So in Vietnam, when the American M-16 assault rifle started jamming in jungle warfare, you had this bizarre situation where U.S. troops would often throw away their slick, sophisticated firearms and pick up any AK-47 they could get their hands on from dead enemy soldiers. And this kind of thing starts a legend growing; all the might and money of the United States couldn’t build a better gun than the cheap, simple communist Kalashnikov.
— Inventions that changed the world: Mikhail Kalashnikov’s AK-47
