Customer Reviews

AK47: The Complete Kalashnikov Family Of Assault Rifles

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1 star:		(2)

 

 

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.

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.

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.

Long's extensive knowledge of weapon systems in general, and the Kalashnikov system in particular enables him to write a very readable, accurate, and enlightening book. Following the development of Russian weapons in general, Long goes on to describe in usefull detail the Kalashnikov and its many copies, clones, and spin offs. Pictures and diagrams round out this absorbing publication. For the owner of a Kalashnikov, select fire or semi auto, this is book you should have.

A tired rehash .
Very few pictures mostly line drawings
Totally out of date.

this is not a book for starters cause it does not has any meaning in it