Review by Larry S. Sterett 
Contributing Editor
KALASHNIKOV: The Inside Story of the Designer and His Weapons, by E.M.Kalashnikova. ©2011. Published by Ironside International Publishers Inc., PO Box 188, Dept. TGM, Ironsides, MD 20643. Price: $39.95, plus $5.00 shipping. Available in some bookstores, or online at: ironsidepublishers.com.
This oversize, 318-page hardbound volume, written by Elena Mikhailovna Kalashnikova, daughter of Mikhail Kalashnikov, designer of the famed AK–47, is the biography of the man and his gun. Originally published in Russia by the Kalashnikov Foundation as: AK47, Legendary Weapon, this translated version provides new insights on the man whose invention has provided the basis for a whole line of dependable small arms, used worldwide.
Divided into two parts, The AK–47: How The Rifle Was Born, and The AK– 47: Subsequent Designs, with an author’s Forward in the first part and the index in the second, this tome is lavishly illustrated. Black and white and full color photos, most never before having appeared in print, historical and modern, adorn the pages. Many are family photos, others of Russian awards and documents, including a copy of the poem “Tankman” by Mikhail Kalashnikov, which appeared in the April 5, 1940 issue of the Red Army newspaper in the “Red Army Soldier’s Art” column.
(Not only is Mikhail Kalashnikov an inventor, he also writes poetry.) Except for the final 40-plus pages, Recognition, which deals with Kalashnikov’s place in history, the two parts of this volume are devoted to a dozen spans of time, ranging in length from a year plus, to 22 years. The first part, consisting of a half dozen spans from 1919 to 1948, covering the Pre-War Years, through an Assault Rifle for New Cartridge. The second parts, also cover six time spans, from 1949 to the present, AK–47 Mass Production…through New Models.
One of Kalashnikov’s first inventions was not a firearm, but a “tank motor service-life counter,” in 1941, which got him coverage in the Red Army newspaper.
His first firearm was a submachinegun, plans which he sketched while in a hospital recovering from wounds obtained in combat.
Featuring a 30-round detachable box magazine, an MP-40-type folding stock, and a Thompson-style forward hand grip, it was found not suitable for mass production, “Due to its design and technological complexity.” However, “The originality of the moving system design deserves the attention of designers working in the field of small arms design,” according to A.A. Malimon, Arms Tester.
His second design, a light machinegun in 1943, faired a bit better, but still lost out to a Simonov design. In the end, neither design went into production, as all work during this period of the war was directed toward modernizing the DP Degtyarev. (The improved DP was adopted in1944 as the DPM.) At this point the old adage, “If at first you don’t succeed…” came in play.
Kalashnikov concluded “…I had to study…everything that had been done and was being done in this field, or I would never be able to produce anything worthwhile.” He came up with a selective-fire, self-loading carbine using an en bloc clip similar to that of the M1 Garand. Chambered for a 7.62x41mm cartridge, as was the Simonov SKS at that time, it performed well until a ranking general fired it and couldn’t understand why the clip ejected when the last round was fired, and why the charging handle was on the left side— ideal for a right-handed shooter. He stated the armed forces didn’t need such “novelties” in their weapons and the designer should quit “trying to be original.” The end of what appeared to be a great design, complete with folding bayonet on the muzzle, i.e. SKS.
By the summer of 1947, with the War over, Senior Sergeant Kalashnikov was helping oversee production of testing prototypes of his AK-46, still chambered for the 7.62x41mm short cartridge. As the winter of 1947–48 arrived, proving ground trials of the experimental AKS- 47 and AK-47 rifles were underway, eventually leading to the adoption by the Soviet Army in 1949. The rest, as the saying goes, is history.
The balance of this excellent volume is devoted to the various models— assault rifles, light machine-guns, shotguns, and sporting rifles––based on the original Kalashnikov AK-47 design, and the various awards presented to the inventor. Many of the models discussed are illustrated.
This is an excellent reference volume on the life of the man who invented what is probably the best known rifle of all time, the AK-47. Photographs of many of various Russian arms inventors are not readily available in other arms publications, nor are many of the other illustrations. It is truly the story of a man, now in his tenth decade, and his rifle. His daughter did a superb job, as did the translator, Anatoliy Filippenko, and English version editor, Don McLean. Now, if they will just bring out an English version of Soviet Assault Rifles.
