Kalashnikov dead at 94

[SeanTK]

Very off topic, but this caught my eye today:

http://rt.com/news/kalashnikov-dies-inventor-ak-47-887/

The creator of a series of weapons that have truly impacted and vastly changed the world, both for better and for worse.

[Ian Warren]

Good find , an interesting fact feature - good ole Joe

"during Joseph Stalin’s collectivization campaign his parents had their land confiscated, and the whole family was exiled to Siberia (a fact rarely mentioned in fawning Soviet-era biographies)."

[Bazza]

QUOTE (SeanTK @ Dec 24 2013,10:26 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Very off topic, but this caught my eye today:



The creator of a series of weapons that have truly impacted and vastly changed the world, both for better and for worse.

Can't understand how it made the world better, apart from making it easier for every religious

terrorist to kill people...?

All the world needs is more efficient weaponry to be a better place..?

Happy Xmas world.

[Dash8captain]

QUOTE (Bazza @ Dec 24 2013,10:52 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Can't understand how it made the world better, apart from making it easier for every religious

terrorist to kill people...?

All the world needs is more efficient weaponry to be a better place..?

Happy Xmas world.

You cant blame a weapon for who it kills - you have to blame the humans who get their mitts on it! - its like if you punched someone saying it was my fists fault!

[SeanTK]

It played a role in overthrowing dictatorships and other harsh regimes and political policies, but it's also played a role in many unfortunate deaths of noncombatants throughout the world, both at the hands of government and independent people/organizations. Thus, the better or worse comment.

[SUBS17]

As weapons go the AK47 is rated as the Worlds best weapon ever designed because you can still use it after it has had so much done to it and its so simple to use.

[Ian Warren]

Other thing is it longevity and so could be said for Mr Kalashnikov .

[Bazza]

QUOTE (Dash8captain @ Dec 24 2013,11:54 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

You cant blame a weapon for who it kills - you have to blame the humans who get their mitts on it! - its like if you punched someone saying it was my fists fault!

That's the argument the American Gun Lobby have used for years to justify a gun in every cupboard and massacres in schools becoming part of the curriculum, warped logic at best.

Had the AK never been invented do you suggest that the regimes would not have been overcome....surely both sides were armed with them..?

At best he was a clever engineer, you'll have a hard job convincing me he made the world a better place.

[SUBS17]

It makes no difference because such people would use other weapons types if the AK47 had never been invented such as M16s etc. The only real answer for countrys like the US is to have similar laws to NZ restricting weapon sales and ownership.

[Ian Warren]

Hmm i was thinking cave man .. bow and arrow .. cripes had that been invented yet .... oh well back to the boulder .. Yubba Dubba Do ...

[SUBS17]

That happens still in the Us as well.

[Dean]

The way I see it... if Kalashnikov hadn't invented the AK47, someone else would have probably invented something similar (better or worse) anyway. It's not an ideal situation in any light, but it would have happened regardless in one way or another.

[SUBS17]

QUOTE (Dean @ Dec 27 2013,2:11 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

The way I see it... if Kalashnikov hadn't invented the AK47, someone else would have probably invented something similar (better or worse) anyway. It's not an ideal situation in any light, but it would have happened regardless in one way or another.

As a weapon it is extremely reliable and its design has probably lead to better more reliable weapon designs that do not necessarily have to be for military use.

[Ian Warren]

QUOTE (SUBS17 @ Dec 30 2013,9:21 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Personally I find when people randomly shoot into the air in celebrations more
disturbing because those bullets have to come down somewhere and often hit innocent people.(and this is where AK47s can often be misused )

I bit my tongue, 'on exactly this' waiting for a comment, come on someone ... in the late 1960s early 70s, a person dropped a coin from the Cathedral spire killing a passer by ... another Monty Python idea maybe.. incoming! ... AK-47 spent bullets i mean

[Dean]

QUOTE (Dash8captain @ Dec 24 2013,11:54 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

You cant blame a weapon for who it kills - you have to blame the humans who get their mitts on it! - its like if you punched someone saying it was my fists fault!

Reminds me of the scene from Happy Gilmore....

[Ian Warren]

Now that movie is SO true ... I'd better get back to me Golf War

[hasegawa]

As soldier in the east german Army (NVA) 1988-1990 I have used the AKMS, a eastgerman Variant for Pioniers and special units and the new AK 74. My old AKMS was good, a robust solide weapon with flexible shoulder rest like in this picture... it was very simple to demount her and to assemble. Norm was 22 seconds. With 12 shoots (four bursts) to kill 3 targets 300 m , 1 x 1 m, 250 m 0,50 x 1,80 m, and 1,50 x 1 m... day and night was 1. If you got this 3 times on after the other you got the German Armed Forces Badge for Weapons Proficiency. I have got mine with the AKMS. This weapon got the amunition 7.62×39mm M43/M67

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:AKMS_and...ST-85-01270.jpg

The AK 74M with the smal calibre 5,45 × 39 mm we have only tested. Dislike this variant.

[Ian Warren]

QUOTE (hasegawa @ Jan 5 2014,11:14 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

The AK 74M with the smal calibre 5,45 × 39 mm we have only tested. Dislike this variant.

Andreas , I've had a play with the AK47, the company i worked for in the mid 1980s made paint ball guns, to go on the range to try the AK was something i was not going to miss that .. some reason the paint ball STEN gun had more kick than the AK .. but both impressive

[Charl]

The Soviet AK-47 exported to the world's revolutionaries was a truly cheap and nasty bit of work.
Assembled from coarse metal stampings, the parts fitted poorly, and the whole thing had a "loose" feel about it.
I demonstrated to my own satisfaction that emptying a magazine in double-tap bursts gave you an even chance of hitting a barn wall at 100m.
Of course that was the whole point of it: you could drop it in the mud, give it a shake, and carry on your business, which was only ever to lay down covering fire.

Presumably the German version was reworked to Teutonic perfection, and thus allowed the kind of accuracy Hasegawa refers to above.

[Ian Warren]

QUOTE (Charl @ Jan 5 2014,1:03 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Of course that was the whole point of it: you could drop it in the mud, give it a shake, and carry on your business, which was only ever to lay down covering fire.

Covering fire, exactly what i did whiles playing "The Ultimate Game" Paint ball war Lotta fun , I had all the ammo in the world since i made and designed parts, BUT the real McCoy , drop it in the mud ... look at half the kids running around in historic media books and magazines .. Yip , kids still drop it in the mud and they and the shake it - Kalashnikov just kept going ! and going and going ... sorta like that battery advert on TV