Weapons

Five weapons you don't want to meet.

1. AK-47

The AK-47 is a selective-fire, gas-operated 7.62×39mm assault rifle, first developed in the Soviet Union by Mikhail Kalashnikov. It is officially known in the Soviet documentation as Avtomat Kalashnikova (Russian:Автомат Калашникова). It is also known as Kalashnikov, AK, or in Russian slang, Kalash.

Design work on the AK-47 began in the last year of World War II (1945). After the war in 1946, the AK-47 was presented for official military trials. In 1948, the fixed-stock version was introduced into active service with selected units of the Soviet Army. An early development of the design was the AKS (S—Skladnoy or "folding"), which was equipped with an underfolding metal shoulder stock. In 1949, the AK-47 was officially accepted by the Soviet Armed Forces and used by the majority of the member states of the Warsaw Pact.

Even after six decades the model and its variants remain the most popular and widely used assault rifles in the world because of their substantial reliability under harsh conditions, low production costs compared to contemporary Western weapons, availability in virtually every geographic region and ease of use. The AK-47 has been manufactured in many countries and has seen service with armed forces as well as irregular forcesworldwide, and was the basis for developing many other types of individual and crew-served firearms. As of 2004, out of the estimated 500 million firearms worldwide, approximately 100 million belong to the Kalashnikov family, three-quarters of which are AK-47s.

2. HK-G36

The Heckler & Koch G36 is a 5.56×45mm assault rifle, designed in the early 1990s by Heckler & Koch (H&K) in Germany as a replacement for the heavier 7.62mm G3 battle rifle. It was accepted into service with theBundeswehr in 1995, replacing the G3. The G36 is gas-operated and feeds from a 30-round detachable box magazine or 100-round C-Mag drum magazine.

Work on a successor for the venerable G3 rifle had been ongoing in Germany since the second half of the 1970s. These efforts resulted in the innovative 4.73mm G11 assault rifle (developed jointly by a group of companies led by H&K), that used caseless ammunition (designed by the Dynamit Nobel company). It had been predicted that this weapon would eventually replace the G3, therefore further development of H&K's series of firearms chambered for the 5.56x45mm NATO cartridge had been halted. Heckler & Koch, having no incentive to pursue a new 5.56mm weapon system, was content with the export-oriented HK33 and G41rifles. However, the G11 program came to an abrupt end when the Bundeswehr canceled its procurement due to defense budget cuts after the unification of East and West Germany and H&K was acquired in 1991 by British Aerospace's Royal Ordnance division (known today as BAE Systems).

Increasing interest in Germany for a modern service rifle chambered for the NATO-standard 5.56mm cartridge led H&K to offer the German armed forces the G41 rifle, which, too, was rejected. Design work was then initiated from the ground up on a modern 5.56mm assault rifle designated "Project 50" or HK50. The prototype was then trialed, where it was rated higher than the rival Austrian Steyr AUG system. The final version of the G36 was completed in 1994. Production of the G36 began in 1995.

3. Barret M95

The Barrett M95 is a bolt-action sniper rifle chambered in .50 BMG (12.7×99mm), and manufactured by Barrett Firearms Company.

The M95 is an improved version of the earlier Barrett M90. It is a bolt-action sniper rifle in a bullpup design. The major difference between the M95 and the M90 is that the pistol grip and trigger have been moved forward 1 inch (25 mm) for better magazine clearance. Also, the bolt handle has been redesigned and bent down and to the rear, the barrel chamber has been plated in chrome, and there are also some minor changes to the trigger and firing pin.

In 1999, the M95 won a military competition to become the new XM107. A small number were purchased by the U.S. Army for further testing, but ultimately, the M82 was chosen. The Barrett website also announces that M95 rifle is used for military and law enforcement applications in at least 15 other countries.

4. IMI Desert Eagle

The Desert Eagle is a large-framed gas-operated semi-automatic pistol designed by Magnum Research, Inc. (MRI) in the United States. Over the past 25 years, MRI has been responsible for the design and development of the Desert Eagle pistol. The design was refined and the actual pistols were manufactured by Israel Military Industries until 1995, when MRI shifted the manufacturing contract to Saco Defense in Saco, Maine. In 1998, MRI moved manufacturing back to IMI, which later reorganized under the name Israel Weapon Industries. Both Saco and IMI/IWI were strictly contractors: all of the intellectual property, including patents, copyrights and trademarks, are the property of Magnum Research. Since 2009, the Desert Eagle Pistol has been produced in the United States at MRI’s Pillager, MN facility. Kahr Arms acquired Magnum Research in the middle of 2010. The Desert Eagle has been featured in roughly 500 motion pictures and TV films, along with several video games, considerably increasing its popularity and boosting sales.

Magnum Research has marketed various versions of the short recoil Jericho 941 pistol under the Baby Eagle and Desert Eagle Pistol names; these have no functional relationship to the Desert Eagle and bear only a moderate cosmetic resemblance.

5. Compound Bows

A compound bow is a modern bow that uses a levering system, usually of cables and pulleys, to bend the limbs.

The pulley/cam system grants the wielder a mechanical advantage, and so the limbs of a compound bow are much stiffer than those of a recurve bow or longbow. This rigidity makes the compound bow more energy-efficient than other bows, as less energy is dissipated in limb movement. The higher-rigidity, higher-technology construction also improves accuracy by reducing the bow's sensitivity to changes in temperature and humidity.

The pulley/cam system also confers a benefit called "let-off". As the string is drawn back, the pulleys rotate. The pulleys are eccentric rather than round, and so their effective radius changes as they rotate. By the time the bow is at full draw, the change in pulley radius has approximately doubled the wielder's mechanical advantage, and so less force is needed to hold at full draw. This "let-off" gives compound bows their characteristic draw-force curve: a quick rise to peak force and then diminishing to a much lower holding force. The exact shape of the curve is a function of the pulley geometry, which is a matter of buyer preference.

The compound bow was first developed in 1966 by Holless Wilbur Allen in Missouri, and a US patent was granted in 1969. The compound bow has become increasingly popular. In the United States, the compound is the dominant form of bow.