Ak47 Assault Rifle Manual

INTRODUCTION
This volume has been prepared primarily for military personnel and for the collector of modern military weapons, being adapted from a translation of an original Russian handbook.

The Soviet AK-47 and its variations have been in service for over two decades. Production is estimated at over thirty five million of these assault rifles, making it the most widely used military weapon in the world. It is of life saving importance to know your enemy's equipment well.

The Soviet AK rifle has many features and is an offspring of the WWII German MKB-42, MP-43 & 44 'Machine Pistols' which were used in Russia after 1942. The Russians were dismayed by such an effective weapon and would have wished to adopt a similar weapon but production was not possible at that time. It appears they were only able to develop the cartridge (Model 1943, 7.62 X a9mm), which is an intermediate cartridge with an effective combat range of 300 meters.

The AK rifle was designed by M. T. Kalashmkov, and -the first prototype trials were of approximately 1000 units issued for test to a Soviet guard unit some 40 miles outside of Moscow. The trials were completed in 1946 and production was started for use by tank and airborne units. At that time, it was considered as a supplement to the Russian SKS rifle, not a replacement. It is believed that the decision to replace the SKS rifle was not made until the early 1950's.

The AK 47 assault rifle itself is well made, reliable and has several interesting features such as a chrome-lined barrel, double-roped springs and complete takedown without tools. As with all weapons, to be dependable, it should be kept as clean as possible.

There also are important defects. There are no provisions for bolt hold open on the last shot, which could be disastrous in combat. Further, there are no provisions of any type to hold the bolt open, which is a poor feature in any military weapon. The safety is poorly designed the movement in changing the safety from 'safe' to 'fire' makes sufficient noise to be heard for some distance on a quiet night. When wearing gloves it is very difficult to move the safety to any position on the standard AK, and on the folding-stock model it is almost impossible to move the safety, with or without gloves, when the stock is folded.