The model and its variants owe their global popularity to their reliability under harsh conditions, low production cost (compared to contemporary weapons), availability in virtually every geographic region, and ease of use. In early 1949, the AK was officially accepted by the Soviet Armed Forces and used by the majority of the member states of the Warsaw Pact. It was presented for official military trials the following year in 1947, and, in 1948, the fixed- stock version was introduced into active service for selected units of the Soviet Army. The number '47' refers to the year the rifle was finished.
After more than seven decades, the AK-47 model and its variants remain the most popular and widely used rifles in the world. Developed in the Soviet Union by Russian small-arms designer Mikhail Kalashnikov, it is the originating firearm of the Kalashnikov (or 'AK') family of rifles. 'Kalashnikov's automatic rifle' also known as the Kalashnikov or just AK), is a gas-operated assault rifle that is chambered for the 7.62×39mm cartridge. The AK-47, officially known as the Avtomat Kalashnikova (Russian: Автома́т Кала́шникова, lit. There are also 40-round, 75-round drum magazines available Specifications (AK-47 with Type 3 receiver)Ģ0-round, 30-round detachable box magazine
≈ 75 million AK-47s, 100 million Kalashnikov-family weapons. Kalashnikov Concern and various others including Norinco
