Since 1949, the timeless Kalashnikov AK-47
Assault Rifle has found many homes - and users.
Towards the end of World War 2, when the Red Army had effectively thrust Hitler's
war machine back across Poland and into Germany itself, the Soviets were regularly
coming face-to-face with the latest in German military developments. One such development
was the StG44 (Sturmgewehr 44 = "Storm Rifle") which was, in essence, the first truly
successful and quantitatively-deployed weapon of its kind - a weapon now categorized
as an "assault rifle". The assault rifle breed was shorter in length the standard-issue
service rifles found within many armies of the time and could fire a similar cartridge
while possessing the automatic firepower capabilities of a machine gun. Such
firepower allowed a soldier to provide suppression effects and heavy fire at range
without the need for a dedicated,