Kalashnikov's gun

Good article. I also try to use the Kalashnikov approach in my projects. Trying to create what is simple and what works.

The gun, though, is not really as accurate as I would like. 1.5 hours away from my home, we have a gun range with a "mud pit", where I like to shoot mine. Unfortunately, I do not go often enough.

My distant relative is a manager of one factory which makes night vision equipment, as mentioned in the article.

i

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Interesting, but not really new. In my experience, Russian designs are often brilliant, it is mainly the manufacture and quality control that gives trouble.

I would dispute the definition of "the most successful" firearm merely because it was the most widely produced / cheapest.

oddly enough, a few years ago I was at a show where Kalashnikov was signing autographs - found out about it about an hour after he had stopped - but it was an intesting show (called IDEX)

>

--Which commie leader was it that said "quantity has a quality all its own"? Heh.

How would you measure success, then?

Longevity perhaps, that would make the Ma Duce more successful.

Tony

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Well, since AK-47 was the primary weapon of Aghan mujahedeen, you could say that "it won the war".

i

Get it right! In Afghanistan, the Soviets were testing the AK-74 and the new

5.45X39 ammo. The AK-47 was long gone, replaced in the early '60's by the AKM, just in time for the Russians to dump all their now obsolete AK-47s in Vietnam. The stamped receiver AKM was what the AK-47 was intended to be, but it took a while for the Russians to produce a durable sheet metal receiver.

David

I do not see the difference between the AK-47 and AKM to be very meaningful. Both shoot the same. I have one with a milled receiver (non-auto, obviously), and it would not shoot or function any different if it was stamped.

In Afghanistan, the Russians has both AK-47/AKM as well as AK-74, I believe, but the mujahideen had AK-47s.

i

Compare the weight. A stamped receiver is a lot lighter than a milled one. It's also more flexible, making the whole rifle less accurate. Function is the same, and many parts can be interchanged, but the AKM was a lot cheaper to make and lighter to carry.

In Afghanistan, the AK-74 was being tested, it wasn't general issue yet, many troops still had the AKM. AK-47s, not necessarily Russian, were supplied to the Afghan Army troops supporting the Russians. Many of each model ended up in the hands of the mujahideen.

David

Vietnam? Cambodia?

And the US lost vietnam, The AK was used by both sides in Afghanistan.

Ditto the '303'

so which were the minor world wars?

Chris