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AK-47

AK-47
АК-47.jpg
AK-47 with 6H2 bayonet
Type Assault rifle
Place of origin Soviet Union
Service history
In service 1949–present (worldwide)
1949–1978 (Soviet Union)
Used by See Users
Wars
Production history
Designer Mikhail Kalashnikov
Designed 1946–1948
Manufacturer Kalashnikov Concern and various others including Norinco
Produced 1949–1959
No. built ≈ 75 million AK-47s, 100 million Kalashnikov-family weapons.
Variants See Variants
Specifications
Weight Without magazine:
3.47 kg (7.7 lb)
Magazine, empty:
0.43 kg (0.95 lb) (early issue)
0.33 kg (0.73 lb) (steel)
0.25 kg (0.55 lb) (plastic)
0.17 kg (0.37 lb) (light alloy)
Length Fixed wooden stock:
880 mm (35 in)
875 mm (34.4 in) folding stock extended
645 mm (25.4 in) stock folded
Barrel length Overall length:
415 mm (16.3 in)
Rifled bore length:
369 mm (14.5 in)

Cartridge 7.62×39mm
Action Gas-operated, rotating bolt
Rate of fire Cyclic rate of fire:
600 rds/min
Combat rate of fire:
Semi-auto 40 rds/min
Bursts 100 rds/min
Muzzle velocity 715 m/s (2,350 ft/s)
Effective firing range 350 m (380 yd)
Feed system 30-round detachable box magazine
There are also 5- 10-, 20- and 40-round box and 75- and 100-round drum magazines available
Sights 100–800 m adjustable iron sights
Sight radius:
378 mm (14.9 in)

The AK-47, or AK as it is officially known (also known as the Kalashnikov) is a selective-fire (semi-automatic and automatic), gas-operated 7.62×39 mm assault rifle, developed in the Soviet Union by Mikhail Kalashnikov. It is officially known in the Soviet documentation as Avtomat Kalashnikova (Russian: Автомат Калашникова).

Design work on the AK-47 began in the last year of World War II (1945). In 1946, the AK-47 was presented for official military trials, and in 1948, the fixed-stock version was introduced into active service with selected units of the Soviet Army. An early development of the design was the AKS (S—Skladnoy or "folding"), which was equipped with an underfolding metal . In the spring of 1949, the AK-47 was officially accepted by the Soviet Armed Forces and used by the majority of the member states of the Warsaw Pact.

Even after almost seven decades, the model and its variants remain the most popular and widely used assault rifles in the world because of their substantial reliability under harsh conditions, low production costs compared to contemporary Western weapons, availability in virtually every geographic region and ease of use. The AK-47 has been manufactured in many countries and has seen service with armed forces as well as irregular forces worldwide, and was the basis for developing many other types of individual and crew-served firearms. As of 2004, "Of the estimated 500 million firearms worldwide, approximately 100 million belong to the Kalashnikov family, three-quarters of which are AK-47s".

During World War II, the Sturmgewehr 44 assault rifle used by German forces made a deep impression on their Soviet counterparts. The select-fire rifle was chambered for a new intermediate cartridge, the 7.92×33mm Kurz, and combined the firepower of a submachine gun with the range and accuracy of a rifle. On 15 July 1943, an earlier model of the Sturmgewehr was demonstrated before the People's Commissariat of Arms of the USSR. The Soviets were impressed with the weapon and immediately set about developing an intermediate caliber automatic rifle of their own, to replace the PPSh-41 submachine guns and outdated Mosin–Nagant bolt-action rifles that armed most of the Soviet Army.


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