Assault rifle inventor Mikhail Kalashnikov dies at 94

BBC ^

[kronos77]

he inventor of the Kalashnikov assault rifle, Mikhail Kalashnikov, has died aged 94, Russian TV reports.

The automatic rifle he designed became one of the world's most familiar and widely used weapons.

Its comparative simplicity made it cheap to manufacture, as well as reliable and easy to maintain.

Although honoured by the state, Kalashnikov made little money from his gun. He once said he would have been better off designing a lawn mower.

Mikhail Kalashnikov was admitted to hospital with internal bleeding in November.

[Jim Robinson]

Please do not continue an excerpted article as a reply.

[atomic_dog]

Back in the 80's I recall reading an article, I think it was in Naval Institute Proceedings, by a USMC officer who stated that the differences in ground warfare tactis between the US and the Soviet Union could be summed up and contrasted by the fact that in a M-16 the first click out of safe is Semi-auto but with an AKM the first click out of safe is Auto.

And technically they are AKMs. There were only between 200 and 300 AK-47's produced for evaluation and several design changes were incorporated for reliability and efficiency of production that resulted in the weapon we know today.

[BlueLancer]

So did I ... probably the M67 90mm recoilless rifle ...

[headstamp 2]

Many of them liked to hear themselves talk. I mostly gravitated to the ones that did a lot of experimentation and could show their findings on paper. Keith, Waters, Grennell, Jurras, Harvey, Pope, Ackley, etc. fit into that category among many others.

[Ruy Dias de Bivar]

in=is.

Man, I can’t get anything straight today!

[headstamp 2]

“I read, years ago, that the M-1 Carbine was really a rimless a .32/20 pistol round.”

IIRC it was a derivative of the 32 Winchester Self-loading rifle round.

[Rebelbase]

It's the only rifle to have a brand of vodka named after it's inventor.

[vladimir998]

And as Werner von Braun said, “Our Germans are better than their Germans.”

[Bulwyf]

Now that is hilarious!

[donmeaker]

There are lots of arguments about the M-1 Carbine and the MP-43.

Certainly the M-1 carbine had been captured by the Germans in 1942 in its self loading configuration.

Certainly the M-1 Carbine was issued in 1944 in a fully automatic version with a 30 round magazine.

Oddly, both had the same cartridge length: 33 mm. Heavier rounds with the same velocity have longer range. US Carbine round gave up both weight and velocity to the German 7.92x33 round.

The German M43 round (125 grain bullet, 7.92x33K) was bottlenecked and gave slightly higher velocity ~2,250 fps per Wikipedia. The 7.62x33 US round was lighter and slower velocity (110 grain, 1,990 fps).

By contrast the Soviet M-43 round (7.62x39) was slightly lighter, and faster (123 grain bullet 2,421 fps).

I have on my wish list a broom handle mauser that will fire the M-1 Carbine round. The original broom handle Mauser couldn’t take the recoil, but springs are better these days, and I hope some designer would take a shot at it.

(The original .30 Mauser had an 86 grain bullet and 1450 fps round) The broom handle Mauser was designed for roughly the same thing as the M-1 Carbine: An officer, cavalry, or artillery crew auxiliary weapon that wouldn’t get in the way, but could be used in emergencies at short range.

[donmeaker]

It will overheat. You can set the foreend grips on fire if you work at it.

[Bulwyf]

These guys were using originals heh, since I think they’ve tightened up tolerances and they’ve been improved dramatically.

I haven’t yet hunted with my battle rifle, but looking forward to nailing some coyotes at 500 yards or more.

[Bulwyf]

At any rate, thanks for your service brother.

I have the rifle that takes best of the AK and best of the AR, if you’re up in Alberta ever let me know, I’ll show you:-)

[Lazamataz]

NOOOOOOO

[null and void]

Ahhhh! OK! I thought it did because the OP excerpted it.

Thanks!

[Monterrosa-24]

Even with a stamped receiver, open sights, and mediocre Romanian production as in my wife's WASR, the AK should not be called inaccurate. The group size we get at 100 yards are good enough for what one would expect from a weapon of that barrel length, sight radius, and heft. We get all hits well within the scoring of human silhouette-sized targets.

My wife grew up in the eastern Ukraine and in 6th grade she was field stripping the AK-47 in class and putting it back together. In the 8th grade she had to do it at a faster pace. She was a Lenin Pioneer back in those days but is quite the Palin person today. So naturally I had to give her a ribbon and bow covered AK-47 for Valentine's Day a few years back.

And like my tagline states she is...

[JRandomFreeper]

Mine only holds within a couple of inches at 100 yards. Which is good enough for feral hogs. My .22-250, on the other hand, holds close enough to nick the previous hole at 100 yards.

/johnny

[Monterrosa-24]

The write-up for the Medal of Honor awarded to George Mabry describes him using an M-1 carbine to take a series of German defensive works in the Hurtgen Forest. So when fired masterfully as by that South Carolina hunter it could be quite a weapon.

[M Kehoe]

...if you’re up in Alberta ever let me know, I’ll show you:-)

Thanks for the invite. I and the First lady would be honored...of course it would have to be during the summer.

8^)

5.56mm

[bandleader]

It shoots EVERY TIME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!