The Development of the AK-47; The Revolutionary Rifle
Previously, I talked about the US army rapidly replacing the M14 with the M16, to quickly sum up that decision; It was not the function of the M16 or the coolness of it that set about the replacement of the M14, but the M14's weight and the use of 7.62 NATO. In the Soviet Union, however, the same thing happened. Albeit, for a different reason. In 1943 Sergei Gavrilovich Simonov began the designing of a new semi-automatic rifle that could use the new 7.62x39R cartridge. This would be the SKS, standing for "Samozaryadny Karabin sistemy Simonova" or "Self-Loading Carbine of the Simonov System". This rifle would quickly find its way into full-scale adoption. I've heard conflicting accounts for why the Soviets so quickly chose the SKS as their main battle rifle, but the two explanations I've heard that make the most sense to me are; The Soviets were aware of the great advantage the M1 Garand gave the Americans on the western front, and quickly hurried to ado