Kalashnikov says the germ of the idea came to him as he recuperated in hospital.

But the invention of the AK-47 was not a Eureka moment, but a trial-and-error process of modifications and improvements undertaken by a team over six years.

While for propaganda purposes Kalashnikov’s invention was presented as a radically new development, it was based on several principles that had already been seen in British, Russian and Italian weapons to which the inventor had easy access as he drew up his blueprints.

AK-47 Weight: 3.47 kg Length: 880 mm Cyclic rate of fire: 600 rounds per minute Price: Between $15 in some post-war African states and up to $1,000 at height of regional conflicts. Official prices somewhere in the middle. Total quantity produced: approximately 100 million.

Its main precursor was the German StG 44, the first truly effective automatic weapon of World War II.

But at the same time, Kalashnikov’s masterstroke was to combine the mechanisms of previous weapons to create something with a completely new function.

AK-47 is not a weapon designed for accuracy tests at the firing range. It is a weapon for firefights at close quarters, in harsh Russian conditions.

It can be assembled by a person with no military training, is fired by simply pointing at a target, and it can be easily looked after without a cleaning kit. It does not jam by itself (due to the generous allowances between moving parts, which also explain its mediocre accuracy at range) and it does not stop functioning in any weather conditions.

The AK-47 fulfilled its design brief to perfection, even though there is no way Kalashnikov could have known who it would be used by in the end. More than 60 years after its invention, it remains the world's most ubiquitous weapon.

History video here:  http://rt.com/news/kalashnikov-dies-inventor-ak-47-887/

Why 47? Were there really 46 that preceded it?

1947 was the year it was created.

"I would prefer to have invented a machine that people could use and that would help farmers with their work — for example a lawnmower," he said on a visit to Germany in 2002.

Read more: 

http://www.businessinsider.com/mikhail-kalashnikovs-death-and-his-greatest-regret-2013-12