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Kalashnikov passes on
Posted by David Hardy · 23 December 2013 11:25 AM
Dead at the age of 94. I'd say John M. Browning was the greatest firearm designer who ever lived, and Kalashnikov is second only to him.
Read his autobio a ways back, a very interesting fellow -- and 100% Stalinist, even though he and his parents spent time (and his father died) in Siberia during Stalin's purges. He was convinced that Stalin wasn't to blame, it was local officials ("if only the king knew, he would fix things").
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I, too, thought of John Moses Browning when I heard of Kalashnakov's death. He was, in true Soviet fashion, an expert copier of German assault rifle technology. Google Sturmgewehr 44 and AK-47 and compare.
This man has surely left an unforgettable legacy in the history of gun designing and production. Rest in peace.