Posted on 12/23/2013 8:41:52 AM PST by kronos77
he inventor of the Kalashnikov assault rifle, Mikhail Kalashnikov, has died aged 94, Russian TV reports.
The automatic rifle he designed became one of the world's most familiar and widely used weapons.
Its comparative simplicity made it cheap to manufacture, as well as reliable and easy to maintain.
Although honoured by the state, Kalashnikov made little money from his gun. He once said he would have been better off designing a lawn mower.
Mikhail Kalashnikov was admitted to hospital with internal bleeding in November.
(Excerpt) Read more at bbc.co.uk ...
After watching the Czechs shoot theirs in a competition with my guys, we came to the conclusion that at 100m, if you stand still, you’re safe.
I’m assuming you were in Vietnam where it was fairly common for men to pick up the enemie’s weapons to use?
So a tip of the hat to Hugo Schmeisser, one of the most accomplished firearms designers in history, who was released by the Soviets in 1952 and who died on September 12, 1953.
Great movie!
I'm happy with the AK at 100 yards.
/johnny
The .308 is still in my mind the only battle rifle round worth chambering now.
Im assuming you were in Vietnam where it was fairly common for men to pick up the enemies weapons to use?
No, I didn't go to Vietnam. I was in the Army during Vietnam. First ID. 207th MP Co. I was referencing the training we received.
5.56mm
Part of the point was, if you get closer, accuracy (in terms of absolute miss distance) improves. When you are attacking, you fire gets more effective with the AK as you approach your objective.
Soviets emphasized offensive action in battle, and didn’t mind friendly casualties all that much. (lost 14.5 million military deaths in WWII, that includes over a million 2nd lieutenants)
I love the AK74. The 5.45x39 caliber is like shooting a .22lr rifle. There is no recoil.
The original ar-10 was far superior to the m16, and should have been the main battle rifle, but politics won out.
The AK magazine is steel, not the aluminium common to US m-16 series rifles.
Soldiers do pushups on their rifle, with the magazine ‘monopod’ing on the ground.
Look at a Remington model 8 especially from the right side.
I have little doubt that the designer(s) of the AK had seen one. Of course the Remington is recoil operated but then Browning, who designed the model 8, also invented gas operation.
Askins in correct.
By the way, AFTER Elmer Keith died, Askins said he wished the 44 Mag had been stillborn. He hated it.
Sounds like Journalism jealousy.
Yes.
He was on “Kalashnikov’s design team”.
/johnny
Victor Davis Hanson in the chapter on Isandlwana and Rorke's Drift in "Culture and Carnage" mentions the Zulu warriors did the same exact thing with captured British Martini-Henry rifles. 100 years difference and the natives never learned.
I prefer the swiss version.
The SAW is the Kalashnikov action turned upside down.
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I qualified with the M-14, M-16, and shot the AK-47. I was partial to the M-16 though. I shot high expert on the range including 500 yards with a stock (peeps) M-16. That must have been some transitional phase when I was in because I also shot some enormous black tubed flared end bazooka (world war I?) as well as a laws rocket.
***No the M1 Carbine does not fire a pistol cartridge.***
I read, years ago, that the M-1 Carbine was really a rimless a .32/20 pistol round.
I had a Ruger pistol in .30 carbine. It did make a flash, and LOUD! I noticed real quick that you had to feel the cartridge base when you placed it in the cylinder as some were made just a hair too long and would cause the cylinder to bind up.
When Winchester made THEIR VERSION of the 5.56 MM rifle for tests, it looked just like an M-1 carbine. It was rejected.
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