The AK-47

98 Pages·2001·10.84 MB·English

by  Chris McNab

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THE AK47
CHRIS McNAB

THE AK47
CHRIS McNAB
SPELLMOUNT
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data:
A catalogue record for this book is available
from the British Library
Copyright © Amber Books Ltd 2001
ISBN 1-86227-116-X
First published in the UK in 2001 by
Spellmount Ltd
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Project Editor: Charles Catton/Chris Stone
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Printed and bound in The Slovak Republic
CONTENTS
CHAPTER 1
The Making of the AK47 6
CHAPTER 2
Design and Development 20
CHAPTER 3
Usage and Training 34
CHAPTER 4
Deployment and Battle 48
CHAPTER 5
AK Variants 68
Appendices 92
Index 95

CHAPTER 1
The Making of
the AK47
Few weapons have had a greater impact on the
history of men-at-arms, and indeed history in
general, as Kalashnikov's AK47.
Its acceptance as the standard assault rifle for Soviet forces in
1949 set in train the production of an astonishing 80 million
AK47s or immediate variants - 80 million hard-hitting medi-
um-range killing tools which were easy to operate, rarely
failed, and simple to manufacture. The AK47 became a truly
global presence in military, insurgent and civilian hands. It
was almost as much of an icon of the Soviet ideology as the
hammer and sickle. It has killed and injured in almost every
conflict since the early 1950s, and modern variations and
scattered, unaccounted stocks ensure that it will continue to
do so for many years to come. The historical consequences
of giving so much of the world such heavy personal fire-
power is still being evaluated.
THE INTERMEDIATE CARTRIDGE
The AK47 was not designed upon impulse or simple inspira-
tion. In fact, it emerged out of Soviet developments in ammu-
nition technology in the early 1940s. During this period,
changes in tactical thinking about small arms led Soviet mil-
itary authorities to commission the design of a new 'inter-
mediate' cartridge, a round somewhere between a rifle car-
tridge and a pistol cartridge in terms of power and perfor-
mance. It was to accommodate this new cartridge that the
AK was designed. Yet the story of how this intermediate
round came into being is somewhat clouded in confusion,
and needs clarification.
At the beginning of World War II, military small-arms ammu-
nition had separated into two essential formats. At the smaller
end of the scale were pistol-calibre rounds. These ranged
between about 5mm (0. 19in) and 15mm (0. 59in) and had a
case length generally between 8mm (0. 31in) and 13mm
(0. 51in). Performance varied dramatically, but muzzle velocity
tended to gather around 250-350mps (820-1148fps) and a
practical range about 20-30m (65-98ft). Pistol-calibre rounds
Left: A Russian infantryman stalks warily through the rubble of
Stalingrad carrying his PPSh41. By the early 1940s, Soviet authorities
had already begun the quest for the perfect infantry weapon.
THE A K 47
were used, naturally, in handguns but also in submachine guns. The experience of trench warfare led many military author-
This latter application originated in the combat experience of ities to re-evaluate the reality of combat distances. In close
World War I. Trench warfare sat at odds with the supposed trench warfare, the distances were generally well under
advantages of the standard long-range infantry rifle. A 1000m 15. 24m (50ft) but even across open land 300m (984ft) usual-
+ range was superfluous when trench systems were often lit- ly set the visual and practical limit of effective fire. For the
tle more than 100m (328ft) apart, plus the blast of the car- most compact styles of warfare emerged the submachine gun,
tridge acted as a valuable locator signature for the enemy in weapons like the Bergmann MP18 leading the way. Short and
low-light conditions. The powerful round also made the rifle easily wielded, firing a controllable pistol-calibre cartridge,
much more difficult to handle accurately in unskilled hands, capable of full automatic modes of fire, and usually featuring a
consequently pushing up training times which were con- large magazine capacity, the submachine gun was an ideal
strained once mass conscription came into play. The advan- close-quarters weapon and went on to have a long history
tages of long-range firepower were particularly undone in which is far from over.
actions during which enemy trenches were entered. World While pistol-calibre cartridges inhabited the close-quarters
War I trench systems were kinked or even crenellated every spectrum of combat, the psychological commitment to long-
5- 10m (l6-33ft) or so, and in a confused trench battle a high- range rifle marksmanship and the ubiquitous presence of the
power rifle round would have little currency with its excessive bolt-action rifle meant that full-power cartridges were still the
penetrative power (which would endanger one's own com- dominant currency at the beginning of World War II. While
rades) and the need to manually load each cartridge by physi- actual calibre varied between about 6mm (0. 23in) and 8mm
cally working the bolt. Furthermore, the great length of most (0. 31 in), cartridge length rarely reached below 50mm
of the rifles made them incredibly difficult to wield in narrow (1. 96in). For example, the Mauser Gewehr 98 fired a 7. 92 x
trenches, some of which could be narrower than the length of 57mm cartridge which weighed 11. 52gm (0. 025lb) and
the rifles. Finally, the limits of the magazine capacity and the (when using German Ball SmE Lang cartridges) propelled the
method of reloading meant that in vigorous combat a maga- bullet at 896mps (2939fps) to a range of well over 1000m
zine could be quickly expended and difficult to replenish. (3280ft). The 1000m+ range of the Gewehr 98 was a typical
aspiration of military rifles at the time, and was felt to be vital
Below: The contrast between full power and intermediate ammunition for the soldiers command of the open battlefield. A design
is clearly shown in this representative spread of post-war ammunition corollary of this was a long barrel, necessary to give the accu-
types. From left to right: 7. 62mm M1891; 7. 62mm NATO; 7. 92mm racy for hitting targets at the limit of visual range, and thus
MR43; 7. 62mm M43. extensive overall gun dimensions and weight. Barrel length on
THE M A K I NG OF THE AK47
the Russian Ml891 reached 800mm (31. 5in), this giving a gun Above: A medic of the Red Guard struggles through the snow of the
length of 1240mm (48. 82in) and an overall weight of 4. 35kg Eastern Front, 1942. On his back he carries a mix of old and new:
(9. 591b). Carbine versions of many rifles were developed as three 7. 62mm Mosin-Nagant rifles and a Tokarev automatic rifle.
attempts to control gun specifications, but even amongst
these barrel length generally stayed above the 600mm (23. 6in) operated weapons, while at the other was the gas-operated US
mark (an)' shorter and the muzzle blast from the cartridge M1 Garand which would go on to be the standard rifle of US
started to become an obstacle to efficient use). forces until the late 1950s. What unites the various models pro-
In the early decades of the Soviet Union, one rifle cartridge duced was their usage of standard rifle cartridges, despite the
was dominant - the 7. 62 x 54R Mosin-Nagant. This venerable fact that the sheer power of previously bolt-action rounds
round entered service in the aforementioned Ml891 designed placed severe burdens on the pistons, bolts and breech blocks
by Emil and Leon Nagant and Captain S. I. Mosin of the Russian of self-loading weapons. Such a situation was equally true in
Imperial Artillery. The round had a case length of 53. 60mm the Soviet Union. Automatic rifle development there began
(2. 1in) and, depending on the rifle, it could achieve a muzzle with Federov (who will be discussed later) in 1916, but by the
velocity of around 870mps (2854fps) and a range in excess of 1920s and 30s Soviet authorities were eager enough for the
1000m (3280ft). While the Ml891 round was perfectly com- new format to commission numerous competitions to design
patible with the times when it was first produced, its awkward automatic rifles.
rimmed shape and inconsistent manufacture started to cause The participants in these competitions formed a roll-call of
problems with the experimentations in self-loading rifles that some of Soviet history's most esteemed designers - Degtyarev,
gathered apace from the late 1800s. Simonov, Tokarev, Federov. Between 1930 and 1940 the domi-
By the beginning of World War II many nations had devel- nant names in self-loading design were the first three of this
oped self-loading rifles with varying degrees of success. At list. Yet their creative handling of self-loading rifles was cur-
one end of the scale was Mauser's disastrous series of recoil- tailed by the standardisation of the 7. 62 x 54R round. During
9