And here in Europe it has been unseasonably warm. It was almost 50 here yesterday, something like 25 degrees above normal. Our Crocuses and Tulips have started pushing up out of the ground already and will probably die when/if we get back to normal weather.
I think in general he is considered a war casualty much like guys that die from secondary effects of war wounds decades after the war are considered casualties. Casualty numbers always have an asterisk after them. I know of no definitive casualty numbers. They are still chiseling names on the Vietnam Memorial from guys who are dying to this day.
It became so popular because of cost and because the Communists flooded the world with them. I believe the AK-47 is the most produced rifle in world history with something in excess of 100 million different variants being produced all over the world.
I have used both M-16's and AK-47s and I would take and M-16 every day of the week. The AK is rugged and easy to use. It is also a piece of garbage that is very difficult to hit anything with because it is so inaccurate. I fully encourage rebels the world over to use AKs because while they are engaging in spray and pray I and my buddies will be picking them off with aimed fire. It does not matter how many rounds per minute you can ire or how big an idiot can use a weapon if you cannot hit anything with it in the first place. Then again, marksmanship is a dying skill even within the US military.
The first two weapons are not rifles. A requirement to be considered a rifle is actually having a rifled barrel and neither musket did. The SCAR is an even bigger piece of garbage than the cancelled XM-8 and I fully expect it to cancelled as well but only after millions are wasted. Gas-operated military weapons are on the way out because the resent too many fouling issues.Other than that, it is a pretty neat graphic.