Mikhail Kalashnikov Signed Soviet Russian AK-47 Assault Rifle Manual.

KALASHNIKOV, Mikhail.

Item Number: 129033

Moscow:, 1960.

Scarce Russian Avtomat Kalashnikova [AK-47] pocket manual, signed by the inventor of the AK-47, Mikhail Kalashnikov. Small octavo, original half cloth, illustrated with diagrams. Signed by Mikhail Kalashnikov opposite the title page. In very good condition. Exceptionally rare.

Soviet and Russian lieutenant general, inventor, and military engineer Mikhail Kalashnikov is best known for developing the AK-47 assault rifle and its improvements, the AKM and AK-74, as well as the PK machine gun and RPK light machine gun. Officially known as the Avtomat Kalashnikova, Kalashnikov began design work on the assault rifle in 1945 and in early 1949, the AK was officially accepted by the Soviet Armed Forces and used by the majority of the member states of the Warsaw Pact. Kalashnikov was, according to himself, a self-taught tinkerer who combined innate mechanical skills with the study of weaponry to design arms that achieved battlefield ubiquity. Even though Kalashnikov felt sorrow at the weapons' uncontrolled distribution, he took pride in his inventions and in their reputation for reliability, emphasizing that his rifle is "a weapon of defense" and "not a weapon for offense".