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
Comparison of the AK-47 and M16 Approximately 100 million AK-47 type rifles have been made worldwide. "The AR-15/M16-series rifles are considered the finest human-engineered assault rifles in the world." The M16 is ergonomically superior to the AK-47 in most respects. It is much easier and faster to change magazines and get the M16 back into action than with the AK-47. This is due to several factors, such as perfectly located magazine release and bolt release buttons, a flared magazine well for fast magazine insertions, and the ability to simply insert the magazine into the M16 in a conventional manner, rather than the "rock and lock" method