The book "Notes of a weapons designer" with an autograph by designer Mikhail Kalashnikov

Mikhail Kalashnikov is a Soviet designer, Doctor of Technical Sciences, Lieutenant General, creator of the famous Kalashnikov assault rifle. Having no specialized education, he was able to invent one of the best examples of small arms in history.

Even as a child, Mikhail was fond of mechanisms and showed inventive abilities, although he dreamed of becoming a poet. While serving in the army, he developed a shot counter from a tank cannon, as well as a device for recording the life of a tank engine. But his main idea was small arms.

In 1946, the young designer presented his experimental machine gun at the competition, which did not suit the military and was sent for revision. In a short time, a new weapon was created, the AK-47, which was easy to manufacture and operate. The AK-47 won the competition and was adopted by the Soviet Army in 1949.

"I didn't choose a weapon. This weapon chose me," the designer said.

The book "Notes of a gunsmith designer" is an autobiographical publication, a personal confession of the legendary designer, a fascinating story about people who recently closed the defense industry for many, new touches to the portraits of famous gunsmith designers.

In the "Notes" Kalashnikov tells about the first experiments of construction, about the Great Patriotic War, where he fought in tank troops, about treatment, where he engaged in self-education and began sketching his very first submachine gun. The author dwells on his long journey of trial and error to adopt the AK-47 in the face of serious competition from other gunsmiths.

"Notes of a gunsmith designer" is a book about perseverance, patience and hard work. To try dozens of options, rejecting just the good ones for the best, to stay late at work without going on vacation for years, to work rather for the sake of an idea, for the sake of a moment of "genuine happiness, when you hear how a thought pulsates, a thought lives, how a sketch is born, a solid line lies on the drawing board, how a detail is molded and how metal comes to life in your hands a human being."