A model of gun designed by Mikhail Kalashnikov, widely used by the USSR armed forces through much of the 1970s and 1980s. It is also known simply as the Kalashnikov. It is classified as an
assault rifle, a small calibre rifle that can be fired as a semi-automatic, or in short bursts as a fully-automatic.
The AK47 was cheap, light to carry, and easy to clean and repair in the field. It was mostly reliable but the ejector pin sometimes broke.
New designs replaced the AK47 during the 1980s.
Favoured by Eastern powers probably because of its ease of use, robustness, and simplicity to manufacture. Copies were made by many factories in other countries including China and Poland, where they are still in production today.
Ballistics
The standard AK-47 fires a 7.62 mm round with a muzzle velocity of 700 m/s. Repeat is between 90 and 400 rounds per minute; the design peak of 600 rounds per minute cannot really be achieved (why not? heat? recoil?).
Versions
Extensively modified and improved upon since its first design. There are even versions (AK-101 and AK-102) that take standard NATO rounds.
- AKS-74 5.45 mm folding stock
- AK-74M 5.45 mm modernised (for motorised infantry)
- AK-101 5.56 mm round (NATO round)
- AK-102 short stock 101
- AK-103 7.62 mm round
- AK-104 short stock 103
- AK-105 5.45 mm round (short stock)
Many foreign variants and foreign produced models exist.
Quotes
Samuel L. Jackson is famously quoted as saying, when he was playing Ordell Robbie in the film Jackie Brown, "AK-47, when you absolutely have to kill every mother fucker in the room."
/Sources