AK-47 Automatic Rifle

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AK-47 Automatic Rifle
Description:

Physical Description

Chinese-made AK-47 assault rifle, marked with "66" in a triangle.

General History

The AK-47 was designed by Mikhail Timofeyevich Kalashnikov. Kalashnikov was drafted into the Soviet Army in 1938; while serving as a tank driver-mechanic, he became interested in the operation of firearms. After being seriously wounded in 1941, he was given six months of leave, and spent that time designing a submachine gun with his machinist friend Zhenya Kravchenko. In 1946 Kalashnikov sent the Main Artillery Commission in Moscow his drawings for a new gas-operated rifle based on the M43 cartridge. The committee gave him the go ahead to create a prototype. From 1946 to 1948 work progressed on the Kalashnikov rifle. In 1949 one of his rifles, the Avtomat Kalashnikova Obrazets 1947, was accepted by the Soviet Army and quickly dubbed the AK-47.

Place Made: China

Subject: FirearmsRelated Event: Vietnam WarPostwar United States

Subject:

See more items in: Political and Military History: Armed Forces History, Military, Military, ThinkFinity

Exhibition: Price of Freedom

Exhibition Location: National Museum of American History

Data Source: National Museum of American History

Id Number: AF.74476MCatalog Number: 74476MAccession Number: 292533

Object Name: riflerifle, automaticOther Terms: Mgsb; rifle, automatic; Firearms; Center Fire; 7.62 Mm; Rifled

Physical Description: wood (overall material)metal (overall material)Measurements: overall: 10 1/2 in x 34 1/4 in x 3 in; 26.67 cm x 86.995 cm x 7.62 cm

Metadata Usage: CC0

Guid: http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ng49ca746a2-62b1-704b-e053-15f76fa0b4fa

Record Id: nmah_439260

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