AK-47 assault rifle

The AK-47 assault rifle

The AK-47 is an assault rifle built by Soviet weapons designer, Mikhail Kalashnikov. It is widely used around the world and also appeared in a numerous of video games.

History

The AK-47 was designed in the late 1940s and formally adopted by the Soviet Armed Forces in the 1947 (some said 1949 or 1951). Soon after, it has been adopted by a large numbers of armed forces (over 100 countries) and paramilitary organizations around the world. The weapon (and its variants) is participated in almost every conflicts in the late 20th century to present days.

Design Features

The AK-47 is an long-stroke piston gas-operated assault rifle, it is chambered for the 7.62x39mm cartridge. The rifle is a selective fire weapon, it can be fired in semi-automatic or fully-automatic. When fire in fully-automatic, the weapon has a rate of fire of 600 rounds per minute. It is usually fed with a 30-round curved magazine but also compatible with many rounders, such as the: 40-round long magazine and 75-round drum magazine of the RPK light machine gun. The AK-47 is an reliable weapon, its cheap, easy to use and powerful, and it can even operated in extreme conditions, although it is not an accurate weapon .

Variants

The AK-47 has so many variants as well as licensed/unlicensed copies distributed around the world. Those variants are even more common than the original Soviet models.

Original Soviet/Russian models:

• AKS-47 (variant comes with a under-folding stock)
• AK-47N (variant with a side mounted rail on the left side of the receiver for mounting optics)
• AKM (improved version of the AK-47, adopted by the Soviet Armed Forces in 1959)
• AKMS (an AKM comes with a under-folding stock)
• AKMN (an AKM comes with a side mount)
• AKMSU (shortened version of the AKM, never being large-scale production)
• AK-74 (small caliber variant introduced in the 1970s)
• AK-74N (AK-74 with side mount)
• AKS-74 (AK-74 with a side-folding stock)
• AKS-74U (shortened version of the AK-74)
• AKS-74UN (AKS-74U with side-mount)
• AK-74M (modernized version of the AK-74)
• AK-101/102/103/104/105 (modernized AK rifles in different calibers and lengths)
• AK-107/108/109 (based on the AK-74M, using the compensated action of the AEK-971)
• RPK (light machine gun version)
• RPK-74 (small-caliber light machine gun version)

Other models:

The Norinco Type 56

• Norinco Type 56 (Chinese copies of the AK-47, manufactured by Norinco)
• AK-63 (Hungarian version of the AKM)
• AMD-65 (Hungarian)
• AIM (Romanian)
• Kbk wz.88 Tantal (Polish AK-74)
• MPi-KM (German)
• Arsenal AR (Bulgarian)
• Zastava M70/85/90/92/21 (Yugoslavian/Serbian)
• Misr (Egyptian)
• Type 58/68/98 (North Korean)
• Etc.....

Appears in

The AK-47 (not included AKM and other variants) appears in many video games, such as:

• 007: The World Is Not Enough (AKS-47)
• Counter-Strike (renamed to "CV-47" and purchasable by the terrorist faction)
• Fallout Tactics
• Army Of Two
• Grand Theft Auto 3
• Soldier of Fortune: Payback
• 24: The Game
• Counter Strike: Condition Zero
• Counter Strike: Source
• Counter-Strike Online (Comes with a Zombie Mode exclusive 60-round variant which is fed with a U-shaped magazine, as well as a few variants.)
• Insurgency
• Battlefield 2
• Far Cry 2
• Combat Arms
• Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (widely used by enemy factions in Campaign, with usable ACOG sight, GP-25 grenade launcher and Red Dot Sight in Multiplayer)
• Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (Modernized, fitted with tan-colored tactical handguards, magazines, pistol grips and AR type collapsible buttstocks. Used by Russian Armed Forces and a lot of enemy factions in Campaign mode, available in a various of attachments.)
• Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 (Modernized, fitted with black tactical handguards, magazines, pistol grips and AR type collapsible buttstocks. Used by Russian Armed Forces and a lot of enemy factions in Campaign mode, available in a various of attachments.)
• Call of Duty: Black Ops (Not standard Soviet model, used by all enemy factions in game and available with a various of attachments.)
• Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 (As in Black Ops, not standard Soviet model. Appeared in Campaign only.)
• Battlefield: Bad Company 2: Vietnam
• Viet Cong 2
• Battlefield Play4Free