Who was Mikhail Kalashnikov during the war? Biography of Mikhail Kalashnikov: a brilliant designer. Record holder of the Guinness Book of Records

In the village of Kurya, Altai Territory, in a large peasant family. His father and mother were from Kuban peasants.

In 1930, the family of Timofey Kalashnikov, recognized as a kulak, was exiled from the Altai Territory to the village of Nizhnyaya Mokhovaya (Tomsk Region).

In 1936, Mikhail, having completed nine years of high school, returned to Kurya, where he got a job at a machine and tractor station, and then became a student at the depot of the Matai station of the Turkestan-Siberian Railway (now the territory of Kazakhstan). After some time, he was transferred to Alma-Ata as the technical secretary of the political department of the 3rd railway department.

In 1938, Mikhail Kalashnikov was drafted into the Red Army. After graduating from the school of tank driver mechanics, he served in the Kiev Special Military District. In the army, he developed an inertial counter to record the actual number of shots fired from a tank cannon, made a special device for a TT pistol to increase the efficiency of firing through slits in the tank turret, and created a device for measuring the service life of a tank engine.

For the latest invention, the commander of the Kyiv Military District, General Georgy Zhukov, awarded Kalashnikov a personalized watch.

In June 1941, Kalashnikov was sent to Leningrad (now St. Petersburg) to put the invention into production.

Mikhail Kalashnikov began the Great Patriotic War (1941-1945) in August 1941 as a tank commander. In October 1941, in the battles near Bryansk, he was seriously wounded. While on six-month leave for health reasons, Senior Sergeant Kalashnikov developed his first model of a submachine gun.

The prototype was manufactured at Matai station in the workshops of the railway depot.

The first of the weapons specialists to evaluate the prototype was the head of the Dzerzhinsky Artillery Academy, Major General Anatoly Blagonravov, who identified design flaws, but, noting the talent of the novice developer, recommended sending Kalashnikov for technical study.

In July 1942, Kalashnikov was sent to the scientific testing range of small arms and mortar weapons (NIPSMVO) of the Moscow Military District, where the submachine gun underwent full-scale testing, but due to the high cost of production and certain shortcomings, it did not enter service.

Until 1944, Kalashnikov, in addition to the submachine gun, developed a light machine gun and a self-loading carbine; these models also did not enter service.

In 1945, he took part in a competition to develop an assault rifle chambered for the 1943 model. Based on the results of competitive tests in 1947, the AK-47 assault rifle was recommended for adoption by the Soviet army.

In 1948, Mikhail Kalashnikov was sent to a military plant in the city of Izhevsk to develop a sample and manufacture a military batch of machine guns. During this time he also worked on a project for a self-loading carbine.

After the successful comprehensive use of AK-47 assault rifles by the troops, at the beginning of 1949, by government decree, it was adopted for service, and its mass production began at the Izhevsk Machine-Building Plant. The assault rifle received the official name - “7.62-mm Kalashnikov assault rifle model 1947 (AK).” At the beginning of 1949, Kalashnikov received the Order of the Red Star and the Stalin Prize of the first degree "for the development of a weapon model."

Since 1949, Mikhail Kalashnikov worked in the department of the chief designer of the Izhevsk Machine-Building Plant.

In February 2012, during the reorganization of the enterprise, Kalashnikov was transferred to the staff of NPO Izhmash to the position of chief designer - head of the small arms design bureau of the Design and Technology Center of the enterprise.

In addition to the AK-47, there is a designer 7.62 mm caliber and a modernized assault rifle with a folding stock AKMS. After the transition to the 5.45 mm caliber, the AK-74, AKS-74U, and AK-74M Kalashnikov assault rifle models were developed.

Mikhail Kalashnikov was also known as a designer of machine guns. Among his developments are the RPK and RPKS light machine guns of 7.62 mm caliber with a folding stock; RPK-74 and RPKS-74 light machine guns of 5.45 mm caliber with a folding stock. In the early 1960s, a model of a single machine gun chambered for a 7.62x54 mm rifle cartridge was put into service.

In total, the Kalashnikov design bureau created more than a hundred samples of military weapons.

In the early 1970s, Kalashnikov created the Saiga self-loading hunting carbine, designed on the basis of an assault rifle.

In 1971, based on a combination of research and design work and inventions without defending a dissertation, Kalashnikov was awarded the academic degree of Doctor of Technical Sciences.

Lieutenant General Mikhail Kalashnikov - twice Hero of Socialist Labor, laureate of the Stalin and Lenin Prizes. In 2009, on the occasion of the designer’s 90th anniversary, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev awarded Kalashnikov the title of Hero of Russia.

Among the numerous awards of Mikhail Kalashnikov are three Orders of Lenin, the Order of Merit for the Fatherland, II degree, the Order of the October Revolution, the Red Banner of Labor, Friendship of Peoples, the Patriotic War, I degree, the Red Star, and medals. Mikhail Kalashnikov is a holder of the Order of St. Apostle Andrew the First-Called.

Kalashnikov was an honorary member (academician) of the Russian Academy of Sciences, the Academy of Rocket and Artillery Sciences, and the Russian Academy of Engineering; full member - academician of the International Academy of Sciences, Industry, Education and Art of the USA, International Academy of Informatization, honorary professor of Izhevsk State Technical University, and a number of other major scientific institutions.

Mikhail Kalashnikov wrote several books of memoirs: “Notes of a gunsmith designer” (1992), “From someone else’s threshold to the Spassky Gate” (1997), “I walked the same road with you: Memoirs” (1999), “Kalashnikov: the trajectory of fate” (2004), “In the whirlwind of my life” (2007), “Everything you need is simple” (2009). He was a member of the Russian Writers' Union.

Since 2002, the Interregional Public Fund named after M.T. has existed in Izhevsk. Kalashnikov, who is working to popularize the activities of the famous designer and other Russian gunsmiths.

In 2012, the name of Mikhail Kalashnikov was assigned to Izhevsk State Technical University.

In August 2013, NPO Izhmash joined OJSC Concern Kalashnikov.

On November 15, 2013, in the designer’s native village of Kurya, it received the status of a branch of the Altai State Museum of Local Lore.

Mikhail Kalashnikov was married, his wife Ekaterina Kalashnikova (1921-1977) worked as a design technician and helped her husband carry out drawing work.

Four children were born into their family: daughters Nellie (1942), Elena (1948), Natalya (1953-1983), son Victor (1942).

The material was prepared based on information from RIA Novosti and open sources

The material was prepared by G.V. Yatskina, a history teacher at the Topkanovskaya Secondary School.

Mikhail Timofeevich Kalashnikov was born on November 10, 1919 in the village of Kurya, Altai Territory, into a large peasant family. Mikhail was the seventeenth child of Timofey Alexandrovich and Alexandra Frolovna Kalashnikov.

“I was born and raised in Altai, in the village of Kurya. I was born completely frail, and, as my relatives claim, there was no illness that I did not have. And when I was six years old, I almost died. Mother, Alexandra Frolovna, had nineteen children, and only eight of them survived . (Slide 1.23)

In 1930, the family was sent to live in Siberia, in the Tomsk region, the village of Nizhnyaya Makhovaya.

“Our life in Siberia made me a hunter. For the first time in my life, I picked up a gun here, my father’s.”

During his school years, Misha loved to write poetry. This passion for writing remained with him until the end of his life. He loved to disassemble all sorts of mechanisms and put them into action... At school he was interested in physics, geometry and literature.( Slide 4)

After graduating from the 9th grade of high school, M. T. Kalashnikov went to work as a student at the Matai station railway depot, and later worked in Alma-Ata as a technical secretary of one of the departments of the Turkestan-Siberian Railway.

In 1938, M. T. Kalashnikov was drafted into the Red Army, ( Slide5) served in the Kiev Special Military District, graduated from the school of tank driver mechanics and served in the 12th Tank Division in Stryi (Western Ukraine).

Already during his service in the army, M. T. Kalashnikov showed himself as an inventor. He developed an inertial counter to record the actual number of shots fired from a tank gun, made a special device for the TT pistol to increase the efficiency of firing from it through slits in the tank turret, and created a device for recording the service life of a tank engine. For his first inventions he was awarded a personalized watch by General G.K. Zhukov. ( Slide 6)

With the beginning of the Great Patriotic War, senior sergeant M. T. Kalashnikov participated in battles with the fascist invaders as a tank commander. In October 1941, in fierce battles near Bryansk, he was seriously wounded and shell-shocked.

While still in the hospital, M. T. Kalashnikov decided to develop and manufacture a submachine gun for the Soviet soldier. ( Slide 7)

He began to make sketches and drawings, comparing and analyzing his own impressions of the battles, the opinions of his comrades in arms, and the contents of the books in the hospital library.

Having received a six-month leave due to health reasons, he arrived at the Matai station and in the workshops of the depot, with the help of management and fellow workers, he carried out his plan - he created the first sample of a submachine gun ( Slide 8, 9)

With the finished submachine gun, M. T. Kalashnikov went to Alma-Ata. The Secretary of the Communist Party of Kazakhstan Kaishigulov sent me to the Moscow Aviation Institute, which was evacuated to Alma-Ata. S. Ordzhonikidze. At the institute, in the workshops of the aviation small arms and cannon weapons department, the second sample of a submachine gun was developed and manufactured, which in June 1942 was sent for review to Samarkand, where at that time the Artillery Academy named after. F. E. Dzerzhinsky.

The famous Soviet scientist in the field of ballistics and small arms A. A. Blagonravov became interested in the submachine gun of senior sergeant Kalashnikov. Although he did not recommend a submachine gun for adoption, he highly appreciated the talent and work of the inventor, the originality of solving a number of technical issues, and did everything to direct the self-taught designer to study.

In 1942, Kalashnikov was sent to serve at the Central Small Arms Research Site of the Main Artillery Directorate of the Red Army.

At the training ground in 1944, he developed a prototype of a self-loading carbine, the design of the main components of which served as the basis for the creation of an assault rifle.

In 1944, he created a prototype of a self-loading carbine, which partially served as a prototype for the creation of an assault rifle.

M. T. Kalashnikov began working on the assault rifle in 1945. ( Slide 10) In 1947, he improved his machine gun and in the same year, thanks to its high reliability and operational efficiency, he won a brilliant victory in the most difficult competitive tests. ( Slide 11)

After modification, the assault rifle was adopted by the Soviet Army in 1949 under the name “7.62-mm Kalashnikov assault rifle model 1947 (AK-47)”, and senior sergeant M. T. Kalashnikov was awarded the Stalin Prize of the first degree in 1949 and the Order of the Red Star. ( Slide12)

Since 1949, M. T. Kalashnikov has lived and worked in Izhevsk. During this time, he went from an ordinary designer to the Chief Designer of small arms of the Soviet Army.

In 1950-70 Based on the AK-47, the Soviet Army adopted a whole range of standardized models of small automatic weapons developed by M. T. Kalashnikov: AKM, AKMS, AK74, AKS74, AKS74U, RPK, RPKS, RPK74, RPKS74, PK, PKS, PKM, PKSM , PKT, PKMT, PKB, PKMB. ( Slide 13-20)

In 1971, based on the totality of research and design work and inventions, Kalashnikov was awarded the academic degree of Doctor of Technical Sciences. He is an academician of 16 different Russian and foreign academies. Has 35 copyright certificates for inventions. ( Slide 21)

In 1969, Mikhail Timofeevich Kalashnikov was awarded the military rank of colonel; in 1994, the military rank of major general; in 1999, the military rank of lieutenant general. ( Slide 22)

The country's leadership highly appreciated the merits of M. T. Kalashnikov in strengthening the country's defense power, twice awarding him the title of Hero of Socialist Labor (1958 and 1976), laureate of the Stalin Prize (1949) and Lenin Prize (1964). He was awarded the academic degree of Doctor of Technical Sciences (1971) and awarded the rank of Major General (1994). M. T. Kalashnikov was awarded the highest award of Russia - the Order of St. Andrew the First-Called, as well as the Order of Merit for the Fatherland, the Order of the Patriotic War, 1st degree, and many other orders and medals. M. Kalashnikov considers his most important award to be the Order of St. Andrew the First-Called - Patron of Russia in 1999. ( Slide 23,24)

Mikhail Timofeevich Kalashnikov - honorary member (academician) of the Russian Academy of Sciences; Academy of Missile and Artillery Sciences; Russian Engineering Academy; full member - academician of the Petrovsky Academy of Arts and Arts; International Academy of Sciences, Industry, Education and Arts of the USA; International Academy of Informatization; Union of Designers of Russia; Engineering Academy of the Udmurt Republic; Honorary Professor of Izhevsk State Technical University; a number of other large scientific institutions; Honorary citizen of the Udmurt Republic, the city of Izhevsk, the village of Kurya, Altai Territory.

In 2012, Mikhail Timofeevich’s health began to deteriorate due to his advanced age. In December he was hospitalized at the Republican Clinical Diagnostic Center (RCDC) of Udmurtia for a routine examination. By the beginning of the summer of 2013, the designer’s condition worsened again. In Moscow, Mikhail Timofeevich was diagnosed with pulmonary embolism. Mikhail Timofeevich Kalashnikov died on December 23, 2013. Mikhail Timofeevich was buried at the Federal War Memorial Cemetery. ( Slide 25)

For outstanding services M.T. Kalashnikov, in front of the state in his native village of Kurya in 1980, a bronze bust of the twice Hero of Socialist Labor was erected.( Slide 26)

Kalashnikov weapons: machine guns, machine guns, carbines, are extremely popular all over the world. (Slide 27) At the end of the 20th century, the AK-47 was officially recognized as the invention of the century, overtaking aspirin and the atomic bomb on the list: our “product,” as Mikhail Timofeevich called his machine gun, became the most popular, purchased and... lethal weapon in 55 countries of the world.

The flags of 5 countries around the world depict the silhouette of a Kalashnikov assault rifle. For example, the country of Mozambique, which paid tribute to the AK assault rifle in achieving its independence, included its image in its state emblem. It is considered a great honor in Arab countries to name a boy the name “Kalash” in honor of the famous Russian weapons designer.( Slide 28)

What is the reason for such unprecedented popularity of Kalashnikov assault rifles, which has reached the level of a heraldic symbol? It lies in the fact that Mikhail Timofeevich achieved an optimal combination of a number of qualities that ensure high efficiency and exceptional reliability of the machine gun in combat, low sensitivity to contamination and the possibility of trouble-free use in any climatic conditions. Mikhail Timofeevich Kalashnikov went down in the history of small arms not only as the creator of the best machine gun in the world, but also as the designer who was the first to develop and widely introduce into the troops a number of unified models of automatic small arms, identical in their automation design, design and operating principle. Unification gave our country a huge economic and production effect; it greatly facilitated the study of new types of weapons in the troops. According to military experts around the world, the weapon created by M. T. Kalashnikov will have no equal until 2025.

“I constantly have to make excuses. Although there is nothing to make excuses for. I did everything to glorify my Fatherland. He created weapons to protect the borders of his Fatherland, and not for terrorists. I want it to continue to serve this purpose. For me, this is a peaceful weapon, so in times of peace it should be locked up. And this is already a matter for politicians...”, said the great designer. Like any patriot, Mikhail Timofeevich Kalashnikov, cared about the security of his Motherland, dreamed of peace for all of us!

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Slide captions:

Mikhail Timofeevich Kalashnikov Yatskina G.V., teacher at MBOU “Topkanovskaya Secondary School”

Biography The future designer was born in the village of Kurya, Altai Territory. He was the seventeenth child in a large peasant family, in which nineteen children were born and eight survived. Father - Kalashnikov Timofey Alexandrovich (1883-1930). Mother - Kalashnikova Alexandra Frolovna (1884-1957). Childhood

Full name: Kalashnikov Mikhail Timofeevich. Date of Birth: November 10, 1919. Place of birth: s. Kurya, Altai province, RSFSR. Date of death: December 23, 2013 (94 years old). Branch of the military: Russian Armed Forces. Years of service: 1938-2013 Rank: Lieutenant General Battle: Great Patriotic War

In 1930, the family of Timofey Aleksandrovich Kalashnikov, recognized as kulak, was exiled from the Altai Territory to the Tomsk region, the village of Nizhnyaya Makhovaya. Since childhood, Mikhail Timofeevich was interested in technology, studying with interest the structure and operating principles of various mechanisms. At school I was interested in physics, geometry and literature.

Wartime In the fall of 1938, he was drafted into the Red Army in the Kiev Special Military District. After the course for junior commanders, he received the specialty of a tank driver and served in the 12th Tank Division in Stryi (Western Ukraine). Already there he showed his inventive abilities - he developed an inertial counter for shots from a tank cannon, an adaptation for a TT pistol to increase the efficiency of firing through slots in the tank turret, and a counter for the service life of a tank.

The Great Patriotic War He began the Great Patriotic War in August 1941 as a tank commander with the rank of senior sergeant, and in October he was seriously wounded near Bryansk. In the hospital, I really got excited about the idea of ​​​​creating my own model of automatic weapons. “I began to make sketches and drawings, comparing and analyzing my own impressions of the battles, the opinions of my comrades in arms, and the contents of the books in the hospital library.”

The first sample of an assault rifle In 1941, Mikhail Timofeevich created the first sample of a submachine gun. In 1944, he created a prototype of a self-loading carbine, which partially served as a prototype for the creation of an assault rifle.

The beginning of the creation of AKM Since 1945, Mikhail Timofeevich Kalashnikov began developing automatic 7.62 mm weapons

Adoption into service In 1947, the Kalashnikov assault rifle wins the competition and is adopted into service.

Production of AK 74 By May 20, 1949, 1,500 assault rifles were produced, they successfully passed military tests and were adopted by the Soviet Army. In the same year, the creator of the machine gun was awarded the Stalin Prize of the first degree and the Order of the Red Star.

7.62 mm Kalashnikov AK-47

5.45 mm Kalashnikov AK-74 assault rifle

AKMS – AKM with folding stock

AKS – 74 UB

PKMS on Stepanov's machine

PC on bipod

Awarding a doctoral degree In 1971, based on a combination of research and development work and inventions, Kalashnikov was awarded the academic degree of Doctor of Technical Sciences. He is an academician of 16 different Russian and foreign academies. Has 35 copyright certificates for inventions.

Professional growth In 1969, Mikhail Timofeevich Kalashnikov was awarded the military rank of colonel; In 1994, the military rank of major general; In 1999, the military rank of lieutenant general.

M. T. Kalashnikov considered his most important award to be the Order of St. Andrew the First-Called - Patron of Russia.

The last years of his life In 2012, Mikhail Timofeevich’s health began to deteriorate due to his advanced age. In December he was hospitalized at the Republican Clinical Diagnostic Center (RCDC) of Udmurtia for a routine examination. By the beginning of the summer of 2013, the designer’s condition worsened again. In Moscow, Mikhail Timofeevich was diagnosed with pulmonary embolism. Mikhail Timofeevich Kalashnikov died on December 23, 2013. Shortly before his death, he was transferred to intensive care with a diagnosis of stomach bleeding. Mikhail Timofeevich was buried at the Federal War Memorial Cemetery.

Created weapons Assault rifles Machine guns Carbines AK AKN AKM AKMS AKMSU AKMN AKMSN AKS74UN AKS74UB AK-101 (5.56 mm) AK-102 (5.56 mm) AK-103 (7.62 mm) AK-104 (7.62 mm) AK-105 (5.45 mm) RPK RPKS RPK74 RPKS74 PK (1961) PKS (1961) PKM (1969) PKMS PKT PKB (7.62 mm) PKMB RPK74 RPKS74 "Saiga" with optical sight (7.62 mm) " Saiga 5.6" Saiga 5.6C" Saiga-410" Saiga-20"

Peaceful skies to all of you!

Mikhail Timofeevich Kalashnikov was born on November 10, 1919. Soviet and Russian designer, creator of the Kalashnikov assault rifle, which is familiar to residents of all world states. The small homeland of Mikhail Timofeevich Kalashnikov is the village of Kurya, Altai Territory.

Timofey Alexandrovich was recognized as a kulak in 1930, so the family was sent to the village of Nizhnyaya Mokhovaya, Tomsk Region. Even as a child, the young designer showed interest in technical means and studied the principles of operation of mechanisms. During his school years, Kalashnikov demonstrated knowledge of geometry and physics, but literature was also easy for him.

Only after finishing 7th grade did Mikhail Timofeevich decide to return to Altai, but he could not find work in the region, so he returned to his family. Because he belonged to the family of a kulak, for a long time Kalashnikov could not obtain a passport, but then he forged the seal of the local commandant’s office on the certificate and the document ended up in his hands.

Mikhail returns to Altai again. At this time, the first acquaintance with the design of the weapon occurs. The young man was able to disassemble the Browning pistol. When Kalashnikov turned 18, the designer moved to Kazakhstan. The guy was hired at the depot of the Matai station of the Turkestan-Siberian Railway. Mikhail not only communicated with mechanics and machinists, but also gained knowledge about the technology that he had admired since childhood.

In 1938, Mikhail Timofeevich went to serve in the Red Army. The service took place in the Kiev Special Military District. After some time, Kalashnikov became a tank driver, after which the designer was transferred to the 12th Tank Division. While serving in the Red Army, Mikhail created an inertial counter for shots from a tank gun. Also among the young man’s developments was equipment for increasing the efficiency of shooting from a TT pistol, and a tank life meter.

In 1942, this device was sent into mass production. Unfortunately, hostilities prevented the project from being implemented. Kalashnikov personally reported about this equipment to the commander of the Kyiv Special Military District, Army General Georgy Zhukov.

After the conversation, Mikhail Timofeevich is sent to the Kiev Tank School, where he creates prototypes and conducts research. Later, Kalashnikov moved to Moscow, where he continued to work on equipment. Already at the Leningrad plant named after. Mikhail Voroshilova and the craftsmen finalized the counter.

Great designer

Best of the day

During the Great Patriotic War, Kalashnikov was seriously wounded, so he was treated in hospital for several weeks, and after that the man was sent on leave. Mikhail Timofeevich devoted this time to creating a submachine gun.

After his own sample was brought to the required condition, Kalashnikov sent it to the competition. The commission was not delighted, since, according to experts, the weapon is expensive and complex. For comparison, we took PPSh and PPS. Despite this, the designer’s talent was noticed.

In 1942, Mikhail Timofeevich was recruited to serve in the Main Artillery Directorate of the Red Army. A man supplies weapons to military personnel. Management soon gave Kalashnikov a new task: the designer needed to develop a weapon based on an “intermediate” cartridge with a caliber of 7.62x39 mm. A pistol or machine gun must have a firing range of 200-800 meters.

In addition to Mikhail Timofeevich, designers who already had experience took part in the competition. Thanks to this, the Simonov self-loading carbine and the Degtyarev light machine gun appeared in the army. The Kalashnikov assault rifle was a complex design. None of the gunsmith's samples met the requirements of the competition. The first stage ended with improvements, and the second - with the victory of the young participants. On the Internet you can see photos of Kalashnikov, who is passionate about his work.

Mikhail Timofeevich was in no hurry to innovate, and the designer’s ideas cannot be called brilliant. Meanwhile, the machine is designed from high-quality components and mechanisms that have been tested in practice. The weapon is capable of firing in any situation, including after contact with water or dirt. There is no difficulty in cleaning or disassembling.

Thanks to known designs, the Kalashnikov assault rifle can be manufactured in large quantities using existing equipment. The cost of weapons is considered low. Mikhail Timofeevich created the machine gun not as a designer, but as an ordinary soldier, for whom it was important that the device be simple, convenient and understandable.

At the age of 30, Mikhail Kalashnikov became a laureate of the Stalin Prize. The designer received the Order of the Red Star for his unique development. Immediately after this, the machine gun was transferred to production at the Izhevsk Arms Plant. The designer moved to Udmurtia to actively participate in the creation of weapons. Mikhail Timofeevich constantly improved the invention.

For a long time, Kalashnikov tried to establish production, since during the process there were a lot of defects, including in the receiver. The specialist changed the technology and opted for milling, which significantly increased the cost of equipment production. As soon as the problem was solved, I returned to the original idea.

Soon the gunsmith created a new modification of the AKM. Since that time, Kalashnikov assault rifles and machine guns have become the main infantry small arms, since the creations of Simonov and Degtyarev were discontinued. In the 70s, they decided to adopt low-pulse 5.45x39 mm cartridges. A competition was announced among designers. Mikhail Timofeevich was awarded the victory again.

Back in the 50s, Kalashnikov weapons began to be supplied to the allies of the Warsaw Pact Organization and other countries with which the USSR had friendly relations. But the black market for weapons was already thriving in those days, so many underground fighters began to copy the creation of Mikhail Timofeevich.

Foreign companies took the Kalashnikov assault rifle as a basis, but supplemented it with their own developments, which were mainly expressed in a new design. Despite the fact that the weapon received a new name in each country, the AK remained itself. The Kalashnikov assault rifle remains to this day one of the most popular and reliable in the world. AK occupies 15% of the weapons world.

In 1963, Mikhail Timofeevich began developing an RPKS equipped with a folding stock and a night vision sight. At the same time, Kalashnikov was trying to develop an automatic pistol for 9x18 cartridges. But the gunsmith could not compete with Stechkin. Mikhail Timofeevich could not pay enough attention to this development, as he was fascinated by the field of machine guns and machine guns.

Already in the 1970s, Kalashnikov tried a new field of activity - hunting carbines. The gunsmith took his own machine gun as a basis. Immediately after testing, the carbines were sent into production. In 1992, the master created the Saiga self-loading hunting carbine, equipped with an optical sight.

Personal life

In the biography of Mikhail Kalashnikov there are 2 marriages. The man’s first wife was Ekaterina Danilovna Astakhova, who was born in the Altai Territory and later worked at the Matai station railway depot. In 1942, a son, Victor, appeared in the family. Later, Mikhail Timofeevich and Ekaterina Danilovna broke up. The ex-wife and child remained in Kazakhstan. In 1956, the woman died suddenly, so Kalashnikov moved his son to Izhevsk.

Mikhail Timofeevich’s second wife was Ekaterina Viktorovna Moiseeva. The woman worked as a design technician. From her first marriage the woman had a daughter, Nelly. But Kalashnikov adopted the girl.

Later, more children appeared in the family - Natalya and Elena, the latter holds the post of president of the Interregional Public Fund named after. M.T. Kalashnikov. Unfortunately, Natalya died at the age of 30. Mikhail Timofeevich was known as a happy father and grandfather. The children gave birth to five grandchildren: Mikhail, Alexander, Evgeniy and Alexander, Igor.

Death

Kalashnikov started having health problems in 2012. The designer's assistant stated that this was the reason for leaving his job. In December of the same year, the man was hospitalized at the Republican Clinical Diagnostic Center of Udmurtia for a routine examination. Another deterioration in health was recorded in the summer of 2013. Mikhail Timofeevich was transported to Moscow by means of an EMERCOM aircraft with special equipment.

“Due to the need for a medical examination, the doctors decided to send Mikhail Timofeevich to one of the Moscow clinics,” the press service of the Ministry of Emergency Situations said.

Moscow doctors diagnosed the gunsmith with pulmonary embolism. For several weeks, the capital’s doctors pored over Kalashnikov. As a result, the man’s well-being improved, after which the designer returned home to Izhevsk.

In November, Mikhail Timofeevich felt unwell again, so on the 17th the designer was hospitalized in the intensive care unit of the Republican Clinical Diagnostic Center of Udmurtia. Kalashnikov’s relatives believe that the gunsmith’s health was affected by preparations for the celebrations on the occasion of Mikhail Timofeevich’s 94th birthday.

In early December, Kalashnikov underwent emergency surgery, but the surgical intervention worsened the designer’s condition. After a month, doctors did not notice any visible improvements. A few days before his death, the gunsmith was transferred to intensive care due to stomach bleeding. The death of Mikhail Timofeevich became known on December 23.

Farewell to Mikhail Kalashnikov took place on December 25 and 26, and the funeral service took place in St. Michael’s Cathedral in Izhevsk. In connection with the death of the designer, mourning was declared in Udmurtia by order of the head of the region. Kalashnikov's funeral took place in the Pantheon of Heroes of the Federal War Memorial Cemetery.

The burial ceremony was attended by officials and key figures of the state, including Vladimir Putin and Sergei Shoigu, Andrei Vorobyov and Sergei Ivanov, Denis Manturov. The general director of the state company Rostec, Sergei Chemezov, expressed his condolences. A monument to Mikhail Kalashnikov appeared on the Garden Ring in Moscow. The designer was awarded the “Gold Star” and “Hammer and Sickle” medals for the created weapon.

Inventions

Inertial counter of shots from a tank gun

Kalashnikov light machine gun

Kalashnikov machine gun

Kalashnikov assault rifle 100 series

Self-loading hunting carbine "Saiga"

Automatic Kalashnikov pistol

Awards

1946 – medal “For victory over Germany in the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945.”

1947 – Order of the October Revolution

1949 – Order of the Red Star

1958, 1969, 1976 – Order of Lenin

1958, 1976 – Hero of Socialist Labor

1958, 1976 – Hammer and Sickle medal

1975 – Order of the Red Banner of Labor

1982 – Order of Friendship of Peoples

1985 – Order of the Patriotic War, 1st degree

1993 – Zhukov medal

1994 – Order of Merit for the Fatherland, II degree

1998 – Order of the Holy Apostle Andrew the First-Called

2004 – Order of Military Merit

2009 – Hero of the Russian Federation

2009 – Gold Star medal

On November 10, 1919, in the ordinary Russian village of Kurya, in the Altai Territory, a man was born who literally created the modern history of Russian weapons. This person's name is Mikhail Timofeevich Kalashnikov.

Mikhail is the 17th child in a quiet, peaceful peasant family, the son of Timofey Alexandrovich and Alexandra Frolovna Kalashnikov. From an early age, the boy was raised in strictness, taught to work in the fields, help with housework, and was instilled with hard work and perseverance. He grew up as a cheerful, active child, and was also very inquisitive and intelligent. Mikhail stood out among his peers for his interest in technology and love of books.

His first place of work was at the Matai station railway depot, where Mikhail entered as a student immediately after graduating from high school. Later Mikhail Timofeevich began working as a technical secretary in one of the departments of the Turkestan-Siberian Railway. In 1938 Kalashnikov was drafted into the Red Army ( Workers' and Peasants' Red Army— explanation website ), to the Kiev Special Military District. At the same time, he studied at a school for tank driver mechanics.

Mikhail Timofeevich became known as an inventor in 1941, when he invented inertia counter, which took into account the number of shots fired from a tank gun; special accessories for TT pistol (Tulsky-Tokarev model 1936), which allows pistol fire from slots in the turret; and device, which takes into account the service life of a tank engine.

During the Great Patriotic War, in October 1941, Mikhail Timofeevich was seriously wounded and had to be treated in hospital for some time. However, after treatment, the inventor returned to the drawings.

And very soon, in 1942, he invented a new submachine gun. Despite the fact that the weapon was not adopted by the army, Kalashnikov’s talent was highly appreciated by leading military experts of the USSR. As a result, Mikhail was sent to serve at the Central Research Range of Small Arms (NIPSVO) of the Main Artillery Directorate of the Red Army. It was there that the prototype was developed self-loading carbine, whose design of the main components subsequently became the basis for the creation of the machine.

Work on the creation of a new type of weapon went on for several years. In 1949, a product called “ 7.62 mm Kalashnikov assault rifle model 1947 (AK) "For this work, senior sergeant.

In subsequent years, until the 1970s, the designer devoted himself entirely to the further improvement and development of his brainchild. In the period from the 1950s to the 1970s, the following types of small arms were adopted by the Soviet Army:

• AKM— modernized Kalashnikov assault rifle
• AKMS— modernized Kalashnikov assault rifle with a folding stock
• AK-74- Kalashnikov assault rifle model 1974
• AKS-74— Kalashnikov assault rifle model 1974 with a folding stock
• AKS-74U— Kalashnikov assault rifle model 1974 with a shortened barrel and a folding butt
• PKK- Kalashnikov light machine gun
• RPKS— Kalashnikov light machine gun with a folding stock
• RPKS-74— Kalashnikov light machine gun model 1974 with a folding butt
• PC- Kalashnikov machine gun
• PKS— Kalashnikov machine gun
• RMB— modernized Kalashnikov machine gun
• PCSM— modernized Kalashnikov machine gun
• PCT- Kalashnikov tank machine gun
• PCMT— modernized Kalashnikov tank machine gun
• PKB- Kalashnikov armored personnel carrier machine gun
• PKMB— modernized armored personnel carrier Kalashnikov machine gun

The Kalashnikov design bureau, created on the basis of the Izhmash plant, invented more than a hundred types of weapons, including the self-loading hunting "Saiga", which was designed on the basis of an assault rifle. "Saiga", like the AK itself, gained enormous popularity and earned high reviews in Russia and abroad.

Merits Mikhail Timofeevich Kalashnikov to the country is difficult to overestimate. The designer was twice awarded the title of Hero of Socialist Labor and Lenin Prize laureate. In addition, Mikhail Timofeevich Kalashnikov, Major General and Doctor of Technical Sciences, has the highest award in Russia - the Order of St. Apostle Andrew the First-Called, the Order of Merit for the Fatherland, the Order of the Patriotic War, 1st degree, and many other orders and medals. In the homeland of Mikhail Timofeevich, his bronze bust was installed.

It was this man who began a new era in the world history of weapons. This is the era of automatic weapons. The inventor instantly became the most significant figure of the twentieth century.

Mikhail Timofeevich Kalashnikov said that his whole life was for protection, not for killing:

« I sleep peacefully because I have always created weapons for protection. It’s the politicians who can’t agree and use him to kill.”.

The great inventor died due to illness at the 95th year of his life, on December 23, 2013. He was buried on December 27, 2013 at the Pantheon of Heroes of the Federal War Memorial Cemetery. Russian President Vladimir Putin came to say goodbye to Mikhail Kalashnikov, as well as his closest aides, including Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, head of the presidential administration Sergei Ivanov, and Minister of Industry and Trade Denis Manturov.

Constructo died, but his work lives on. adopted in 55 countries around the world, a huge number of its copies have been created. The machine gun is an element of symbolism in many states.

Mikhail Timofeevich Kalashnikov was born in 1919 in the village of Kurya, in Altai. In total, 18 children were born into the Kalashnikov family, which is certainly a lot by modern standards. However, for that period of time this is quite normal. Then it was due to the first type of reproduction, traditional, that is, high birth rates with high mortality.

That is, how old is he? 92?

Yes, 92! But, unfortunately, 10 of these children died, and the parents began to raise the remaining ones. From early childhood, they were all accustomed to hard peasant labor. Mikhail Kalashnikov worked as a cattle driver in the field, but in general they all managed to make a very good living, as evidenced, in particular, by the pedal sewing machine. If today a person’s wealth is judged by the Rolls-Royce in the garage, then by the sewing machine. It was quite a rare industrial item, as well as quite expensive. Therefore, not every family could afford it. This is what they had. In the 1930s, a dispossession program was launched in our country. The Kalashnikov family falls under it, although it cannot be said that they were directly wealthy, they simply lived in abundance, let’s say. All their movable and immovable property is confiscated in favor of the state, and they themselves are deported from their native village to the village of Nizhnyaya Makhovaya, Tomsk region.

In his new place, Mikhail Timofeevich goes hunting with just such a gun, and he has to cover a rather long distance to school on foot. Every day he travels 12 km in one direction only, in particular, on such wooden floorings:

At school, Kalashnikov likes to study, his favorite subject is physics, he writes poetry, and later he himself remembers that if he had not become a weapons designer, he would have become a poet. He disassembles and assembles various mechanisms that he can find in the village. One day, his school friend, his name was Gavrila, finds a pistol somewhere, and Mikhail Timofeevich remembers that it was with this pistol that his love for weapons began. Together with their friend, they decide to return to their native village, to Kuryu. They falsify age certificates and obtain passports illegally, again taking illegal firearms with them on the road. I don’t know, of course, but, in my opinion, the 30s were not the best time to quarrel with the NKVD. They are almost arrested and have to flee. They succeed, and end up with the relatives of that same Gavrila in Kazakhstan at the Matai railway station. There Kalashnikov gets a job in a technical bureau. He has beautiful handwriting, he works with drawings, again gets acquainted with various machines, mechanisms, and repair shops at the locomotive depot, so to speak, deepening his knowledge of technology. The year 1938 comes and he is called up to serve in the Red Army, but he, accordingly, does not mow down.

Mikhail Timofeevich ends up serving in the tank forces. He serves as a tank driver. Here we have the tanker's headset and his service weapon - a Nagan revolver of the 1895 model:

By the way, the revolver is a unique weapon, the only one in the world that can fire with a silencer. But the point is not that it has a thread, while others do not have where to screw the muffler. When fired from a revolver, from any revolver, powder gases break out not only from the barrel after the bullet, but a small breakthrough occurs between the drum and the frame of the revolver, that is, even if the muffler is screwed on, this will not extinguish the sound. But the revolver has a different story. In his cartridge, the bullet is completely recessed into the sleeve, that is, it does not stick out like everyone else, it is inside, and when turning the drum moves forward a little, thus the sleeve with its bottom goes into the barrel, completely blocking this gap, and when firing also expanding at this time. This ensures complete tightness, or obturation, as they say. All powder gases come out of the barrel - it makes sense to screw on a muffler. For the same reason, revolvers were quite popular among our killers in the 90s. Since a revolver, unlike a pistol, does not eject a spent cartridge case, there is less evidence at the crime scene, and there is also a silencer.

While serving in the army, Kalashnikov creates two of his own devices for the tank, which he is sent to put into production in Leningrad. Kalashnikov does not have time to start production because the Great Patriotic War begins. He is recalled from the factory to the ranks of the active Red Army, and he fights the Nazis until he is wounded, after which he ends up in the infirmary. Well, military personnel of various specialties are treated there - cavalrymen, pilots, infantry, and many of them talk about the great shortage of automatic weapons in the army. Well, you and I are used to seeing in movies, in news footage, where soldiers of our army rush around with PPSh all as one. This, of course, is complete nonsense. We went through most of the war with Mosin rifles, as we saw there, they are not even self-loading. Well, it is true that the opposite misconception is that the Germans had mass automatic weapons, but this is not true. In the films, they also run around with MP 40 submachine guns, but they also had rifles, Mauser 98. In response to these aspirations of the military, Kalashnikov decided to create his first submachine gun. He is discharged from the hospital, sent on leave due to injury, and returns to the same Matai station where he was before the army to create his first submachine gun. And here is his first submachine gun. Clearly, this is a smaller copy:

The original has not survived to this day. MT demonstrates this weapon to gunsmith specialists, who conclude that the weapon is, to put it mildly, unsuccessful. That's how it was - heavy, expensive, unreliable. But there were a number of interesting constructive solutions that spoke of the designer’s talent, thanks to which Kalashnikov was noticed and sent to study. As a matter of fact, he only had 8 years of education by that time, but, I must say, he won’t have more in his life. So he ended up in the Moscow region at a military training ground. There he studied with the local gunsmiths and became acquainted with various types of then modern weapons.

Simonov's '36 automatic rifle ABC-36, our Soviet, self-loading rifle M1 Garand, American, German MP 40 submachine gun, German Sturmgever assault rifle and Soviet Sudaev '43 submachine gun PPS-43:

In general, it must be said that the Germans had the most advanced weapons system during World War II. All innovative decisions, first of all, are made by them. Well, let’s say, already at the end of World War II they created an infrared night vision sight for Sturmgever assault rifles, man-portable anti-aircraft missile systems, anti-aircraft guided missiles, anti-tank guided missiles, intercontinental ballistic and cruise missiles. Yes, all this was created by the Germans during World War II, and the victorious countries later took advantage of it. Well, let's say, a well-known story was the export of Wernher von Braun, a German rocket designer, to the United States by the Americans. True, few people remember that the author of the Sturmgever assault rifle, Schmeisser, was taken here to Izhevsk, where he worked for 6 years together with other German designers, creating small arms for the Soviet army. But, nevertheless, the PPS-43 is the best submachine gun of the Second World War in its class - simple, reliable, lightweight, and convenient.

Working at the training ground, Mikhail Timofeevich creates new models of his weapons - a light machine gun and a self-loading carbine, but they also turn out to be unsuccessful, and the military is not interested in them:

The great Soviet gunsmiths, teachers of Mikhail Timofeevich, but then his competitors - Tokarev, widely known for the TT pistol, the favorite weapon of our killers in the 90s.

Degtyarev, Simonov, Sudaev and samples of their weapons:

Self-loading rifle Tokarev SVT-40. Many people write that she was rather unreliable and capricious, but this is not entirely true. The fact is that it was somewhat more difficult to operate and maintain than the Mosin rifle familiar to soldiers. This is self-loading, and there is manual reloading. Therefore, not everyone was ready to handle its relatively complex mechanics, and, as a result, it malfunctioned. Including, it was, first of all, therefore supplied to Marine Corps units, as they were more technically competent.

Degtyarev RPD-44 light machine gun. It is made for belt feeding (well, belt, you can probably imagine what a machine gun is). There are 100 rounds of ammunition in his belt. This, by the way, is more than the magazine capacity of light machine guns, such as newer Kalashnikovs, they have a magazine capacity of a maximum of 75 rounds. This has a capacity of 100, recharge less often - the fire density is higher.

Simonov SKS-45 self-loading carbine. Well, our presidential regiment on guard of the eternal flame is all standing with these carbines and, by the way, few people know, but more than one and a half million US citizens own SKS for their personal home use, which once again speaks of the quality of Soviet weapons.

In 1943, a new cartridge was created in our country, intermediate, but, simply put, automatic. There was a great need for it, since the submachine guns that were in the army at that time, they, yes, fired in bursts, were light and convenient, but the pistol cartridge was too weak, and the range was a maximum of 200m. Rifles, on the contrary, were excessively powerful, their long-range cartridge flies km or more, but the infantry needed average distances of 300-400 m. It was precisely for such distances that the machine gun cartridge and a new class of weapon - the machine gun - were created. Although its ancestor is the assault rifle, well, we only created a cartridge. A competition was announced for the creation of a machine gun. Mikhail Timofeevich Kalashnikov ultimately wins the competition. Actually, after this, he and his machine gun are sent to us in Izhevsk to put it into production.

49th year, Mikhail Timofeevich arrives in Izhevsk. Initially, he is launching production at our motorcycle plant. Well, in general, with all due respect to Mikhail Timofeevich, it must be said that he was the author of only the main solutions in this machine gun, and there was also a huge team of other designers, technologists, closers, and adjusters who helped him complete this weapon.

We have before us an industrial serial image of a ’47 Kalashnikov assault rifle in the AKS modification with a folding stock for troops, marines and reconnaissance:

Well, what is the phenomenon of the Kalashnikov assault rifle? Why does everyone love him so much and why is he so popular? Firstly, what many do not know about, and those who know, keep silent. There is an immutable law: a good weapon is, first of all, a good cartridge. Here, that same cartridge from 1943 is one of the best military cartridges in the world, which also made a significant contribution to the success of the machine gun itself. Well, and besides, all these qualities that are well known to everyone - simple, reliable, cheap, technologically advanced, easy to maintain and operate, which is why it is so popular.

Here we have one of the experimental models based on the AK, the workers nicknamed it “balalaika” for the characteristic casing in the front part:

A special mechanism is built into it, which increases the accuracy of shooting from a machine gun. Let's just say it's a bit of a balanced design, which is what it's all about: as I said at the beginning, when you fire a weapon, you're subject to recoil, which causes it to move and reduce accuracy. Here in this casing is mounted a countermass, well, a piece of iron, relatively speaking, there are compensating cams. A piece of iron equal in mass to the bolt group, that is, when the bolt group, bolt frame, bolt move back and hit the rear wall of the receiver, synchronously with their movement back, a part of similar mass moves forward here in this casing, and hits the front wall synchronously with the bolt group hitting the back one. Thus, the backward strike is balanced by the forward strike. The weapon is more stable, the accuracy is higher. But, nevertheless, the design turned out to be quite cumbersome, unreliable, and the military was not interested in it either.

Here Kalashnikov worked, he sat at this table, and at this machine the Kalashnikov assault rifle was produced:

In 1956, the USSR Ministry of Defense announced a competition to create a unified family of small arms - a submachine gun, that is, similar in design. It would be very convenient and cost-effective to produce weapons that are similar in design; the supply of spare parts is essentially the same. Who wins the competition is a dark story, but a modernized Kalashnikov assault rifle is accepted for service:

Its most significant difference from the previous AK is the trigger retarder. There's such an iron detail inside.

For what?

To improve the accuracy of fire.

Evil tongues claim that Kalashnikov stole this part from another designer, Korobov, but it is still unknown how. It improves firing accuracy. That is, the trigger strikes the firing pin with a larger time gap, that is, at a larger interval, it slows it down. Thanks to this, you have a little time, it is of course imperceptible, for some stabilization of the weapon, and it moves up less. This is perhaps the only design feature; everything else is cosmetic. Technologies, materials, some technological changes have been improved, in general the same AK. Today many people say - here’s a new Kalashnikov assault rifle or something... All Kalashnikov assault rifles, from the oldest to the newest, have the same scheme, nothing fundamentally changes.

And here are these same AKMs in various configurations. AKMS with a folding stock and a bayonet for paratroopers, marines and special forces. Special forces appeared in our army in 1957, AKM with a PBS-1 silencer, AKM for border guards in green version:

Well, and that same Kalashnikov RPK light machine gun, similar in design to a machine gun:

All its differences are the magazine, bipod, butt, sight, and the internal filling is almost identical to the machine gun, most of their parts are interchangeable. However, this will play a cruel joke with this same light machine gun; the military will call it “a machine gun with a long barrel.” The fact is that it will not fulfill its function as a machine gun as a powerful support weapon - the barrel will quickly overheat, and the magazine capacity will not be enough. As I already said, the tape of the same RPD is larger in capacity.

If before we were talking about the weapon of a motorized rifle platoon, now we have before us a heavier weapon supporting a motorized rifle company. These are single machine guns PK, PKM, PKT:

Their difference is a more powerful rifle cartridge. That is, to put it simply, the cartridge case is simply longer, it holds more gunpowder, and the shot is stronger. Belt feeding, belts for 100, 200, 250 rounds, replaceable barrel, if it overheats it can be quickly replaced in the field, each machine gunner carries a spare one. The tank one is distinguished by a non-replaceable barrel with thicker walls (well, as you understand, a tank weighing 50 tons is still plus or minus kg) and an electric drive.

In the early 70s, a new cartridge of reduced caliber 5.45 mm was created in our country. The bottom line is that a lighter bullet with the same powder charge flies further, has a higher initial speed and less recoil. Guided by these advantages, but, apparently, without thinking about the possible disadvantages, a competition is announced to create a new machine gun chambered for this cartridge. Who wins the competition is again a dark story, but the ’74 Kalashnikov assault rifle is adopted:

(note - starting from the second from the top) AK-74 with a GP-25 under-barrel grenade launcher. AK-74 with a folding stock for troops, marines, special forces. The AK-74U is small-sized for arming, well, pilots, for example, of those military specialties for whom a machine gun is not the main weapon. By the way, the military themselves really don’t like this machine gun and, based on the last letter “u,” they call it a “bastard,” well, there’s still some obscenities there, but I won’t. The fact is that its barrel overheats all the time, and the accuracy of the fire is low. But this is understandable, because the cartridge is the same, and therefore the heat released during the combustion of gunpowder is the same. But since the trunk is smaller, it is now distributed over a smaller area, as a result, the heating is higher. A light machine gun chambered for the new RPK-74 cartridge and a Kalashnikov assault rifle, a modernized AK-74M, made using the latest technologies at that time. Well, in particular, with a mount for various sights (note - the first one from the top):

What year is this?

Here is the NSPUM night sight.

In the 90s, a range of Kalashnikov assault rifles was created for export, the so-called AK series 100. AK-101, the same AK-74M only chambered for the NATO cartridge, AK-102 and its shortened version, AK-103 chambered for the old 43 cartridge year, as I already said, it is one of the best military cartridges in the world, AK-104 and its shortened version, AK-105 and shortened version of AK-74M:

Range of hunting weapons - Vepr carbines based on RPK, Saiga carbines based on AKM:

Well, here we can already say the last reincarnation of the Kalashnikov assault rifle, the AK-107 assault rifle, no longer, the penultimate one. AK-107, AK-108 and Saiga-12 carbine:

Before this, you and I saw a machine gun there, they are also called a balalaika with such a casing. These machines use the same principle, only instead of this casing, the entire mechanism was crammed, so to speak, into one tube above the barrel. Thanks to this, they are more compact, and also more accurate. 107 - chambered for the Soviet 5.45 mm cartridge, 108 - chambered for the NATO cartridge. The Saiga-12 carbine is smooth-bore and fires hunting ammunition.

At the end of the 80s, Kalashnikov was declassified, everyone learned about him, everyone knew him, everyone loved him, he visited foreign countries, he was awarded the Order of St. Andrew the First-Called, by the way, this is the highest state award in our country. They write about him in different languages, here are some of his awards - the Order of Lenin, the Hero of Socialist Labor, the Red Banner of Labor (note - Mikhail Timofeevich Kalashnikov is the only person awarded the title of Hero of Russia and twice the title of Hero of Socialist Labor at the same time.):

He becomes a lieutenant general and meets with foreign weapons designers.

Here are numerous foreign copies of the Kalashnikov assault rifle - Chinese, Bulgarian, Hungarian, Romanian:

But in general, they are distinguished by minor changes in external fittings, like they added a handle, and, as a rule, by much worse workmanship. In general, it must be said that the capabilities of a weapon are largely determined by the capabilities of its production technology, so our combat characteristics are higher because of this.

Family of Mikhail Timofeevich:

Despite the fact that he was already quite advanced in age, he did not stop designing. A kebab maker of his own making:

If we usually grill kebabs on the grill, and each skewer needs to be turned separately, he made one handle - you turn one and they all turn over at once. Mikhail Timofeevich's own lawnmower - he made it from a cart and a motor from an old washing machine, and, in general, he quite successfully mowed the grass at his dacha until he was given an industrial one:

Today Kalashnikov is a brand, everyone knows it, its machine gun is depicted on the flags, coats of arms of many countries of the world, Kalashnikov vodka, Kalashnikov magazines, various consumer goods. Well, for example, in many African countries, it is generally indecent for an adult free man to appear in public without an AK on his shoulder, just as it was indecent for a nobleman in the 19th century to go out into the street without a headdress or without a sword. In Somalia, by the way, an AK costs no more than a handful of rice. Well, by the way, in Africa children are named after Kalashnikov.

This painting depicts Mikhail Timofeevich Kalashnikov himself, a painting by Nikos Safronov. At the end of our excursion, what can I say, today many people say that the Kalashnikov assault rifle is still the best in the world, for another 300 years there will be no analogues to it - this is complete nonsense. The Kalashnikov assault rifle is now obsolete. Well, this is normal, any type of technology from a vacuum cleaner to a satellite becomes obsolete sooner or later, this is inevitable and quite natural. Others say that the Kalashnikov assault rifle is very poor and does not meet any modern requirements. It's not bad, it's outdated, it's not the same thing. And it should not meet any modern requirements - so many years have passed. Each weapon lives in its own time, but for its time, the AK is one of the best in the world. Nevertheless, of course, Mikhail Timofeevich made a huge contribution to the development of weapons, this cannot be denied, and his weapons will also serve for a long time in our army and abroad.
All photos are mine.

This concludes the series of posts about Izhevsk.

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