AK-47.

what could be more iconic than the Kalashnikov rough-hewn from wood and iron it's simple construction relies an enduring example of industrial design it's the weapon of choice for a revolution and the backbone of any insurgency so what makes the a.k so special why is a near 70 year old rifle still so popular and is there really no substitute the legendary rifle story starts in Soviet Russia in the embers of World War two this was an era of rapid technological progress amidst valiant acts and the Soviet Union loved the hero Mikhail Kalashnikov was a tanker in the Red Army wounded in action in 1941 during his recuperation he learned of his comrades woes with their issued rifles and resolved to tackle them with a soldier focused approach to small arms design with innate usability born from simplicity reliable function his early designs caught the eye of officials in Kalashnikov found himself part of a small arms development group for the Red Army the Soviets were not shy to take influence from what other forces were fielding and between captured Nazi weapons allied supplies and a long line of Russian prototypes the ak-47 began to take shape the Germans Stan Guevara 44 was a major influence with similar form factor it proved the viability of a mid power cartridge and provided the gas system for Kalashnikovs design the earlier RPD would also lend its intermediate cartridge to the ak-47 the 7.62 by 39 millimeter round also known as the M 43 it's slightly tapered casing is responsible for giving the ak-47 its distinctive curved magazine in demonstrations the 1947 prototype outperformed any rival and was readily adopted by the Russians although initial manufacturing issues did slow down deployment these issues were remedied by 1959 when a modernized version was introduced known as the AKM it replaced the milled receiver with a stamped metal one both lighter and easier to produce and was also equipped with a muzzle brake to improve the accuracy of automatic fire there were a large number of variants of this basic design from the aks with a folding stock to a large number of foreign produced a que pattern rifles such as the Chinese type 56 Hungarian AMD 65 or the Finnish RK 62 the smaller caliber ak-74 emerged in 1974 firing the lighter but higher velocity 5.45 by 39 millimeter round with greater wounding potential versus the older round the ak-74 would supplement and eventually replace the AKM in service pair these variants with such a broad service history and you have a recipe for a very popular weapon indeed there have been more Kalashnikov pattern rifles made than all other assault rifles combined in fact of all the small arms that exist one in five is an A K it's utterly ubiquitous found in every corner of the globe and such as its influence it even adorns the flag of Mozambique no surprise then of the ak-47 is as popular in video games as it is in real life we've perhaps as many digital renditions as though stand from steel it's so well known that most instances regardless of variant are labeled as the ak-47 without fear of license rights only the most cautious optical Asians such as goldeneyes kf7 Soviet or the CV 47 in earlier counter-strike games these virtual depiction reflect the rifles design in a variety of ways but there's no mistaking the familiar characteristics of the a que often a weapons identity is forged by the powers that wield it and with its prominent use by the second world during the Cold War the a.k has come to symbolize the defiance and might and those who would oppose the West it's the foil to the American m16 and the weapon of choice for any opposing force and for that reason it's often the default option for the bad guys in games the mirror any recent conflict in some cases like in counter-strike the a K is only available to the terrorist forces and here it has prime placement being the top-tier automatic weapon on offer alongside the counter terrorists and for perhaps it's by its association with untrained militia fighters or just affinity by design but long bursts of automatic fire spray-and-pray seems like a natural fit for the a K it has perfectly good accuracy then is more than capable of hitting targets within its effective range but somehow the a K doesn't feel like a marksman's rifle luckily the weapon is quite suited to sustained fire and this is normally reflected within its depiction the aks rediff iris fairly moderate and while recoil is present it's still possible to wrest the weapon onto a close-range target it's not particularly elegant nor great for ammo conservation but you've got 30 chances to hit something even if it's not what you are aiming at of course it's not just enough to be capable of automatic fire a weapon must also be able to dole out magazine after magazine without stoppage or fuss luckily the ak's reliability is legendary with loose tolerances and as simple a mechanism as possible there's not too much that can go wrong and even less the can't be put right this is one tray that doesn't transfer well to video games malfunctions are seldom shown as far our maintenance isn't a particularly exciting endeavor and experiencing a feat failure mid firefight would only prove frustrating some games do reflect these factors however perhaps most notably Far Cry 2 with scavenged weapons proving much less reliable than those bought brand new weapon condition is also a factor in some RPGs such as in fallout 3 but a poorly kept weapon suffers only in the damage stakes rather than with any interruption its its reliability and simplicity that gives the weapon much of its charm other weapons might be more high-tech but that does you no good if it chokes in dusty environments it seems almost sacrilegious to tamper with the purity of the ache a strapping anything superfluous to the weapon is an insult to the design principles of Kalashnikov some games do let you customize your ak-47 with a variety of attachments optics suppressors in garish paint jobs call of duty 4 modern warfare at the right idea is equipping a red dot sight would harm the ak-47s long range damage meaning the most sensible choice was just a plain rifle with iron sights remember just because you can doesn't mean you should of course if you're some tin-pot dictator of some far-flung land you can generally do whatever you like and this extends to having your favorite rifle gold-plated although such weapons are ornamental and clearly not designed for the rigors of battle some games do feature golden guns some represent the pinnacle of accomplishment with the weapon a reward for the completion of challenges while others just represent an absence of good taste so the ak-47 the very best there is from drug lords the peasant rebellions the a K is everyone's favorite weapon a great equalizer irrespective of wealth or status still the most accurate weapon nor the most elegant but it simply doesn't have to be it's good enough it excels we're fighters needed most it's reliable stoppages are rare many faults that do occur can probably be fixed with a hammer it's simple to use there's no need to pour over a manual the a K is point-and-shoot it's so simple a child could use it and in some parts of the world they often do it's cheap easy to manufacture and even easier to acquire and you're looking to arm an insurrection on a budget no other rifle will come close it is an old weapon but it's not yet outdated at the end of World War two it was cutting-edge and led the way for the rise of the assault rifle during the 20th century today well oh not quite as high-tech as some infantry weapons the ak-47 still performs its duty and with 100 million rifles in existence its popularity is unlikely to evaporate any time soon when it's widespread use low-cost the weapon can be counted alongside the most basic of tools the hammer the sickle the ak-47 thank you very much for watching and it's all next time farewell

Channel: Ahoy

Views: 3,792,810

Rating: 4.9507565 out of 5

Keywords: xboxahoy, AK-47 (Invention)

Id: tiZHgwICPlU

Length: 10min 10sec (610 seconds)

Published: Fri Aug 01 2014

Reddit Comments

[u/[deleted]]

Love Ahoy's videos. Great production as always. He also did a video on the deagle: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8T_OW9NHJ84

[u/The_Ruke]

Can i have a wallpaper version of the thumbnail?

[u/buddha_bro]

Hey guys, why is the AK called a different name in 1.6?

Did Valve have to pay fees to the gun companies to use their real names in CS GO?

[u/StormMFeel]

They should put AK-12 in CSGO!

[u/lordcameltoe]

hehe that part where he rips word for word the intro scene to Lord of War.

Still a good video!

[u/StormMFeel]

Automatic SVT-40 Is the only true forefather of Kalashnikov.

[u/Lunar_Flame]

Ahoy's voice is the smoothest, most perfect thing for narration.

[u/Schultzz_]

Video didn't work for me..weird

[u/Joszanarky]

This reminds me of the AK-47 scene in Lord of war. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fAHXosoNlvo