Built around a 7.62-mm round with a muzzle velocity of some 700 metres per second, it had a cyclic firing rate of 600 rounds per minute and was capable of both semiautomatic and automatic fire.
The 7.62 subsonic ammo was intended to be fired from AK-47-type rifles equipped with the PBS-1 silencer, and developed a muzzle velocity of about 285–300 m/s. For recognition, this ammo typically has the bullet tips painted black with green band underneath.
The technical properties of Kalashnikov are pretty interesting: the bullet can fly as far as 3 km but the standard shooting distance is 0 - 400 m.
A bullet is fired at a typical muzzle velocity of around 2,700 ft. per second, or around 3,000 kilometres per hour. Once the gases stop pushing it, it begins to slow down due to two forces - the resistance of the air that it's pushing through, and the downward suck of gravity.
It is well known that bullets can rebound against bones, pivots, tip-overs, or fragments, generating severe internal injuries. AK-47 bullets are known to cause severe wounds, but they also have rectilinear trajectories, low risk of fragmentation, and low rocking movement risk.
A fully jacketed bullet from an assault rifle, such as an AK-47, will go much further and can easily shoot through a brick wall.
The Recoil of AK-47
223 is about 3ft lbs while . 243 has recoil of around 7.2 ft lbs. Soldiers armed with the AK-47 are very deadly, if they have the right mind-set; practice, and training. Under automatic or rapid fire, the AK-47 moves around and seems to pull up and a bit right.
The most common . 22 LR uses a bullet weighing between 36 and 40 grains traveling between 1080-1260 feet per second.
The . 220 Swift remains the fastest commercial cartridge in the world, with a published velocity of 1,422 m/s (4,665 ft/s) using a 1.9 grams (29 gr) bullet and 2.7 grams (42 gr) of 3031 powder.
With a service life of 20 to 40 years, AKs are easily relocated and repurposed. Today, global prices often run in the hundreds of dollars, but some AK-47s can be had for as little as US$50. The huge worldwide production of the weapon, particularly in countries with low labor costs, has driven prices downward.
As a result, the AK-47 has a service/system life of approximately 6,000, to 10,000, to 15,000 rounds. The AK-47 was designed to be a cheap, simple, easy to manufacture rifle, perfectly matching Soviet military doctrine that treats equipment and weapons as disposable items.
A real 1947 Kalashnikov is surprisingly difficult to fire for a standard infantry weapon, but it was still very easily produced and easily used. Today's AKs are actually AKMs (modernized) and variations on the AKM.
308 Win. is most frequently loaded with projectiles between 150 grains and 180 grains and boasts muzzle velocities between 2,800 feet per second and 2,500 fps, depending on bullet weight and barrel length. The .
A 9mm-calibre Luger Parabellum round fired from a handgun travels at about 370m/s. To optimise its range, it would be fired at an angle of 45° and should cover about 2,300 metres. Pistols are obviously not long-range weapons. But heavy artillery is capable of ranges in excess of 30,000 metres.
Furthermore, the 300 Blackout can fire supersonic and subsonic loads while most 7.62x39 ammo will be loaded for supersonic flight.
22 LR bullet is less powerful than larger cartridges, its danger to humans is often underestimated. In fact, a . 22 LR bullet is easily capable of killing or injuring humans.
The . 22 LR has ample energy to penetrate the human skull and has had military application in WWII and Vietnam primarily in covert assassination by close range PBI (17).
A sniper bullet can travel around 600 miles per hour. Although this can vary greatly with the type of bullet.
A wax bullet is a non-lethal projectile made of wax material — often paraffin wax or some mixture of waxes and other substances that produce the desired consistency — that mimics the external ballistics but not the terminal effects of real bullets.
The . 500 S&W Magnum is considered the most powerful commercial sporting handgun cartridge by virtue of the muzzle energy it can generate. Cor-Bon (now a Dakota Ammo brand) who together with Smith & Wesson developed the .
Compared with other assault rifles, the AK-47 has generous clearance between its moving parts. That is bad for accuracy, but it means that the mechanism is unlikely to jam, no matter how clogged it gets with Sudanese sand or Nicaraguan mud.
The M16 had a higher rate of fire, 700-950 rpm compared to the 600 rpm of the AK-47, and most shooters — including those that have used the weapons in combat — have tended to agree that the M16 is the more accurate. A trade-off is that the accuracy and range don't equate to penetration.
The AK-47's reputation for reliability was a result of years of hard work and fine tuning, with Mikhail continuously troubleshooting issues of each manufacturing run as they gradually became apparent. The AK-47's rise to popularity (and eventually, to notoriety) was a result of a government-led manufacturing impetus.