The AK-47 and AK-74 Kalashnikov Rifles and Their Variations [Paperback]

Joe Poyer (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 2004

The AK-47 and AK-74 Kalashnikov Rifles and Their Variations provides a detailed, profusely illustrated examination on a part-by-part basis of the famed AK-47/AKM rifles, the AK-74/AK-74M series and the new Century series of rifles, the AK-101 through AK-108. It is another in North Cape Publications, Inc., Shooter's and Collector's Guide series

In addition, every AK/AKM-type rifle manufactured in the Warsaw Pact countries plus the People's Republic of China, Finland, Iraq, North Korea and Yugoslavia are described in detail, with a short history on the reason for, and the process of their development and use.

Mikhail Kalashnikov is one of the foremost small arms designer's in the world. His Kalashnikov action has been widely imitated. This book also includes detailed descriptions of rifles based on his design such as the Belgian FNC, the Israeli Galil, the Indonesian SS1 series, the Indian INAS, the Swedish Ak-5, the Swiss SG-550 series, Singapore's SAR series and many others.

The book also includes separate chapters that describe the accessaries issued to each soldier, the entire range of Kalashnikov bayonets, telescopic sights (both military and commercial, the sniper rifle variants and their telescopic sights produced by the old Soviet Union as well as other nations.

An exploded view, serial numbers and markings, an assembly/disassembly guide with photos, instructions on cleaning, maintenance and repair, and shooting the Kalashnikov rifles and a guide to legislation affecting these rifles and finally, sources for accessories and parts complete the book.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Joe Poyer is the author of more than 400 magazine articles on firearms, the modern military, military history and personal security. He has written thirteen books on antique and modern collectible military firearms plus twelve novels with worldwide sales exceeding 5 million copies. He has also written or co-written nine nonfiction books on the modern military.

Product Details

• Paperback: 171 pages
• Publisher: North Cape Publications, Inc. (August 2004)
• ISBN-10: 1882391330
• ISBN-13: 978-1882391332
• Product Dimensions: 10.4 x 7.9 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,018,969 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars OK starting point, but..., January 3, 2009

By 

W. Urbanski (USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The AK-47 and AK-74 Kalashnikov Rifles and Their Variations (Paperback)

As a collector, I honestly didn't think this was all that good of a book. While some of the information is useful, much of it is either half-right, generalized, or outdated.

The pictures are very poor in general - on page 4 and 5 for example all of the weapons are semi-auto variants, most with US-made receivers. Some of them are obviously the same rifle with different furniture put on to make them look like various countries' rifles. The same sort of thing happens pretty often (for detail pictures of the AK-74 for example, he only uses pictures of a Bulgarian example instead of a Russian example, even though he is talking about features that the Russians designed and used first).

These might be OK to get a general idea of what a rifle from a country looks like, but it is of no help to a collector who wants to look at mold markings or something. One problem I found was that he does not include close-ups of design and stamping differences between different countries, or variations in production in each country as time went on.

He over-simplifies too many things for a collector. He mentions the wire folding stock used by Romania and E. Germany but makes no mention of the differences between the two (push-button versus lever style, etc). He mentions the AK-74 muzzle break, but only mentions 2 of the 5 variations that the Russians have, and then uses a picture of a Bulgarian example. Couldn't he at least have gotten a picture of an actual soviet brake, since they are pretty widely available, even in the US? He makes no mention of the design and production differences between Bulgarian and Russian and DDR brakes, or even Romanian 22mm and Russian 24mm which are not interchangeable, etc. He talks about the triangular folding stocks, but does not mention the differences in design of the stocks made for the AKS-74U and the AKS-74, or the major differences between the Russian and Bulgarian AKS-74 stocks. He does not talk about some of the major design differences that appeared in Russian AKMs as production went on from 1960-77 (top cover and selector switch stuff, front sight base changes, etc).

There are good things about this book. His production figures charts are helpful, and he has some good drawings which could be of use to gunsmiths and builders. He has good info about the different countries that use the AK and it's variants as well.

Overall, I would say that it is a good book if you are looking for general overviews and information, or as a very, very general entry point into collecting. The book falls way short in the details however, so I would definitely not recommend this for someone who is looking for a true guide. There are better resources out there on the web and in print. The books by Masami Tokoi or Edward Clinton Ezell are far better, and a number of websites and forums out there have better info.

10 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars AK-47/AK-74, February 23, 2005

By 

David Murphy (Boca Raton, FL United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The AK-47 and AK-74 Kalashnikov Rifles and Their Variations (Paperback)

This is an excellent book for the collector, shooter and historian. It covers all aspects of these Russian rifles and goes into great technical detail. The book explains the disassembly, cleaning, care and reassembly of the rifles. Of additional interest is the sections on ammunition, acessories such as slings, magazines, cartridge boxes and cleaning implements.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars great info, March 7, 2006

By 

Mr. Kabbani Khaldoun (England) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The AK-47 and AK-74 Kalashnikov Rifles and Their Variations (Paperback)

Its a great book , it provide you with information about the AK s and their variation to a point that you can sometime argue an expert, this book is very helpfull ecpecially if your studying CSI and want to be specialised in Ballistics, because it is very Important to know about the weapon beforehand