Victor Mikhailovich Kalashnikov (russian: Ви́ктор Миха́йлович Кала́шников; 16 July 1942 – 27 March 2018) was a Russian small arms designer known for developing the

PP-19 Bizon The PP-19 Bizon (Cyrillic: Пистолет Пулемет Бизон, ''Pistolet Pulemyet Bizon'', meaning bison) is a 9×18mm Makarov submachine gun developed in 1993 by the Russian company Izhmash, designed by a team of engineers headed by V ...

machine pistol A machine pistol is an autoloading pistol capable of fully automatic fire. The term can also be used to describe a stockless handgun-style submachine gun. The term is a calque of ''Maschinenpistole'', the German word for submachine guns. Ma ...

Early life and education

Kalashnikov was born 16 July 1942 in

Kazakh SSR ; kk, Қазақ Советтік Социалистік Республикасы) *1991: Republic of Kazakhstan (russian: Республика Казахстан; kk, Қазақстан Республикасы) , linking_name = the ...

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

, the son of small arms designer

Mikhail Kalashnikov Mikhail Timofeyevich Kalashnikov ( rus, Михаи́л Тимофе́евич Кала́шников, p=kɐˈlaʂnʲɪkəf; 10 November 1919 – 23 December 2013) was a Soviet and Russian lieutenant general, inventor, military engineer, writer, a ...

and Ekaterina Viktorovna Kalashnikova. Victor graduated in 1966 from a mechanical institute in

Izhevsk Izhevsk (russian: Иже́вск, p=ɪˈʐɛfsk; udm, Ижкар, ''Ižkar'', or , ''Iž'') is the capital city of Udmurtia, Russia. It is situated along the Izh River, west of the Ural Mountains in Eastern Europe. It is the 21st-largest city i ...

in the Soviet Union.

Career

Kalashnikov began his weapon designing career in 1966 by conducting a series of tests of the

AK-47 The AK-47, officially known as the ''Avtomat Kalashnikova'' (; also known as the Kalashnikov or just AK), is a gas-operated assault rifle that is chambered for the 7.62×39mm cartridge. Developed in the Soviet Union by Russian small-arms d ...

and summarizing the factors that affect its stability, durability, and reliability. He was then involved in the development of self-loading hunting rifles. He designed a number of parts and components and participated in developing self-loading hunting rifles and Kalashnikov

machine gun A machine gun is a fully automatic, rifled autoloading firearm designed for sustained direct fire with rifle cartridges. Other automatic firearms such as automatic shotguns and automatic rifles (including assault rifles and battle rifles) ar ...

s. He led a group which designed the Bizon and

Vityaz-SN The PP-19 Vityaz (also known as the PP-19-01 “Vityaz-SN”) is a 9×19mm Parabellum submachine gun developed in 2004 by Russian small arms manufacturer Izhmash. It is based on the AK-74 and offers a high degree of parts commonality with the AK-7 ...

machine pistols.

Personal life

Kalashnikov had two sons, Mikhail and Aleksandr. He died 27 March 2018 at age 75 in

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eig ...

References

External links

Kalashnikov.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kalashnikov, Victor 1942 births 2018 deaths Firearm designers Weapons scientists and engineers Russian inventors Russian engineers People from Izhevsk