Quote:
Originally Posted by Red October1984
Sounds like fun...
I really love shooting AK's. They're great rifles on and off the battlefield IMHO.
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The Russian army had huge stockpiles of AK's that would have armed the reserves in case of a general mobilization. But in 2011 the weapons failed to pass Russian army's qualification tests, quoting its poor aim and the change in the kind of warfare to be expected. No longer is it about huge masses of enemies that are to be mowed down in epic land battles, but precision against small forces that move agile and quickly, and about individual targets. The weapon, says the Russian army, no longer meets the needs of the to-be-expected armed conflicts of the forseeable future. Who am I to challenge the Russians over their own assessment of their own national idol.
Kalashnikov himself had doubts about his life's work record when he became older. He was aware that his invention had become the killing tool of choice of terrorists, ruthless general in civil wars that sent child soldiers into battle, and today I read in Der Tagesspiegel that in a TV documentation from around the year 2000 he voiced worries about his fate in afterlife, fearing to suffer hellfire for what he had done. It seems he was a man of religious belief. And clearly he knew what the invention of the AK47 has meant and caused in the world.
Iconic the weapon is - but iconic for many sides and many users with questionable reputation. It seems as a man of higher age he did not get over his role in this "achievement".