WP: Weapon Of Mass Destruction (The AK-47)

[RamboLiberal]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/11/24/AR2006112400788.html

In the grand narrative of World War II, the Battle of Bryansk is a minor conflict, barely deserving of a footnote. But Bryansk has another place in history. It was there that a then-unknown tank commander named Mikhail Kalashnikov decided that his Russian comrades would never again be defeated. In the years following the Great Patriotic War, as Soviet propagandists dubbed it, he was to conceive and fabricate a weapon so simple, and yet so revolutionary, that it would change the way wars were fought and won. It was the AK-47 assault rifle.

The AK-47 has become the world's most prolific and effective combat weapon, a device so cheap and simple that it can be bought in many countries for less than the cost of a live chicken. Depicted on the flag and currency of several countries, waved by guerrillas and rebels everywhere, the AK is responsible for about a quarter-million deaths every year. It is the firearm of choice for at least 50 legitimate standing armies and countless fighting forces from Africa and the Middle East to Central America and Los Angeles. It has become a cultural icon, its signature form -- that banana-shaped magazine -- defining in our consciousness the contours of a deadly weapon.

This week, the U.S. military's presence in Iraq will surpass the length of time that American forces were engaged in World War II. And the AK-47 will forever link the two conflicts. The story of the gun itself, from inspiration in Bryansk to bloody insurgency in Iraq, is also the story of the transformation of modern warfare. The AK blew away old battlefield calculations of military superiority, of tactics and strategy, of who could be a soldier, of whose technology would triumph.

Ironically, the weapon that helped end World War II, the atomic bomb, paved the way for the rise of the lower-tech but deadlier AK-47. The A-bomb's guarantee of mass destruction compelled the two Cold War superpowers to wage proxy wars in poor countries, with ill-trained combatants exchanging fire -- usually with cheap, lightweight and durable AKs.

When one war ended, arms brokers gathered up the AKs and sold them to fighters in the next hot spot. The weapon's spread helps explain why, since World War II, so many "small wars" have lingered far beyond the months and years one might expect. Indeed, for all of the billions of dollars Washington has spent on space-age weapons and military technology, the AK still remains the most devastating weapon on the planet, transforming conflicts from Vietnam to Afghanistan to Iraq. With these assault rifles, well-armed fighters can dominate a country, terrorize citizens, grab the spoils -- and even keep superpowers at bay.

Author of this article has a new book out on the AK-47 and it's impact on war, conflict and global politics. From Amazon.com



Review
Journalist Kahaner (The Quotations of Chairman Greenspan: Words from the Man Who Can Shake the World) presents a detailed study of the AK-47, the single most deadly weapon ever produced, and its designer. Mikhail Kalashnikov, a mechanically inclined Russian soldier, came up with this simple submachine gun to counter superior German weaponry during World War II. Brought into mass production in 1947 (this date formed the final part of the weapon's name, Avtomat Kalashnikov 1947), the AK-47 was shipped by the Soviet Union to Eastern Europe, Africa, Asia, South America, and the Middle East during the Cold War. In part because they are so easy to make, 80 to 100 million AKs have been manufactured and distributed during the last 59 years. Moreover, the AK has proven a superior weapon to the American M-16. Kahaner provides an interesting discussion of how internal politics in the U.S. Army led it to adopt, instead, an inferior, lightweight machine gun. Kalashnikov, who lives in Russia today, never became rich from his design, but he did receive recognition outside his homeland for the impact of his weapon. A fascinating examination; recommended for all libraries.
—Stephen L. Hupp, West Virginia Univ. Lib., Parkersburg (Library Journal, October 15, 2006)

Review
"Anyone who has fought or watched a war over the last half-century recognizes the AK-47, but few know much about it. Kahaner traces the rifle's role in wars from Vietnam to Iraq and from Central America to Central Africa. A fascinating biography of a weapon that has truly changed world history."
—Stephen Kinzer, author of Overthrow
"During the past half century, the AK-47 assault rifle has established itself as the most ubiquitous implement of destruction on the planet. No other gun comes close for its durability, low price, ease of operation, and sheer killing power. It has become a mainstay of armies and terrorists alike, and a universal icon of revolutionary upheaval. Larry Kahaner's book is the best history of this weapon that I have seen. AK-47: The Weapon That Changed the World will appeal to anyone who has ever watched the History Channel—or the evening news."
—Max Boot, senior fellow, Council on Foreign Relations, and author of The Savage Wars of Peace

[Kagemusha]

1. I'm sure even just the claims posted for this thread will be disputed

The M-16 has a lot of die-hard defenders. Though, the article makes clear that once problems were fixed with the ammo (That particular problem anyway), the perception problem remained.

[Kenergy]

2. It is a fascinating design

The M-16 has some nice features, but pound for pound and dollar for dollar, imo the AK is superior.

[Cobalt-60]

3. Agreed, the AK is the ultimate soldier's rifle

My one and only rifle is the MAK-90, a Chinese civilian version of the AK.
It was affordable, and it is ultra dependable.
It is, of course, semi automatic - one trigger pull fires one round. Indeed, should it auto fire, I'll know I've worn out my sear.
I bought mine during the AR ban so I have a thumb hole stock. I find it superior to the original pistol grip.

[Selatius]

4. Yuri Orlov said it best in the movie Lord of War.

"Of all the weapons in the vast soviet arsenal, nothing was more profitable than Avtomat Kalashnikova model of 1947. More commonly known as the AK-47, or Kalashnikov. It's the world's most popular assault rifle. A weapon all fighters love. An elegantly simple 9 pound amalgamation of forged steel and plywood. It doesn't break, jam, or overheat. It'll shoot whether it's covered in mud or filled with sand. It's so easy, even a child can use it; and they do. The Soviets put the gun on a coin. Mozambique put it on their flag. Since the end of the Cold War, the Kalashnikov has become the Russian people's greatest export. After that comes vodka, caviar, and suicidal novelists. One thing is for sure, no one was lining up to buy their cars."

[freethought]

5. And IDEALLY suited for cheap mass production!

To bad Mr. Kalashnikov wasn't a capitalist, he'd be rich! A sad way of looking at it.

[benEzra]

6. A mix of interesting fact and hyperbole...

point of fact, the Russians replaced the AK-47 in the late '70s/early '80s with the AK-74, an updated design (also by Mikhail Kalashnikov) chambered for a then-new .22-caliber cartridge, the 5.45x39mm--much flatter shooting, even less recoil than 7.62x39mm, and better terminal ballistics in military FMJ loads (contrary to the tenor of the OP, the 7.62x39mm with military FMJ loads isn't as lethal as its reputation would suggest, with wound profiles often similar to 9mm FMJ). The AK-47 has been considered obsolete for front-line service for nearly three decades now. The author is right, though, about the design's ruggedness and reliability, and those traits were carried over into the AK-74.

I too own a civilian AK lookalike in 7.62x39mm (real AK-47's are VERY tightly controlled in the U.S. by the Title 2/Class III provisions of the National Firearms Act, so my SAR-1 is non-automatic). The thing that strikes me about the design is how well it was thought out. The safety lever (fire control selector on a real AK) covers up the charging handle slot when the safety is on (as in the photo below), helping keep dirt out of the mechanism. The long-stroke gas piston/bolt carrier was a stroke of genius from a reliability standpoint, and there is enough room inside the spacious receiver for dirt and crud to move out of the way. The magazines are built like dump trucks (the steel composing the magazine feed lips is maybe 2-3 millimeters thick, compared to maybe 0.5 - 1 mm for U.S. designs.


Romanian SAR-1, U.S.-legal civilian AK lookalike (non-automatic), 7.62x39mm

Downsides of the design--safety lever can't be reached with the firing hand unless you have LONG fingers; either you reach under the rifle with the support hand to flick off the safety when ready to shoot, or you remove the firing hand from the handgrip to do so. Western guns more typically have safeties/selectors reachable with the thumb or index finger of the firing hand. The AK (even the -74) has no bolt-hold-open and a rock-and-lock magazine catch, so the gun is slow to reload. The rear sight is further forward than it really should be (too far from your eye), but that's a compromise of having a long-stroke action with a removable receiver top cover.

As far as whether the AK-47 is superior to the M16--in Iraq, in straight up insurgents-with-AK's vs. Americans-with-M16's firefights, the AK is almost always overmatched; an M16 with optics allows you to engage an AK-wielding person at ranges well beyond the AK's ability to easily hit. BUT, the M16 has to be kept scrupulously clean, or else it will malfunction in the dusty/sandy environment (as Jessica Lynch's group found out).