There’s also the fact that Soviet military doctrine actually treated the AK as a sub machine gun. The Red Army in WW2 made heavy use of SMGs, much more than the

There’s also the fact that Soviet military doctrine actually treated the AK as a sub machine gun. The Red Army in WW2 made heavy use of SMGs, much more than the western armies, perhaps to compensate for their relatively low level of marksmanship and tactical training. Their assaults relied on getting large numbers of soldiers up as close as possible and belting out as many bullets as they could.