In the know: AK-47 assault and sniper rifles

Russian manufacturing company Concern Kalashnikov produces assault and sniper rifles, including the famous AK-47, which is dubbed as the world’s favorite killing machine.

Designed by Mikhail Kalashnikov in 1947, the AK-47 can fire 600 rounds per minute (10 bullets per second) of the heavy 7.62×39 millimeter cartridge.

The AK-47 is inexpensive and produced in about 14 countries. In 2006, it was estimated that there were 100 million AK-47s in the world, found in the state arsenal of at least 82 countries.

Numerous variants of the AK-47 have been produced, including the AKM-47, or the “modernized” AK. The AKs have become standard issue in Russia’s military and police forces more than 60 years after the original rifle went into service with the Soviet military in 1949.

According to Concern Kalashnikov’s website, the company “is the flagship of the Russian small arms manufacturing sector, producing about 95 percent of all small arms in Russia and supplying to more than 27 countries around the world.”

A controversy on the missing AK-47 assault rifles which allegedly ended up in the hands of communist rebels in Mindanao resulted in the indictment of several Philippine National Police officials including Chief Supt. Raul Petrasanta.

A total of 1,004 Russian-made AK-47s worth P52 million were sold to the New People’s Army from 2011 to 2013 with the unwitting assistance of several senior Philippine National Police officials, the Ombudsman said in approving the indicment last year. —INQUIRER RESEARCH

Source: Inquirer Archives, kalashnikov.com, world.guns.ru