The inventor of the Kalashnikov assault rifle, Mikhail Kalashnikov, has died aged 94.
BBC News - AK47 assault rifle designer Kalashnikov dies at 94
BBC News - AK47 assault rifle designer Kalashnikov dies at 94
- Thread starter JelloStorm
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several billion "freedom fighters" are taking a knee
RIP Sir. His legacy as a gun designer will never die though!
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Glad he is dead, the commie bastard. But his gun was fit for a communist or despotic army, bought them just above the rock throwing era. Never been impressed with the AK family performance myself.
He had a long and successful life despite a very difficult start. It is unfortunate that he was born in the Soviet Union.
I never understood the people who talking shit about others they didn't even know enough to read books or learn about their life.
Kalashnikov was an inventor not an evil person. You looking for evil read a little about the life of Mandela or Mother Theresa, both were everything but "the good" as the media present them. Or if want to talk about evil inventors Thomas Edison would be a good example. Juts my 2 cents.
I never understood the people who talking shit about others they didn't even know enough to read books or learn about their life.
Kalashnikov was an inventor not an evil person. You looking for evil read a little about the life of Mandela or Mother Theresa, both were everything but "the good" as the media present them. Or if want to talk about evil inventors Thomas Edison would be a good example. Juts my 2 cents.
In what way? They are one of the most utterly reliable automatic weapons on earth.
I agree with the above statement
Shooting and hitting something are two very different things, utterly reliable is a 12 gauge pump, the AK sucks in Accuracy, absolutely sucks, just based on my military training with the East Block individual weapons and the odd shoots I did with them on civilian ranges. Like I said, its a good weapon for a conscript army or a insurgent not for a professional military force.
Th reason there is no forward assist is it adds complexity of manufacturing which adds to training and costs and in addition to it being pretty reliable.
Th reason there is no forward assist is it adds complexity of manufacturing which adds to training and costs and in addition to it being pretty reliable.
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The reason it doesn't have a forward assist is because it reliable enough not to need one. Same with the TAR, AUG, SCAR, etc. The forward assist is the biggest indication that the gun has a design flaw, a button that needs to be smacked to prevent a known jam is not a solution to the design that should even be considered in my opinion. If the design was good enough in the beginning, there would be no continual "acceptable" jam to deal with. Just my 2 cents.
Never really use the FA on my AR's much, spent 8 years carrying one in the Army, desert, Arctic, woods, etc, I could hit a man sized target at 300+ with it, unlike the AK. The AK is a simple weapon, its not a accurate weapon. I know people love them but my experience tells me that are severely limited in utility. Designed for a low skilled/intelligence conscript army, with low skilled/intelligence workers making them as fast and cheaply as they can, its just fact.
Just got s ultimak and trs25 mounted on mine and at around 60yds freehand my wife (which is no trained marksman by any means) put three shots inside a 50c piece with some junk herters ammo. So sure they may not be "sniper" worthy but they seem to be plenty accurate to make hits on man size targets out to 300 pretty easily with a little trigger time. No reason to bash a firearm regardless of who uses it or where it was invented. Its just a tool nothing more nothing less the men that carry it on the other hand...
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I think if you can't hit a man sized target at 300 there might be a user issue... I have never personally used an AK, but I do own an SKS and I have easily hit a man sized target at 300.... Not trying to bash your shooting but either thats an extreme exaggeration or a big time user issue...
If LoneWolfUSMC is to be believed, the charging handle is the forward assist.
Remember, that when Kalashnikov invented his rifle, it was while recovering in a hospital from fighting the Germans... Historically speaking, we were on the same side at the time! Kalashnikov was not developing a rifle to overthrow the "Plutocrats of the West," but to retake, defend and protect his motherland from the Germans. And as he was designing his rifle, the Soviet Union had suffered some 25 million dead due to World War 2... I'd say he had a pretty good reason to design a better weapon and it had nothing to do with a Cold War against Western powers which was still several years away.
Kalashnikov's rifles have had a massive effect on the world since they were introduced on May Day 1947. It's the only weapon ever featured on a national flag. It's the most ubiquitous weapon ever made if you consider the later variants and has been used for bad and good. But if we are to argue that a weapon is only as good as the person using it (which we do all the time, fellow second-amendment fans) then the strife associated with the Kalashnikov is not the fault of Mikhail, but of the global sierra-bravos who have carried it and the nasty tin-pot leaders who have ordered their armies into battle carrying it.
As a weapons designer, there is no doubt that Kalashnikov ranks with John Browning, Eugene Stoner, John Garand, Samuel Colt, Hiram Maxim and Dr. Gatling. Politics aside, he needs to be remembered as a man whose weapons helped change the world.
RIP Mr. Kalashnikov. I hope you and the other great designers of history are sitting around debating the merits of closed bolts, gas impingement and revolvers vs. automatics in a place where ammo is free, you never have to swab a barrel and everyone has cool guns because they want them... not because they need them.
Cheers,
Sirhr
PS: For those who want a great read: Larry Kanaher's AK-47, The Gun that Changed The Face of War is very well written. The author is not a 'gun guy' so approached it from a business and historical perspective and his neutral perspective made it a very-well-written and apolitical book.
Kalashnikov's rifles have had a massive effect on the world since they were introduced on May Day 1947. It's the only weapon ever featured on a national flag. It's the most ubiquitous weapon ever made if you consider the later variants and has been used for bad and good. But if we are to argue that a weapon is only as good as the person using it (which we do all the time, fellow second-amendment fans) then the strife associated with the Kalashnikov is not the fault of Mikhail, but of the global sierra-bravos who have carried it and the nasty tin-pot leaders who have ordered their armies into battle carrying it.
As a weapons designer, there is no doubt that Kalashnikov ranks with John Browning, Eugene Stoner, John Garand, Samuel Colt, Hiram Maxim and Dr. Gatling. Politics aside, he needs to be remembered as a man whose weapons helped change the world.
RIP Mr. Kalashnikov. I hope you and the other great designers of history are sitting around debating the merits of closed bolts, gas impingement and revolvers vs. automatics in a place where ammo is free, you never have to swab a barrel and everyone has cool guns because they want them... not because they need them.
Cheers,
Sirhr
PS: For those who want a great read: Larry Kanaher's AK-47, The Gun that Changed The Face of War is very well written. The author is not a 'gun guy' so approached it from a business and historical perspective and his neutral perspective made it a very-well-written and apolitical book.
There ya go, stay happy with your SKS/AK's, I am still glad the commie is dead. Fkr invented a machine that killed more innocents than any other single weapon in modern history.
Its only a tool bud nothing more nothing less, men will kill each other with stones and sticks if there are no guns if it wasn't a kalashnikov it would have just been something else...
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Well if you're not including soldiers, then the title probably goes to the tag team of Gottlieb Daimler and Jim Beam.
Love ya Jerry ;-)
Cheers and Merry Christmas, all!
Sirhr
Everyone should read and watch the meetings Between stoner and General Kalashnikov. They were very good friends and had lots of respect for each other.
He told Eugene that the part he was most proud of was the dust cover, safety lever because of its simplicity and functionality.
Better to ignore stupid comments. Like everyone in this world he had a job and his job was producing light infantry weapons, nothing else.
His idea was to provide his army with the best firearm they could have. Nothing different from Browning, Garand and the rest.
I'm not a weapons expert by any stretch of the imagination. As I look at the Sturmgewehr rifle from Germany it would seem the AK had some help getting started with a design.my .02
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Good call. It's been a while since I read Kanaher's book, but my recollection was that the Sturmgewehr 44 inspired the short 7.62 x 39 cartridge and the general "Assault Rifle," or "Sturm Gewehr" layout that Kalashnikov used.
The STG-44 was a lot heavier and more complex in classically German style, but no doubt Kalashnikov used it as a basis. To Paraphrase Mark Twain, "good inventors invent, great inventors steal."
To follow up on Call Me E's point, the videos of Stoner and Kalashnikov meeting were really fascinating. Well worth watching and if I can find on Youtube, I'll post unless someone beats me to it.
Of note, Kalashnikov never made any money from his rifles. State property. Most of the compensation he received later in life was from personal appearances and apparently he licensed his name to a really bad Vodka named after him.
Cheers,
Sirhr
Good call. It's been a while since I read Kanaher's book, but my recollection was that the Sturmgewehr 44 inspired the short 7.62 x 39 cartridge and the general "Assault Rifle," or "Sturm Gewehr" layout that Kalashnikov used.
The STG-44 was a lot heavier and more complex in classically German style, but no doubt Kalashnikov used it as a basis. To Paraphrase Mark Twain, "good inventors invent, great inventors steal."
To follow up on Call Me E's point, the videos of Stoner and Kalashnikov meeting were really fascinating. Well worth watching and if I can find on Youtube, I'll post unless someone beats me to it.
Of note, Kalashnikov never made any money from his rifles. State property. Most of the compensation he received later in life was from personal appearances and apparently he licensed his name to a really bad Vodka named after him.
Cheers,
Sirhr
Like all good designers, Kalashnikov used features in his designs that worked for others. The safety lever is a good example, ever looked at a Remington Model 8/FN 1900? A John Browning design that came out over 40 years prior.
Having said that, he was no safer from Stalin's goons than anyone else.
Having said that, he was no safer from Stalin's goons than anyone else.
He will go down as one of the great weapons designers in history.
Fortunately he lived long enough to live through the dark times and be honored for his contributions to his country.
Fortunately he lived long enough to live through the dark times and be honored for his contributions to his country.
A simple man who answered his nation's call to develop a weapon to defeat the Nazi's. His true desire, as an engineer, was to design agricultural machinery.
If it wasn't a great design, it wouldn't still be in continuous production since 1947!
I own and shoot every Cold War version, from the Type 1 through the AKS-74.
If it wasn't a great design, it wouldn't still be in continuous production since 1947!
I own and shoot every Cold War version, from the Type 1 through the AKS-74.
I don't get the attacks on this guy. He loved his country dearly and wanted to help defend it. In my mind, despite the question of his nation's idiosyncrasies, that makes him a righteous man, of which there are never enough. When one falls, we are all diminished.
Their design was not simply based on adopting some preexisting directives for a light carbine but they had a team with extensive experience in small arms manufacturing, testing and materials.
Some of the directives still apply today with the difference that they were a lot less expensive, more simplistic and super tough and reliable. Still very attractive attributes today.
-Light chassis
-Light barrels
-Loose fit concept
-Light round / High capacity magazine
-Simple to maintain and use
-Extreme Reliability under any conditions
-Inexpensive to manufacture using traditional machinery (little retooling required w. exception of cold hammer forging barrels that most already had).
Whether some like it or not the AK has done very well. Modernized versions married with the 5.56 are great war fighting machines.
Some of the directives still apply today with the difference that they were a lot less expensive, more simplistic and super tough and reliable. Still very attractive attributes today.
-Light chassis
-Light barrels
-Loose fit concept
-Light round / High capacity magazine
-Simple to maintain and use
-Extreme Reliability under any conditions
-Inexpensive to manufacture using traditional machinery (little retooling required w. exception of cold hammer forging barrels that most already had).
Whether some like it or not the AK has done very well. Modernized versions married with the 5.56 are great war fighting machines.
I agree with almost everything sirhrmechanic said. The outcome of ww2 might have been totally different if germany wasnt so busy with two fronts attacking them from two different directions.... Ww1 is just a whole different topic. Id be more pissed about someone driving a vw bug car than personally owning an ak47.
I would happily carry an arsenal brand AK and im kicking myself for selling my milled AK that i owned several years ago. I might get another arsenal AK... Just down right reliable and should get about 2 to 2.5moa with the correct arsenal side receiver scope mounted set up.... Your basic WASR ak is a POS... Ive killed more whitetail deer with an arsenal AK than any other rifle in my collection.
Ill say RIP to the man that invented such an awesome and important part of history, and will shove the barrel of my AR up the ass of the person that points one in my direction.
I would happily carry an arsenal brand AK and im kicking myself for selling my milled AK that i owned several years ago. I might get another arsenal AK... Just down right reliable and should get about 2 to 2.5moa with the correct arsenal side receiver scope mounted set up.... Your basic WASR ak is a POS... Ive killed more whitetail deer with an arsenal AK than any other rifle in my collection.
Ill say RIP to the man that invented such an awesome and important part of history, and will shove the barrel of my AR up the ass of the person that points one in my direction.
Too many associate his invention and the people that have/use it. As Sirhr pointed out it's hypocritical to make that argument when we defend the second amendment in the same. Because the simple fact is: it's an inanimate object. It's like despising the Karabiner 98 and it's inventor on the basis that it was used by the Nazi's.
I'd say he lived a fulfilling life, 94 is quite some time.
"I never understood the people who talking shit about others they didn't even know enough to read books or learn about their life."- +100%.
ArmyJerry- should be, you are idiot?
ArmyJerry- should be, you are idiot?
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The AK is one of the most widely known firearms ever made. The man was a genius, so was Hitler....their affiliations were wrong, but genius nonetheless. I know the gun does not kill, but for the sake of the saying, The AK has killed more that AIDS! It is a great system and had held its own since '47! C'mon people. I might have missed it, but I am surprised nobody has compared it to the 1911. Yea I know, flame on!
Guns don't kill people, people kill people, remember? IMHO He did a fine job & was a great designer, he can't help where he was born. I'm glad he had a long life & got credit for his work. RIP!
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In Russia, forward assist is boot. Or stout tractor frame. Or corner of brick building. Or ...
RIP
This is a terrific photo. RIP. The "commie bastard" comments are so yesterday - the Soviet Union has not existed for about 23 years.....
"I never understood the people who talking shit about others they didn't even know enough to read books or learn about their life."- +100%.
ArmyJerry- should be, you are idiot?
Cheers! To the greatest firearm designer!
Great designer, but as for Greatest, I think John Moses Browning EASILY takes that title.
I am still amazed at his wide range of firearms inventions.
I don't see browning anywhere in here.
TOP 10:Combat Rifles - AK 47 (NO.1) - YouTube
I would agree that Browning had great innovations for his time and they were probably the basis for some firearms today. But when it comes to a design I think the simple AK takes the cake for the reasons in the video. After all the firearms I have ever shot, I would always go to the AK. Cheap, durable, extremely reliable, accurate, simple, easy to clean, doesn't need to be pampered and has a very long service history. What browning firearm compares?
M1911
Ma Deuce
John Browning - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
I think they are looking for you on the call of duty forum.
P1935 Hi-Power... M1919... BAR... autocannons... M97 Trench gun...
No doubt Kalashnikov stands tall in the world of gun designers. Among the small few who were the best of the best. And the AK is a remarkable weapon.
But Discovery Channel Top 10 lists don't quite stand up to rigorous historical scrutiny. IMHO, Browning probably deserves the title of "First among equals."
Cheers,
Sirhr
No doubt Kalashnikov stands tall in the world of gun designers. Among the small few who were the best of the best. And the AK is a remarkable weapon.
But Discovery Channel Top 10 lists don't quite stand up to rigorous historical scrutiny. IMHO, Browning probably deserves the title of "First among equals."
Cheers,
Sirhr
Easy on the forward assist. It makes a gun better for forgetfull guys like me on a yote stand when I realize that I didnt chamber my rifle. I can ease it down then push it into battery. LOL
I just now have been forgetting as I used to just throw the gun in the truck now that Im with younger fellers that we are teaching saftey too I have been unlading it to put in the truck. Old habits are hard to break. In La I can have a loaded gun in the truck and when I'm alone its still safe.
I just now have been forgetting as I used to just throw the gun in the truck now that Im with younger fellers that we are teaching saftey too I have been unlading it to put in the truck. Old habits are hard to break. In La I can have a loaded gun in the truck and when I'm alone its still safe.
Ma Deuce FTW! All Hail Browning! 1911, even the M240, MAG58 has its root in the BAR.
Torture Test: U.S. Ordnance MAG-58/M240
Browning was able to design weapons with most known weapon mechanisms, lever, pump, recoil, blowback, gas, delayed blowback. MK compiled a nice set of principles into a rugged weapon, Glock would be in the same catagory, both pale in comparison to Moses's ingenuity
Torture Test: U.S. Ordnance MAG-58/M240
Browning was able to design weapons with most known weapon mechanisms, lever, pump, recoil, blowback, gas, delayed blowback. MK compiled a nice set of principles into a rugged weapon, Glock would be in the same catagory, both pale in comparison to Moses's ingenuity
The Soviets were fond of saying that "Quantity has a quality all its own" which is good when you cannot hit a target at 300 yards on the first try, you just hold the trigger down and play to the probability distribution.
Thanks for the laugh! Capt. Morgan has killed way more native Americans than Gen. Custer.
The fast making is true but the low intelligence isn't. It was designed for fast making and harsh environment. had none to do with the user. The "Soviets" or Russians are everything but low intelligence or low skilled. They are generally not better intelligent wise than any other nation but their high-school diploma education used to be better than most college diploma in the USA.
The ideology that many Americans think a nation with bad economy is low skilled or low intelligent is stupid by itself. The Soviets lost the economic part of the cold war and the west won that part. On the other hand they were so good on the intellectual warfare that even now that Russia is becoming more and more capitalist , the USA is taking the effect of the Soviet brainwash and have more hard left politician grown up and educated on KGB propaganda machine than any other nation. The intellectual part of the cold-war the USA lost. Can't get into more details with the respecting the rule of keeping politics out of the forum and the comments.
Yes, I have read the wiki link before I posted and I have shot both of those weapons you posted. I can say I have more issues with both than an AK but that's besides the point. Neither of which are assault rifles.... Not sure what the call of duty remark means or what that is but can we plz get back on track? I already gave credit to Browning in his own departments of success. The assault rifle success clearly goes towards Kalashnikov. Not to mention the AK's are still strictly made by Russians to this day. Whereas Browning is made all over the place and is no longer owned by an American company. There is my contribution to off topic.
So let me apologize for forgetting to add assault rifle after greatest and before designer; sorry. Oh shoot, I better give Adolf Hitler some credit for giving us the word assault rifle (sturmgewehr) too. Good to see the media is still honoring him...
I was'nt debating firsts though. But if I were, I would 100% agree. I was stating the AK was the greatest assault rifle design with a long history of success. I honestly dont know if Browning was the first in the world to design and manufacture a automatic rifle or who's design led to Kalashnikovs success. All I know is that I would trust the AK over anything else in its class and its hard for anyone else's design to match up.
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