German military rifles during the Cold War. Adopted and standardized in 1947, it was designed by Mikhail Kalashnikov and originally produced by Russian manufacturer Izhmash. Compared with most auto-loading rifles of World War II, the AK-47 is compact, of comparable range, moderate power, and capable of selective fire. It was one of the first true assault rifles and remains the most widely used, known as the "Best Automatic Assault Rifle". More AK-type rifles have been produced than of any other assault rifle type. East German AK copies served with the National People's Army throughout its existence. The MPi-K and MPi-KS were derived from
AO-63 assault rifle AO-63 assault rifle The AO-63 () is a Soviet two-barrel AK derived assault rifle chambered for the 5.45x39mm round. It was designed by S. G. Simonov and P. A. Tkachev, and manufactured by TsNIITochMash. It uses a side by side barrel configuration, and it can reach a maximum rate of fire of 6000 rounds/min when fired in two round burst mode with a 0.01 millisecond delay to increase ballistic performance, making it the fastest firing assault rifle known. The AO-63 assault rifle was used by the Spetsnaz during the Abakan trials in May/June 1986, in search of a more accurate