(Mikhail Kalashnikov as a young soldier-engineer).

‘Где коза привязана, там она должна пасти’
(Where the goat is tied, there she must graze)

-Mikhail Kalashnikov, quoting an old Russian proverb on the ambiguity of his greatest accomplishment.

Well, it is at hand. The Capital is quiet; no point in monitoring “Traffic and Weather on the 8’s” since no one is hustling into the office to make essential policy decisions. I am going to ignore the Mallard Militia controversy. I imagine it is a slow news week, but it is not that slow.

I was thinking about making a symbolic attempt to sign up for one of the Health Exchanges later this morning, even though I don’t need it at the moment. I don’t have much concern about losing my personal information and identify theft- Target already took care of that for me.

I was mildly amazed that Comrade Mikhail Timofeyevich Kalashnikov was called to join Comrade Lenin in the great Soviet in the sky. He was a year older than our pal Mac, 94 years on the planet, and the designer of the most widely produced and distributed weapon of war in history. The obituary in the LA Times claims there is one for each 70 people on the planet. It’s low cost, efficiency and rugged operation prolonged dozens of wars, and brought great powers low.

It is all a strange and unreal story- young Mikhail was born as the struggle between Whites Russians and Reds still raged in 1919. He joined 17 siblings- only 8 of whom survived to adulthood- in a hard-working farm family who was one of the millions deemed to be enemies of the proletariat. Stalin had their livestock killed and land confiscated and the Kalashnikovs were re-located to Siberia where his father perished.

Despite the vicissitudes of Uncle Joe’s police state, Mikhail found his way home, and eventually to Kazakhstan, where the impending global conflict saw him conscripted into a T-34 tank unit- the 24th Tank Regiment of the 108th Tank Division. He was wounded in combat in the battle of Bryansk as the Red Army was reeling back from the German invasion.

Confined to the hospital for recuperation, Young Mikhail began to tinker with designs for guns that would address the complaints of his fellow wounded. The Germans had them outgunned.

What resulted- and it was not until after the war was over- was the Avtomat Kalashnikova- the AK-47.

It has an interesting story on the way from Mikhail’s drawing board to the icon of generations of the Red Army, revolutionaries, bandits, drug lords and thugs.

The Germans introduced the concept- a lightweight, simple and rapid-fire weapon they called the “Sturmgewehr-44” during the war, and what happened next was as much about the ammunition as the means to deliver it, a concept that has plagued the US main infantry rifle, the M-16, through the last several wars in which it has been deployed.

It is about a philosophy as much as it is about manufacturing, training and marksmanship.

What do you want the thing to do? In the case of the M-16, it was intended to provide a high rate of fire with a relatively small payload, enabling the individual to carry a sufficient load of ammunition with a known lethality.

The last part is where the controversy comes in. The M-16 distributes a bullet that is not much different from a .22 caliber plinker- but it does it sitting on top of a lot of powder. The velocity is what causes the round to have an inherent instability, which does all kinds of things in a ballistic fashion.

There are pros and cons to all that, of course, and the small size can be defeated with modern body armor. Generally speaking, the people coming back from the conflicts of the last dozen years think that large projectiles- like the venerable .45 that was the standard military side-arm for seventy years- is the way to go.

A similar philosophical issue confronted the arms-makers of the unlamented last century.

In World War II, the Germans tried ammunition that was half-way between full-sized rifle rounds and smaller pistol ammo- the 7.92x33mm Kurz. The Soviets captured an early prototype of the StG 44and they were also given samples of the U.S.M1 Carbine that was also developed for a less powerful round- .30 caliber.

At the same meeting that adopted the new cartridge, Soviet planners decided that a whole range of new small arms should use it, including a semi-automatic carbine, a fully automatic rifle, and a light machine gun.

Design contests for these new weapons began in earnest in 1944. That is where our pal Mikhail Kalashnikov comes in. His design borrowed elements from the German rifle and from the American M-1. It incorporated genius: low-cost stamped parts, rugged design and ease of use.

The Red Army adopted the AK-47 as their main infantry in 1948, and since that time, more of them have been produced than any other weapon in history. I am here to tell you that there is nothing quite as empowering as rapidly emptying a banana clip of 7.62x39mm through one.

He was truly a Hero of the Soviet Union. He never profited personally from the phenomenal success of his design, though the Government treated him well. He knew not to bring up his early experience with Uncle Joe.

Now, the ambiguity of the invention that it also helped chase the Russians out of Afghanistan was apparent to him. Kalashnikov normally was protective of his invention, which he said was designed “for the glory of the Soviet Army.” But he also admitted that “I am sad that terrorists use it.”

In the hands of Taliban fundamentalists, it is giving the Americans fits. Of course he was milked for propaganda purposes, but he never profited personally from his invention, and he served his country well.

Well, I hope he rests in peace. With the Holiday so hard upon us, I will plan on seeing you in a couple days- in the meantime,

Счастливого Рождества и счастливого Нового года!

Copyright 2013 Vic Socotra
www.vicsocotra.com
Twitter; @jayare303