Without magazine: 3.47 kg (7.7 lb) Magazine, empty: 0.43 kg (0.95 lb) (early issue)[5] 0.33 kg (0.73 lb) (steel)[6] 0.25 kg (0.55 lb) (plastic)[7] 0.17 kg (0.37 lb) (light alloy)[6]
Length
Fixed wooden stock: 880 mm (35 in)[7] 875 mm (34.4 in) folding stock extended 645 mm (25.4 in) stock folded[5]
30-round detachable box magazine[7] There are also 5- 10-, 20- and 40-round box and 75- and 100-round drummagazines available
Sights
100–800 m adjustable iron sights Sight radius: 378 mm (14.9 in)[7]
The AK-47 is a Russian combat rifle first used in 1949. It and an updated version called the AKM were used by the Soviet Union's military (which was called the Soviet Army). It was later replaced by the AK-74 and AK-12.[8]
The AK-47 quickly became famous and spread all around the world because it was simple to fire, clean and maintain, and also because of its reliability, meaning that it can be fired for a long time without jamming. The AK-47 and its successors continue to be used by many of the world's armies. Many terrorist and insurgent groups also use the AK-47. It is a cheap, reliable, and easy-to-use weapon. The AK-47 was also available with a folding stock, the AKS-47, and a shortened version with the AKS74 folding stock, the AKMSU (used by armoured vehicle crews), although this was soon replaced by the AKS74U, which fires the 5.45 cartridge of the AK-74. There was also a light machine gun variant with a longer barrel and different shaped stock called the RPK.
The AK-47 uses gas-operated reloading. When the bullet is moved down the barrel, a little bit of the gas behind the bullet is made to go up a small tube that pushes away the bolt. The shooter does not have to reload by hand for every shot - the gun reloads by itself. When you pull the trigger, the bullet in the chamber fires. You then release and then pull the trigger again to fire another round. When used this way, it is called a semi-automatic firearm. A few AK-47's are made to be used only this way but most are fully automatic firearms.
Spread in third world countries
In the pro-communist states, the AK-47 became a symbol of the Third World revolution.
The proliferation of this weapon is shown by more than just numbers. The AK-47 is included in the flag of Mozambique, an acknowledgment that the country gained its independence in large part through the effective use of their AK-47s.[12] It is also found in the coats of arms of East Timor and the revolution era Burkina Faso, as well as in the flags of Hezbollah, FARC-EP, the New People's Army in the Phillipines, TKP/TIKKO and other "Revolutionary Peoples" groups.
↑http://www.nybooks.com/articles/2011/02/10/most-influential-weapon-our-time/ The Most Influential Weapon of Our Time. The New York Review of Books. Max Hastings FEBRUARY 10, 2011 ISSUE. "József Tibor Fejes, a young Hungarian identified by C. J. Chivers in The Gun as ‘the first known insurgent to carry an AK-47.’ According to Chivers, ‘Fejes obtained his prize after Soviet soldiers dropped their rifles during their attack on revolutionaries in Budapest in 1956…. The Hungarian Revolution marked the AK-47’s true battlefield debut."
↑Monetchikov 2005, chpts. 6 and 7 harvnb error: no target: CITEREFMonetchikov2005 (help): (if AK-46 and AK-47 are to be seen as separate designs).
