"Of all the weapons in the vast Soviet arsenal, none was more profitable than the Avtomat Kalashnikova, model of 1947, more commonly referred to as the AK-47 or Kalashnikov. It's the world's most popular assault rifle, a weapon all fighters love, an elegantly simple nine pound amalgamation of forged steel and plywood. It doesn't break, jam or overheat, it will shoot whether it's covered in mud or filled with sand, it's so easy even a child can use it, and they do. The Soviets put the gun on a coin, Mozambique put it on their flag, since the end of the cold war the Kalashnikov has become the Russian people's greatest export. After that comes vodka, caviar and suicidal novelists, one things for sure, no one was lining up to buy their cars."
"Of all the weapons in the vast Soviet arsenal, none was more profitable than the Avtomat Kalashnikova, model of 1947, more commonly referred to as the AK-47 or Kalashnikov. It's the world's most popular assault rifle, a weapon all fighters love, an elegantly simple nine pound amalgamation of forged steel and plywood. It doesn't break, jam or overheat, it will shoot whether it's covered in mud or filled with sand, it's so easy even a child can use it, and they do. The Soviets put the gun on a coin, Mozambique put it on their flag, since the end of the cold war the Kalashnikov has become the Russian people's greatest export. After that comes vodka, caviar and suicidal novelists, one things for sure, no one was lining up to buy their cars."
There are over 550 million firearms in worldwide circulation. That's one firearm for every twelve people on the planet. The only question is: How do we arm the other 11?
i read this after i got a temu ad in the video for a pistol..from temu...it would normally be EXTREMELY ILLEGAL in my country to order a gun just like that. so the answer to your question is: chinese capitalism :)
The AKs are incredibly easy to understand. The 47, 74 and others of the 100 series are honestly not going anywhere. Also the irons are beautiful in every video game 🙏
While the AK is fantastically reliable, they are not mythical, if you drag it throught mud or sand, it will jam, if you dont clean it for months it will misfire, the North Hollywood shootout ended because of a faulty AK The weapon is incredibly reliable, but there are several limits on them too, like any other weapon
That one gun TH-camr Garandthumb did a good video demonstrating which rifles did best in different types of elements (mud and being frozen to be exact). Only the AR could put up with tremendous amounts of mud (few others with a small realistic amount, forgot which ones). Only one rifle though proved to be reliable in ice cold conditions and that was the AK.
@noneyabusinesshomie Fun thing about the AR, they are pretty much on par with the AK in terms of reliability when tested by multiple nations, even the soviets praised the AR, captured from Vietnam The problem was that the early models have a different type of powder than the one in the design for the weapon, this may seem minor, but types of powder change radically how the weapon functions, because different types of powder burn hotter or cooler, thus increasing or decresing chamber pressure, and there is the problem of burn time too, if the burn takes too long, then there will be unburnt powder left in the barrel by the time the extractor start pulling the bullet or if the powder is too hot, the extractor will rip the bullet in half This became a huge political scandal in the US because the weapon was supposed to be more reliable than the M14. The jist of it is that the army had tons of a type of ball powder lying around from their current stock piles, and they for some reason decided to use that instead of using comercial grade rod powder like the AR15 was designed to operate, and tell no one about this.... they could have asked for a redesign to accommodate the new powder, but nope, they went full idiot and.... the M16 original was a piece of shit, but when you used commercial grade bullets, it ran like normal
Thats for the ak47 model all ak rifles after its including the akm do have the almost mythical legendary reliability. An AK-103 for example can survive a meltdown of firing over 1500 bullets of 7.62 firing continuesly
Bits of internet folklore in this one. AK is pretty reliable, but mainly in the sense of being able to defer maintenance for a long time; if you pull it out of a swamp and leave it full of muck you can expect just as much trouble as any other gun if you try to fire it. The Soviet licensing model means a global network of suppliers, yes, but there's also real variation between producers. Hungarian parts won't necessarily be interchangeable with Russian or Polish or Chinese ones. Good video regardless.
@@MonkeyJedi99 AR is more like laserdisc. The original platform is obsolete, but the fundamental tech - optical media / the semi-DI system - remains the foundation of most modern interpretations.
It is so funny how you gun nuts pretend to be persecuted by the government. The reason the government let's you have the gun is because they know you will never rebel. If anything, you'll help them round up "the communist undesirables" if they ask you to.
I mean, the only reason for a lot of the early competition against the AK being so bad is because the US didnt want to shift cartridges. So the US forced the rest of the 1st world to adopt 'battle' rifles. Once the issues with battle rifles became prevailent is when the US would adopt the Armalite design with the 5.56 cartridges. 1 literally led to the other.
It's also because the closest US equivalent, .30 Carbine, was a bit too weak to be an intermediate cartridge (although not too far off from 5.45x39). Had the Army used .351 WSL instead of .32 WSL as the baseline for .30 Carbine, the US would have had a good intermediate cartridge in 1941.
@@hailexiao2770 The US military specifically said anything weaker than .308 Winchester would not be acceptable for a standard-issue rifle. As for .30 Carbine VS 5.45x39mm, the latter is significantly more powerful and has better penetration than even 5.56x45mm NATO.
It was US Army Ordnance that didn't want to change. Pretty much everyone else did. Army Ordnance was forced to switch and effectively sabotaged the M16.
@andyfriederichsen to be completely fair, 280 British wasn't very good as an intermediate cartridge, it was heavier with significantly more recoil than 7.62x39.
I grew up thanks to games loving the AK47. Learning it's history, really just solidified why I still hold it in high regard. The fact it is still being used and even receiving improvements is impressive for an older gun. Thanks for the video.
"if you forget to clean it for months at a time" ... actually it can blow in your hand if you forget to clean the barrel, same as every other firearm does when the barrel becomes obstructed
"AK-47" is just a general colloquial term used because the rifle was first introduced in 1947. After the initial runs of the Type 1, Type 2, and Type 3 AK-47s, Kalashnikov revamped the whole gun and updated features on it in the 1950s. From then on it became known as the AKM or Avtomat Kalashnikova Modernizrovanny, which in English means Automatic Kalashnikov Modernized. So you see it's actually incorrect to call it the AK-47 because that term refers to the first 3 iterations of the gun specifically, which by the way didn't actually see service until 1949. The designation of "AK-47" just stuck, around the time of the Type 2's introduction. It's better to just say AK or Kalashnikov. Also they updated it again in 1974 and called it the AK-74 and the AK-74M after that.
@@baronvonslambert Same as how there are approximately eleventy-three official variants of the Colt/Armalite thing, but everybody calls all of 'em AR-15, or maybe M16 for a long military one and CAR-15 (old)/M4 (newer) for the short military version.
My first thought about the claim that the AK is the most deadly weapon wasn't actually that nukes are more deadly. My thought was actually that I think the Mauser Model 1898 was deadlier. They were used by like half of the world's armies from the 1890s until like, the 1950s. Which obviously includes BOTH world wars.
A couple of corrections. The soviets already had an assault rifle program going before the germans (the avt-40), they really just needed help with the intermediate cartridge part. Even before the stg44 was "mass" adopted the soviets had already figured it out.
The AKM is the most popular rifle as it was produced in far larger quantity than the AK-47, switching from milled to stamped sheet metal made the rifle very cheap to make.
"Of all the weapons in the vast Soviet arsenal, nothing was more profitable than the Avtomat Kalashnikova model of 1947, more commonly known as the AK-47, or Kalashnikov. It's the world's most popular assault rifle. A weapon all fighters love. An elegantly simple 9 pound amalgamation of forged steel and plywood. It doesn't break, jam, or overheat. It will shoot whether it's covered in mud or filled with sand. It's so easy, even a child can use it; and they do. The Soviets put the gun on a coin. Mozambique put it on their flag. Since the end of the Cold War, the Kalashnikov has become the Russian people's greatest export. After that comes vodka, caviar, and suicidal novelists. One thing's for sure, no one is lining up to buy their cars."
It's funny that I went through much the same train of thought as your intro when I saw the thumbnail; nukes would top the list based on scale and use-case, but the AK reigns through sheer ubiquity.
The AK-47 is known as "The World's Gun" for a reason. Also, I like what you do. I have learned more about the state of multiple countries I like and have you may not know it, but you are teaching us widely sheltered and ignorant Americans how the world really works and what life and politics is really like for over 80% of the globe. You are very educational and it is one of the most important and essential things to know history and see its relation to current events. To know why people and nations do as they do, and to understand more of human nature and sociology. I personally am grateful to have encountered you and your content and will continue to enjoy your knowledge and love of history and understanding.
Ackshully... the 762x39 was developed at the same time as the 792 kurtz, and was originally the 762x41mm. M kalishnakov has even stated the ak was an in house design and not influenced by the STG. If this is true its unknown, but we do know the soviets worked on an intermediate cartridge while the germans were still only doing small trials
The AK doesnt really share any significant operating bits with the StG44, aside from both of them being long stroke gas piston designs (which was something like 90% of gas piston designs at the time, and was one of the design details switched from the AK46 to the AK47, for *reliability* - the same reason almost everyone else using gas was using a long stroke piston.) Different bolt lock up system, different fire control group, different recoil system, etc. Internally, the gun is *far* more like a Garand (something Kalashnikov proudly admitted - copying other people's design elements was *not* consodered shameful to Soviet designers; it was consodered "smart"... if Kalashnikov was copying the StG44, he would have bragged about it.) The general physical layout of the AK matches the StG generally... for the same reason the physical layout of the M16, the FAL (which is based on and derived from a *pre-WWII* experimental design), but thats because both German and Soviet infantrymen are "human shaped" and physics work the same in every country. No, what the Soviets "copied" from the StG44 was merely the *concept* of an intermediate caliber, handy, selective fire rifle that can pinch-hit as a SMG (thus the reason most assault rifles use mahazines about the same size - enough rounds to work as a SMG without immediately running out of ammo, but short enough you could still shoot in the prone.)
So wasn't exactly a copy of the STG44, but like other touchscreen phones imitated the first IPhone that gun wouldn't exist without the success of the precursor ,your comment is exactly like the one that a Nokia or Samsung first touchscreen phones fans would make about the IPhone,I'm not sure what is the point of making this comment today more than would be from those old Nokia fans from 20 years ago to pretend today that their favorite company invented the touchscreen phones and without Nokia the touchscreen revolution wouldn't happened ,nobody would believe them nowadays , not even themselves. Well of course are today more android phones than IPhones, but that doesn't prove that they don't copyed the first IPhone at the beginning .
@@ChucksSEADnDEAD that to is a valid comparison, and it's exactly what I want to say, isn't exactly a rip-off, but almost which is ok, but claiming that the follower it's the pioneer is kinda lame.
The most common rifle rounds are 30 caliber or less. The most common pistol rounds are higher than 30 caliber (9mm, 45acp, 380, 32, 40s&w). Caliber does not denote the power of the round. It is the size of the diameter of the bullet.
When i was around 9 years old, i visited a military show here in Serbia, and my uncle let me hold his Yugoslav Produced AK. I am still surprised at how light and easy to hold it was. Great weapon the AK is...
One could argue the M1/M2 Carbine are also "assault rifles" due to them being in an intermediate caliber (larger then a pistol smaller then a rifle) with the M2 being select fire and some M1s being modified in the field to be full auto. The whole purpose of which was to give people who typically carried a pistol something with better accuracy and range.
Rest in Peace Mikhail Kalashnikov, you were a humble, and true man. Hard as steel, and down to earth. May all of us gunsmiths get the honor to shake your hand when we cross the threshold into the next life, I salute you sir 🫡 🇷🇺 🇺🇸
As a person who has had the privilege of shooting and Ak-47, I must say that it was surprisingly lightweight and very easy to use. I can see why it became one of the most popular weapons in the world.
you should do a video on the F-14 tomcat, how it came to be, it's service with the US navy, and how it's service with the Iranian air force caused almost all functional tomcats to be scrapped
If youre doing influential weapons throughout history may i suggest the Chinese Dao and Jian swords, very underrated for how much work they did and a massive history behind them
It’s been estimated that if the total number of individual firearms created throughout human history were to be added up, one fifth of them would be Kalashnikovs or some variant thereof, which is even more amazing when you consider that the rifle didn’t even enter service until 1947, while gunpowder was invented at least two millennia ago.
just a couple nitpicks. Rifles at the time were chambered in 7.62, or for the American audience the most fielded rifle round at the time was 30-06, which is a 7.62 (7.62X63), The difference is the casing between a rifle cartridge and an intermediate cartridge. The intermediate cartridge has a smaller casing than a traditional rifle cartridge, but larger than a pistol cartridge, hence the name intermediate, it's between the two. However the caliber of the round itself is unchanged. The second nitpick also comes with the statement that SMGs were lower caliber, when most were 9mm or .45ACP (metric designation of 11.43×23mm) which is a higher caliber round. it again comes to the classification of the type of cartridge they were using Pistol rounds. Pistol rounds need to be compact and have shorter casings, with less powder behind the bullet, so you end up with lower velocity rounds, that carry less energy, however the caliber is higher than the rifle round. They may seem like trivial details but this is how we end up with the misunderstanding that a 5.56 is high caliber when it's origins were a varmint round, it's exceptionally low caliber, with a lot of energy/velocity behind it, but it's still low caliber. Where a typical hunting or handgun round is much higher caliber, going slower. (do not mistake the intent, the energy is what matters in a military situation more often than not, so small round going fast can be a better answer than high caliber rounds going slower. Caliber has little determination of the power of the round, it's a measure of the diameter of the projectile) Other than that great video. Enjoyed it very much.
There is a level of nuances that exists with the AK47, because what we know as an AK47 most of the time is not actually an AK47. In the same way that most M4 carbines are almost all not M4 but M4A1 through A3. There are 3 patterns of the AK47 that are stamped as such, Stamped receiver (failure), Milled, Milled (lightened). But that ignores that the AKM, being an AK47 that was modernised. Notably a stamped receiver rifle that worked. There are differences between rifles built by different nations, often the differences are not mechanical. It is also interesting how long the "will fire filled with mud" has stuck around. They will jam if filled with mud, but they are extremely easy to clean. Pull the top cover, pour water through it and it will likely start working again. If it doesn't field striping does not take long.
AK-47 is only the first incarnation of the family, and it does not lasted too long as it was too expensive to make. It had an expensive milled steel receiver. The AKM (came around 1956) with stamped sheet steel receiver and its siblings were the vast majority of the AK family.
9:16 The M43 Cartridge had the dimension of 7.62x41mm until 1947. Before that the Sovjets had several intermediate cartridges in the 30th like 5.6x39 mm and 5.7x54 mm.
It's also not simple to make. They can make plenty of those because they have build a very specialized machine tools to build them. Notice how the Soviet gave the rifles to practically everyone but not the machines.
@@anggi8699 it's only expensive when viewed from a western manufacturing standpoint. The soviets operated machines that are sometimes 30 years out of date compared to even the most rickety ass Western factories in the 80's and even 90's. That should key you as to what the Engineers and the designers had to work with. If they can't do things through machining and automation, then they'll use people instead. It's only cheap because of cheap labor alongside material and design principles from the 50's. The quality of the raw materials, the finished metal and even just the precision machines were to a very shitty degree that it sometimes even rattles. To the western economies, one extra man on the payroll might just break the bank. To the soviets, one extra man is just another man who will participate in the bread lines. They didn't care about how many worked, they need more work to show off a very low unemployment rate. The real problem for them was updated machines, which was in low supply. Not to mention that they not only produced the guns is such high enough numbers but also they can dictate the price since their non-involvement in the world economy meant that people aren't even sure of the value of a ruble. Also, they shared blueprints to every friendly member of the Warsaw pact. They even shared it to NK and China. Not only guns, but also blueprints. Which country would even be willing to give such a generous technology transfer? The Machines? Maybe, only SK with their K2 MBT for Poland, but try asking the French for the Leclerc machines and see how they laugh.
@@anggi8699 But its is made around the world. There are least a dozen licensed producers, and as many more unlicensed knockoffs, local versions, or "cousins" like the Israeli Galil. For that matter, local gunsmiths make AKs with hand tools in Khyber gunshops in Afghanistan/Pakistan.
@@MM22966 true, but there's a different between assembling parts in a workshop and making them from scratch in scale. Like the OP said Aks are not cheap it requires big factory and plenty of labour to produce them in scale.
Incorrect. It’s stamped metal receivers with a handful of milled parts. The AK platform (post 1958 with the introduction of the AKM) is quite cheap to produce. Not as cheap as, say the M3 “Grease Gun”, but still a comparatively very cheap gun to manufacture.
The AK-47 is the Rolls Royce of Crude but Effective, there are many Crude but Effective firearms but many are even more simplistic than the AK-47 and not as pretty. Let’s look at WW2, the American Grease Gun, the British Sten mk2, the Russian PTRD-41, the German VolksstermGewehr. And this is just to name a few of the effective/semi effective weapons
You should do the rifle of the world prior to the ak, the German Mauser. There's a lot of variety but even America adopted it as the 1903. There's variations from nearly anywhere you can think of even if they didn't have the capacity to make their own (Brazil, Chile, Ethiopia, ect). I'd love to know how Mauser actually thought about his rifles aside from his accident and the safety implications it lead to.
Even now the 47 itself is being replaced but it's just being replaced by newer variants like the AK-74 like all that's really happening is they're getting the newer versions of the same gun
Nobel, who invented TNT, felt such remorse that he created the Nobel Prize endowment to reward those who created/discovered things that will help the world. A history of the potato sounds pretty interesting! 😊❤
For those interested: Read Unknown Soldier issue #21 (2008 Vertigo 2nd Series), a comic that tells the story of an AK-47 from its birth in the Izhevsk Mechanical Plant in Russia to its employment by various soldiers, rebels, criminals, and farmers across the wilds of Africa...and it tells the story from the GUN's perspective.
Thank you man for you amazing videos, I think I would ask for you to make a video about the history fighter jets and to the present, as well as the roles that different religions have played in influencing wars or even outright starting them
Outside the US: cheap, everywhere, ammo is practically free. It's THE intermediate, box mag-fed fighting carbine. At least that's what it looks like to me from inside the US... Inside the US: 7.62x39 is now more expensive than brass-case 5.56 (used to be like 1/5 the current price just a decade ago) and 5.45x39 is almost unobtainable. $150+ bake/plum "collector" mags (and climbing) and $1500 parts-kit guns (and climbing) because of the Russian gun/ammo ban and crazy economy of scale the AR15 has, making the AK more of a curio than a tool. It's just weird how arguably the most gun-friendly nation on the planet is the sole exception to AK dominance, with it really being a pretty niche platform anymore. I saw them much more often 15-18 years ago, at which time the AR's were the odd ball.
I would say the biggest advancement with AK isn't is the rifle itself but the ammo it fired. The STG44, AK-47 & M16 all fired intermediate ammo. They're were full auto rifle before WW2 either concept or design, FG42 & BAR being the more well known. From what I remember the prototype that birthed the MP43/STG44 was chambered in 8mm kurz, the SKS & RPD were the first Soviet guns chambered in 7.62x39 before being replaced with AK designs and the American & British started working on intermediate ammo post WW2 albeit it took time for people to accept the concept of a fully automatic carbine in intermediate ammo in the west. It may seem like something small but post WW1 most militaries were coming to the conclusion that combat was happening at ranges of 300 meters or less and changing tactics required weapon systems that could lay down suppression fire or allow for high volume of fire, something that bolt actions were poor at. Intermediate ammo is lighter, smaller & sufficient/effective at close to middle range while still making the weapon easier to control plus full rifle ammo at close range can over penetrate. Basically intermediate ammo was better fit for modern combat and changed thing like smokeless powder, cartridges & spitzer bullets did towards the end of the 1800s. Yes there are legal full auto AKs in civilian ownership but they are rare and the paper work for them is a pain in the ass. Most that were imported had to be converted to semi-auto to be legally & easily sold to civilians otherwise there was $400 tax stamp & bureaucracy involving the ATF involved prior to 1986. Still have to say the AK did what it was designed to do well. It's cheap, reliable(due to loose tolerances) & close to soldier/peasant proof making the best weapon for revolutionaries. Also not many platforms can be made into an AR, LMG, Sniper Rifle, shotgun or .50 BMG rifle without complaint. Let's be honest making the AK5O probably involved alot of complaints & 🤬.
"Of all the weapons in the vast Soviet arsenal, none was more profitable than the Avtomat Kalashnikova, model of 1947, more commonly referred to as the AK-47 or Kalashnikov. It's the world's most popular assault rifle, a weapon all fighters love, an elegantly simple nine pound amalgamation of forged steel and plywood. It doesn't break, jam or overheat, it will shoot whether it's covered in mud or filled with sand, it's so easy even a child can use it, and they do. The Soviets put the gun on a coin, Mozambique put it on their flag, since the end of the cold war the Kalashnikov has become the Russian people's greatest export. After that comes vodka, caviar and suicidal novelists, one things for sure, no one was lining up to buy their cars."
Lord of War. Love that movie.
:precedes to show vz58:
The Lada is iconic
As I read this, the scene started playing in my head, I can't tell you how many times I've seen that movie.
Why they roast the Lada out of the blue i still dont understand 😭😭
It's the Toyota Hilux of weapons!
beat me to it
The holy Trinity of reliability. Nokia, ak 47, Toyota Hilux
Often paired!
Which would make the AR15 the Corolla of small arms
Gotta thank the Japanese for sponsoring their Tenno Heika Banzai to 3rd worlds
Funny how Nick Cage describes the AK in the movie Lord of War, he wasn't far off.
"Of all the weapons in the vast Soviet arsenal, none was more profitable than the Avtomat Kalashnikova, model of 1947, more commonly referred to as the AK-47 or Kalashnikov. It's the world's most popular assault rifle, a weapon all fighters love, an elegantly simple nine pound amalgamation of forged steel and plywood. It doesn't break, jam or overheat, it will shoot whether it's covered in mud or filled with sand, it's so easy even a child can use it, and they do. The Soviets put the gun on a coin, Mozambique put it on their flag, since the end of the cold war the Kalashnikov has become the Russian people's greatest export. After that comes vodka, caviar and suicidal novelists, one things for sure, no one was lining up to buy their cars."
I've used that mini speech in a gun store to sell over 5 AK's at time.
GREAT movie!!!
@@kennandunn7533oh those poor lada’s hahaha
"Today's sponsor is DeleteMe"
AK-47: "Say less 💥💥💥"
There are over 550 million firearms in worldwide circulation. That's one firearm for every twelve people on the planet. The only question is: How do we arm the other 11?
i read this after i got a temu ad in the video for a pistol..from temu...it would normally be EXTREMELY ILLEGAL in my country to order a gun just like that. so the answer to your question is: chinese capitalism :)
@thecursed01 norinco for the win
The AKs are incredibly easy to understand. The 47, 74 and others of the 100 series are honestly not going anywhere. Also the irons are beautiful in every video game 🙏
Yeah the iron sights are beautiful.
Poorly placed, due to necessity , but poor. But absolutely beautiful. It's the Princess Diana of rifle sights.
@@zenki_fn2s14Those open sights are nice for trench warfare right now in Ukraine
While the AK is fantastically reliable, they are not mythical, if you drag it throught mud or sand, it will jam, if you dont clean it for months it will misfire, the North Hollywood shootout ended because of a faulty AK
The weapon is incredibly reliable, but there are several limits on them too, like any other weapon
So true.
That one gun TH-camr Garandthumb did a good video demonstrating which rifles did best in different types of elements (mud and being frozen to be exact). Only the AR could put up with tremendous amounts of mud (few others with a small realistic amount, forgot which ones).
Only one rifle though proved to be reliable in ice cold conditions and that was the AK.
@noneyabusinesshomie Fun thing about the AR, they are pretty much on par with the AK in terms of reliability when tested by multiple nations, even the soviets praised the AR, captured from Vietnam
The problem was that the early models have a different type of powder than the one in the design for the weapon, this may seem minor, but types of powder change radically how the weapon functions, because different types of powder burn hotter or cooler, thus increasing or decresing chamber pressure, and there is the problem of burn time too, if the burn takes too long, then there will be unburnt powder left in the barrel by the time the extractor start pulling the bullet or if the powder is too hot, the extractor will rip the bullet in half
This became a huge political scandal in the US because the weapon was supposed to be more reliable than the M14.
The jist of it is that the army had tons of a type of ball powder lying around from their current stock piles, and they for some reason decided to use that instead of using comercial grade rod powder like the AR15 was designed to operate, and tell no one about this.... they could have asked for a redesign to accommodate the new powder, but nope, they went full idiot and.... the M16 original was a piece of shit, but when you used commercial grade bullets, it ran like normal
@@noneyabusinesshomieyou watch too much television
Thats for the ak47 model all ak rifles after its including the akm do have the almost mythical legendary reliability.
An AK-103 for example can survive a meltdown of firing over 1500 bullets of 7.62 firing continuesly
Fun fact Eugene Stoner (invetor of m16) and Mikhail Klasnikov meet during 1990 on Washington DC.
There's even a video of them on the range together, Stoner firing the AK and Kalashnikov firing the AR.
Bits of internet folklore in this one.
AK is pretty reliable, but mainly in the sense of being able to defer maintenance for a long time; if you pull it out of a swamp and leave it full of muck you can expect just as much trouble as any other gun if you try to fire it.
The Soviet licensing model means a global network of suppliers, yes, but there's also real variation between producers. Hungarian parts won't necessarily be interchangeable with Russian or Polish or Chinese ones.
Good video regardless.
I’ve seen people use water bottles as a gas port on the AK-47.
Essentially, AK went VHS while AR was still trying to stay Betamax.
@@MonkeyJedi99 AR is more like laserdisc. The original platform is obsolete, but the fundamental tech - optical media / the semi-DI system - remains the foundation of most modern interpretations.
@@archstanton3931 I didn't want to confuse people not up on the deep lore of video playback technology.
Ah yes, there are no auto AK’s owned by civilians in America. Do you hear that ATF? Absolutely none. Please spare my dog
It is so funny how you gun nuts pretend to be persecuted by the government. The reason the government let's you have the gun is because they know you will never rebel. If anything, you'll help them round up "the communist undesirables" if they ask you to.
The atf is gay.
Too real.
I laughed so loud I woke my wife
@@johnfroehling5653 How are you still alive? 🙃
Stak, your pronounciation of the word SturmGewehr was actually spot on at 8:22
Well spot on is a stretch, but for an american who doesn't speak the language, it's absolutely fine.
So prevalent you see it on modern country's flags. It's the new sword and spear
@@Awesomewithaz wait that’s so true- great point!
Which country?
@@jamesmoore381 Mozambique
Absolutely iconic weapon
I feel like the AK47 is the Axe of the medieval world and the AR15 is the Sword.
I mean, the only reason for a lot of the early competition against the AK being so bad is because the US didnt want to shift cartridges. So the US forced the rest of the 1st world to adopt 'battle' rifles. Once the issues with battle rifles became prevailent is when the US would adopt the Armalite design with the 5.56 cartridges. 1 literally led to the other.
The UK was originally going to use a bullpup assault rifle, the EM-2, in the late 1940s before being forced to adopt the FN FAL instead.
It's also because the closest US equivalent, .30 Carbine, was a bit too weak to be an intermediate cartridge (although not too far off from 5.45x39). Had the Army used .351 WSL instead of .32 WSL as the baseline for .30 Carbine, the US would have had a good intermediate cartridge in 1941.
@@hailexiao2770 The US military specifically said anything weaker than .308 Winchester would not be acceptable for a standard-issue rifle. As for .30 Carbine VS 5.45x39mm, the latter is significantly more powerful and has better penetration than even 5.56x45mm NATO.
It was US Army Ordnance that didn't want to change. Pretty much everyone else did. Army Ordnance was forced to switch and effectively sabotaged the M16.
@andyfriederichsen to be completely fair, 280 British wasn't very good as an intermediate cartridge, it was heavier with significantly more recoil than 7.62x39.
I just got my first AK a week ago, this couldn't have come at a better time. Thank you.
You'll also see a lot of FN Fal, G3, M16 and other rifles all over the world but most of the time you'll identify an AK thanks to it's silhouette
I remember them being $50 and a really hard sell. Not so today, their price shot up in the nineties, during the temporary assault weapons ban.
Yeah but that's far less than a single cow
I grew up thanks to games loving the AK47. Learning it's history, really just solidified why I still hold it in high regard.
The fact it is still being used and even receiving improvements is impressive for an older gun.
Thanks for the video.
"if you forget to clean it for months at a time" ... actually it can blow in your hand if you forget to clean the barrel, same as every other firearm does when the barrel becomes obstructed
"AK-47" is just a general colloquial term used because the rifle was first introduced in 1947. After the initial runs of the Type 1, Type 2, and Type 3 AK-47s, Kalashnikov revamped the whole gun and updated features on it in the 1950s. From then on it became known as the AKM or Avtomat Kalashnikova Modernizrovanny, which in English means Automatic Kalashnikov Modernized. So you see it's actually incorrect to call it the AK-47 because that term refers to the first 3 iterations of the gun specifically, which by the way didn't actually see service until 1949. The designation of "AK-47" just stuck, around the time of the Type 2's introduction. It's better to just say AK or Kalashnikov. Also they updated it again in 1974 and called it the AK-74 and the AK-74M after that.
@@baronvonslambert Same as how there are approximately eleventy-three official variants of the Colt/Armalite thing, but everybody calls all of 'em AR-15, or maybe M16 for a long military one and CAR-15 (old)/M4 (newer) for the short military version.
Yes, yes, give him the gun knowledge, ignorance must be eradicated.
All rise Gun Culture!
Or the African slang, "Kalash".
But that muddles the weapon and the person using the weapon, as the word can be used to identify both.
My first thought about the claim that the AK is the most deadly weapon wasn't actually that nukes are more deadly. My thought was actually that I think the Mauser Model 1898 was deadlier. They were used by like half of the world's armies from the 1890s until like, the 1950s. Which obviously includes BOTH world wars.
A couple of corrections. The soviets already had an assault rifle program going before the germans (the avt-40), they really just needed help with the intermediate cartridge part. Even before the stg44 was "mass" adopted the soviets had already figured it out.
The AKM is the most popular rifle as it was produced in far larger quantity than the AK-47, switching from milled to stamped sheet metal made the rifle very cheap to make.
"Of all the weapons in the vast Soviet arsenal, nothing was more profitable than the Avtomat Kalashnikova model of 1947, more commonly known as the AK-47, or Kalashnikov. It's the world's most popular assault rifle. A weapon all fighters love. An elegantly simple 9 pound amalgamation of forged steel and plywood. It doesn't break, jam, or overheat. It will shoot whether it's covered in mud or filled with sand. It's so easy, even a child can use it; and they do. The Soviets put the gun on a coin. Mozambique put it on their flag. Since the end of the Cold War, the Kalashnikov has become the Russian people's greatest export. After that comes vodka, caviar, and suicidal novelists. One thing's for sure, no one is lining up to buy their cars."
Thank you for the small detail of calling the Warsaw Pact 'vassal states'. It's very accurate.
So simple that a child can and do use them.
And they do.
"Please! Think of the children! Make sure they all have full magazines!"
@MM22966 the last 3 or 4 rounds are really hard for little fingers to push in mag. Best learn to get by with 27 or 28.
@@b1646717 You're right. We need child-safe magazines. Maybe somebody can get with whoever was making the old 20-round Vietnam-era M16 mags.
Do the technical vehicle. The light cavalry of modern times. There is even a war named after it Toyota War.
Next! BYD war.
I myself owned a Serbian made AKM. And i loved it to death. It's just a beautifully made weapon.
I have a polish one that got burned in a fire I had to re-temper the bolt and trunnion and replace the springs but she runs.
Serbs made the best AKs.
Romanian WASR-10/63...unfortunately my gun safe broke, and now I can't open it 😢
This was a good dive into the AK-47. I love any deep dive or analysis or really anything you do, dude.
It's funny that I went through much the same train of thought as your intro when I saw the thumbnail; nukes would top the list based on scale and use-case, but the AK reigns through sheer ubiquity.
I don't know if it's yet eclipsed the spear. The pointy stick has longevity rivaled only by blunt rock, sharp rock, and blunt stick.
*takes hit off bong* what about straight up blunts?
The AK-47 is known as "The World's Gun" for a reason.
Also, I like what you do. I have learned more about the state of multiple countries I like and have you may not know it, but you are teaching us widely sheltered and ignorant Americans how the world really works and what life and politics is really like for over 80% of the globe. You are very educational and it is one of the most important and essential things to know history and see its relation to current events. To know why people and nations do as they do, and to understand more of human nature and sociology.
I personally am grateful to have encountered you and your content and will continue to enjoy your knowledge and love of history and understanding.
Ackshully... the 762x39 was developed at the same time as the 792 kurtz, and was originally the 762x41mm. M kalishnakov has even stated the ak was an in house design and not influenced by the STG. If this is true its unknown, but we do know the soviets worked on an intermediate cartridge while the germans were still only doing small trials
Time to collab with Brandon Herrera
Ak fiddy
He did on Unsubscribe
@ElTejon47901 I know however not specifically on the AK and Brandon is the AK Guy
I've have zero doubt that Brandon helped with this videos research.
@@ElTejon47901 That is different than doing a dedicated video with Brandon my guy. That is just a podcast with them shooting the shhhh
The AK doesnt really share any significant operating bits with the StG44, aside from both of them being long stroke gas piston designs (which was something like 90% of gas piston designs at the time, and was one of the design details switched from the AK46 to the AK47, for *reliability* - the same reason almost everyone else using gas was using a long stroke piston.) Different bolt lock up system, different fire control group, different recoil system, etc.
Internally, the gun is *far* more like a Garand (something Kalashnikov proudly admitted - copying other people's design elements was *not* consodered shameful to Soviet designers; it was consodered "smart"... if Kalashnikov was copying the StG44, he would have bragged about it.)
The general physical layout of the AK matches the StG generally... for the same reason the physical layout of the M16, the FAL (which is based on and derived from a *pre-WWII* experimental design), but thats because both German and Soviet infantrymen are "human shaped" and physics work the same in every country.
No, what the Soviets "copied" from the StG44 was merely the *concept* of an intermediate caliber, handy, selective fire rifle that can pinch-hit as a SMG (thus the reason most assault rifles use mahazines about the same size - enough rounds to work as a SMG without immediately running out of ammo, but short enough you could still shoot in the prone.)
Glad to see someone in the comments knows.
So wasn't exactly a copy of the STG44, but like other touchscreen phones imitated the first IPhone that gun wouldn't exist without the success of the precursor ,your comment is exactly like the one that a Nokia or Samsung first touchscreen phones fans would make about the IPhone,I'm not sure what is the point of making this comment today more than would be from those old Nokia fans from 20 years ago to pretend today that their favorite company invented the touchscreen phones and without Nokia the touchscreen revolution wouldn't happened ,nobody would believe them nowadays , not even themselves. Well of course are today more android phones than IPhones, but that doesn't prove that they don't copyed the first IPhone at the beginning .
@@theOrionsarms Comparing iPhone to Samsung is like comparing Boeing and Airbus airliners.
Actual rip offs are like the B-29 vs Tu-4.
@@ChucksSEADnDEAD that to is a valid comparison, and it's exactly what I want to say, isn't exactly a rip-off, but almost which is ok, but claiming that the follower it's the pioneer is kinda lame.
I love these kind of videos! You have a way of breaking down topics that make them easy to understand!
The most common rifle rounds are 30 caliber or less. The most common pistol rounds are higher than 30 caliber (9mm, 45acp, 380, 32, 40s&w). Caliber does not denote the power of the round. It is the size of the diameter of the bullet.
When i was around 9 years old, i visited a military show here in Serbia, and my uncle let me hold his Yugoslav Produced AK. I am still surprised at how light and easy to hold it was. Great weapon the AK is...
One could argue the M1/M2 Carbine are also "assault rifles" due to them being in an intermediate caliber (larger then a pistol smaller then a rifle) with the M2 being select fire and some M1s being modified in the field to be full auto. The whole purpose of which was to give people who typically carried a pistol something with better accuracy and range.
As a German I can tell you, your pronounciation of the word "Sturmgewehr" was almost spot on
Rest in Peace Mikhail Kalashnikov, you were a humble, and true man. Hard as steel, and down to earth. May all of us gunsmiths get the honor to shake your hand when we cross the threshold into the next life, I salute you sir 🫡 🇷🇺 🇺🇸
As a person who has had the privilege of shooting and Ak-47, I must say that it was surprisingly lightweight and very easy to use. I can see why it became one of the most popular weapons in the world.
you should do a video on the F-14 tomcat, how it came to be, it's service with the US navy, and how it's service with the Iranian air force caused almost all functional tomcats to be scrapped
Tell us you hung out with Brandon Herrera without telling us you hung out with Brandon Herrera
Why do you think that? He's just making a Video on the history of changing circumstances as he always has.
@@kekmitkeks9328he was on the podcast with him a few weeks ago
@@kekmitkeks9328He was on the UnSub podcast, though he wasn’t in the podcast I’m sure Steven met Brandon.
TRUNNION!
I would love to see you do one on the predecessor of 1911, the 1908, and what led to the 1911
Not me expecting gabby to walk in with a gun when the delete me add started
If youre doing influential weapons throughout history may i suggest the Chinese Dao and Jian swords, very underrated for how much work they did and a massive history behind them
Crazy that a gun that's cheap to make, is so durable & even water-proof and sand-proof.
It’s been estimated that if the total number of individual firearms created throughout human history were to be added up, one fifth of them would be Kalashnikovs or some variant thereof, which is even more amazing when you consider that the rifle didn’t even enter service until 1947, while gunpowder was invented at least two millennia ago.
Really surprised Brandon Hererra didnt magically appear here.
I love your videos. Always super informative and well researched
just a couple nitpicks. Rifles at the time were chambered in 7.62, or for the American audience the most fielded rifle round at the time was 30-06, which is a 7.62 (7.62X63), The difference is the casing between a rifle cartridge and an intermediate cartridge. The intermediate cartridge has a smaller casing than a traditional rifle cartridge, but larger than a pistol cartridge, hence the name intermediate, it's between the two. However the caliber of the round itself is unchanged.
The second nitpick also comes with the statement that SMGs were lower caliber, when most were 9mm or .45ACP (metric designation of 11.43×23mm) which is a higher caliber round. it again comes to the classification of the type of cartridge they were using Pistol rounds. Pistol rounds need to be compact and have shorter casings, with less powder behind the bullet, so you end up with lower velocity rounds, that carry less energy, however the caliber is higher than the rifle round.
They may seem like trivial details but this is how we end up with the misunderstanding that a 5.56 is high caliber when it's origins were a varmint round, it's exceptionally low caliber, with a lot of energy/velocity behind it, but it's still low caliber. Where a typical hunting or handgun round is much higher caliber, going slower. (do not mistake the intent, the energy is what matters in a military situation more often than not, so small round going fast can be a better answer than high caliber rounds going slower. Caliber has little determination of the power of the round, it's a measure of the diameter of the projectile)
Other than that great video. Enjoyed it very much.
Quantity has a quality all of its own.
Supposedly, in certain parts of Africa a boy just reaching manhood or a young man is called a "Kalish"....short for Kalashnikov.
I faced off against SKS's in Peru. Fine weapon.
If you ever do a follow-up on this, could you invite Brandon Herrera on? He's got one hell of a memory when it comes to AK's.
Max Popenker already provided a more detail history of the AK with Ian McCollum in Forgotten weapons.
It is very prevalent, but remember:
The AK-47 is temporary,
The M2 Browning is ETERNAL.
Ahoy?
MA DEUCE
Happy Halloween!
“Deadliest weapon in history” when the Nokia Thrower 9000 is invented-
There is a level of nuances that exists with the AK47, because what we know as an AK47 most of the time is not actually an AK47. In the same way that most M4 carbines are almost all not M4 but M4A1 through A3.
There are 3 patterns of the AK47 that are stamped as such, Stamped receiver (failure), Milled, Milled (lightened). But that ignores that the AKM, being an AK47 that was modernised. Notably a stamped receiver rifle that worked. There are differences between rifles built by different nations, often the differences are not mechanical.
It is also interesting how long the "will fire filled with mud" has stuck around. They will jam if filled with mud, but they are extremely easy to clean. Pull the top cover, pour water through it and it will likely start working again. If it doesn't field striping does not take long.
This is like the History Nerd breakdown of the "Lord of War" intro 😂 I love it!
AK-47 is only the first incarnation of the family, and it does not lasted too long as it was too expensive to make. It had an expensive milled steel receiver. The AKM (came around 1956) with stamped sheet steel receiver and its siblings were the vast majority of the AK family.
9:16 The M43 Cartridge had the dimension of 7.62x41mm until 1947. Before that the Sovjets had several intermediate cartridges in the 30th like 5.6x39 mm and 5.7x54 mm.
The FAL and the M-14 are beautiful
To the kill count of the ak i raise to you, the big rock.
AKs aren't cheap to build, but the USSR sold them for cheap around the world.
It's also not simple to make. They can make plenty of those because they have build a very specialized machine tools to build them. Notice how the Soviet gave the rifles to practically everyone but not the machines.
@@anggi8699 it's only expensive when viewed from a western manufacturing standpoint.
The soviets operated machines that are sometimes 30 years out of date compared to even the most rickety ass Western factories in the 80's and even 90's. That should key you as to what the Engineers and the designers had to work with. If they can't do things through machining and automation, then they'll use people instead.
It's only cheap because of cheap labor alongside material and design principles from the 50's. The quality of the raw materials, the finished metal and even just the precision machines were to a very shitty degree that it sometimes even rattles.
To the western economies, one extra man on the payroll might just break the bank. To the soviets, one extra man is just another man who will participate in the bread lines. They didn't care about how many worked, they need more work to show off a very low unemployment rate. The real problem for them was updated machines, which was in low supply. Not to mention that they not only produced the guns is such high enough numbers but also they can dictate the price since their non-involvement in the world economy meant that people aren't even sure of the value of a ruble.
Also, they shared blueprints to every friendly member of the Warsaw pact. They even shared it to NK and China. Not only guns, but also blueprints.
Which country would even be willing to give such a generous technology transfer? The Machines? Maybe, only SK with their K2 MBT for Poland, but try asking the French for the Leclerc machines and see how they laugh.
@@anggi8699 But its is made around the world. There are least a dozen licensed producers, and as many more unlicensed knockoffs, local versions, or "cousins" like the Israeli Galil.
For that matter, local gunsmiths make AKs with hand tools in Khyber gunshops in Afghanistan/Pakistan.
@@MM22966 true, but there's a different between assembling parts in a workshop and making them from scratch in scale. Like the OP said Aks are not cheap it requires big factory and plenty of labour to produce them in scale.
Incorrect. It’s stamped metal receivers with a handful of milled parts. The AK platform (post 1958 with the introduction of the AKM) is quite cheap to produce. Not as cheap as, say the M3 “Grease Gun”, but still a comparatively very cheap gun to manufacture.
The definition of the word ''classic''
The AK is the posterchild assault rifle for "crude but effective". It's not a masterpiece, it just works.
The AK-47 is the Rolls Royce of Crude but Effective, there are many Crude but Effective firearms but many are even more simplistic than the AK-47 and not as pretty. Let’s look at WW2, the American Grease Gun, the British Sten mk2, the Russian PTRD-41, the German VolksstermGewehr. And this is just to name a few of the effective/semi effective weapons
@BrandonHerrera should be happy for this one
Stakuyi: "Most of these were bolt-action."
Editor: *shows picture of M1 rifle*
I'd like to see him do a deep dive on the infamous Iowa Class Battleships of WWII.
You should do the rifle of the world prior to the ak, the German Mauser. There's a lot of variety but even America adopted it as the 1903. There's variations from nearly anywhere you can think of even if they didn't have the capacity to make their own (Brazil, Chile, Ethiopia, ect). I'd love to know how Mauser actually thought about his rifles aside from his accident and the safety implications it lead to.
Just bought a Romanian surplus AK from 1967, I'm in love
Even now the 47 itself is being replaced but it's just being replaced by newer variants like the AK-74 like all that's really happening is they're getting the newer versions of the same gun
I would love to see a deep dive into Operation Meeting House
I would love you to cover the Em-2 rifle, the rifle that was too advance for its time.
My friend: How many variants of the AK-47 exist? Me: Yes.
8:40 RIP to the PSA Stg-44. The project that can never be....
Someone never watched InRangeTV's mud tests of the AK.
Lol that's irrelevant
@@ERRATAS0707how
Nobel, who invented TNT, felt such remorse that he created the Nobel Prize endowment to reward those who created/discovered things that will help the world.
A history of the potato sounds pretty interesting! 😊❤
"Kaiser Vult!"
-Dude in the background
I’m sure Mr Herrera is salivating at this video
Great video on the ak47 now wondering if you know anything about the Peshtigo Fire
Definitely reach-out to Ian from Forgotten Weapons, as he's a small arms specialist (though more general in knowledge of the category)
For those interested: Read Unknown Soldier issue #21 (2008 Vertigo 2nd Series), a comic that tells the story of an AK-47 from its birth in the Izhevsk Mechanical Plant in Russia to its employment by various soldiers, rebels, criminals, and farmers across the wilds of Africa...and it tells the story from the GUN's perspective.
“And if you want to get your start in being an AK Gunsmith check out our sponsor SDI….” Wait wrong channel..lol
AKM and AK74 slap in insurgency sandstorm
Not only is it effective its also beautiful looking (which is the most important thing of course)
I find it hilarious how a video about AK47 is sponsored by DeleteMe.
"AKs are everywhere"
Me realizing, I have 4 of them but only 2 trigger fingers...
Thank you man for you amazing videos, I think I would ask for you to make a video about the history fighter jets and to the present, as well as the roles that different religions have played in influencing wars or even outright starting them
02:55
Buddy...umm... with the internet... it doesn't take a tax stamp to get the conversion kit😅
To think Kalashnikov really despised his very own creation.
Delete Me ad should always feature Mrs. Electrician
Personally I'd argue the humble spear instead as the deadliest weapon ever
Your Sturmgewehr pronunciation was actually decent!
Outside the US: cheap, everywhere, ammo is practically free. It's THE intermediate, box mag-fed fighting carbine. At least that's what it looks like to me from inside the US...
Inside the US: 7.62x39 is now more expensive than brass-case 5.56 (used to be like 1/5 the current price just a decade ago) and 5.45x39 is almost unobtainable. $150+ bake/plum "collector" mags (and climbing) and $1500 parts-kit guns (and climbing) because of the Russian gun/ammo ban and crazy economy of scale the AR15 has, making the AK more of a curio than a tool.
It's just weird how arguably the most gun-friendly nation on the planet is the sole exception to AK dominance, with it really being a pretty niche platform anymore. I saw them much more often 15-18 years ago, at which time the AR's were the odd ball.
I was waiting for the "actually my friends, it was the spear."
I would say the biggest advancement with AK isn't is the rifle itself but the ammo it fired. The STG44, AK-47 & M16 all fired intermediate ammo. They're were full auto rifle before WW2 either concept or design, FG42 & BAR being the more well known. From what I remember the prototype that birthed the MP43/STG44 was chambered in 8mm kurz, the SKS & RPD were the first Soviet guns chambered in 7.62x39 before being replaced with AK designs and the American & British started working on intermediate ammo post WW2 albeit it took time for people to accept the concept of a fully automatic carbine in intermediate ammo in the west. It may seem like something small but post WW1 most militaries were coming to the conclusion that combat was happening at ranges of 300 meters or less and changing tactics required weapon systems that could lay down suppression fire or allow for high volume of fire, something that bolt actions were poor at. Intermediate ammo is lighter, smaller & sufficient/effective at close to middle range while still making the weapon easier to control plus full rifle ammo at close range can over penetrate. Basically intermediate ammo was better fit for modern combat and changed thing like smokeless powder, cartridges & spitzer bullets did towards the end of the 1800s. Yes there are legal full auto AKs in civilian ownership but they are rare and the paper work for them is a pain in the ass. Most that were imported had to be converted to semi-auto to be legally & easily sold to civilians otherwise there was $400 tax stamp & bureaucracy involving the ATF involved prior to 1986. Still have to say the AK did what it was designed to do well. It's cheap, reliable(due to loose tolerances) & close to soldier/peasant proof making the best weapon for revolutionaries. Also not many platforms can be made into an AR, LMG, Sniper Rifle, shotgun or .50 BMG rifle without complaint. Let's be honest making the AK5O probably involved alot of complaints & 🤬.
I'd be curious to hear a video on the M4 Sherman or maybe the Evolution of American Tank warfare.