AK-47

AK-47

Mikhail Kalashnikov was the inventor of the AK-47 Automatic Assault Rifle.

  • AK-47 fires about 600 rounds per minute
  • Effective range : 100 – 800 meters
  • It has only about 8 moving parts and hence very simple to produce, use and maintain.
  • There are about 100 million AK-47’s and its variants in use, worldwide.

For more information on the AK-47, visit the Wikipedia page – AK-47.

M Kalashnikov grew up in a peasant family in the remote Altai Mountain region by the Mongolian border. He started working on his rifle in 1940’s, driven to design by Soviet defeats in the early years of world war II at the hands of far better armed German soldiers.

“In October 1941, I was seriously wounded and while in hospital, I conceived the idea of a submachine gun, a simple one you wouldn’t need a big plant to build. So, I got out my notebook and pencils, and started making drafts of the would be weapon” – M Kalashnikov

“It was the Germans who turned me into an arms designer. If I hadn’t taken part in the war, I would probably have made technology to ease the tough work of the peasants” – M Kalashnikov

“I am proud of my invention, but I am sad that it is being used by terrorists. I would prefer to have invented a machine that people could use and that would help farmers with their work – for example a lawn mower” M Kalashnikov

“I sleep well at nights. Politicians are responsible for not resolving their problems without out resorting to arms” – M Kalashnikov

“It is not the designers who must ultimately take responsibility for where guns end up – It is the Governments who must control their production and export” – M Kalashnikov

“They always tell me that I would be a multi millionaire in the west. They always talk about money. Are there no other values? What about having a bronze bust of yourself in your home village?” – M Kalashnikov

“More than 30 foreign companies, private and state based, continue the illegal manufacturing and copying of small arms” – Sergey V Cherneyov (Former KGB officer)

“Kalashnikov’s progeny appear to have caused most of the 3,00,000 annual combat fatalities in the wars of 1990’s. They were the primary weapon for one or more sides in virtually all the 40 plus wars of the last decade” – Aaron Karp (Sr. Consultant to the Geneva based small arms survey)

“We can’t tolerate the situation when only 10% of the Kalashnikov’s (AK-47 and its variants) are manufactured legally” – Sergey V Lavrov

“When I watch TV and see the small arms of the AK-47 family in the hands of bandits,

I keep asking myself: How did those people get hold of them?” – M Kalashnikov

Destination Infinity

You could visit the Quotations and Humour section of this blog for similar articles.

10 thoughts on “AK-47

  1. kanagu

    surely a war changes a lifestyle of a person drastically… we are lucky enough not to see them.. a very nice informative post 🙂

  2. An alien Earthling

    The AK-47 is perhaps the most famous, instantly recognisable firearm in the world. Apart from the illegally produced ones, many other assault rifles are based on the design of the AK-47. Its reliability is simply legendary and its easy to use and maintain. It's even found on the flag of Mozambique! 🙂

  3. arvind

    hmm ..informative post. .

  4. vishesh

    nice 🙂 am not much into these weapons,but one of frnds is just mad about these things 🙂 Ha well i can never pronounce these Russian names 🙂

  5. axinia

    interesting, have you been inspired by my post on my military childhood?:)
    Or have we been in the same flow??? ……….

  6. Amit

    No matter how much he justifies his invention, the truth remains that he created something which "kills" humans.
    Maybe I am seeing it in pure black and white, but that is the bottom line.

  7. Anniyan

    My first visit here. A very informative post.
    I am fascinated by guns and their working. So this post didn't give that much information that I already did not know. But good work indeed. 🙂 Your post inspired me to write a new post. It will be out soon. 🙂

  8. Su

    A small step for a soldier. A giant leap for terrorism! 🙁

  9. Destination Infinity

    @Su: You do take a lot of efforts before writing down your comment.. appreciated.

    @Amit: If you know what the Russians faced during the second world war against Hitler's much better armed Germany, any patriot like Kalashnikov would have done his bit to save his country, though this came into operation much later, the reason was the second world war. Just look at the chain reaction : The side-effects of the second world war still plagues us.

    But yes, as you said, the inventor should have known that these weapons would always infilterate into the "market" and certain things are better not invented at all. But sadly, with private companies selling weapons (That too in some educated democratic and advanced countries), such things can't even be controlled. Even the state sometimes takes pride in their 'sales' of arms to which ever nation can pay.

    @Axinia: I am inspired by your whole blog, Axinia. Not just one post. But this one, I wrote it first and then looked into your post. Maybe same flow?

    @Vishesh: I am also not much into these weapons 🙂 Just wanted to do some post related to the Mumbai attacks. Yeah the Russian names are tough to pronounce. But what's in a name(Again)?

    @Arvind: For the information, I have linked the Wikipedia article. This post was just to explore what the inventor of the (in)famous AK-47 thought.

    @Raj: That's right Raj. In fact, one of the leaders of an African nation once thanked Kalashnikov saying that they were able to succeed in their rebellion because of the AK-47's. It seems it is available for as less as 40$ in some places in Africa. Alarming!

    @Kanagu: India, as a nation, is lucky enough not to have wars of the kind that swept Europe for a pretty long time. We are peace loving people, and I am proud of that.

    Destination Infinity

  10. Destination Infinity

    @Anniyan: Sorry, this comment was in the spam folder looks like, and today was the first time I was seeing that spam folder! Yes, this post was not to give information on AK-47 (I have linked the wikipedia site for that)but to analyze the point of view of the inventor of this killing machine and to see whether it was right or wrong, in his point of view. As you can see he was proud of his invention. But not many people share his view on the same.

    Destination Infinity

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