Buzz Sponge points to Russia’s Kalashnikov Vodka and the use of sexy Nikita Girls to help sell it in London’s trendiest night clubs.
But that’s not the interesting part. This is: According to the brand’s web site, Mikhail Timoveeich Kalashnikov was born on November 10th, 1919, to a large peasant family in the village of Kurya, high in the Altai Territory of Siberia. In 1938 M T. Kalashnikov was called up for Red Army, where he finished training as an engineer in the tank mechanical school and where he started designing by creating a revolution counter to register the number of shots from a tank gun, made a special appliance for the “TT” pistol to enhance its effectiveness through tank turret slits and designed a tank running meter.
By 1944 Kalashnikov developed an experimental model of the self-loading carbine; it became the base for a creation of a new gun. In 1947 the automatic device, known as the AK47, was adopted by the Soviet Army.
To this day, armed revolutionaries the world over will drink to that.
For what it’s worth, Kalashnikov is also spelled Kalishnikov. The AK-47 was invented by ONE of these two, whichever is correct. I have no idea, other than the fact the spelling KALISHNIKOV is the one most widely used. Of course, the inventor with that name is dead now, I think, so it might be hard to ask him.
The guy’s alive. He’s in his 80s. And however he chooses to spell his name, he’s the same gent who gave the world the AK-47. It’s all on the brand’s web site. Not that that makes it real. But it’s as real as we’re likely to get in this space.
Ahhh, the AK-47. The gift that keeps on giving.
AK-47. When you absolutely, positively got to kill every motherfucker in the room, accept no substitutes.
–Ordell Robbie
Jackie Brown