RIP Mikhail Kalashnikov

AValenz

AValenz

Joined
Dec 17, 2011
Messages
1,316
Mikhail Kalashnikov designer of the AK47 passed away at 94. A timeless design. I can see Busse knives following a similar path of popularity minus the communism.
 
A fantastic rifle design. I have to wonder if the man was haunted by how many lives his creation had taken, I think I might have been. I remember seeing a quote once about how he wanted to build farm equipment but war pushed his work this way or something like that.
 
Skrapmetal said:
A fantastic rifle design. I have to wonder if the man was haunted by how many lives his creation had taken, I think I might have been. I remember seeing a quote once about how he wanted to build farm equipment but war pushed his work this way or something like that.
Click to expand...

I believe I recall hearing that the AK-47 has killed more people than any other man made creation. That has to haunt a guy.
 
Skrapmetal said:
A fantastic rifle design. I have to wonder if the man was haunted by how many lives his creation had taken, I think I might have been. I remember seeing a quote once about how he wanted to build farm equipment but war pushed his work this way or something like that.
Click to expand...

In an interview he once said that he designed the AK47 only because he wanted to protect his Motherland. He also said something along the lines of "don't blame me, blame the Nazis who invaded Russia". The AK spread so widely and so quickly in part because of its intrinsic features but also because of cold war era foreign policy. In a lot of ways it was globalization at its worse. I don't think Mikhail Kalashnikov could have forseen that his weapon - created out of a desire to protect - would become the most widely used small arm in the world. I don't think he could have envisioned the tyrants , warlords, terrorists, freedom fighters and rebels who would use it.
But knowing what we do now I don't think anyone today could claim this kind of ignorance again.

Thankfully the kind of people who misuse the AK are more than likely too impatient to wait for a Busse ;)
 
Last edited:
I remember he said in an interview that he didn't like what it had come to represent with terrorists. Did you know he just drew up the simple design and his girlfriend that turned into his wife was the real engineer and did the detailed work up of it.
 
Not a gun expert but I remember reading that he didn't in fact design the AK-47. It was a German gun that the Germans scrapped then he took the design. Maybe changed a couple small design features but essentially it's a German designs gun. Maybe I'm wrong though.
 
He designed the ak while recovering from wounds in 1941 I believe. He did use features of a german rifle but I have no idea what. It has almost nothing in common with the german assult rifles of the time. He also said he really wanted to make farm equipment to help the laborers. And he was asked hundreds of times if he felt bad about building it. His stock reply was no. It was politicians who couldn't resolve problems peacefully who were to blame. Now I'm off to go find a german rifle blueprint that has a similar operating system that he could have used as inspiration.
 
Jessekf said:
I believe I recall hearing that the AK-47 has killed more people than any other man made creation...
Click to expand...

I suspect motor vehicle accidents will catch up eventually. But DNA engineering certainly has potential.

They banned the AK around here because it was just TOO good, but I picked up a Mini-30.
 
This is what he modeled the AK after. It was the Sturmgewehr 44 and fortunately for us Hitler was too crazy on drugs to approve it as designed earlier and they had to sneak it by him misnamed a machine pistol (MP) because he thought it shot a pistol round. If they would have had this one early on in the war it might have been a different outcome. Sprechen zie Deutsch?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/StG_44
 
Never really been an AK fan, in fact they could fall off the face of the earth completely and I wouldn't bat an eye. They obviously are quite popular today because they are inexpensive and reliable, but they lack the features that are ultimately desirable in a modern combat rifle (easy mounting of optics and accessories, accuracy, uniform and quality parts standards)

I believe the PK machine guns were actually his greatest achievement, though. RIP Mikhail.
 
Skrapmetal said:
A fantastic rifle design. I have to wonder if the man was haunted by how many lives his creation had taken, I think I might have been. I remember seeing a quote once about how he wanted to build farm equipment but war pushed his work this way or something like that.
Click to expand...

This question could be applied to Alfred Nobel, John Browning, Robert Oppenheimer, and a host of others as much as to Mikhail Kalashnikov. And the answer would be the same. They all believed that a net good would come of their creations. I don't believe that there was a person of evil intent in the lot. And I would bet that they all had times of introspection and regret.
We know for sure that Nobel did.
 
Mike, your response mirrors my thoughts almost to the letter.

Certainly a watershed design--on the CBS national newscast last night it was reported that an estimated 100 million AK's have been manufactured.
 
I've personally witnessed a guy dragging an old AK through the mud, caking the mud into the receiver, and the darn thing still fired perfectly. Now, I'm not a huge gun guy. But that was pretty cool to see an automatic weapon still function after that was done to it. I figured it would jam instantly!
 
Will York said:
Mike, your response mirrors my thoughts almost to the letter.

Certainly a watershed design--on the CBS national newscast last night it was reported that an estimated 100 million AK's have been manufactured.
Click to expand...

Same thought's here!!! I remembered Old Richard Gatlin. He wrote that he created the Gatlin Gun to reduce the size of armies and so reduce the number of deaths by combat and disease. I had a book about him and that always stuck in my mind.
 
I'll miss this man ive used his rifles all over the world in so many different configurations. Its sad to see this great man go.
 
Barbarossa said:
This is what he modeled the AK after. It was the Sturmgewehr 44 and fortunately for us Hitler was too crazy on drugs to approve it as designed earlier and they had to sneak it by him misnamed a machine pistol (MP) because he thought it shot a pistol round. If they would have had this one early on in the war it might have been a different outcome. Sprechen zie Deutsch?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/StG_44
Click to expand...

They aren't very similar at all. The Ak uses a rotating bolt. Stg uses a tilt bolt. That and the initial ak design was done in 41. The STG also fired from a open bolt until 44. Most of its predecessors fired from a open bolt. Not saying it didn't influence his design. And not saying that your wrong but that was one of the first I looked at. I tend to think it was a original implementation of existing tech from heavy machineguns.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top