Mikhail Kalashnikov, has died aged 94

Does anyone think that sales of AKs will go up with this news? I won't lie, it crossed my mind. I don't have one yet.

Nope, I doubt he was making them all himself.
Sorry, couldn't resist.
Dave

This thread is too quiet.

Let's give a 75 round salute for the man.

[YOUTUBE]Li5EcyksD2I[/YOUTUBE]

Rest in peace.

I think I'll take my AK out tomorrow for a R.I.P. range session

While not a fan of the AK design myself, Kalashnikov is to be respected for designing the most popular and copied firearm type the world over. Having been on the receiving end of weapons bearing his name more than once I am sure I cursed him for inventing the AK at least once I cannot doubt the effect his weapons have shaped the world. RIP.

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I'll take mine out for Christmas tribute....RIP

I fired an AK once years ago. It seemed alright. Today at a gun store I picked up one made by Century. Are AKs supposed to feel so flimsy? I know Century has a reputation for insulting Mr. Kalashnikov's design, but the magazine wobble was horrible, and the whole things felt slapped together.

and the whole things felt slapped together.

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It probably was. AKs that you by here are mostly built from parts kits. They ship millions of parts over here and then slap them together, so you're probably right.

I fired an AK once years ago. It seemed alright. Today at a gun store I picked up one made by Century. Are AKs supposed to feel so flimsy? I know Century has a reputation for insulting Mr. Kalashnikov's design, but the magazine wobble was horrible, and the whole things felt slapped together.

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Pick up one of these, world of difference

My condolences to the family. His rifle design is the most prolific small arm in history. I hope he is given a proper monument for his legacy.

His legacy is the rifle, which will be around for centuries. Well done, Comrade Kalashnikov. You were a worthy adversary and a better ally.

Madmike;

My first thought on that picture was "HAHA".. then I thought, "Hmm.. maybe too early..." Then I thought "Nah, that's pretty fitting and I bet the old guy would have got a chuckle out of it."

Very conflicting 2 seconds, that.

Russian Hammer said:

Pick up one of these, world of difference

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Ooh that has the "fun" pin for the auto sear.



Nice pic.

OK this took me an hour to haul all this stuff out of the vault for a pic.

I'm not a good photographer but I'll let the Kalashnikov's do the talking.

In honor of Mikhail Kalashnikov, I submit these two hours of work. (It'll take another hour to put it all away again.)





Dog kept photobombing me.



And now I rest. Have too many damn steps in this house.



He's got my back.



Aaaand now I put it all back before my wife blows a gasket.

OK .. Organized as best as I could.



And these make me giggle inside, for some reason.

I bought some grey goose vodka and will be shooting some rounds of 7.62x39. I'll have to wait for christmas for the free time to give that toast though.

My AK bayonet, a shot of Stolichnaya, and a gold KGB/GRU lapel pin were the best makeshift memorial I could come up with. I let the survival candle burn out.

...And it was the bestest Kwistmas ever.

Say what you will about the gun, it sure caused us and everyone else to up their game post-war, advancing the state of the art far beyond Mr. K's significant contribution. Probably not since the Brown Bess has an infantry arm been such a symbol of power and manifestation of political & military strategy. Countries put it on their flag, and its proliferation did more to advance the Soviet state than perhaps any other means of influence. I can only wonder how different the world would have been today if we had been the ones giving away massive quantities of arms to unstable/undecided nations for the last fifty years. But none of our stuff was cheap enough to do that.

TCB

I can only wonder how different the world would have been today if we had been the ones giving away massive quantities of arms to unstable/undecided nations for the last fifty years. But none of our stuff was cheap enough to do that.

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Oh...I don't think we can say that. Cheap or not, we gave/sold/foisted/pushed/smuggled enough of our own hardware into the hands of folks we wanted to influence to keep up with the Russkies. Shoot, there wouldn't BE an Al Queda without our generosity!

No, the US had nothing to do with AQ. That myth just won't die.

Nor did we provide any weapons to Iraq after Nixon cut off the Baathists, until we started re-equipping the police after Saddam.

The M16 is a fine rifle, but requires a literate user who will perform occasional maintenance. The AK will run longer without any basic care, before failing. It's the Ford to the GM.

But AKs will fail. Even Russian ones.

Mmmkay.

Then let's just say Afghanistan and several dozen other places would be very different today without our generous contributions of all sorts of goodwill and happiness.

At what I suppose is almost 67 years now, I would guess the total service life of this rifle is in its mere infancy, and that some insurgent in some s-hole somewhere (if not still national armies) will still be using the AK hundreds of years from now.