, which is why it was a perfect weapon to have deep in the jungle in Sierra Leone. Site: https://www.britannica.com/technology/AK-47
The Heckler and Koch G3 is the next weapon of choice used by the RUF and the government of Sierra Leone. First designed in the 1950s by Heckler and Koch in western Germany, the G3 quickly became of favorite weapon for militaries all across the world because of its impressive stopping power and durability. Since over Seven million G3s have been produced since 1950, they’re relatively cheap to buy which made it easy for both the RUF and the Sierra Leones military to have so many. Site: https://modernfirearms.net/en/assault-rifles/germany-assault-rifles/hk-g3-eng/
Lastly the RPG-7, short for Rocket Propelled Grenade is a shoulder fired anti-tank weapon that shoots explosive rockets. Simplicity, low cost, and effectiveness of the RPG-7 has made it the most widely used anti-armor weapon in the world. Currently around 40 countries use the weapon, and it is manufactured in several variants by nine countries. The RPG has been used in almost all conflicts across all continents since the mid-1960s. Site: http://www.military-today.com/firearms/rpg_7.htm
Were there any other weapons that were used that are not as common as these but still common enough to be seen more than once or twice here and there?
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