AK-47

The AK-47 (Avtomat Kalashnikova 1947) is a gas-operated assault rifle designed by Mikhail Kalashnikov, and produced by Russian manufacturer Izhevsk Mechanical Works and used in many Eastern bloc nations during the Cold War. It was adopted and standardized in 1947. Compared with the auto-loading rifles used in World War II, the AK-47 was generally more compact, with a shorter range, a smaller 7.62 × 39 mm cartridge, and was capable of selective fire. It was one of the first true assault rifles and remains the most widely used and known. The AK-47 and its numerous variants and descendants have been produced in greater numbers than any other assault rifle and are in production to this day.

AK-47 in The Guns of the South
Time-traveling Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging members supplied Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia and Joseph Johnston's Army of Tennessee with large numbers of AK-47s. The rifles allowed the South to overcome the North's superior human and industrial resources and take Washington City ensuring a Confederate victory in the Second American Revolution. General Lee was suspicious of AWB from the beginning. He wrote Colonel Josiah Gorgas, head of the Richmond arsenal, asking him to investigate the possibility of manufacturing AK-47s. He also wrote Colonel George W. Rains, head of the gunpowder mill in Augusta, Georgia, requesting him to analyze the cartridges used by the AK-47. In the spring of 1865, Lee met with Rains in Georgia. Although Rains managed to determine that two major components of the smokeless powder were nitrocellulose and nitroglycerin, he had been unable to duplicate the mix. However, his subordinate Captain Robert Finney, superintendent of the Augusta arsenal, had managed to refill spent cartridges with black powder and lead bullets. These worked satisfactorily with supplied AK-47s but with much fouling of the barrels and inner workings. In June 1866, Lee meet with Gorgas in Richmond who presented Lee with two Confederate made AK-47s. These were hand made rather than mass produced but worked about as well as Rivington supplied guns. Also, they worked with Augusta supplied black powder cartridges. Gorgas hoped to set up mass production in about a year. In 1867, the recently defeated United States reverse-engineered the AK-47s for mass-production. They used them in a subsequent war with Britain and an invasion of Canada.

AK-47 in Supervolcano
Several years after the Yellowstone Supervolcano erupted, Captain Colin Ferguson and Sgt. Gabe Sanchez responded to an armed robbery at a check-cashing place in San Atanasio. Given the regrettable lack of gasoline, the two took bicycles to the crime scene. They were surprised to see the clerk outside of his fortified booth but Farid Hariri explained the thief carried an AK-47. The bulletproof glass was designed to handle pistol rounds but he didn't trust it for military rifle bullets.

Ferguson got a description and the fact that the thief fled on foot which might a break. It turned out to be case since they received a radio call that a citizen had flagged down a passing bike patrol officer to report him. Ferguson and Sanchez set off to the nearby address and found the officer who pointed out the house the suspect had entered and that another officer was at the back ensuring he wouldn't escape that way. She also reported that while she didn't know if there was anyone else in the house, there had not been any screaming or gunshots.

Ferguson walked over to the house and stood behind an abandoned automobile across the street. He called for the suspect to surrender but the suspect refused telling the police to clear out or he would shoot. A moment later, he did with the shots coming so fast that for a moment Ferguson wondered if the suspect had the rifle on auto-fire. Ferguson and the other officers began returning fire with their pistols which sounded quieter and with about the same rate of fire as the single assault rifle. Suddenly, Ferguson felt as though someone had hit his shoulder with a Louisville Slugger. He had been hit and shortly blacked out.

Ferguson was taken to San Atanasio Memorial where he underwent emergency surgery. He would survive but the doctors feared he would loose some function in his left arm. He regained some function through physiotherapy but not enough to return to duty as a police officer. While Ferguson had enough years of service to retire, it still griped him that he was forced to rather than because he wanted to.

The suspect did not surrender and did not survive the shootout.