1947 The Soviet Army introduces a gas-operated assault rifle, named for inventor Mikhail Timofeyovich Kalashnikov.
For reasons that escape me, somewhere in my closet is a T-shirt with a silhouette of an AK-47 on its front, personally inscribed to me by the AK’s inventor, Mikhail Timofeyovich Kalashnikov. Now I remember: A friend encountered him at a gun show (where else?) and had him autograph the shirt for me. He said that Mr. Kalashnikov “couldn’t have been nicer. A very warm guy.”
