AK-47 Cutaway: A Soviet Teaching Aid

By Marco Vorobiev

I am not being sarcastic when I say “teaching aid.” I had the pleasure of observing this curiosity in operation on a couple of occasions. The very first time I experienced an AK-47 cutaway was at the beginning of the ninth grade at Public School No. 34 in Russia, where I was a student. It was part of the curriculum to attend an introductory class on the AK-47. This was part of the Beginner’s Military Preparation Course, which all high-school students attended twice weekly.

The AK-47 cutaway was mounted on a plywood board, and all of ours were painted in open areas to reveal the different components and their relationship to other parts. The gun was fully functional. My teacher was a retired Navy Cap III (equal to an Army major), and I seriously doubt that he possessed in-depth knowledge of the interworkings of the Kalashnikov rifle.

Nevertheless, he proceeded to explain the basic cycle of operation and even moved the charging handle to make his points. I remember thinking even as a ninth-grader how simple and straightforward the operation of the AK-47 appeared.

The very next class had us handling two AKMs and one AKS-47 demilled rifle. Almost all Soviet middle schools …Read the Rest

Source:: Guns and Ammo