AK-47 Kalashnikov: The firearm that's killed more people than any other

A Pakistani teacher handles an AK-47 assault rifle during a weapons training session for school. Photo / Getty Images

No firearm of any kind has killed more people - or been more widely embraced as a symbol - than the AK-47 Kalashnikov. Emblazoned on the national flag of Mozambique and on the banners of Hizbollah and the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, the AK-47 has become the weapon of choice for guerrillas, terrorists and rebels across the world.

No less than 75 million are in circulation, according to a World Bank study from 2007, accounting for almost 20 per cent of the entire global stock of firearms.

Bullets and magazine clips for AK-47s at a gun bazaar in Iraq. Photo / Getty Images

Every year, small arms kill between 20,000 and 100,000 people in the world's conflicts. AK-47s account for a high proportion - and quite possibly the majority - of this human toll. In the 68 years since the first prototype, the AK-47 has, without question, dealt death to millions.

The weapon's success - if that is the right word - owes everything to its designer, Mikhail Kalashnikov, who produced a new rifle for the Soviet Army in 1947. His invention was so robust that it could be used everywhere from the Arctic to the Sahara - and yet so simple that the rawest recruit, or the youngest child soldier, could use the weapon with deadly effect.

The AK-47 packs a terrible punch, firing a 7.62mm round which is considerably heavier than the British Army's standard 5.56mm bullet.

A single lever on the right-hand side of the stock controls how the weapon is used. Push the lever two clicks down and the AK-47 becomes a machine-gun, firing automatic bursts. One click and the rifle fires a single shot at a time. Leave the lever in place and it makes the gun safe, preventing it from discharging if the trigger is pulled by accident.

There are 75 million AK-47s in circulation. Photo / AFP

Claudia Ochoa Felix, with her pink AK-47 assault rifle called her the 'Black Widow Maker', Claudia is believed to have taken over as the head of Mexico's deadliest drug Mafia gangs

Incidentally, those are the only rules that any terrorist or child soldier needs before taking up the AK-47. The rest will come with practice. Mr Kalashnikov's design made only one compromise: he sacrificed range and accuracy in the interests of strength and simplicity. This means that his brainchild is no good for hunting animals or practising marksmanship - no good for anything, in fact, other than killing people.

But the market is the ultimate judge and here the numbers speak for themselves. Almost seven decades after it was first produced, the AK-47 still has a 20 per cent market share.

As a servant of communism, Mr Kalashnikov, who died in 2013, made no money from his invention. Had he been a capitalist as well as a master gunmaker, he would have been a billionaire.