The man credited with designing one of the 20th century’s most iconic firearms has passed away at the age of 94.
Kalashnikov is widely acknowledged for designing the AK-47 rifle, but I can’t miss the obvious similarities to Schmeisser’s StG-44. Given that Schmeisser worked with the Red Army after the war, it’s hard to dismiss the possibility that the Soviets simply didn’t want to give a German credit for the design.
That said, we may never know.
I find it to be a charmless piece of stamped sheet metal with numerous design flaws, but the AK-47 was cheap to produce and easy to use. Its legacy is uncontestable, if not grim. Michael Chivers wrote an excellent history of it a couple of years back, and the book is a good read.
2 thoughts on “Mikhail Kalashnikov, 1919-2013”
Well that link just proved the awesomeness of one click ordering
Actually, your suspicous about kalasnikov is real. I red russias historian article wich said that real father of that gun was Hugo. Also wikipedia doesen’t show much of his work in USSR. Aand knowing USSR’s propoganda policy they tend to have faces(heroes, as they liked to call them) for everything.