View Full Version : Mikhail Kalashnikov Airlifted to Moscow for Medical Treatment
titsonritz
06-25-13, 00:30
http://www.guns.com/2013/06/24/mikhail-kalashnikovs-health-has-taken-a-turn/
Hope he gets well soon. What a legacy he has behind him...
Let's hope "national hero" buys him some consideration when it comes to the quality of medical care received.
FromMyColdDeadHand
06-25-13, 10:39
A comment on that article:
The only thing that Kalashnikov did was modify a John Browning design of over 40 years earlier, the Rem. Mod 8, to make it more soldier-friendly and easier to maintain. Check out the schematics on the web. Not exactly genius.
First I had heard of that...
A comment on that article:
First I had heard of that...
There's a reason you hadn't heard this before: it's not true.
The Remington Model 8 is a recoil-operated rifle has very little in common with the AK.
Ive read that as well, in particular the size of the safety lever and its dual purpose use as a dust cover...not to take away from the genius of the collaboration and amalgamation that brought forth one of the greatest firearms ever made. I think it was a little short sighted of the writer to mention that...
The only thing taken from the Model 8 is the safety lever. Otherwise, it's more or less an upside down Garand in an Stg44 ergo package, made stupid simple to manufacture. It works. It may need some work arounds for optics, but you have to admit that a design that tolerant of manufacturing variances is pretty neat. 2mm tolerances? It still runs? Doggone. Made with hand tools in Afghani huts? Made MOA accurate and greased snot slick by the Finns? Cool.
Apricotshot
06-25-13, 11:28
Honestly I thought he was already dead...
The only thing taken from the Model 8 is the safety lever. Otherwise, it's more or less an upside down Garand in an Stg44 ergo package, made stupid simple to manufacture. It works. It may need some work arounds for optics, but you have to admit that a design that tolerant of manufacturing variances is pretty neat. 2mm tolerances? It still runs? Doggone. Made with hand tools in Afghani huts? Made MOA accurate and greased snot slick by the Finns? Cool.
Kalashnikov made no pretense about his admiration for and emulation of John Garand. There's a neat passage in Ezell's book where Kalashnikov goes off on a museum worker who he felt was not sufficiently respectful to Garand's accomplishments.
Doc Safari
06-25-13, 16:11
Kalashnikov made no pretense about his admiration for and emulation of John Garand. There's a neat passage in Ezell's book where Kalashnikov goes off on a museum worker who he felt was not sufficiently respectful to Garand's accomplishments.
Kalashnikov's genius was that he wasn't afraid to "loosen things up" and "let things hang freely" as he put it. Reliability was his main thrust. Kalashnikov worked as part of a design team and probably had input from other designers as well.
I always thought it was kind of sad: "The designer of the AR15 could afford his own airplane. The designer of the AK can't even afford a plane ticket."
Other than that, he was a product of his time. Don't think he wasn't a Communist or a loyal Soviet, because he was.
The only thing taken from the Model 8 is the safety lever. Otherwise, it's more or less an upside down Garand in an Stg44 ergo package, made stupid simple to manufacture. It works. It may need some work arounds for optics, but you have to admit that a design that tolerant of manufacturing variances is pretty neat. 2mm tolerances? It still runs? Doggone. Made with hand tools in Afghani huts? Made MOA accurate and greased snot slick by the Finns? Cool.
Don't forget the Swiss SIG 55X series.
If not for Kalashnikov they wouldn't exist.
http://imageshack.us/a/img440/1880/00000000371.jpg
Stoner also borrowed from existing designs for his rifle. Most successful rifles are actually refinements of existing systems.
Heavy Metal
06-25-13, 17:15
Somebody on another forum posted that the designer of the AK-47 was airlifted to Moscow.
The poster below them replied: "What? Hugo Schmeisser must be almost 130 by now!"
I LoLed!
The only thing taken from the Model 8 is the safety lever. Otherwise, it's more or less an upside down Garand in an Stg44 ergo package, made stupid simple to manufacture.
The trigger mechanism in both the Garand and AK appear to be inspired by the Remington Model 8 and 11.
Larry Vickers
06-27-13, 15:44
I'm here in Russia and was told a story early in my trip that Kalashnikov was made the 'folk hero' and public face of the rifle because it fit Soviet propaganda and that he didn't deserve all the accolades he received; the same person told me after this all went down Simonov ( designer of SKS) never spoke to him again
He was in charge of a design bureau, a team of designers, who included former Nazi's like Schmeisser- taking nothing away from him I always had a gut feeling that he got more credit than he deserved
Just FYI from Mother Russia
Moose-Knuckle
06-27-13, 16:01
I'm here in Russia and was told a story early in my trip that Kalashnikov was made the 'folk hero' and public face of the rifle because it fit Soviet propaganda and that he didn't deserve all the accolades he received; the same person told me after this all went down Simonov ( designer of SKS) never spoke to him again
He was in charge of a design bureau, a team of designers, who included former Nazi's like Schmeisser- taking nothing away from him I always had a gut feeling that he got more credit than he deserved
Just FYI from Mother Russia
This is in-line with C.J. Chivers' research on the matter.
"THE GUN demolishes the Soviet propaganda." —Winnipeg Free Press.
http://cjchivers.com/aboutthegun
Take a look at this:
http://www.forgottenweapons.com/ak-and-stg-kissing-cousins/
I agree that there is a lot of soviet propaganda in the official AK history, but there is sure a lot of good work and mixing ot other people's ideas in a vey clever way into it. Not so simple to mix-and-match previous ideas and arrive to something really useful.
I think that "X german engineer really did it" stories are waaay exaggerated, but surely they contributed.
If you look at the G3 rifle, you'll see a lot of common with the StG-44 too. And if somebody that hasn't got a clue of firearms looks at a FAL and G3 they'll think that the layout is very similar.
I'm here in Russia and was told a story early in my trip that Kalashnikov was made the 'folk hero' and public face of the rifle because it fit Soviet propaganda and that he didn't deserve all the accolades he received; the same person told me after this all went down Simonov ( designer of SKS) never spoke to him again
He was in charge of a design bureau, a team of designers, who included former Nazi's like Schmeisser- taking nothing away from him I always had a gut feeling that he got more credit than he deserved
Just FYI from Mother Russia
Mr. Vickers,
As one hailing from the motherland, this is 100% true. It was actually well known folk lore.
The Soviet Union frequently made hero's of average men and women for the sake of propaganda. It makes for a great story, but how often does a farm boy with a 7th grade education single-handedly invent and prototype a rifle like the AK47?
I am sure that he came up with the idea and was then assigned to a group of engineers who made it happen.
This happened many times over; Yuri Gagarin (farm boy) sent to space first over a more experience pilot like Leonov who was also a college educated engineer.
It made the people feel better about themselves to see a member of the proletariat rise up to national hero status.
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