AK47: The Complete Kalashnikov Family Of Assault Rifles [Paperback]

Duncan Long (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1, 1988

The Soviet AK47/AKM assault rifle is tough and dependable, and has spawned many spinoffs worldwide. These rifles are now available in the U.S., but solid information on them is scarce. Learn about specs, ammo and more - find out why the AK47 is the world's most widely used gun.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Duncan Long is an internationally recognized nonfiction and fiction writer of countless books and magazine articles on weapons and warfare. He is a best-selling Paladin author, with more than 20 firearms manuals in print.

Product Details

• Paperback: 192 pages
• Publisher: Paladin Press (September 1, 1988)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0873644778
• ISBN-13: 978-0873644778
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.6 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #595,010 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Duncan Long (http://DuncanLong.com/) is a freelance writer/illustrator who has authored 13 novels including Anti-Grav Unlimited (Avon Books), the Spider Worlds triology (HarperCollins), and the Night Stalkers series (Harper Collins). He's also written 60-some technical books and how-to manuals (with Paladin Press, Delta Press, Lyons Press/Globe Pequot, and others). Additionally, he's ghostwritten over a dozen titles for TV, radio, and stage celebrities.

Some of Long's technical manuals can be found in the private libraries of the CIA, US Marines, FEMA, the FBI's FTU (Firearms Training Unit), and other US agencies. Excerpts from his books and technical drawings have even appeared in US Congressional hearings.

As an illustrator Long has created cover and interior illustrations for HarperCollins, PS Publishing (UK), Byron Preiss/ibooks, Pocket Books, Fort Ross, American Media, Delirium Books, Ballistic Media, Mermaid Books, Swimming Kangaroo Books, and others. His artwork also appears in national magazines (including the Sun and Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine), and at Web sites and on CD covers.

Long's illustrations are noted for their often whimsical, dreamlike quality. Talk-show host Victor Thorn named Long one of the three "best graphic artists in the entire world." And the reviewer at 3D Millennium (M3 Corp., Inc.) wrote about Long's collected works, "To call him a prolific artist would be understatement, at best. Get yourself a snack and settle back while Duncan takes you on a wild ride through worlds only he has dreamt of."

You can find Long's graphic artwork and articles online at his site: http://DuncanLong.com/

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars This book is the backbone of any AK47 historian., October 19, 1998

By 

[e-mail] (Caracas) - See all my reviews

This review is from: AK47: The Complete Kalashnikov Family Of Assault Rifles (Paperback)

I have always found the AK47 and its spinoffs to be among the most fascinating, absorbing, and attractive firearms in existance. It's the 1911 of long-arms. This book serves as the perfect source of information for those who are in the same position as I am. Long writes in a manner which is extremely readable, and he sticks to the topic without digressing. Even though some of the info contained has been obsoleted by recent gun-control legislation in the U.S. and the further modernization of the AK in the form of the AK100 series, it provides the most complete compilation of the AK family around, from infantry to sniper, including even the smallest technical detail. I highly recommend it.

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Interesting Story of the Most Influential Rifle in History, March 13, 2003

By 

John Nolley II (Fairfax, VA United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: AK47: The Complete Kalashnikov Family Of Assault Rifles (Paperback)

The AK-47 may not have been the very first "assault" rifle created to fill the gap between smaller sirearms and largerer machine guns in the military, but it is certainly the most influential and important rifle in the history of the 20th century. Duncan Long's tale explains the gun's origins, functioning, and its influence on the design and construction of such vaunted modern firearms as the FN-FAL (a weapon used heavily in Europe and by UN forces), the Galil (the Israeli assaut rifle), etc.

Is this book a manual on how to care for your Kalashnikov rifle or a catalog of its varied accessories? No--and it's not meant to be. Instead, it is a thorough and very readable history of the AK-family, from the AK-47's origins as a successor to the not-so-good SKS to its endurance as one of the best weapons ever designed to its successor the AK-74 and beyond.

If you have an interest in this fine firearm, please give Long's book a read--you'll enjoy it.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Good information with some glaring errors, October 17, 2006

By 

Donald K. Johnson (Denton, Texas USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: AK47: The Complete Kalashnikov Family Of Assault Rifles (Paperback)

Overall, the book provides some very useful information, but at least two glaring errors, both concerning the non-AK Czech rifle known as the vz58, leave questions about Long's research. On page 34 he writes, "These selective fire rifles are chambered for the 7.62x45mm Czech, which is identical to the Soviet M43 round." First, the 7.62x45 Czech is a different round; it is not identical to the Soviet M43, which is 7.62x39. (The earlier vz52 rifle, which was chambered in 7.62x45 Czech, was replaced with the vz52/57 in 7.62x39 as a result of Soviet insistence upon a standard round for all Warsaw Pact nations. This change would have been unnecessary if the two were identical.) In addition, the vz58 -- which replaced the vz52/57 -- was, and is, chambered in the 7.62x39 Soviet round.

Also, he barely mentions some variations of the AK -- such as the Egyptian and Bulgarian models.