Ak47 Assault Rifle

The AK47 was one of the original true assault rifles, designed by Mikhail Kalashnikov.  Kalashnikov began work on the AK during the last year of the Second World War  Kalashnikov was injured in the battle of Bryansk having been shot in the shoulder. During his hospital recuperation he began to work on a sub machine gun in order to enter a competition for a rifle design that would be reliable in the muddy, wet, frozen and tough conditions Russian troops dealt with at the frontline of war.  Later several accused Mikhail of copying the Sturmgewehr 44 machine gun design, claims he strongly denies.

By 1946 he had his AK46 in military trials in the USSR.  After these trials in 1947 the AK47 was born, a fixed stock version of the AK46 and began active service in the Army.  After the Warsaw Pact the AK47 was used by the vast majority of the member states and officially accepted by the Soviet Armed Forces.

The AK47 was designed with durability in mind. The weapon has to be used by soldiers in arctic conditions who would be wearing gloves.  So the gun was made to be easily cleaned, maintained and operated, with generous spaces between mechanism parts to allow for foreign matter (mud, snow, and dirt) without significant risk of jamming.  This did make the gun very reliable and durable in these conditions but this was at the cost of some accuracy as the design does not lend itself to precision shooting or consistency for that matter.  

 At 100 yards the AK is capable of shooting in 4 to 6 inch groups and many consider this ‘good enough’ bearing in mind the assault rifles benefits.

So the AK47 is easy to operate, durable and also inexpensive to manufacture. For these reasons it is still to the present day the most popular assault rifle in the world and also the most widely used.  A staggering 75 million AK47’s and 100 million AK type rifles have been produced, in many variations and in many different countries.  The fact that there have been more AK’s made than every other assault rifle put together proves what an excellent rifle this is.

A fully loaded AK47 weighs in at 4.8kg (10.5lbs), measures in at 880mm (wooden stock version) and has an effective range of 350m (380 yards).  The folding stock version is slightly shorter at 875mm but folds down to only 645mm.

The assault rifle fires 7.62 x 39mm rounds and is gas operated with a rotating bolt.  It fires at a rate of 100 rounds per minute in fully auto and 40 rounds per minute in semi-automatic mode.  The rifle has a muzzle velocity of 715m/s or 2350ft/s.

The standard magazine holds 30 rounds but you can get 20, 40, 75 or even 100 round detachable box or drum style magazines.  All modern AK’s can be fitted with 40mm grenade launchers mounted under the barrel.  The grenade launchers have an effective range of 400m and fire at a rate of 20 grenades per minute. The most common grenade is the VOG 25 fragmentation which has a 6m killing radius.

The AK47 is a truly iconic assault rifle, famous the world over and a great piece of design and engineering. 

You can own your own full size UK legal Airsoft AK47 replica. We have AK47 airsoft rifles either electric airsoft, gas powered or spring with prices to suit any budget.