[VOA]

This is just a television heads-up for a segment of BookTV
(C-Span2 weekends) that might interest the "BANGLIST" crowd.

Some of these book discussions are dead as dirt, some are very interesting,
so you've been warned this might just be a snoozer.

I've not read the book; however a couple of the reviews at Amazon.com
are critical that the book is anti-gun-ownership or spends too
much time discussing the M-16.

[VOA]

for convenience, here's a link to the Amazon.com page for the book:

AK-47: The Weapon that Changed the Face of War
by Larry Kahaner
http://www.amazon.com/AK-47-Weapon-that-Changed-Face/dp/0471726419/sr=1-1/qid=1165699910/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/002-4942841-0909603?ie=UTF8&s=books

[gaijin]

1. Trigger is gritty, lots of slack & creep

2. Makes huge "clack" when taken off safety

3. Weapon/optic interface very unstable

4. Little difficult to accessorize.

Realable as hell, though. Very, very simple. Few moving parts. Simple to train with & maintain.

[VOA]

Here's a link to the full schedule of BookTV for Dec. 9 and 10, 2006:

http://www.booktv.org/schedule/

Beware, the books discussed range across the political spectrum, thus some
are pretty nutty lefty Bravo Sierra.
You have been warned!
(although watching some of the more radical-leftist presentation is
good "opposition research")

[panzerkampfwagen]

Should be called the MP43 and how it changed the face of war...if you know history..

[garyhope]

Is there a difference between the AK ammo and .308 ammo?

Are AK's that accurate over distances?

[Ruy Dias de Bivar]

As my sometimes tagline reads "When someone burns a cross on your lawn the best firehose is an AK-47."

[indcons]

Mil Hist Ping

[rjp2005]

Dumb question - does anyone know why the clip was designed like a banana?

[MarkL]

I honestly don't understand how the statement that the AK-47 changed the face of war, or something like that, can be made. The AK wasn't particularly innovative. There were reliable semi-autos created before it. And it certainly wasn't the first assault rifle (as opposed to a battle rifle). Actually, I think that 2 things led to the wide acceptance of the weapon, none of which was directly attributable to the weapon itself...

1) The fact that the soviet union (or its client states) supported insurgent and terrorists groups, and gave them vast numbers of the weapons.

2) They were cheap to build, and easy to maintain, if they were maintained at all. They really didn't need much care, which is a good thing for a "non-professional" military. Or a bunch of terrorists or criminals.

Mark

[gb63]

As a matter of amusement, countless times I have heard local TV air-heads exclaim that a gun used by some gangmember or criminal was an AK-47...!

[Disambiguator]

"AK-47: The Weapon That Changed the Face of War,"

Or, "AK-47: The Weapon That Got Howard Metzenbaum's Knickers In A Twist"

[MaDeuce]

This is the second story in recent weeks about the AK. No doubt it is a anti-gun book since it is on C-SPAN.

There is a pattern developing here ... stories about (speak softly ... assault weapons). These stories are attempts to soften the public up and get them on board with the next Assault Weapons Ban legislation that I'm sure we will see introduced in congress before Easter.

Mark my words there will be more of these types of stories and TV shows will start ramping up the violence with bad guys using assault weapons (which there is no such thing ... there are only rifles and revolvers and pistols).

[CaptSkip]

From some of the typical anti-AK posts here...there are still many that are either misinformed about the AK platform, or have a "problem" with the AK for other reasons.

Many US Special Forces choose an M-14 or AK over an M-16/M-4.

In 7.62mm x 51mm: FAL, M-14 or H&K... sweeeet!

In 7.62mm x 39mm: AK-47 or Valmet...ummmm tasty!

In 5.56mm x 45mm: IDF's Galil [an AK platform that shoots the .223] or Steyr AUG...droool!

What about the AK-74!

Need more gun porn!

[LibKill]

"The weapon that made the M-16 soil its' undies."

Sorry about that, but this is one time the ruskies won.

[rjp2005]

Getting back to the AK, the story of Mikhail Kalishnakov is intriguing. I attribute the success of the rifle to both his natural ability as an engineer and the crunch of war time scarcity/need for the Russians, which tends to cut through the red tape of the usual peace time creative thinking of "we want our new weapon to do everything".

Contrast that with the OICW and other developments here recently - it's annoying that we spend millions of dollars researching and developing rifles that just get cancelled and shelved because they're too overcomplicated and try to do everything from folding your socks to brushing your teeth in between firing 25 different types of rounds!

[VOA]

15 minutes to airtime bump

[VOA]

Airing in a couple of minutes bump

[VOA]

The BookTV segment in now airing.....bump

[longtermmemmory]

seems from this blub the author does not like citizens with "power" against any government. It is probably a tranference of he opposition to the sencond amendment.

[ctdonath2]

To answer a few questions here visually...