AK-47: A Soldier's Weapon

Avtomat Kalashnikova is not a household name in the West. Mikhail Kalashnikov isn't either although Kalashnikov probably rings a few bells. The Avtomat Kalashnikova is better known as the AK-47, the rugged and reliable weapon of most of the West's adversaries and an increasingly popular one here. Mikhail was its designer.




Stories are endless about how tough it is to jam an AK and how easy it is (or used to be) an M-16. The AK-47 is easy to manufacture, easy to learn how to maintain and fire, and damned near impossible to screw up even if you bury it in sand and run over it with a tank. Most such stories are true.



With 7.62x39mm M43 ammo firing at 600 rounds per minute it can also tear down trees that an M-16 with comparatively puny 5.56 x 45 mm capable of firing at 800 rounds per minute but limited to three-round bursts can barely penetrate. Granted, both are about equally effective against human targets and the M-16 is a more accurate weapon at longer distances, but in street-to-street combat how much long-range accuracy do you need?




This is not to say that the AK-47 is a gem and the M-16 a useful boat anchor. It is to say that the AK is a soldier's weapon: simple, reliable, and capable of being placed in the hands of comparatively untutored soldiers quickly (and being maintained and used by them with ease).



It follows the philosophy of the Roman gladius. Not even Roman in origin but adopted and adapted to the Roman army's purpose. Easy to make. Easy to use. The acanthus-leaf blade of the Greek alternative with its aerodymanic qualities was a superior weapon but hard to manufacture in large quanities and harder to use with skill. You put a soldier's weapon in enough soldier's hands and you have, as Rome did, a superior army or, in the AK's case, a weapon that can provide some semblance of parity when a guerilla force is facing down an adversary with virtually unlimited financial resources, manpower, and technological superiority.