AK-47

The AK-47 is a selective-fire assault rifle designed by Soviet arms designer Mikhail Kalashnikov and adopted by the Soviet military in 1949, becoming, through both official production and extensive licensed and unlicensed copying, the most widely produced and used firearm of the twentieth century, with tens of millions manufactured worldwide. Chambered for the intermediate 7.62x39mm cartridge and built around a robust gas-operated action prized for its reliability under harsh conditions, sand, mud and neglect that would jam more precisely engineered rifles, the AK-47 traded a degree of accuracy for exceptional durability and ease of manufacture and maintenance, qualities that made it especially attractive to irregular and poorly resourced forces. Its distribution by the Soviet Union and later China to allied states and revolutionary and insurgent movements during the Cold War, in conflicts from Vietnam to numerous African and Middle Eastern wars, made it an enduring symbol of anti-colonial and revolutionary struggle, appearing on national flags and emblems including Mozambique's. The rifle's basic design, refined into later variants such as the AKM and AK-74, remains in production and active service with state militaries, insurgent groups and criminal organizations worldwide into the twenty-first century.