AK-47

also called Kalashnikov Model 1947 , Soviet assault rifle, one of the most widely used shoulder weapons in the world. The initials AK represent Avtomat Kalashnikov, Russian for "automatic Kalashnikov" after its designer, Mikhail Timofeyevich Kalashnikov (b. 1919). It has both semi-automatic and automatic capabilities and fires intermediate-power 7.62 mm ammunition.

The AK-47 is a short and well-designed gun. It has a separate gas return tube above the barrel, a long box magazine that holds 30 rounds, and a cyclic firing rate of 600 rounds per minute. It is manufactured in several countries in two basic designs. One has a wooden stock and the other, a folding metal stock. In the 1980s the AK-47 was replaced by the AKM, a modernized version with better sights but the same basic operation. The AK-47 and its AKM version, however, remained the basic shoulder weapons for virtually all communist armies, as well as for many guerrilla and nationalist movements throughout the world. It has been produced in the Soviet Union, Bulgaria, China, East Germany, Hungary, North Korea, Poland, Romania, and Yugoslavia.