"Things that are complex are not useful. Things that are useful are simple."

-Mikhail Kalashnikov

this is the ak47

it is the most produced gun of all time

in fact so many kalashnikovs have been made they could circle the motherland four times around and still have enough left over to fully equip a division of soldiers

it has been used by literally everybody

it has been abused and neglected in literally every way

and is probably my favorite gun ever

lets go

so in wwii a guy named mikhail kalashnikov had been conscripted from working on tractors to working in tanks

same thing right

well he was a tinkerer in addition to a tankerer and built stuff in his spare time between having deafening explosions going off in confined spaces

he made a mechanical device that ratcheted a number like an odometer or something to count how many rounds the tank had shot

this was actually pretty important and his mechanism got adopted

but then he got badly wounded in battle and had a long hospital stay

while there he heard a lot of guys complaining about the reliability of their guns

so he started designing a better gun

first he tried a new submachinegun

it was ok

too complicated to actually adopt

but for a self taught guy he already had a lot of potential

so the soviets sent him to their weapons testing bureau to hang out with somof their more experienced guys

he made a light machine gun

next he tried making a carbine

that carbine used a rotating bolt

like a garand

en bloc clip

like a garand

in fact it turns out kalashnikov has said the garand was a big influence on his designs

murica lol

the carbine wasnt as good as the sks so kalashnikov ended up having to work on the smg replacement

the war was over at this point so the soviets really took their time on a competition and invited lots of designers

first round for the new automatic was kinda meh

so they invited the top two designs back

kalashnikov wasnt one oops lol

but he managed to force his way in anyway

the selection board gave everybody a list entitled

shit we didnt like about your gun

and it turns out kalashnikov was the only one who actually paid attention

so his gun ended up winning

the original design used a stamped receiver

but they were having problems with breakage so they downgraded to a milled receiver for a couple iterations while they troubleshooted the process

these first designs are called the type i

type ii

and type iii receivers

these are all officially the ak

the type iii milled receiver is by far the most common of these early types

then in 1959 they figured out the details of stamping and made the akm

this went on to be super popular and is very likely what people actually mean when they say ak47

once america go involved in vietnam and introduced the m16 in 5.56x45 the soviets took notice

the ak until that point had always used a 7.62x39 intermediate cartridge

moderate bullet weight of around 123gr and around 2400fps muzzle velocity

but the m16 used a much lighter 55gr bullet

going like 3200fps

daaaaang

this has advantages

the faster the bullet goes the less time gravity has to pull the bullet down

that makes it more forgiving of errors in estimating target range

and the wound ballistics ideas of the time said there may be an advantage in wound size

so the soviets spent a lot of time on it and ended up with the 5.45x39 cartridge

this is a nasty round

it has a 53gr bullet going 2900fps

plus its specifically designed to flip sideways inside the target and make a big mess

to shoot this new round kalashnikov developed the new ak74

the single biggest difference is the muzzle brake compensator up front

this takes the low recoil of the ak74 and almost completely removes it

the weapon basically just wiggles in place

the ak74 became the new standard for the soviet military

though the akm has still always been available

tank and helicopter crews were given a new shortened weaponed called the aks74u

this has a much shorter barrel and consequently shorter range

instead of the compensator it has a muzzle booster

the barrel is so short the gas system doesnt have enough time between starting to get gas and losing pressure because the bullet has already left

this is called dwell time

the booster gives an extra chamber that fills with gas and pushes back into the gas system even after the bullet has left

this is required for peak reliability

one of the last major developments of the ak is the ak100 series

they have excellent black furniture and standard sidefolding stock

and intermediate carbine models are available

shorter than the standard rifle but longer than the aks74u

these give a better usability out of a shortened package

however throughout all these models over many decades

the operating mechanism is the same

and many parts are interchangeable

lets see how it works

so first off its gas operated with a long stroke recoil system

gas is bled from the barrel through a gas port

this pushes on a gas piston attached to the bolt carrier

which carries a rotating two lug bolt

kinda like the garand hmm

the trigger has two hooks to grab the hammer when it comes back

kiiiiiinda like the garand lol

it was an influence guys

the box magazine holds 30 rounds and rocks in

there is a cleaning kit in back with cleaning rod under the barrel just like the sks

rear sight is just like the sks and the mosin

it has a honkin big safety selector on the side

all the way down is semi auto

middle is auto

all the way up is safe

and this blocks the big gap from letting debris into the action

its so easy to field strip a school girl can do it

the history of use is long and continues to this day

virtually all warsaw pact and communist nations built them

and it was even adopted and heavily modified by finland as the valmet rifle

this was in turn adopted by the israelis as the galil

and the south africans as the r4

its super durable and easy to maintain

and keeps going even under very harsh abuse

how can you help liking it lol

theres a reason its the most produced gun of all time

pew pew

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