Mikhail Timofeyevich Kalashnikov was a Soviet and Russian lieutenant general, inventor, military engineer, writer, and small arms designer. He is most famous for developing the AK-47 assault rifle and its improvements, the AKM and AK-74, as well as the RPK light machine gun and PK machine gun.
Mikhail Kalashnikov
Kalashnikov, c. 1944
The SMG predecessor of the Kalashnikov rifle
Kalashnikov (right) and Eugene Stoner (left) hold the rifles they designed, taken May 1990.
The AK-47, officially known as the Avtomat Kalashnikova, is a gas-operated assault rifle that is chambered for the 7.62×39mm cartridge. Developed in the Soviet Union by Russian small-arms designer Mikhail Kalashnikov, it is the originating firearm of the Kalashnikov family of rifles. After more than eight decades since its creation, the AK-47 model and its variants remain one of the most popular and widely used firearms in the world.
AKMS with a stamped Type 4B receiver (top) and an AK-47 with a milled Type 2A receiver
Wound Profiles of Russian small-arms ammunition compiled by Dr. Martin Fackler on behalf of the U.S. military
The gas-operated mechanism of a Norinco AK-47
AK-47 barrel and its distinctive gas block with a horizontal row of gas relief ports
