Today, November 10th marks the 101st birthday of the legendary Russian Lieutenant-General Mikhail Kalashnikov. Famous worldwide for his contributions to the firearms industry, especially for having developed what is probably the most popular weapon on the planet, created in 1947 and still in use to this day...the mythical Avtomat Kalashnikova better known as AK-47.
To commemorate his birthday we’ve decided to make a list of interesting facts, which you maybe didn’t know, about the famous AK-47.
The AK-47 appears in the Guinness World Records for having over 100 million units produced. According to the gun’s manufacturer every 5th firearm in the world is a Kalashnikov.
It appears as a national symbol on the flag of 4 nations: Timor-Leste, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, and Burkina Faso (1984-1997).
During the Vietnam War, U.S. soldiers were armed with the M16, but the gun had various problems, some troops even died not being able to return fire. Many U.S. soldiers began to take the AK-47s from their fallen enemies in order to use when their M16’s failed or got dirty.
With the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 a Pandora’s Box for weapons trafficking was opened. Unfortunately, the AK-47 became the weapon of choice for guerrillas, street gangs, dictators, and terrorists. Osama bin Laden always appeared in his videos with an AK-47 by his side.
What do you think of the AK-47? Did we miss any interesting facts, let us know in the comments.
Read: History of 7.62x39 Ammo and History of 5.45x39 Ammo to learn more about the ammunition for the iconic AK-47.
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