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Mikhail Kalashnikov dead at 94

Ultradog MN

Ultradog MN

Well-known Member
Location
Twin Cities
Saw this on my morning trip around the web.
I know some of you faced his progeny, maybe saw your friends die by it.
Yet, this is a board of tinkerers, home spun inventors, fixers and makers of oddball junk.
So give a thought to a fellow like Harry Ferguson. His tinkering changed the world.
I wish him Godspeed and a peaceful rest.
NYT article
 
Yeah, pretty good invention from a guy with no formal training.

I read another article that he was a little peeved in the later years as terrorists got ahold of them. Your article makes some mention of that also.

Many sources talk of the AK-47 being way more durable in sand and other extremes compared to the M-16, yet a whole lot less accurate. I think I may add one to my collection some day. But other bills keep popping up.

Rick
 
That was in the obits over a week ago. He never patented it and never recieved any royalties. Over 100 million produced worldwide. [ I think that was the nbumber] Which Russian invented the smushkas?
 
I carried one for a year and yes it worked vary well with little maintenance . and no they were not tack drivers but that round was better in the jungle .
 
Kind of hard to patent a design you made for the armed forces in the Soviet Union - remember the people (ie the state) collectively owned everything.
 
I've only shot an AR a few times, and I have to admit when it comes to the low recoil, and the amount of ammo you can carry for it, it has some appeal. Thing is every time I shoot, and clean, or don't, one of the 3 AK's that I've got, and then pull it out to shoot the next time, and the next time, and the next time, I remember why I like them so much better than the AR's.

Too, while you might not be able to carry quite as much ammo for the same weight, and they might not be quite as accurate at longer ranges as the AR, if I can get within a hundred yards or so all it's going to take is one shot to put the target down. In other words I might not hit the targets bulls eye, but even if I hit near the outer ring, I don't think the target is going to go far.
 
Like others have said, to have had no formal training he designed a rifle that even a completely uneducated man could operate, work on when necessary, and in some cases, even duplicate without the 'proper' tools needed to do so.

I think that's something our modern day 'educated' engineers should pay attention to as it seems most feel that over complicating, by 'adding parts to simplify the design', is the way to go nowdays. Saddly I think most feel that they just have to add parts and/or come up with new designs, to solve problems that have already been solved, to justify their own jobs. Basically they let their 'higher education' turn them into 'educated idiots' when it comes to their designs and forget the whole KISS (Keep It Simple Stupid) that us 'uneducated' folks apply to the things we do.

In the end Kalashinkov may not have been the most educated man in the world, but he was definitely smart. Thing is if you look through history it's folks like that, more than any others, that developed products, or ideas, that have had the most lasting effects on, and basically changed the world as we know it.
 
He got messed over by the system. For all those who don't think our system is very good and hate corporate America, Mikhail Kalashnikov retired on about 60 bucks a month. When Eugene Stoner (inventor of the AR rifle) died he owned his jet.

Rick
 
The AK47's father is really the Stg44, a Nazi

weapon issued to German troops supporting

armor divisions. Sturmgewehr( storm rifle) was

the name given to an improved machine pistol.

Kalashnikov was injured fighting troops equipped

with the Stg44.Like so many mechanically inclined

farm boys shown a better way to do things,he

improved on what he saw. He is to the Soviets

what John Browning is to us .
 
Mixed feeling on the guy.
Genius, yep.
Great tank mechanic, Yep.

But, The rifle that he designed was hyper mass produced by many other eastern block nations, and a few in the orient, and of course--the USSR. This rifle was responsible for the deaths of many US servicemen.
 
Kind of old news.

Kalashnikov, like many successful inventors, was in the right place at the right time. Once the Soviets encountered the StG 44, it was probably just a matter of time before they copied it. And being Russians, what they made was going to be dog-simple. Kalashnikov just happened to be the guy who did it.
 
Actually about the only thing they copied was the idea of an intermediate round for their assault weapon instead of using a full powered rifle round or a pistol round. The mechanics of the AK47 rifle are completely different from the StG44. The MP 43 was actually prompted by German ancounters with the Soviet SVT-40.
 
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