The Valmet M71 was introduced as a commercial export rifle in 1971, and was the first AK available on the commercial market in the United States and Europe. It was offered in both .223 and 7.62x39mm calibers, because the 7.62x39mm cartridge was rare and expensive at the time outside of Finland and the Soviet bloc. As a result, the majority of sales were for .223 rifles. The vast majority were sold as semiautomatic rifles, but this one has been legally converted into a fully automatic machine gun, per the NFA.

To make the M71 appear more "AK-like", Valmet opted to revert to the Soviet style of sights, with a notch on the front of the receiver and a post mounted at the muzzle (as opposed to the Valmet military pattern, which used an aperture mounted at the rear of the top cover and a front post on the gas block). They also appear to have maintained the Soviet gas port size, as the rifle recoils more than one might expect for its caliber. This was done intentionally, to ensure that it would continue to function reliably in very cold weather, when ambient temperature causes chamber pressure to be reduced.

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