Posted on 12/26/2012 4:49:47 PM PST by nickcarraway
Russia's legendary rifle-designer Mikhail Kalashnikov was recovering in stable condition in intensive care Tuesday after being hospitalised with general fatigue, reports said.
An aide to the 93-year-old father of the AK-47 said Kalashnikov had been having heart problems and feeling poorly since March.
"When I visited him at home last week, he told me that nothing seemed to hurt, but that he simply had no strength left," assistant Nikolai Shklyayev told the RIA Novosti news agency.
(Excerpt) Read more at google.com ...
One of the greatest engineers of all time.
That dude should be richer than Bill Gates.
If he die, it was the grammar police what done him in ...
He wasn’t and engineer, just a simple mechanic with an incredible talent for making things.
Really hard to draw the line, isn't it...? Perhaps not an engineer by education/training...but certainly a designer with a vision. What are engineers after all if not designers with vision.
His t-shirt should read “I made the world’s most prolific rifle and I’ll got was this lousy t-shirt!!!”
Tnx for the info. I’d’ve bet good money he was already dead.
Do you happen to know the origin of the word “engineer”?
Hint: It predates any engine depending on combustion, internal or external, by centuries...
He holds an advanced degree of Doctor of Technical Sciences.
wiki= source...
Doctor; not enginr
clever critter
No formal education in engineering?
Proof positive brilliant minds are not found in a piece of paper.
I wish Mick had left the bolt handle on the left side of the receiver.
Anyone with an AK, the time, money and inclination, fyi:
http://wasr-10.com/RCS
Bingo; the Russians got there hands on a Nazi Sturmgewehr - 44 (the first assault rifle ever developed) and reworked it accordingly, three years later.
It would have been easier for Western shooters but the Russians did it for a reason. Which side is the bolt rifles handle...on the right. This keeps things simple. The bolt closed also keeps it easy. Loading? Pull the handle. Reload? Pull the handle. Malfunction? Pull the handle. We make things more difficult and call it progress in the West.
I'm not a fan of anyone screwing around with the AK platform. You won't improve it because it is simple, reliable, and idiot proof. Even a guy stuck in the 7th Century can build and operate it. I think the AK will also be here much longer than the M-16.
Actually, the AK has more in common with American designs, than German. For example, the AK’s trigger is similar to that of the Garand rifle. Also, it’s bolt is similar to the Garand’s and the M1 Carbine’s. Basically, Mikey T. was a more sophisticated borrowed.
Overrated. Schmeisser was on the design team, but Kalashnikov was head for political purposes.
Soviets had similar platforms long before WWII including fully-auto rifles (AVS-36). It has little to none in common with Sturmgewehr design-wise.
I think German rifle itself was inspired Soviet designs.
The real innovation in Sturmgevehr was a use of intermediate cartridge. It made fully-auto rifle any practical for the first time and Kalashnikov utilized this trend in a simple refined design.
It took many years for US military to get an idea.
M-14 has failed with US military the same way similar AVS-36 has failed and was finally rejected by the Red Army in mid-30s.
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