- Within weeks he was wounded, hospitalised, and seriously frightened of what the German Maschinenpistole MP40 could do. - By 1945 the Germans would have made over a million MP40s - so effective that even the Allied soldiers preferred the German SMG (often wrongly known as a "Schmeisser") to their own STENs and 'Tommy-Guns' .
Kalashnikov dedicated himself to making a gun that would enable his much loved Soviet Homeland to throw-off any attack - and when, his left arm still stiff, he was discharged from hospital he returned to the railroad workshops where he'd worked before combat with the army - and there focused on the Russian sub-machine-gun to improve it. His efforts were rejected as too complex but the authorities sent him to a technical school to refine his skills - where he worked on a carbine design.
In 1943 the Soviets selected the new short cartridge 7.62x39mm and Kalashnikov joined other top designers, including Sudayev & Simonov in designing rifles to use it. Sudayevs design won, the war ended and Kalashnikov was put into a "collective" to try refine his design ideas into something better.
Listening to soldiers stories about jammed guns he made no attempt to achieve tighter tolerances but went the other way - using "sloppy" loose fitting parts that seemed to just chew-up the dirt and sand before spitting it out. - It works.
That widely rotating Bolt - pushes carbon gums aside by twisting or screwing itself into battery. It works.
That distinctive "banana " magazine is that shape because that's the shape taken by 30 rounds of tapered 7.62x39mm lined up touching in a row.
That safety that serves as an ejection port cover wasn't new - the 1906 Remington Model 8 s/a Rifle used it. - No need here for a separate flappy trap-door, - just use the idea that works.
AK IN 'FIRE' MODE - EJECTION PORT UNCOVERED
Between 1947 and 1949, the AK47 was changed, modified and refined more than 100 times as Kalashnikov listened to what soldiers and others said to him. Kalashnikove rightly designed his 'assault rifle' to be made using welded stampings - but the early production models were re-drawn to use forged components - as the Soviet factories at that time were unable to stamp parts of the needed quality fast enough.
And the beauty of that piston design is that as it nears the end of its stroke - the soot and hot gases are safely exhausted forward into the air - making the AK a self-cleaning device. It works.
Kalashnikov did it all for his country, not for profit or status. - Indeed you might conclude that he was very poorly treated throughout, - until his end-stage life when the Soviet Government noticed western shooters admiration and respect for him.
The AK47 Series might not be pretty, but ...
The AK family of weapons has been produced in more than five times (maybe closer to ten times) the quantity that the AR15/M16 has - making it the most successful design - but it's interesting ballisticly (a little sad?) that the AK102 in the "Western" calibre .223" (5.56x54mm) is found to be 22% more accurate than the AKs in the Russian 5.54x39mm calibre.
Note: The "straight banana" magazine in .223" (5.56x54mm). (Not as required by EU rules!)
References: 'AK47 The Weapon That Changed The Face Of War' by Larry Kahaner
: Wikipedia.
Marty K
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