1st Russian export from the last century

by Boom Khamai Prinya
(Thailand)

The last century was a century of war. Russia was one of the powerful countries in the world. Since in a war the most necessary thing is weapons and the most weapons ever is guns. It means Russia was one of the weapons inventors in the world from the last century. But after the end of World War 2 Russia was not a powerful country any more. It means a lot of weapons was stock. Soon after the end of the cold war, Russian weapons were sold to another war like in Afghanistan, South Africa, and Iraq.

The AK-47 is a selective-fire, gas-operated 7.62×39mm assault rifle, first developed in the Soviet Union by Mikhail Kalashnikov. It is officially known as the Avtomat Kalashnikova. The main advantages of the Kalashnikov rifle are its simple design, fairly compact size, and adaptation to mass production. It is inexpensive to manufacture and easy to clean and maintain. It can be used even with sand in a caliber or even in freezing temperatures.

Its ruggedness and reliability are legendary. The AK-47 was initially designed for ease of operation and repair by glove-wearing Soviet soldiers in Arctic conditions. The large gas piston, generous clearances between moving parts, and tapered cartridge case design allow the gun to endure large amounts of foreign matter and fouling without failing to cycle. This reliability comes at a slight cost of accuracy, as the looser tolerances do not allow for precision and consistency.

As a result, the AK-47 is easy to use. Even children can use it and they used it in the South African civil war (RUF; a group of rebels in South Africa) because they believe bullets from old men is the same as bullets from a child. So that makes the AK-47 the 1st export from Russia and the second was vodka and caviar.