Anatomy of an AK-47

[SpArK]

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Anatomy of an AK-47

At the dawn of the Cold War, former Soviet soldier Mikhail Kalashnikov, 26, led a team in the design of a lightweight assault rifle, the Avtomat Kalashnikova 1947. Now, 65 years later, some 100 million AK-47s have been produced—10 times the number of U.S. Army M16s. The original weighed roughly 10 pounds and married the best features of a submachine gun and a long-range rifle. "The AK-47 is often said to be poorly made, but many of its features were well-matched to the conditions of war," says C.J. Chivers, The New York Times war correspondent and author of The Gun, a history of the AK-47. The rifle is effective, if unoriginal. "Think Mr. Potato Head. This gun is a bunch of pre-existing systems combined into a new whole," he says. A revised AK-47, the AKM, entered production in 1959; the most prevalent AK, its knockoffs are manufactured all over the world (the gun below has Chinese origins). Chivers gives a guided tour.

Avtomat Kalashnikova Modernized / 1959 / Length: 35 inches / Weight: 8 pounds

1 Stock

Designers replaced the AK-47's solid-wood stock and handgrip with less expensive and sturdier plywood in the AKM. (This model, however, has solid wood.) Guns with folding metal stocks, better for tight spaces, were made for airborne and armored-vehicle troops.

2 Trigger

The AK-47's trigger group borrows from the designs of American infantry rifle maker John C. Garand, who created the M1, and German gun maker Hugo Schmeisser, a Soviet prisoner at the time the original AK-47 was devised.

3 Receiver

The rifle's receiver anchors the integrated gas piston and the trigger group. In the 1940s, workers created the receiver by machining a 4-pound block of steel into the 1.5-pound component. "It took 150 different machine motions to make it, so there was a huge manpower loss there," Chivers says. The AKM's stamped sheet-metal receiver simplified production and reduced the rifle's weight to about 8 pounds. The integrated gas piston and bolt carrier's parts were designed to fit loosely in the receiver, making the mechanism less susceptible to the effects of carbon buildup, rust and dirt—and thus less prone to jamming. Kalashnikov claimed credit for these ideas, but they were actually adopted from other Soviet designs of the time, including Alexey Sudayev's AS-44. After Sudayev died in 1946, his "loose fit" concept was used by other designers.

4 Selector Switch

The AKM has three modes of firing regulated by the selector switch: safe, when it cannot fire; semiautomatic, for the squeezing off of single shots; and automatic, to spit lead at a rate of 700 rounds per minute.

5 Gas Piston

The AK-47's combined bolt carrier and gas piston design—taken from a competitor—gives the gun's operating system more energy. As each round is fired, gas rushes into a chamber via a port in the top of the barrel, driving back a piston that withdraws the bolt from the chamber and ejects the spent cartridge. The spring-loaded magazine forces the next cartridge into place; a return spring thrusts the piston and bolt assembly forward, chambering the cartridge and preparing the rifle to fire again. The system's stroke is 50 percent longer than necessary, so the weapon often functions even when impeded by fouling, foreign substances or lack of lubrication.

6 Magazine

The banana-shaped cartridge holder is a borrowed design, in keeping with the AK-47's cobbled-together makeup. "The curved, detachable magazine had been used on weapons of Soviet provenance, including the AS-44, an early Red Army attempt to knock off the [German] Sturmgewehr," Chivers says. But the Soviet Union found that this design was less likely to jam, in part because its shape fit the 7.62 x 39–mm round, which was tapered and stubby—unlike many types of earlier ammo, which were longer and less tapered.

7 Protective Coating

Like its intentionally loose design, the rifle's rust-resistant phosphate coating increased its reliability. In addition, the barrel and chamber were chromed on the inside, another rust retardant. Anti-corrosive features are literally life-saving; in Vietnam, the U.S. military's inadequately protected M16s often jammed because of pitting and corrosion, leaving the soldiers vulnerable to their Kalashnikov-equipped adversaries. "The U.S. Army thought they had a kind of steel that wasn't susceptible to corrosion," Chivers says. "They were wrong. After the U.S. coated the rifle and chromed the inside, the M16 did pretty well."

[SpArK]

The Rise of the AK-47: Timeline

How the AK-47 became the go-to Rifle for insurgents, rebels and warlords the world over


1943

First, the cartridge: After its troops face German assault rifles in WWII, the USSR makes the M43 (7.62 x 39 mm) as a basis for a new gun.

1945

The USSR launches a secret contest to design an automatic assault rifle—using the M43 round—at a facility near Moscow.



1947

Designers led by Mikhail Kalashnikov create the AK-47, which is accepted as the Soviet soldier's standard weapon in 1949.




1956

Revolutionaries in Hungary defeat Soviet troops and grab AK-47s, presaging the gun's use by rebels.

1956

Production of China's first version of the AK-47 assault rifle, known as the Type 56, begins.




1970

Chile's Salvador Allende becomes the West's first elected Socialist head of state; Fidel Castro gives him an AK.

1983

Mozambique places an AK-47 on its national flag.

1989

A movement to ban assault rifles in the U.S. begins after a man kills five schoolchildren in Stockton, Calif., with an AK copy.



2001

Notebooks from terrorist camps across Afghanistan reveal that all trainees learn the history of AKs.



2003

Saddam Hussein is captured in Iraq with two AK-47s, a 9-mm Glock and $750,000 in U.S. currency.




2011

The Iraqi Army will have an arsenal consisting of Kalashnikovs and 180,000 U.S. Army–issued M16s.

[Mani2020]

ak-47's are locally build (hand-made) in Northern areas of Pakistan also in some parts of Balochistan

[Haseebullah]

its the toughest,leanest,meanest weapon that served more than its share on the field !!!it deserves this~

[Abu Zolfiqar]

a great, reliable and sturdy platform.....the true weapon of mass destruction

the movie Lord of War comes to mind

[Syama Ayas]

[TrMhMt]

For me, Its symbol of terrorism !!!

[Muhammad-Bin-Qasim]

ak-47's are locally build (hand-made) in Northern areas of Pakistan also in some parts of Balochistan

They are not as reliable as the Russian and Chinese makes...

I wonder if anyone has ever tried the AK with a sniper scope? One can hit the bulls eye with this machine in a general close range combat but I m not too sure about long distances...

My weapon of choice in battle if it ever came down to that...

[DESERT FIGHTER]

For me, Its symbol of terrorism !!!

Its a symbol of anti americanism.
Lol....POF is mass producing a upgraded varient called PK-3.....And local people r producing them in Pakistan.

I have 4 AKs and 1-222.... I chinese,1 russian and 2-AMD 65s............

@Qasim...yes brother i amusing a scope for my 222 and it works wonders!
The wooden stock is type 56.



I dont have a pic of my 222... il upload it later.

This is AK is russian AK-47(thts markhor skin-hunted it in the suleiman ranges,Balouchistan)

Also i have thousands of rounds for these babies...... saved to kill zombies and the enemies of the state of

[SpArK]

Its a symbol of anti americanism.
Lol....POF is mass producing a upgraded varient called PK-3.....And local people r producing them in Pakistan.

I have 4 AKs and 1-222.... I chinese,1 russian and 2-AMD 65s............

@Qasim...yes brother i amusing a scope for my 222 and it works wonders!



I dont have a pic of my 222... il upload it later.

This is russian(thts markhor skin-hunted it in the suleiman ranges,Balouchistan)

Is it legal there for teenagers to possess weapons??

[Muhammad-Bin-Qasim]

In tribal areas of Baluchistan and KP its legit to possess weapons...

You can have weapons as long as machines like AK have been made semi automatic... (well thats how it was all those years ago when I was in Pakistan... dont know the latest)

Pak Nationalist!!! Many thanks for the reply brother... Have always thought about putting a scope for a mean sniper role!!!! God bless you for that... and do upload a pic when you get the chance...

[Muhammad-Bin-Qasim]

For me, Its symbol of terrorism !!!

Have you heard my dear...

"Keep your horses ready, so that you may strike TERROR into the hearts of the the disbelievers..."

Its the Translation of the meaning of the Quran

[DESERT FIGHTER]

Is it legal there for teenagers to possess weapons??

Dude im not a teenager...I am 20(wish i was 17 again though).... and i do have a permit for my AMD-65,shot gun and a S&W 9mm.... rest are on the name of my father.

The double barrel USSR made...Used by Mujahideen in Afghan Jihad and has killed russians.


Its bloody...... russian..rofl
The 777 or wat is from the old british occupation era!

[DESERT FIGHTER]

In tribal areas of Baluchistan and KP its legit to possess weapons...

You can have weapons as long as machines like AK have been made semi automatic... (well thats how it was all those years ago when I was in Pakistan... dont know the latest)

Pak Nationalist!!! Many thanks for the reply brother... Have always thought about putting a scope for a mean sniper role!!!! God bless you for that... and do upload a pic when you get the chance...

No bro.... automatic weapons r prohibited....... u need a permit signed by the PM.... and i have permits for all of my weapons and are all Automatic!

[TrMhMt]

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Have you heard my dear...

"Keep your horses ready, so that you may strike TERROR into the hearts of the the disbelievers..."

Its the Translation of the meaning of the Quran

Dont take it seriously bro..

I was kidding !! That why i used this smile -->