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AK-47 Description
and Capabilities: Both the standard and modernized versions can mount a grenade launcher, and both will function in extreme conditions: in low temperatures, from moving vehicles, and after being dunked in water, mud or sand. Noted disadvantages include: a tendency for the barrel to overheat with repeated, heavy use, and a distinctive clicking sound made when the shooter changes the firing rate. While the AKs are no longer particularly lightweight or accurate by modern standards, they remain popular because they are so durable and so widely available in developing countries. Background:
Mikhail Timofeevitch Kalashnikov was the 17th child born into a Russian peasant family. As a youth, he showed an aptitude for engineering and invention, first while working on the railroad, and then, after he was drafted at age 19, as a tank commander for the Red Army. "Ever since I first took apart a pistol as a small boy, I felt that my fate would be linked to guns," Kalashnikov told the Moscow Times. In the World War II, Kalashnikov learned first-hand the destructive power of the Germans' newly developed submachine gun. The Schmeisser, capable of firing much more quickly than the cumbersome bolt action rifles the Russians were still using, nearly wiped out his entire detachment. While recuperating from injuries in 1941, Kalashnikov began developing plans for a better gun, one that would combine the long-range firing capabilities of a rifle with the deadly speed of a submachine gun. His gun would be cheap to produce, easy to manufacture, simple to copy, and incredibly durable. When Kalashnikov entered a competition to design a new gun for the Soviet Army in 1947, he and his user-friendly assault rifle entered into Soviet mythology. Dubbed the AK-47, short for Avtomat (Automatic) Kalashnikov-1947, Kalashnikov's gun remained the Soviet Army's standard individual infantry weapon from 1949 until 1961, when the AKM, another Kalashnikov design, took its place. In 1947, with Cold War looming ahead, Russia exported the AK-47 all over Eastern Europe, and handed out blueprints to close allies like Poland and Bulgaria. Today more than 55 countries' armies use the AK-47 or homegrown copies of the gun, and according to some estimates, over 70 million AK-47's have crossed production belts from Latin America to Southeast Asia. The Russian army finally retired Kalashnikov's venerated designs in 1994, and as of 1999, only Bulgaria, described by Human Rights Watch as "an anything-goes weapons bazaar" still produced the AK-47 for export. Kalashnikov, now 82, lives in Izhevsk, a manufacturing town in the foothills of the Ural Mountains and still designs hunting weapons exported under the name Kalashnikov Joint Stock Co. Although he never received royalties from his famous design, he was twice named "Hero of Socialist Labor," promoted to the rank of major general, and showered with medals and honors. Manufacturer: Izhmash, Izhevsk, Russia Length Weight Number of Rifling Grooves: 4 Maximum Effective Range: 300 m Rate
of Fire: Magazine Capacity: 30 rds Unit
Replacement Cost: estimates range from $6 to $350, depending on
the market.
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