Apr 2018 | Apr 2017 | Apr 2016 | Apr 2015 | Apr 2014 | Apr 2013 | Apr 2012 | Apr 2011 | Apr 2010 | Apr 2009
-
Subscribe
-
Reading
-
About
Being the thoughts and writings of one Gustaf Erikson; father, amateur photographer, technologist.
Frequently updated microblog.
More stuff can be found at gerikson.tumblr.com and Flickr.
I toot at @gerikson@mastodon.social.
Follow my bookmarks at Pinboard.
A technical, social and political history of the AK-47 assault rifle and derivatives.
Chivers does a good job tying the design of the gun into Soviet defense policy, and compares the development of the weapon favorably compared to the US introduction of the M16.
The author explores the issues with the massive proliferation of these assault rifles worldwide, but he seems to have a blind spot for the similar proliferation of semi-automatic weapons with large magazine sizes in the US. He has faith that the situations that lead to the widespread uses of the AK-47 will never occur in the USA.