Inventor of the AK-47 Mikhail Kalashnikov Died December 23, 2013 b. 1919 Russian firearms designer. Inventor of the AK-47 assault rifle. He named it the AK-47 (Avtomát Kaláshnikova 1947). Kalashnikov based his design on the features of the American M1 and the German StG44. It is estimated that about 1 out of every 5 firearms in the world is an AK-47 or a closely related weapon. rochestermilitary.com
