The AK-47 Assault Rifle And Its Use By The Viet Cong

By: JP

In the hands of the VC and NVA, the AK-47 assault rifle proved
at times to have the final word in many ambushes and firefights.
Rated by many weapons experts as the best small arm ever
produced, the AK-47 assault rifle was developed by the Soviet
Union in the aftermath of World War II. The Soviets had always
placed a high priority on firepower, equipping many of their
units with sub- and heavy machine guns. In the German family of
assault rifles - the MP43, 44 and StuG44 - the Soviets knew they
had found what they were looking for. The high command soon
recognized the potential of weapons which, although capable of
delivering rapid firepower, were more accurate than sub-machine
guns.

In his quest for a weapon suited to the type of closed quarter
combat that now dominated modern infantry warfare, Mikhail
Kalashnikov sacrificed long range for sheer volume of fire and
based his design around the 7.62mm round that the Germans had
used to great effect. The result of his work was the Automat
Kalashnikov, Model 1947.

In almost every aspect, the AK-47 was an exceptional assault
rifle. The lack of vibration when firing on fully automatic
enabled the rifle to shoot accurately up to ranges of 300m, and
it could be field stripped without special equipment since there
were few moving parts in its gas-operated firing. Despite the
inherent weaknesses of mass production, the AK-47 was a very
reliable weapon. Much of the credit for this goes to the use of
good quality steel pressings and wooden furniture that could
absorb any amount of hard use and mishandling.

The AK-47 is often described as a peasant’s weapon on account
of it being a hallmark of communist-supplied forces around the
world. The weapon could be fired on one of two settings,
automatic and single shot, however, the fact that the first
setting was automatic reflects the under lying philosophy that
the Soviets thought it preferable to fire on fully automatic.

A large amount of sub-variants sprang from the original design
and, for the most part, the communist forces in Vietnam used the
Chinese version of the AK-47, designated the Type 56-1. Unlike
the Soviet version, the Type 56 had a permanent folding bayonet
underneath the muzzle, but a chrome-lined barrel was standard,
which extended the life span of the weapon. The AK-47 was
perfectly suited to the nature of the war in Vietnam, and the VC
and NVA exploited this weapon to the full in countless
firefights and ambushes. Massive US artillery and aerial
firepower often fell short in a conflict where success or
failure depended heavily on close-quarter infantry battles and
for many soldiers, the distinctive “clack,” of the safety
catch being taken off the AK-47 was the only warning they had of
enemy presence in the area.

The AK-47 Kalashnikov Assault Rifle dimensions: Length: 880mm
Weight: 4.3kg Caliber: 7.62mm Operation: Gas Feed: 30-round box
Sights: 800m Muzzle Velocity: 717m per second Cyclic Rate of
Fire: 600 round per minute

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