Pic.5-13
Down here you can see the cover of "Sovetski Voin" (The Soviet Soldier) magazine featuring Mikhail Kalashnikov - it was the very first - and the very last for following 15 years in open mass media - photo of the designer published.
The reason is, the assault rifle and the designer himself had been classified as top secret since 1949. First ever appearance of AK-47 in movie theaters (in documentaries usually demonstrated to audience prior to main movie) happened only in 1955.
More to this - personnel at shooting-grounds was instructed to gather and stock to warehouse exactly as many spent AK-47 cartridge cases as many rounds were given to each soldier before shooting.
However, adoption of AK-47 by Soviet Army did not stop development activities at Kalashnikov's group of designers (which later developed into Kalashnikov Design Bureau).
Pic.5-15
Pic.5-16 Close-up: Experimental AK with balanced automatics
Pic.5-17 Kalashnikov's permit
Pic.5-18 This wooden box contains gauge set meant to measure gun parts produced in shops.
Take a look on this experimental gun with balanced automatics - it was designed to decrease butt kickback and increase accuracy of hits. It never made its way into the Army though.
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