The AK-74: From Soviet Small Arm To Resistance Symbol – Guns in the News

During the Cold War, both the USA and the USSR began using select-fire rifles chambered for soft-recoiling small-caliber, high-velocity cartridges. Under the Johnson administration, the U.S. military adopted the M16A1 in 5.56 NATO. When Leonid Brezhnev was general secretary of the communist party, the Soviet military began using a Kalashnikov in 5.45×39 mm – a …