[JRandomFreeper]

Say what you like about the man, he designed an icon.

/johnny

[NormsRevenge]

If he had invented a lawn mower that started first pull everytime,, the world would have a lot less gardeners.

[bramps]

I know next to nothing about guns and would like to know what set this gun apart from others. Thank you.

[henkster]

Patterned after the German Sturmgewehr 44, but made simple, rugged and reliable.

Kalashnikov served his country well, however evil that country may have been.

[donmeaker]

He was always overrated. His verson won a design trial, after Hugo Schmeisser, a ‘member of his design team’ changed it extensively from what Kalashnikov designed. The one thing Schmeisser didn’t touch was the receiver, which had problems with cracking after less than 10,000 rounds. The Kalashnikov stamped receiver was quickly replaced with a machined receiver designed by someone else. Later they went back to a stamped receiver, but one designed by someone else.

Kalashnikov was the politically correct face for the team. For that he deserves full credit.

[Scrambler Bob]

Lawn mower with a sling.

All the worlds jungle trouble spots would be mowed flat.

Ethanol wouldn’t hurt it.

[Carry_Okie]

The combination of rugged simplicity, high functionality, and inexpensive manufacture is rare in any machine. Such are works of genius.

[caver]

It’s a wonder he made it through Stalin’s purges.

[JoeProBono]

[GeronL]

Are black flags flying in Russia?

[M Kehoe]

I will say, rest in peace. Although, my enemies use his product to great effect.

Plus, we were taught how to field strip and fire an AK. In case you ran out of ammo, or your M16 was inoperable.

Yes, I said M16, so I'm that old...so sue me.

5.56mm

[Malone LaVeigh]

"This is the AK-47 assault rifle, the preferred weapon of your enemy; and it makes a distinctive sound when fired at you, so remember it".

[Ruy Dias de Bivar]

In Memory

[Red in Blue PA]

Godspeed.

Don’t yet have one of his rifles, but it is on my wish list.

[RayChuang88]

The development cycle of the AK-47 is still kind of murky, but Mikhail Kalashnikov did the general configuration design work on what is still the most famous automatic rifle of the 20th Century. It was not the most accurate rifle, but its very literal bulletproof reliability made it very widely used all over the world—indeed, for a while during the Vietnam War US soldiers often used captured AK’s against the North Vietnames and Viet Cong very effectively because it could survive the harsh jungle conditions of Vietnam.

[redgolum]

Respect he design. Simple, robust, and effective.

[null and void]

My condolences to the Russians, they have lost a great man today.

[yarddog]

Although it was never intended as a standard battle rifle, I think the M1 Carbine would qualify as a very early assault rifle. It did not have a full auto feature but that was added later.

In my opinion, it was better without it.

[CrazyIvan]

Yuri Orlov: Of all the weapons in the vast Soviet arsenal, nothing was more profitable than Avtomat Kalashnikova model of 1947, more commonly known as the AK-47, or Kalashnikov. It's the world's most popular assault rifle, a weapon all fighters love. An elegantly simple nine pound amalgamation of forged steel and plywood, it doesn't break, jam, or overheat. It will shoot whether it's covered in mud or filled with sand. It's so easy even a child could use it, and they do. The Soviets put the gun on a coin. Mozambique put it on their flag. Since the end of the Cold War, the Kalashnikov has become the Russian people's greatest export. After that comes vodka, caviar, suicidal novelists. One thing is for sure, no one was lining up to buy their cars.

[Sherman Logan]

I have always thought the denigration of the gun for being comparatively inaccurate quite odd.

A very large percentage of those it was intended for weren’t going to be crack shots anyway. Many operating on the spray and pray principle, with no real aiming at all.

IOW, weapons and tools. An effective tool is one that works well at what it is intended to do. The AK-47 was never intended to be a precision weapon or a sniper rifle. It worked supremely well at what it was intended for. Nobody can ask more from any tool or weapon. Combining this high functionality with inexpensive construction makes it a work of true genius.