Larry Kahaner - AK-47

The AK’s longevity may be why Nikonov’s death in May 2003, at age fifty-three, barely made news, even in Russia. Despite his designing arguably the world’s most advanced assault rifle, the official state obituary simply noted, “It is a tremendous loss to the Izhevsk arms-making school.”

As for Kalashnikov himself, despite his age and growing feebleness, he continues to be the touted celebrity at military and even nonmilitary gun shows. His mission is to drum up interest in Izhmash’s weapons, including the AK-100 series, his son Viktor’s Bizon submachine gun, and even the AN-94, which is often referred to by the name Abakan—but never as the Nikonov.

In 2002, while he was opening a weapons museum in Suhl, eastern Germany, Kalashnikov’s demeanor changed. In marked contrast to his usually defiant defense that politicians and not arms designers caused wars, he displayed uncharacteristic sorrow and responsibility by announcing, “I’m proud of my invention, but I’m sad that it is used by terrorists. I would prefer to have invented a machine that people could use and that would help farmers with their work—for example, a lawnmower.”

Unfortunately, Kalashnikov’s lawnmower, an odd-looking, three-wheeled contraption that looks like a weed whacker with a locomotive cow catcher in front, was never manufactured. He built it before lawnmowers were plentiful in the Soviet Union, but he still uses it to cut the grass at his dacha. A model sits on display at the Kalashnikov museum next to his other inventions including a gadget that holds shish kabobs for grilling.

With its different-sized wheels and blue gaffer’s tape holding its components together, Kalashnikov admits that the clunky lawnmower looks ancient, but he says it functions perfectly.

It gets the job done.

♦ In some places, an AK-47 assault rifle Kofi A. Annan, “Small Arms, Big Problems,” International Herald Tribune , July 10, 2001.

♦ That rifle hanging on the wall George Orwell, “Don’t Let Colonel Blimp Ruin the Home Guard,” Evening Standard , January, 8, 1941.

♦ I’m proud of my invention Kate Connolly, “Kalashnikov: ‘I Wish I’d Made a Lawnmower,’” Guardian (UK), July 30, 2002.

2 As the Apaches hovered in position Mary Beth Sheridan, “Ground Fire Repels Copter Assault; Two Crewmen Seized by Iraqis as Apache Goes Down,” Washington Post , March 25, 2003.

3 Why the U.S. military Ibid.

3 This “way we go to war” Interview with Major General William J. Livsey Jr. at Fort Benning, 1978.

4 Consider the U.S. Rangers in Mogadishu Jonathan Fryer, “Jingoism Jibe over Black Hawk Down,” BBCNews.com, January 21, 2002.

12 Mikhail Timofeevich Kalashnikov was born Much of the personal information about Kalashnikov’s early life comes from his autobiography, From a Stranger’s Doorstep to the Kremlin Gates (Moscow: Military Parade, 1997), translated from the Russian. Where possible, all incidents were confirmed with those involved and with other objective historical accounts.

13 Only a few weeks after shipping out Ibid., 50, 92.

20 The U.S. military was oblivious William H. Hallahan, Misfire: The History of How America’s Small Arms Have Failed Our Military (New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1994), 402-404.

23 In addition, rather than build components See Kalashnikov, From a Stranger’s Doorstep , 231.

32 One of the champions of the .30 caliber Edward Clinton Ezell, The Great Rifle Controversy: Search for the Ultimate Infantry Weapon from World War II Through Vietnam and Beyond (Harrisburg, PA.: Stackpole Books, 1984), 49-51.

34 But the Americans did not keep their promise Hallahan, Misfire , 435-437.

41 Stoner would not have known Much of the material about Stoner’s efforts to push forward the AR-15 project and resistance from the army came from the Ichord hearings (see page 44 note below) into M-16 malfunctions during the Vietnam War. Stoner also did a series of videotaped interviews for the Smithsonian Institution (as did Kalashnikov) in which he talked about his battles with the army. Also, The Great Rifle Controversy and Misfire , both referenced above, contain extensive documentation about this period. This particular quote can be found in the History Channel’s series Tales of the Gun: The M-16 , in which Stoner explains on camera the genesis of the M-16 rifle.

43 Their luck turned From an October 3, 1968, press conference where George Wallace announced that LeMay had agreed to serve as his vice presidential candidate.

44 Boutelle’s farm was a shooter’s paradise Report of the Special Subcommittee on the M-16 Rifle Program of the Committee on Armed Forces, House of Representatives , 19th Congress, First Session, October 1967. This was dubbed the Ichord hearings after Missouri representative Richard Ichord, who championed Congress’s inquiry into failures of the M-16 during the Vietnam War.

47 Whatever his reason, McNamara was clearly angry Report by Preparedness Investigating Subcommittee of the Committee on Armed Services, U.S. Senate, on M-14 Rifle Program, 1961.

55 The war that Soviet president Mikhail Gorbachev Lester Grau, “The Soviet-Afghan Wars: A Superpower Mired in the Mountains,” Journal of Slavic Military Studies , March 2004.

57 Strategically, the invasion was brilliant Ibid.

58 The Soviets with their tanks The CIA’s operations in Afghanistan during the Soviet invasion have been well documented. Sources include congressional testimony on CIA operations as well as Charles G. Crogan, “Partners in Time,” World Policy Journal , Summer 1993; and Steven Coll, Ghost Wars: The Secret History of the CIA, Afghanistan and Bin Laden from the Soviet Invasion to September 10 , 2001 (New York: Penguin, 2004), 58.

58 Soviet weapons designers Val Shilin and Charlie Cutshaw, Legends and Realities of the AK (Boulder, CO: Paladin Press, 2000), 38.

59 Kalashnikov, well aware of the move Kalashnikov, From a Stranger’s Doorstep , 292.

59 Making a smaller-caliber weapon Much of the technical data for this section is drawn from Shilin and Cutshaw, Legends and Realities of the AK .

60 Again, Western intelligence underestimated Edward Clinton Ezell, Kalashnikov: The Arms and the Man: A Revised and Expanded Edition of the AK47 Story (Cobourg, ON: Collector Grade Publications, 2001), 121.

61 The new bullet consisted of a thin-jacketed point Galen L. Geer, “Jihad in Afghanistan,” Soldier of Fortune , September and October 1980.

62 Another tactic of the mujahideen David Rooney, Guerrilla: Insurgents, Patriots and Terrorists from Sun Tzu to Bin Laden (London: Brassey’s, 2004), 227-228.

63 The covert pipeline managed by the CIA Bobi Pirseyedi, The Small Arms Problem in Central Asia: Features and Implications (Geneva: United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research, 2000).

64 As more and more AKs flooded the region See Coll, Ghost Wars .

65 Despite the graft, corruption, and skimming The State of the World’s Refugees 1995: Conflict and Reconstruction in Afghanistan , UNHCR. See also Chris Smith, “Light Weapons and Ethnic Conflict in South Asia,” in Jeffrey Boutwell, Michael T. Klare, and Laura W. Reed, eds., Lethal Commerce: The Global Trade in Small Arms and Light Weapons (Cambridge, MA: Committee on International Security Studies, American Academy of Arts and Sciences, 1995), 64.