Spetsnaz Special: The Legendary Kalashnikov

I am a professional I always aim true whether firing single rounds or full automatic I know neither fatigue nor failure I would take pride in my work but for one thing I do not know my target I'm not the one who kills that distinction belongs to the man who pulls my trigger I am an assault rifle my name is Kalashnikov somewhere near Moscow a group of elite soldiers from Russia's interior ministry are about to start an all-day exercise in the morning they learn up in formation according to tradition they pay homage to past comrades who have died in the line of duty this unit has taken part in many counter-terrorist operations across Russia they have a variety of firearms at the disposal but their weapon of choice is still the Kalashnikov assault rifle to these men it's known simply as Kailash these soldiers will endure a course of special training lasting almost until dusk its regular procedure and new modifications to the Kalashnikov assault rifle to be tested in such units it will be hard to imagine a tougher testing ground for any new gun one rifle from every batch is thoroughly scrutinized before being sent to units in the field in truth it's more like torture than a scientific trial the rifles designer Mikhail Kalashnikov once recalled that when he realized his first model was to be subjected to a severe test he looked away he couldn't bear to see it with his own eyes testing a new variant of the Kalashnikov goes through seven stages first the gun is placed into what's known as the dust chamber where the room is filled with sand the dust chambers filled with fine particles of silica sand the next stage will lead us to the sprinkler room it imitates a subtropical climate when us commandos fought in Vietnam the hot and humid conditions often prompted them to improvise with captured Kalashnikovs rather than their own army issue m16 rifle kalashnikov's were far more durable in such a climate self-taught gunsmith Mikhail Kalashnikov came up with the prototype for his celebrated rifle at the age of 22 he set about designing it after he was wounded in action during the Second World War recognition of his achievement came five-and-a-half years later in 1947 when his model came first in a Defense Ministry firearm design contest the new weapon was designated ak-47 I took care to think over every single part to make them more technologically suitable for mass production at the same time I needed to make sure that the gun was as reliable and durable as its design dictates if that was not an easy task and in general any designer must be very careful with regard to every detail of the design Vietnam War veterans frequent this firing range in the US state of Virginia it was here in the 1990s after the end of the Cold War that the ak-47s designers met their American m16 counterparts following the gathering Mikhail Kalashnikov put his signature on one of the rifles belonging to the club this is Russian ammunition by the way so if I'm sure it'll work well general Kalashnikov autographed this piece so this is quite a rare piece and when we shoot it I'm going to everybody will have on white gloves because we don't want to smear the signature Kalashnikov assault rifles are mainly assembled by hand people working at the is mush machine building plant in the city of Bishops never say weapons or assault rifle they refer to it simply as the product some 20 variants of the a.k have been turned out here since 1947 people across the globe instantly recognize the Kalashnikov it is the most widespread firearm in the world today the rifle is not only functional but it's also a handsome model Mikhail Kalashnikov likes to say that it cries out to be touched most of the workers at the Machine building plant are women it's thought they handle the mechanical operations requiring constant attention better than men they know the rifle inside and out even though the weapon is intended primarily for men I often have to teach male workers not only the newcomers but also those who already know their job well when I watched films on TV I instantly recognized something made in our shop it gives me great joy to see our products on screen the first batch of Kalashnikovs made in 1947 was kept secret so much so that officers concealed the weapons in cases and collected used cartridges when the 5.45 millimetre variant appeared in 1974 the situation was quite different the Kalashnikov brand had gained fame far beyond Soviet borders after the Vietnam War Special Forces were some of the first to appreciate the benefits of the 5.45 millimeter version short patterning had improved it was also much lighter and there were no complaints about harsh operating conditions even though the Kalashnikov rifle is much more reliable than the m16 its designer earned far less from his creation than his American counterpart Eugene stoner they came from completely different socio-economic and political backgrounds in Russia Kalashnikov was honored as a national hero a regional icon but received no compensation stoner received $1 a rifle for a royalty of course they sold millions of them and so in the United States few people know who's stoner is although he became wealthy from this in Russia many people know him but he didn't become wealthy for different approaches different societies different values Maria Rosa mr. Pitt new recruits at Russian military schools are required to learn how to strip down the Kalashnikov in 15 seconds then within the same time limit the gun must be reassembled and ready to fire this is a reliable weapon it's a personal weapon that all students must have a good knowledge of down to the smallest part sometimes they even have to take it apart and reassemble it and clean it while they are blindfolded cadets who have successfully passed initial tests take an oath of allegiance the ritual goes back to the mid 17th century and since the 1950s its featured full dress uniform and a Kalashnikov I cadet Ignatieff to hereby swear allegiance to my country after taking the oath cadets are duty-bound to use their weapon to protect Russia's interests cannae mumble immense thank you in Mozambique the words of the song sung by these freedom fighters could just as easily be addressed to miss our Kalashnikov in the early 1960s the Soviet Union helps the Portuguese colony in its fight for independence the rebels quickly got a feel for the Soviet rifle after their victory it became a national symbol see in the middle of our our flag we have here the star and the book the whole and the Kalashnikov the book signifies education and the whole our petition agriculture for the the collaging of the struggle for liberation of our country and the starting the nationalism in Soviet times the a chef's machine building plant worked around the clock in a bid to uphold what was then called internationalism the employees joked that because everyone at the plant works like robots if they were ever to find another job even at a factory making meat grinders the end product would still be a Kalashnikov no working mill yet after spending eight years at this conveyor belt I can work with my eyes closed in the week they have regular jobs but at weekends these people change their stuffy office suits for battledress laptops give way to Kalashnikovs but these weapons are loaded with plastic bowls instead of bullets the plant is now making a Kalashnikov with a difference some call them fake because they can't kill but everything else about these non-lethal rifles remains true to the original its weight design and appearance now everyone can feel like a real soldier it's not a fake but rather a genuine Kalashnikov basically this is the first attempt in Russia to use an electric mechanism to adapt a combat weapon to a game of airsoft this thing is assembled from the same materials and all the same production lines as regular Kalashnikov assault rifles this game played by people fed up with the routine of everyday life may look pointless but in fact the purpose of each round of airsoft is to achieve real tactical goals army units are likely to use airsoft in the future as a cost effective method of tactical training in close quarters combat for the time being though men and women alike are only just beginning to get their hands on this non-lethal version of the iconic Kalashnikov Jewish claim not very strong because I am a young woman when I first began doing it my hands ate a lot but now I feel they have been getting stronger with each training exercise I find that holding that thing is less of a problem now just the lights to read there is another side to the popularity of the Kalashnikov as one war comes to an end arms dealers rake in huge profits by buying up used Kalashnikovs and selling them in other hotspots for example after the Soviet Union pulled its troops out of Afghanistan a single rifle cost a mere fifteen dollars today the price for functional Kalashnikov in the Middle East is around $1,000 now something will nationally we use this rifle as the main weapon of our struggle because it never misses targets you know why daddy Khalid thought possibly the Kalashnikov has proven its reputation in combat and demonstrated its sturdiness in complex conditions brought al Posse in the 1980s the CIA supplied the Afghan mujahideen with thousands of Chinese made Kalashnikovs it was the first time that soviet-designed weapons were used against Soviet soldiers in the 21st century helper those same firearms have now been turned against the United States many al Qaeda gunmen fight NATO forces using the very rifles that the u.s. bought for them so long ago cadets at Russian military schools are undergoing weapons training on a tank range Mikhail Kalashnikov himself began his military service in Russia's armored division before the ak-47 his first inventions were related to armored vehicles but though could not be implemented because of the onset of World War two Kalashnikov miraculously survived after being wounded when his tank caught fire as a result he couldn't resume active service and so he devoted all of his efforts to designing small arms the first assault rifle models designed by Mikhail Kalashnikov gained popularity because they were waterproof and later version was made for cartridges smaller than the 7.62 millimeter original but they often got jammed although Kalashnikov received no formal education in engineering either before or after that time it didn't take him long to resolve a problem that many of his colleagues had been unable to cope with the result was the ak-74 variant which used five point four five millimeter cartridges just like its older brother it too was waterproof today critics often claimed that the aka is outdated but professionals note that any changes to make it more fashionable and modern looking would inevitably affect its most important feature reliability yeah what what yeah these soldiers are all set for another exercise that could earn them the right to wear the crimson berry the distinguishing sign that marks them out as soldiers belonging to an elite squad they like to joke that if it were possible to train them to be as tough as the Kalashnikov they would be the world's best Special Forces units after the decision was made to select this weapon as the new Soviet assault rifle the Russians immediately began improvements on it even before it was issued and they kept improving it working on every feature of the rifle to optimize performance the difference in that story is when the United States selected the m16 rifle from Colt they forced the rifle to be issued for combat use before adequate testing - the United States government literally did nothing for 15 to 20 years after World War two to get serious about a lightweight semi-automatic rifle check it and then put the safety back on the impact and we were shooting at 25 yards the bullet is not fast but it's a heavy pounding bullet very effective and on kill McGuff is a specialist in ballistics he is skeptical at the superiority of the iconic brand he even claims that somebody other than Kalashnikov designed the celebrated assault rifle he alleges that Kalashnikov borrowed the concept from a German designer Hugo Schmeisser at the end of the wash miser designedly a fairly effective stg44 assault rifle and it is true that Kalashnikov design does resemble the German very--it shell Schmeisser and other German specialists contributed to the development of the new product the Germans and some Soviet inventors worked on it together claiming that it was made by some ordinary sergeant is utterly preposterous as an ogre Mikhail Kalashnikov worked at the chef's plant since 1949 he and his colleagues have heard these accusations before claims that the young designer took advice from Schmeisser have been denied so many times they think further debate is pointless this place is a wash with rumors it's no secret that the German designer Hugo Schmeisser worked in this building after the war I've seen an article on the internet claiming that he gave casual advice to the young Mikhail Kalashnikov just in passing that sounds ludicrous Kalashnikovs work was a carefully guarded secret obviously Hugo Schmeisser had no access to it with their Kalashnikov still wet after being carried through water these men are ready to face a sand mount fighters in this special squad are being trained to handle standard weapons the brand-new ak-12 model will be tried out in exactly the same conditions and then sent on to Russia's army and police force Kalashnikov was often asked about his rifles design he made no secret of the fact that he had indeed borrowed many ideas but they had come from his Soviet colleagues not from Hugo Schmeisser Kalashnikov was able to integrate various solutions within one design to best advantage moreover the new assault rifle was much more sturdy than its rivals whenever a Kalashnikov ran out of ammunition it was still very useful in hand-to-hand fighting once bullets were available again firing could resume without worrying about cleaning or lubricating the gun in battle the rifle was designed so that any illiterate person in the world could operate it disassemble it for basic cleaning if any and use it under all conditions they had a documentary once on the History Channel where they were talking about the Afghans using the aks in Afghanistan and they had no concept to clean it why would you do that and so they said they finally taught them to take their shoelaces off time in a knot dip it in motor oil and pull that shoestring through the bore I said that was clean as was clean enough when Kalashnikov made his weapon in 1947 the Soviet army desperately needed a modern assault rifle the a.k was a timely solution over time Kalashnikov created a wide variety of rifles and machine guns Wiki is a concept formulated by one person is built into all these items their design is based on a single principle the parts are interchangeable the fact that this broad range of weapons has been designed by one person makes them very convenient Algie in the early 1990s Mikhail Kalashnikov had his first opportunity to attend international small firearms exhibitions times had changed now civilian weapons for hunting and sporting purposes were being developed based on his rifle Kalashnikov personally tested the new models as he had always done for his products the Saiga a semi-automatic shotgun based on the Kalashnikov takes less than a couple of seconds to be ready to fire the United States formerly our potential adversary has been one of the most active customers for the russian-made Saiga thanks a million because the Americans have compared their firearm to our Saiga 12 a design of this shotguns based on the Kalashnikov assault rifle as it turns out Saiga 12 is a more attractive weapon it's more powerful and capable of more effective rapid-fire hits and we're a me against the Americans had to swallow their pride earlier this year our plant signed contracts with the Americans for thousands of Saiga 12 units to be supplied to their police force all Kalashnikov models are assembled in the same shop and go through the same quality control tests before being shipped to a customer Auto Show we're entering the freezer now to pick up the assault rifle it's been exposed to temperatures of up to minus 50 degrees Celsius for nearly an hour my in my experience the Kalashnikov has never had any problems working in freezing conditions not once has it jammed this gun is very durable one of the final tests is quite possibly the toughest the assault rifle is dropped onto a concrete slab from a height of two and a half meters we're at the same firing range where mr. Kalashnikov and stoner met in May of 1990 they were talking about durability of the weapons and what kind of tests they had to go through to make sure they were durable enough to withstand battlefield conditions and one of the things that stoner said was that he was required to drop this weapon from 11 feet and drop on concrete and be able to pick up the weapon and fire it and at that point Kalashnikov started laughing and they asked him what he was laughing about he said well the way we do it in Russia is if the weapon doesn't function properly they take the designer and they drop him from 11 feet onto a concrete floor yet another key feature of the Kalashnikov is that almost anyone can use it allowing it to hold its ground for more than 60 years it's equally suited both to novices who have only just laid hands on it and professionals dealing with specific tasks the beginner needs only a short time to acquaint himself with the rifle veteran Kalashnikov users such as Special Forces can modify their weapons the choice depending on the mission when we get a Kalashnikov assault rifle from the Depot we fit it out with a sight this is a sample tuned up for a marksman it features a retractable stock for ease of use I can change the length of the stock to I fixed a pistol grip onto it to make it more comfortable the magazine holds 60 cartridges more than the standard version as the special interior ministry squad wraps up its training exercise each fighter must make sure that their weapon is still ready for battle after such extreme conditions meanwhile the workday at the Oh Jeff's machine building plant is joined to a close what's left is the final trial for the new rifle the special video camera is set up next to Kalashnikov that has just gone through a rigorous series of tests it records in slow motion every one of the kalashnikovs moving parts votes on the gun saves the lives of soldiers on assignment that's what it's supposed to do and it always functions to the best of its abilities whether covered in mud or frost methyl Kalashnikov is now 93 years old he's outlived most of his friends and rivals Eugene stoner creator of the US Army's m16 died in 1997 in recent years Kalashnikov has become increasingly unhappy about his rifles reputation each year an average of a quarter of a million people are killed by bullets fired from one of his weapons now that story I didn't want to design a weapon that was going to be used in wide-scale fractious idol war right yeah I forgot I only wanted to help protect my country's borders sorry you are teachers right well that's what I would wish for everybody as well as myself I have gone through every trial and tribulation and I'm ready to go on working there are some 100 million like me in the world they say I have yes to outlived my usefulness far from it I will be around for several decades more I'm not easily replaced everything is changing but I'm still as I have always been an assault rifle my name is Kalashnikov

Channel: RT Documentary

Views: 4,790,033

Rating: 4.7535067 out of 5

Keywords: RT, Russia Today, RT Documentary, RT Doc, RT docs, documetary film, documentary, Kalashnikov, AK-47, Izhmash, izhevsk, Mikhail Kalashnikov, rifle, weapon, legend, AK, Kalash, spetsnaz, assault rifle, M16

Id: mowaYfL2uPY

Length: 26min 4sec (1564 seconds)

Published: Wed May 14 2014

Reddit Comments

[u/Juniorslothsix]

What’s interesting is that they talk about the electric versions being made in the same factories as real AK’s. Does this mean that somewhere out there there is a kalashinkov licensed airsoft AK?

[u/YOUREABOT]

No matter what the product is There will always be a Chinese knockoff.

[u/[deleted]]

This is amazing. I love this kind of content. Thanks man.