Kalashnikov dead at 94

[Bailey Guns]

MK: AK47, AKM, AK74, RPK, PKM, Krinkov, AK-101, AK-103

That's like saying an AR is a "new" rifle/invention because it's chambered in a different caliber or has a different barrel length, isn't it? The AR-15, M16, SP1, M16 A1, M16 A2, M16 A4, M4, AR-10, etc... may have all had minor variations from the original but they're basically the same rifle.

I'm not knocking the AK or Kalashnikov's efforts, really. Obviously, the history of the rifle speaks for itself. But the man certainly wasn't in the same league as a firearms designer as John Browning. Not even close. Objectively, I'm not sure I'd even put him in the top 10 designers. His gun is a different story in terms of it's proliferation and longevity.

[Hound]

Which side were you on in SEA, Iraq, Afghanistan , Mogadishu, Somalia, Rhodesia, SA ?

The cold war was not only about nukes. They knew we 'had a gun behind every blade of grass' , we knew they were filled to the brim with AK's and SKS's. WWW3 would have been short and more bloody than all wars before it. The nuke option was MAD but so were direct conventional conflicts that would naturally spiral out of control. That is why we instead had proxy wars like Vietnam. Still costly but not on the same level as what could have been.

[Hound]

That's like saying an AR is a "new" rifle/invention because it's chambered in a different caliber or has a different barrel length, isn't it? The AR-15, M16, SP1, M16 A1, M16 A2, M16 A4, M4, AR-10, etc... may have all had minor variations from the original but they're basically the same rifle.

I'm not knocking the AK or Kalashnikov's efforts, really. Obviously, the history of the rifle speaks for itself. But the man certainly wasn't in the same league as a firearms designer as John Browning. Not even close. Objectively, I'm not sure I'd even put him in the top 10 designers. His gun is a different story in terms of it's proliferation and longevity.

The difference is in the equation...... Quality or Quantity. Browning produced some revolutionary, quality, accurate, high tolerance guns. Kalashnikov produced a revolutionary gun process, based on low tolerance and the ability to be made easily. Roughly synonymous with the philosophies of the WW2 Panzer/Tiger tanks vs the Sherman.

[Bailey Guns]

The difference is in the equation...... Quality or Quantity. Browning produced some revolutionary, quality, accurate, high tolerance guns. Kalashnikov produced a revolutionary gun process, based on low tolerance and the ability to be made easily. Roughly synonymous with the philosophies of the WW2 Panzer/Tiger tanks vs the Sherman.

I don't dispute the quality v quantity thing. There are advantages to both philosophies.

I certainly don't think he invented the process of mass manufacturing (I know you didn't use that word). Just to be clear, he may have adapted it to rifle production, but he didn't invent it.

[osok-308]

Gee, lotta numbers and letters for the same damn Communist conscript gun. Same shit, different day. Can't say that about JMB.

Instead of comparing him to John Browning, why aren't we comparing him to Eugene Stoner? Stoner invented several rifles as well, but he is not as accomplished as Browning either. Stoner made basically the same rifle with different features in the AR-15/AR-10/Stoner rifle. He did have the concept for the AR-7 as well, but same concept. I like both rifles, AR has its pros/cons just like the AK does. If Kalashnikov were not Russian, but an American, we may be arguing he was better than we are saying now.

[TFOGGER]

Funeral arrangements have been made....

http://www.duffelblog.com/2013/12/mi...ashnikov-dead/


MOSCOW — Russia has announced funeral arrangements for Lt. Gen. Mikhail T. Kalashnikov, inventor of the AK-47 assault rifle.
“Comrade Kalashnikov will be buried in a pit of mud with full military honors,” said General-Major Saiga Molot, a spokesman for the Russian army. “After a week, we will exhume his body, clean it off, and put him back to work. We expect that there shall be no issue with his functions.”
Kalashnikov died of complications from a liver transplant operation. The liver Kalashnikov received was allegedly Romanian, but turned out to be a substandard Albanian version.



Read more: http://www.duffelblog.com/2013/12/mi...#ixzz2oPT6HNpT

too soon? Too bad!

[Bailey Guns]

He could easily be compared to Stoner. But even Stoner designed other weapons that weren't basically the AR-10 or AR-15. Stoner designed the Bushmaster 25mm cannon (what we now know as the M242) among other things.

[Bailey Guns]

Funeral arrangements have been made....

http://www.duffelblog.com/2013/12/mi...ashnikov-dead/


MOSCOW — Russia has announced funeral arrangements for Lt. Gen. Mikhail T. Kalashnikov, inventor of the AK-47 assault rifle.
“Comrade Kalashnikov will be buried in a pit of mud with full military honors,” said General-Major Saiga Molot, a spokesman for the Russian army. “After a week, we will exhume his body, clean it off, and put him back to work. We expect that there shall be no issue with his functions.”
Kalashnikov died of complications from a liver transplant operation. The liver Kalashnikov received was allegedly Romanian, but turned out to be a substandard Albanian version.



Read more: http://www.duffelblog.com/2013/12/mi...#ixzz2oPT6HNpT

too soon? Too bad!

MK would probably laugh! I did.

[Skip]

[snip]

But the man certainly wasn't in the same league as a firearms designer as John Browning. Not even close. Objectively, I'm not sure I'd even put him in the top 10 designers. His gun is a different story in terms of it's proliferation and longevity.

Not in the same league...

[Hound]

I don't dispute the quality v quantity thing. There are advantages to both philosophies.

I certainly don't think he invented the process of mass manufacturing (I know you didn't use that word). Just to be clear, he may have adapted it to rifle production, but he didn't invent it.

Correct, that largely goes to Ford