AK-47
The AK-47 (for Avtomat Kalashnikova model 1947 g.) is a rifle designed in 1947 by Mikhail Kalashnikov, produced by Russian arms manufacturer [IZH], and used in many nations during the Cold War. Compared to the rifles used in World War II, the AK-47 has a more light and compact design, shorter range, lighter 7.62 × 39 mm cartidge, and higher rate of fire (including the option of fully-automatic), making it one of the first assault rifles.
It also has a legendary reputation for ruggedness, reliability, and ease of field maintenance. Thanks to this record and its low cost of manufacturing, it's one of the most prolific weapons ever: between 55 and 100 million are thought to have been produced. Despite its official deprecation by the Russian military, the weapon and its derivatives are still widely manufactured and used, especially throughout the Third World.
Operation
To fire, insert a loaded magazine, move the right selector lever on the right to the bottom position, and pull back and release the cocking lever on the right top. Aim and pull the trigger.
The selector lever is a large lever on the right side, easy to manipulate even with mittens under arctic conditions. The selector lever blocks the bolt and cocking handle when it is in the "safe" position, so the rifle can only be loaded with the safety off. Kalashnikov made this design decision because when the safety lever is in the upward position, it covers the slot in the side of the receiver behind the cocking handle, preventing sand and dirt from entering the mechanism.
The selector lever makes a loud and very distinctive KA-CHUNK! sound when it is moved from one position to another.
The highest position of the selector lever is safe. Safe prevents trigger movement and cocking, and the selector lever covers the slot in the receiver behind the cocking handle in order to keep out sand and dust. In many models, this position is unmarked. International weapons may place a "0" in this position.
The bottom position is single-shot. On Russian weapons this is marked "ОД" in Cyrillic, from ОДин (one). International weapons may have a "1" or a single dot.
The middle position is full automatic. On Russian weapons this is marked with "АВ" in Cyrillic, from АВтомат (automatic). International weapons have an infinity-sign (∞) or multiple dots in this position.
Some AK-type rifles have a fourth selector setting, usually between full-auto and semi-auto, normally three or four rounds per burst. On Bulgarian rifles built with this feature, this selector position is usually marked with the numeral 3 or 4.
Kalashnikov borrowed the design and function of the safety lever on the AK-47 from the Remington Model 1908 sporting rifle. The trigger mechanism and rotating bolt are very similar to those of the US Garand rifle.
On most variants, under the barrel is a steel cleaning rod. It bends slightly for removal. In standard AKs, cleaning patches and a metal bottle of oil and solvent are in compartments in the shoulder-pad of the stock.
To field strip, release the magazine catch, remove the magazine, and cock the rifle, holding the left hand ready over the receiver to catch any ejected cartridge. Release the catch on the right side of the rear sight. Push the piston assembly cover forward, detaching it from the rear receiver. Lift it and then pull it backwards. Remove the piston assembly and bolt. Clean as needed, with special attention to the barrel, gas cylinder and gas piston. Oil slightly and reassemble. Before inserting the magazine, press the trigger to release the spring tension.
Notable features
The AK-47 is inexpensive to manufacture, relatively light to carry, and very simple to clean and repair in the field. Its ruggedness and reliability are legendary, and it can fire even after being submerged in water (if the water is poured out first), or covered in dirt. Some sources claim that the ejector pin is prone to breakage (depending on the exact alloy and heat treatment, it may or may not be likely with a particular rifle – Romanian AKs are prone to it, Russian and Bulgarian AKs aren't).
Some AK rifles are considerably more accurate than others. The old AK-47 and the Bulgarian AK types, with their heavy milled receivers, as well as Yugoslav and late AK-74 rifles from Russia, with their heavy 1.6 mm stamped receivers, are usually said to be capable of accuracy of two minutes of angle. Most AK type rifles, with thin 1.0 mm stamped receivers, are less stable as the bullet goes through the barrel and there is consequently greater random vibration and oscillation before the bullet leaves the muzzle, and are typically only capable of approximately six minutes of angle accuracy. Most Western military rifles are capable 2 minutes of angle or better.
Classic AK-series have a cycle rate of 600RPM. Newer versions have delayed automatic sears that cycle at 300RPM.
AK-type rifles do not lock the bolt back when they are empty, unlike most Western assault rifles.
The standard flip-up iron sight is calibrated with each numeral indicating in hundreds of meters. It is released by squeezing the two buttons on the back end. The standard calibration of the flipped-down sight is 50 meters, the normal minimal distance for aimed fire. Distances below this range are usually handled with instinctive fire. For night fighting, some Russian models have a flip-up luminous dot, also calibrated at 50m. The open sights are one of the most heavily-criticized features of the rifle, being both farther from the eye than many common rifle sights, and less accurate than peep-sights, such as those found on the M16 rifles. Sights, of course, are a matter of personal taste, but most people do find the aperture-type sights on Western military rifles like the M16, M14, or FAL to be both faster and easier to use as well as more accurate.
The magazine release is in front of the trigger guard. The trigger guard is very large, to permit gloved fingers.
A sling is provided for accurate aimed fire. It should wrap around the left forearm.
Models for paratroopers, cavalry, and mechanized infantry!mechanized troops have folding stocks. Most fold sideways, but a few fold downward and forward over the pistol grip like the folding stock on the old German MP40 submachinegun.
Bullpup models exist, in which a shoulder pad is bolted onto the back of the receiver, and the trigger is moved up to the front of the barrel. These have a much shorter overall length because they have no stock, yet they still have full-length barrels. Small numbers of semi-auto bullpup rifles of the AK type were imported into the US from Finland and China in the early 1990s, where they now command healthy four-figure sums among collectors of rare and unusual military firearms.
Some models, mainly Chinese, include an integral folding bayonet. Almost all others have a removable bayonet; some of these can attach to their scabbards to form a scissors-style barbed-wire cutter (a feature later integrated into the M9 bayonet used with the M16 rifle).
Some models, mainly Yugoslav and Polish, include a gas valve on the forward gas port (above the barrel) to permit firing grenades. Sometimes the valve is controlled by flipping a special "grenade sight" up into position.
The bore and chamber, as well as the gas piston and the interior of the gas cylinder, are almost always chromium-plated, to resist corrosion and improve wear resistance, but cleaning after every firing is strongly recommended. Much military ammunition uses corrosive primers, particularly ammunition of Soviet, Chinese, or Eastern European origin, the residue from which can eventually corrode steel if the weapon is fired and left dirty.
Ballistics
The standard AK-47 or AKM fires a 7.62 × 39 mm round with a muzzle velocity of 710 m/s. Muzzle energy is 1,990 joules. Cartridge case length is 38.6 mm, weight is 18.21 g. Projectile weight is normally 8g, though some Russian ammunition made for export to the US uses a soft-nose hunting type bullet of 10g mass.
The Soviet/Russian made bullets are usually boat-tail bullets (which is to say that they're tapered slightly at the rear, like a rowboat, in order to reduce turbulent vacuum drag) with a copper-plated steel jacket, a large steel core, and some lead between the core and the jacket. However, many foreign manufacturers (notably the Yugoslavs in the 1960s and 1970s) prefer a copper jacketed and lead cored design, which makes the bullet short and rear heavy, both of which contribute to the tumbling effect. Chinese military-issue ammunition in this caliber has a solid steel core with a thin jacket of copper or brass.
The AK-47 and AKM, with the 7.62 x 39 mm cartridge, had an effective range of around 350 meters and usually had the sights zeroed at 200 meters. The newer AK-74, with the 5.45 mm cartridge, has an effective range of around 500 meters and normally has the sights zeroed at 300 meters.
The new model AK-74 fires a 5.45 × 39 mm round with a muzzle velocity of 900 m/s. Muzzle energy is 1,385 joules. The cartridge weight is 10.75 g. Projectile weight is 3.42 g. The new cartridge was designed to give greater effective range (because of the high velocity) and greater controllability in full-auto fire (due to the reduced power).
The Russian military-issue 5N7 specification 5.45 mm bullets are a somewhat complex full metal jacket design. The bullet's core consists mainly of a length of soft steel rod, cut to length during the manufacturing process to give the correct weight. There is a hollow air space underneath the bullet's thin copper jacket ahead of the steel rod core. The base of the bullet is tapered, to reduce vacuum drag (a so-called boat-tail bullet) and there is a small lead plug crimped in place in the base of the bullet, ostensibly so that the thin copper alloy jacket material can be stamped in place in the proper tapered shape. The lead plug, however, in combination with that air bubble in the point of the bullet, has the effect of pushing the bullet's center of gravity very far to the rear, and the hollow air space under the point of the bullet makes the bullet's point prone to bending to one side when the bullet strikes anything solid, unbalancing it. Most authorities in the West believe this bullet is designed specifically to tumble in flesh, tremendously increasing the severity of the wound.
When shot into 10% ballistic gelatin at 4°C (the standard simulant for human flesh, in the field of ballistics), the bullets always begin to tumble, sometimes less than 2" (5 cm) from the point of entry, and usually tumble end over end two or three times before coming to rest at a depth of 12" to 16" of penetration (30cm to 40cm); it may also move in a curved or even zig-zag path through the gelatin block as it tumbles. In combat in Afghanistan in the 1980s, and since that time, the 5N7 bullet has earned a fearsome reputation for creating horrific wounds.
With the 5.45 mm bullet, the tumbling produced a maximum wound expansion twice, at 100 and 400 mm of depth. With the 7.62 mm bullet, the maximum wound expansion occurred twice, at about 300 and 400 mm. 400 mm is the average width of a human trunk.
Some people have said that the Russians were concerned about the lower energies of the bullets and designed them to cause more damage than might otherwise occur.
The rate of fire is between 300 and 600 rounds per minute. Later models have modifications to the trigger assembly and bolt to fire more slowly. This helps make the weapon more controllable and waste less ammunition. This can help reduce logistic requirements. The rate-reducing devices may also be intended to reduce the wear and tear on moving parts.
Development
In World War II, most soldiers used longer rifles such as the American M1 Garand; these weapons were good at placing powerful rounds at long distances, but were slow and clunky close in. Submachine guns like the German MP40 were common in urban combat; while lighter and faster than a rifle, the pistol rounds they fired were often too weak. (Soviet research found that they were not even consistent in penetrating heavy winter clothing!) Assault rifles such as the AK-47 represent a practical compromise. In contrast, Western powers replaced WW2-era rifles with battle rifles such as the M14 and FN FAL
The AK-47 was not the first assault rifle but was preceded by earlier German and Italian designs. (Mikhail Kalashnikov furiously denies it being based on the German or Italian models, though it does appear to have borrowed certain specific design features from at least two American designs.)
Tank sergeant Mikhail Timofeyevich Kalashnikov began imagining his weapon while still in the hospital, after being wounded in the battle of Bryansk. He had been informed that a new weapon was required for the 7.62 × 39 cartridge developed by Elisarov and Semin in 1943. Sudayev's PPS43 submachinegun was preferred to Kalashnikov's first attempt, but Kalashnikov redesigned the rifle after examining a German STG 44 in 1946. The mechanisms are not related, but there are cosmetic similarities between the two designs.
There were many difficulties during the first phase of production, as the Soviets were not able to use stamped sheet metal construction at first. Instead, they preferred machining the components. Even though it was famous as the "AK 47" (where AK stands for Avtomat Kalashnikova, or Kalashnikov's Machine gun), the Soviets were not able to distribute it to soldiers until 1956. The first transfer-stamped sheet metal version appeared in 1959 and is named AKM. The last Soviet version is AK 74, and is according to some sources scheduled for replacement by the AN-94 Nikonov rifle. Other sources claim that as a result of combat experience in Afghanistan and Chechnya, the Russian army wants to go back to the old 7.62 x 39 mm cartridge and use a rifle designated AK-103, which is basically a 1990s-production AK-74, with the muzzle brake, folding plastic stock, and optics mounting rail, but in the old 7.62 x 39 mm caliber. Many Western observers have concluded that, given the continued depressed state of the Russian economy, it seems unlikely that the Russian military is going to be getting much new hardware of any type in the foreseeable future.
In 1974, the Russians developed the AK-74, which can be thought of as an AKM in a smaller caliber, 5.45 x 39 mm, instead of 7.62 x 39 mm, and began to mass-produce it in 1976. The AK-74 has other slight differences, such as having a rather large and distinctive-looking cylindrical muzzle brake at the muzzle, and most have been manufactured with black plastic stocks rather than laminated wood. Most AK-74s that have black plastic stocks have a hinge in the buttstock just behind the receiver so that the rifle can be folded for storage. Most AK-74s have a front sight base that is more narrow, as viewed from the side, than the front sight base of the AKM. Current Russian AK-74s have a mounting rail on the left side of the reciever for mounting a telescopic sight or a night sight. The various Warsaw Pact countries were mostly slowly converting to the new 5.45 x 39 mm cartridge when the Soviet Union ceased to exist, making various derivative 5.45 x 39 mm caliber rifles with varying degrees of slight difference from the Russian AK-74.
In 2003 the AK-74 was superceded by the fully redesigned AN-94.
Influence
The AK-47 and its derivatives are favoured by some non-Western powers because of their ease of use, robustness, and simplicity to manufacture, and also because during the Cold War the Russians were giving AKM rifles away by the trainload to their allies all over the Third World. Copies were made by many factories in other countries including Finland (though the Finnish rifles are sufficiently different that many experts consider them AK-inspired but not pure AK), Hungary, China, Poland, Romania, Bulgaria, Egypt and Pakistan, where they remain in production today. Derivative designs were made in East Germany, Finland, Hungary, Israel, North Korea, Poland, and Yugoslavia. Estimates of total number of units produced vary from 55 million to 100 million.
Copies, licensed and otherwise, manufactured in other countries had different nomenclature, and tended to differ from the original in small ways--Bulgarian AK-47 type rifles are made with the old milled receiver rather than stampings, Chinese 'Type 1956' rifles have the gas tube attached to the barrel in a slightly different arrangement and a permanently attached folding cruciform spike bayonet under the muzzle, the East German MPiK-47 rifles had buttstocks and handguards of pebble-finished black plastic instead of wood, etc. Copies may or may not have the slant-cut muzzle brake of the AKM. Further, end users may have modified their rifles. For instance, AKMs and close copies thereof made in Russia and various Warsaw Pact countries and given to the government of India as military aid during the Cold War have since 1995 mostly been fitted with flash suppressors that are copies of the one on the M16A2 rifle and bayonet lugs compatible with US-issue bayonets for the M16 rifle.
Copies of the AK-47 are also manufactured in Dara Adamkhel in tribal areas of Pakistan. It became so popular in Pakistan that it has become a social symbol for the Pathan tribesmen who live there. Owning an AK-47 (or a copy made by a local blacksmith) is considered to be proof of manhood.
The AK-47 is included in Mozambique coat of arms (formerly also in Burkina Faso coat of arms), as a symbol of the Soviet-backed Marxist government's support for anti-Western governments like the Qaddafi regime in Libya and the Idi Amin regime in Uganda, as well as its willingness to supply Soviet-made weapons to anti-Western terrorist groups such as Robert Mugabe's "Zimbabwe People's Liberation Army" in Rhodesia and the "Southwest African People's Organization" in Angola, during the Cold War. Kalash, a derivative from "Kalashnikov" is used as a name for boys in some African countries.
Versions
Standard Kalashnikovs include:
- AK-47 1948–51, 7.62 × 39 mm. The very earliest models had a stamped sheet metal receiver. Now rare.
- AK-47 1952, 7.62 × 39 mm: has a milled receiver and wooden buttstock and hand-guard. Barrel and chamber are chrome-plated to resist corrosion. Rifle weight 4.2 kg.
- AKM 7.62 × 39 mm: a revised, lower-cost version of the AK-47; receiver is made from several pieces of stamped sheet-metal riveted together. Rifle weight 3.61 kg.
- AKS-74 5.45 × 39 mm (AK-74); note the new, much smaller ammunition.
- AK-74M 5.45 × 39 mm folding stock (for motorised infantry)
- AKSU 5.45 × 39 mm, tanker's self-defense weapon, folding stock, short barrel, altered sight and gas mechanism, odd-looking flash suppressor device on the muzzle. Nicknamed the "Krinkov" after its designer. Very popular with Spetznaz (Russian Special Forces) troops as well as Russian law enforcement in Russia's large cities.
Later designations:
- AK-101 5.56 × 45 mm round (NATO round)
- AK-102 short stock 101
- AK-103 7.62 × 39 mm round
- AK-104 short stock 103
- AK-105 5.45 × 39 mm round (short stock)
Derivative designs included these:
- SVD Dragunov 7.62 × 54 mm 10 shot sniper rifle. This is semiautomatic, with a skeletal laminated "outline" stock. The standard optical sight is the PSO-1. Uses a unique, short-stroke piston system because a standard piston for the larger cartridge was so heavy that it upset the point of aim. The piston moves a bolt-carrier. Has a very distinctive flash suppressor device on the muzzle resembling that mounted on the PKM general purpose machine gun. Developed in 1958 by Yevgeniy Feodorovich Dragunov, a gunsmith at the Izhevsk Machine Factory, where he originally designed sporting rifles. Not as accurate as Western military issue sniper rifles but very rugged and reliable. Popular with the troops, it is nicknamed the "veslo," which means "oar."
- MedVed Sporting Rifle, 9 × 54 mm. Very similar to the SVD.
- RPK 74 squad automatic weapon,
- AKR (Russians evolution),
- Type 56 (China),
- Yugoslavia: M64, M64A, M70, M70A, M79B, M79A1B, M77, M82, The M77B1 takes a NATO 7.62 × 51 mm rifle round, and is Yugoslavia's squad automatic weapon.
- Finland: Assault rifle model Rk 62 has been offered in 13 variants, with 7.62 × 39 mm, 5.56 × 45, and 7.62 × 51 cartridges and metal, folding and plastic stocks, Valmet M60, M62, M76, M82. The M82 is a bullpup design, with the action and magazine moved into the stock, and the trigger far forward on the barrel.
- Galil (Israel), argued by some to be AK-inspired but not a pure AK, it has aperture sights and uses a proprietary 35-round magazine for the 5.56 x 45 mm NATO cartridge. Most have an extremely rugged (and rather heavy) steel buttstock that folds to the side. Regarded as a good design but poor quality control when most were manufactured in the 1970s has given the Galil a poor reputation among Israeli troops, who are today mostly issued M16A1 rifles instead. A licensed copy of the Galil is made in South Africa, called the R4.
- PGM-DGM-60 (Poland), which can shoot grenades; there are other AK variants made in Poland, and the Polish government is considering going to a 5.56 x 45 mm AK variant called the "Beryl" after joining NATO. The Beryl has a distinctive looking perforated stamped steel handguard and a folding buttstock resembling that of the old German MP40 submachinegun.
- East Germany:MPiK, cal.22LR KKMPi69, STG940 "Wieger"
- FPK, AKM-R, (Romania), WASR-10 a low quality semi-auto civilian version that only accepts smaller magazines, exported to the US. The WASR-10 has a reputation for being poorly made, and is prone to parts breakage, particularly the ejector.
- Hungary: AMD-63, AMD-65, AMP-69
- North Korea Type 58 and 68. The 68 has a distinctive perforated stock-strut.
- The South African R4 and R5 rifles, licensed copies of the Galil from Israel.
It's a common misconception that the Czech assault-rifle SA Vz.58 is an is an AK-47 derivative, but it is not, despite its external resemblance.
See also: List of modern armament manufacturers
Sources
Edward Clinton Ezell, "The AK-47 Story." Ezell is curator of weapons at the U.S. Smithsonian Museum.