The Gun

XM8, 20

Xu Xiangqian, 216

Y

Yakovlev, Aleksandr, 158

Yassin, Sheik Ahmed, 11

Ybarr, Corporal, 313

Yeltsin, Boris N., 406

Yemen, 13, 248, 395

Yepishev, Aleksei, 18–19

Yomuds, 49, 57–58, 61

Yonnies, 84–86, 103

Yount, Harold W., 290, 300, 303–7, 324–25

Yousaf, Mohammad, 382–83

Yugoslavia, 157, 340, 366–67, 436–37n

and AK and AK-type rifle production and distribution, 9, 11–12, 16, 250–51, 257, 364, 390–91, 412

arms pilfering and, 367

Hungarian embassy of, 226, 238–39

Z

Zaharoff, Basil, 86

Zaitsev, Aleksandr, 186, 188–90, 192, 200

Zastava, 250–51, 399

Zhao Erlu, 217

Zhukov, Georgy K., 18–19, 156, 175–76, 238

Zimbabwe, 86, 225

Zmukshir, 49–50

Zulu War, 62–65, 83, 87, 124

zundnadelgewehr (needle gun), 42

Copyright

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Copyright © 2010 by C. J. Chivers

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First Simon & Schuster hardcover edition October 2010

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Designed by Kyoko Watanabe

Jacket design by Timothy Hsu

Author photograph by Tyler Hicks

Manufactured in the United States of America

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Chivers, C. J.

The gun / C. J. Chivers—

1st Simon & Schuster hardcover ed.

p. cm.

Includes bibliographical references.

1. AK-47 rifle—History. 2. War—History. 3. Machine guns—Technological innovations—History.  4. Firearms —Technological innovations—History. I. Title.

UD395.A16C47 2010

623.4'424—dc22 2010020459

ISBN 978-0-7432-7076-2

ISBN 978-1-4391-9653-3 (ebook)

,

Notes

1

Other older and more traditional rifles would displace the M-16 from second place if they were still in widespread service, but they fell from common use with the spread of assault rifles. The British Lee-Enfield line, for example, was manufactured in greater numbers than the M-16 during its many decades in use across the old British Empire.

2

Maxim’s difficult personality would not help him in his relations with Vickers. He would retire in February 1911. On a motion in March by Albert Vickers, one of Maxim’s earliest supporters, the firm would quickly strike the word Maxim from the company name and its correspondence, becoming Vickers, Ltd.

3

An estuary or creek; the Sudanese commander sought protection for his forces in a ditch.

4