"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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Crackrocknigga ago
You forgot the cannular groove and super low drag coefficient that also contributes to this. It creates massive fragmentation and turn bone into powder
Was this a jewish conspiracy on your part to discredit my people?
clamhurt_legbeard ago
7n6 was specifically designed to not fragment
fragmentation was not yet known to be a factor in the m16 and was unreliable with the rounds used at the time
its lethality was attributed to the bullet yawing so the soviets designed the ultimate yaw inducing bullet
it flies through targets as a solid piece
instead it was designed to flip sounds like a ninja star twirling repeatedly and creating multiple wider round tracks
it has a soft lead core that flies forward upon impact to unevenly smear in the empty cavity in the nose
post impact the bullets are often curved like a banana
Crackrocknigga ago
Nice I guess I misunderstood the action the groove does something different than i thought
clamhurt_legbeard ago
youre confusing 5.45 with 5.56
modern 5.56 is specifically designed to fragment after they discovered it sometimes fragmented along the cannelure and caused greatly increased damage
this was discovered decades after the creation of 5.45
Crackrocknigga ago
Since you didn't ban me I change profile description
clamhurt_legbeard ago
dude triggs and i were just fucking around with you
Crackrocknigga ago
I can't trust anyone here sadly I just hate jews and work very hard, 15 hours in the sun today on the pipelines
This place has dishonest people its sad
clamhurt_legbeard ago
were just playing
dont be so serious
Crackrocknigga ago
I get alts chasing me and people threatening me over messages its just old now I'm getting sick of it nobody wants to actually talk about things anymore just get outraged by twitter i've just accepted the old voat isn't coming back it's depressing to think about the cliques that control speech
clamhurt_legbeard ago
you messed with the wrong cabal lol
Crackrocknigga ago
You guys all have alts I don't honestly so I gave up
clamhurt_legbeard ago
i had an alt
i stole it from a moron
but i gave it away
Crackrocknigga ago
Try having sex to this lmao
https://youtu.be/V-uEGKIyF-s
It's gonna be alright I made 24h of pay today for working 14 @30/hr $1000 plus 250 per diem life is ok today I think
Crackrocknigga ago
I feel better about everything after having sex 15 minutes isn't a record and some weird drag racing anthem came on
clamhurt_legbeard ago
this is you
Crackrocknigga ago
Lol it helps honestly