The Ak-47 is one of the most well known guns, displayed in pop culture and movies as the "Guerrilla warfare goto"
The AK-47 has gone through many variations to become its modern day edition,
It has a simple design, rough hewn from wood and iron. Its the weapon of choice for any revolution, But what makes it so special and why is this 70 year old rifle become so popular.
The story starts in soviet Russia, in the aftermath of world war 2, this was a time when there were rapid technological developments, to keep up to the fighting standards of the rest of the world.
Mikhail Kalashnikov was a Russian tanker fighting in the red army, he was wounded and during his recovery heard of many stories surrounding problems with the army issued rifles, and decided to revolutionize the armament situation with a soldier focused approach. He tried to make them as simple and reliable as he could to keep them going through a prolonged fire fight. His early designs such as his prototype SMGs and rifles, gained him some attention from army officials and he was soon part of a small arms development group for the red army. The weapons developed were heavily influenced by the captured German arms and Allied weapons fielded in Europe. The main influence to the final AK-47 was probably the Sturmgewehr 44, a German rifle, as it provided the gas system in the modern day AK-47 and also showed the use of a mid-powered cartridge. The RPD light machine gun influenced the bullets to be the 7.62x39mm rounds or the M43 round. Though Kalashnikovs original AK-47 rifle is probably not still in use most of the modern day rifles have been heavily influenced by his design and also direct descendants are still used now like the AKM and AK-12.
The AK-47 has gone through many variations to become its modern day edition,
It has a simple design, rough hewn from wood and iron. Its the weapon of choice for any revolution, But what makes it so special and why is this 70 year old rifle become so popular.
The story starts in soviet Russia, in the aftermath of world war 2, this was a time when there were rapid technological developments, to keep up to the fighting standards of the rest of the world.
Mikhail Kalashnikov was a Russian tanker fighting in the red army, he was wounded and during his recovery heard of many stories surrounding problems with the army issued rifles, and decided to revolutionize the armament situation with a soldier focused approach. He tried to make them as simple and reliable as he could to keep them going through a prolonged fire fight. His early designs such as his prototype SMGs and rifles, gained him some attention from army officials and he was soon part of a small arms development group for the red army. The weapons developed were heavily influenced by the captured German arms and Allied weapons fielded in Europe. The main influence to the final AK-47 was probably the Sturmgewehr 44, a German rifle, as it provided the gas system in the modern day AK-47 and also showed the use of a mid-powered cartridge. The RPD light machine gun influenced the bullets to be the 7.62x39mm rounds or the M43 round. Though Kalashnikovs original AK-47 rifle is probably not still in use most of the modern day rifles have been heavily influenced by his design and also direct descendants are still used now like the AKM and AK-12.
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