The safety was one of the few obviously 'wrong' aspects of the AK design; not only is it on the wrong side of the receiver for right-handed operators, requiring

The safety was one of the few obviously 'wrong' aspects of the AK design; not only is it on the wrong side of the receiver for right-handed operators, requiring them to reach-over to engage, but it also makes a distinctive CLACK noise that resulted in many of its users being detected and killed. Rhodesian forces developed 'cover shooting' as a technique for responding to this noise, controlled firing into any clumps of vegetation capable of hiding the shooter. Pedantry on the title: the AK-47 was never popular, it was heavy and expensive. It was issued only to selected Soviet troops whilst the remainder used the semi-automatic SKS rifle. It was the AKM of the 1950s that became a runaway success.