Victor Mikhailovich Kalashnikov (; 16 July 1942 – 27 March 2018) was a Russian

small arms A firearm is any type of gun that uses an explosive charge and is designed to be readily carried and operated by an individual. The term is legally defined further in different countries (see legal definitions). The first firearms originate ...

designer known for developing the

PP-19 Bizon The PP-19 Bizon (, ''Pistolet Pulemyot Bizon'', Pistol Submachine Gun "Bison") is a 9×18mm Makarov submachine gun developed in 1993 by the Russian company Izhmash. History The Bizon was designed by a team of engineers headed by Victor Kal ...

submachine gun A submachine gun (SMG) is a magazine (firearms), magazine-fed automatic firearm, automatic carbine designed to fire handgun cartridges. The term "submachine gun" was coined by John T. Thompson, the inventor of the Thompson submachine gun, to descri ...

Early life and education

Kalashnikov was born 16 July 1942 in

Kazakh SSR The Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic, also known as Soviet Kazakhstan, the Kazakh SSR, KSSR, or simply Kazakhstan, was one of the transcontinental constituent republics of the Soviet Union (USSR) from 1936 to 1991. Located in northern Centr ...

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

, the son of small arms designer

Mikhail Kalashnikov Mikhail Timofeyevich Kalashnikov (10November 191923December 2013) was a Soviet and Russian lieutenant general, inventor, Military engineering, military engineer, writer, and small arms designer. He is most famous for developing the AK-47 assau ...

, creator of the

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

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

Izhevsk Izhevsk or Ijevsk (, ; , or ) 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 in Russia, and the most populous in Udmurtia, with over 600,000 ...

in the Soviet Union.

Career

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

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 guns. 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. "Vityaz" (витязь) is Russian for "brave warrior" or "knight". Design The PP-1 ...

submachine guns.

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 country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

References

External links

Kalashnikov.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kalashnikov, Victor 1942 births 2018 deaths Firearm designers Weapons scientists and engineers 20th-century Russian inventors Russian engineers People from Izhevsk