The AK-47 (short for Russian:
1947 , Avtomat Kalashnikova 1947) is a piston-operated
assault rifle used in most Eastern bloc countries during the
Cold War. Adopted and standardized in 1947, it was designed by
Mikhail Kalashnikov and originally produced by Russian
manufacturer Izhevsk Mechanical Works. Compared with most
auto-loading rifles of World War II, the AK-47 is compact, of
comparative range, moderate power, and capable of selective
fire. It was one of the first true assault rifles and remains
the most widely used core AK-type rifles have been produced than
of any other assault rifle type.
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Type Assault rifle
Place of origin
Soviet Union
Service history
In service
1949-present
Used by Warsaw Pact,
Post-Soviet states, many others
Production history
Designer Mikhail
Kalashnikov
Designed 1947
Number built Over
100 million[2]
Variants AK-47, AKS,
AKM (See below for comprehensive list of domestic and foreign
variants)
Specifications
Weight 3.8 kg (8.4
lb) empty, 4.3 kg (9.5 lb) loaded
Length 870 mm (34?
in)
Barrel length 415 mm
(16.3 in)
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Cartridge 7.62x39mm
Action Gas-operated,
rotating bolt
Rate of fire 600
rounds/min
Muzzle velocity 710
m/s (~2,330 ft/s)
Effective range 300
m (330 yd)
Feed system 30-round
detachable box; compatible w/ RPK 40-round box, 75-round drum
magazine.
Sights Adjustable
iron sights, optional mount required for optical sights
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Design background
During the Second World War, the Germans developed the assault
rifle concept, based upon knowledge that most firefights happen
at close range, within 300 meters . The power and range of
contemporary rifle cartridges was excessive for most small arms
firefights. As a result, armies sought a cartridge and rifle
combining submachine gun features (large-capacity magazine,
selective-fire) with an intermediate-power cartridge effective
to 300 meters. To reduce manufacturing costs, the 7.92??57mm
Mauser cartridge case was shortened, the result of which was the
lighter 7.92 x 33 mm Kurz (German: Short).
The resultant rifle, the Sturmgewehr 44 (StG44) was not the
first with these features; its predecessors were the Italian
Cei-Rigotti and the Russian Fedorov Avtomat design rifles. The
Germans, however, were the first to produce and field sufficient
numbers of this assault rifle to properly evaluate its combat
utility. Towards the end of the war, they fielded the weapon
against the Russians; the experience deeply influenced Russian
military doctrine in the post-war years.
Mikhail Kalashnikov began imagining his assault rifle while in
hospital after being wounded in the Battle of Bryansk.[4] A
frequent topic of conversation among the patients was the lack
of an automatic rifle to match those the Germans. After
tinkering with designs, he entered a competition that had been
launched for a new weapon that would take the 7.62 x 41 mm
cartridge developed by Elisarov and Semin in 1943. (The 7.62 x
41 mm cartridge predated the current 7.62 x 39 mm.) A particular
requirement of the competition was the reliability of the
firearm in the muddy, wet, and frozen conditions of the Soviet
frontline. Influenced by the simplicity of the design of Aleksei
Sudaev's PPS-43 submachine gun, Kalashnikov produced his "Mikhtim"
(derived from his first name and patronymic) and won the
competition after it was dragged through mud, sand, and dust and
was still able to fire without jamming. The "Mikhtim" was the
prototype for the development of a family of firearms which
culminated in the AK47 in 1947.
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