Posted on 12/23/2013 9:07:03 AM PST by PGR88
Mikhail Kalashnikov, inventor of the world's most famous gun, has died. While Kalashnikov designed a weapon that became synonymous with killing on a sometimes indiscriminate scale. He was seen in the Soviet Union as a national hero and symbol of Moscow's proud military past. A former soldier, inspired by the drawbacks of Russian weaponry in the Second World War he decided to invent a new assault rifle. This process culminated in 1947 with the design of the AK-47. Over the course of his career he evolved the basic design into a weapons family. Kalashnikov, who was in his 20s when he created the AK-47 just after World War Two, died in his home city of Izhevsk, near the Ural Mountains, where his gun is still made.
(Excerpt) Read more at telegraph.co.uk ...
Very successful reverse-engineer.
If he had been a capitalist, he would have been very very rich ... :-) ...
The Soviet’s version of John Moses Browning, though not as prolific.
Nice guy. My dad met him in the early 90’s. The two spoke for a considerable time. Dad spoke Russian and traveled a lot for his work.
One of the most popular and enduring weapons systems ever. His ideas killed a lot of our boys. But such is the nature of war.
A brilliant man, sadly playing for the other team. But RIP anyway ...
I’ll never forget that distinctive “crack” from the receiving end of an AK. I wish I had one.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oIv_RrgCfWs
“This is the AK-47 assault rifle, the preferred weapon of your enemy. It makes a distinctive sound when fired so remember it.”
Yep, kinda a love / hate thing.
Too bad he didn't have a better patent attorney.
Too bad he didn't have a better good patent attorney.
Too bad he didn't have a good patent attorney.
There that's better.
Isn’t his design based on a German weapon from WWII, or so close that he had to have used it as the prototype?
Yes and no. As one of the earliest fully automatic weapons, the Schmeisser MP40 was in some sense the model for Kalashnikov, but he redesigned it substantially to work with many fewer moving parts, so that a. it could be cheaply mass-produced and b. it would be less likely to malfunction in the field.
However, for the sheer scope of basic designs and different operating systems, John M. Browning remains the greatest gun designer of all time. He had over 150 patents. Of the 75 designs that were commercially produced, not one ever failed to make money. Browning designs used manual operation, gas operation, long and short recoil operation. This designs included, pistols, rifles, shotguns, light and heavy machine guns, and auto cannon. At the time of his death in 1926, over 16 million of his various designs had been produced. Browning remains the most prolific gun designer in history.
The German StG-44 might be what you’re thinking of. It bears a striking resemblance, but mechanically, they don’t have that much in common. The primary input the Germans had was in the field of production - German advisers helped create the production process for the AKM, which was stamped, instead of machined, and thus far easier to mass produce.
Good weapon
Thanks, I knew the first go around was with a machined receiver that took over 100 steps and started with a steel brick, then the later ones were stamped.
Would love to have one of the original ones just to have...
Friendly, occupied...same thing.
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