Following Mikhail Kalashnikov “invention” of the assault rifle that became known as the AK-47, the Soviet Union quickly established manufacturing facilities at a factory location in Izhevsk. During the 1950s, the USSR began to export the technology and license the gun’s manufacture to Soviet Warsaw Pact allies, and key communist proxies and trading partners including China, North Korea, and Egypt. During the 1960s and beyond, the technology further disseminated via additional authorized licensing agreements, and unlicensed copying of the design and unauthorized manufacture by other countries including Finland, Israel, India, Pakistan, and even the United States. Along the way refinements were made to the initial AK-47 design by the Soviet Union, its authorized agents, and the unlicensed manufacturers resulting in a wide variety of Kalashnikov. variants.

In this project, variants encompass Soviet models including the AK-47, AKM, AK-74 and AK-103; Chinese Type-56, Type-63, Type-68, and Type-81; North Korean Type-58 and Type-88; and variants made in East Germany (AKS, MPi-K), Hungary (AK-55, AKM-63,NGM-81), Poland (PMK, M-88), Romania (PM md. 63/65 , PM md. 80, PM md. 90), Bulgaria (AKK, AKS), Albania (AKMS), Finland (RK-62, Valmet M76, RK-95), Israel (IMI Galil), India (INSAS), Iraq (Tabuk), Pakistan (PK-10), Ethiopia (Gafat Et-97/1), Iran (KLS,KLF, KLT), Sudan (MAZ), Nigeria (OBJ-006), Croatia (APS-95), Kosovo (AK Sopmod), Armenia (K-3), Vietnam (AKM-1, AKM-VN, TUL-1), and Serbia (M64, M70, M72, M76, M77, M80, M82, M85, M90, M91, M92, M99, M21) All told, over 50 variants in nearly 40 countries.

The locations of factories that manufactured the Kalashnikov and Kalashnikov variants came from a number of books and online sources. Books included The Gun by C.J. Chivers, Rifles of the World, 3rd Edition by John Walter, and The AK47 Story: Evolution of the Kalashnikov Weapons and Small Arms of the World by Edward Ezell. Online sources included Kalashnikov (AK 47) Factory and Manufacturer Location website by theakforum.net, aftermathgunclub.com, revolvy.com, and globalsecurity.org. As of September 1, 2018 a total of 62 factories in 36 countries were identified and recorded in an Excel spreadsheet. Data collected included factory name, location (city, country), year founded, types of variants manufactured, and estimated number of rifles manufactured (if known). All Kalashnikov factory locations were then geocoded using latitude and longitude so that they could be plotted and analyzed for geographic patterns.