AK47 Invention Process

Regarding AK47, there is a saying that the price of firearms in the black market can be said to be a bellwether that indicates the seriousness of violent conflict in a certain area. Pen | fun | pavilion www. biquge。 infoIn areas with more stable societies, the price of an AK47 is around $230 to $400; If the price is as low as around $100, it could indicate that the state of conflict in the region has suddenly stopped. If the price of AK47 is above $1,000, it is a sign that the conflict in the region is long and ongoing.

Injured and hospitalized, a small talk stimulates whimsy

The AK47 is extremely admired by many military personnel, and its designers are no exception. Kalashnikov -- He is widely recognized as a world-class gun master and a world-class master of firearms design. Indeed, Kalashnikov became a master of weapons not only by luck, but also by rare talent and rare opportunities.

Kalashnikov was born in 1919 to a peasant family in Kuria, South Siberia. At the age of 7, he entered a 10-year school. It is said that during his childhood, he liked to make ingenious little inventions. "To put it bluntly, I didn't have any education in firearms since I was a child, and I never thought that being a firearms master was completely self-taught." In 1936, after graduating, he got a job in a department of the Trans-Siberian Railways, working on locomotive repair. At that time, outside of his own work, his greatest interest was the study of military equipment, and he had a persistent preference for firearms. Kalashnikov never imagined to become a master of firearms, and fiddling with those things was just a hobby.

At the outbreak of the Great Patriotic War, 19-year-old Kalashnikov was drafted into the army and was stationed in the Kiev Military District. When the Soviet-German war broke out on June 22, 1941, Kalashnikov was recalled to the unit as a commander of the T-34 tank. During one of the battles, Kalashnikov's tank was hit by German artillery fire, and he was seriously wounded and taken to an army hospital in the rear. Although his life was saved, he has since become disabled, especially his right hand, and has been unable to move freely since then. Kalashnikov, of course, could not have imagined that this hospital would be a turning point in his approach to weapons design.

In the hospital, he talked to his comrades about the war and about weapons. During a casual conversation, a patient asked him, "Why is it that only the Germans have automatic rifles, and we don't even have enough old rifles?" This remark inspired Kalashnikov to design a new automatic rifle. During his hospitalization, he also asked the nurse to find all the books on light weapons in the hospital library to read, one of which was called "The Evolution of Light Weapons", which greatly inspired him.

Self-taught, at the age of 28, he received the Stalin Prize

In the spring of 1942, Kalashnikov was awarded the Order of the Red Star, and he asked to be discharged from the hospital to return to the army to participate in the battle, but the hospital did not allow him to go home to recuperate from his wounds for half a year. Kalashnikov decided to go to the railway locomotive repair station, where he had previously worked, and groped for the design of firearms while working. He found his best friend Krachenko, a train driver who knew how to machine the railway. With the help of a close friend, an automatic rifle was hand-sharpened in a humble workshop.

After the automatic rifle was ready, Kalashnikov specially sent it to the Dzerzhinsky Artillery Academy for testing and review. After testing, the review committee decided that the rifle was too complex in its mechanism and did not exceed the Sudaev (PPS-43) submachine gun that was armed with the Soviet army at that time. [1-2]

But this unsuccessful automatic rifle attracted the attention of Lieutenant General Bragonravov of the Soviet Equipment Planning Committee, the then Soviet authority on infantry weapons and the head of the Dzerzhinsky Artillery Academy. He appreciated the unique design of the rifle. In 1943, he personally recommended Kalashnikov to the Higher Infantry Firearms School for professional further study. After completing his studies, he was assigned to work as a technician at the Ansk military weapons test site.

AKM assault rifle

AKM assault rifle

In 1944, after numerous failed experiments, the 25-year-old designed a 7.62 mm semi-automatic carbine. In 1946, he designed a fully automatic rifle AK46 based on this semi-automatic carbine, which was sent to participate in the national range selection test. Also competing were the work of a number of renowned rifle designers.

After the preliminary selection, three models of rifles, including the AK46, were designated for the final review. Rigorous tests can well test the real combat capabilities of the rifle. In the extreme shooting judging, the AK46's outstanding performance impressed many of the judges present: the AK46 fired 15,000 rounds of bullets in a row, and although the barrel was red, the shooting accuracy did not change much. After a few shots, the competitor's sample gun did not work properly or even did not fire at all.

The review committee very carefully calculated, counted the results of the tests, compared each set of shooting data, compiled all the data into a comprehensive report, and submitted it to the Ministry of Defense of the USSR. The judges unanimously agreed: "The 7.62mm assault rifle designed by Sergeant Kalashnikov is recommended to be included in the official equipment." ”

Soon after, the jury decided to produce the first batch of AK46 rifles, along with a more important test than the selection - a troop trial. As a result, the troops praised the easy-to-use and powerful AK46 automatic rifle. The Ministry of Defense of the USSR decided to designate AK46 as the standard rifle of the army, and officially designated the rifle as AK47.

One day in 1947, a colonel engineer named Deming broke into Ka's drawing room and told him that the AK47 rifle was designated as a Soviet standard equipment. Stalin personally awarded him a prize of 150,000 rubles, when Kalashnikov was 28 years old.

The individual indicators of the AK47 automatic rifle are not outstanding, but the comprehensive performance is very balanced, the structure is simple, strong and durable, there are very few failures, the cost is low, and the power is huge. The origin of the AK47 number is also very simple: the so-called 47 refers to the time when this rifle was introduced, that is, in 1947; A refers to the automatic rifle, and K is the first letter of the name of its designer, Kalashnikov.

From 1949, the AK47 was officially massively equipped with Soviet troops. By the 60s of the 20th century, the USSR began to supply such cheap firearms to the Warsaw Pact allies and third world countries. In 1956, China also manufactured five or six submachine guns according to it, equipped with the whole army, until the 80s of the 20th century gradually replaced with more advanced 81 rifles, in the 296 factory and other state-owned arsenals, the domestic 56 type / 56-1 type / 56-2 submachine gun has been produced so far, and mainly by the China North Industries Group (that is, the North Industries Group) under the China North Industries Corporation in charge of foreign trade