Yevgeny Dragunov facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Yevgeny F. Dragunov
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|---|---|
| Born |
Yevgeny Fyodorovich Dragunov
February 20, 1920 |
| Died | August 4, 1991 (aged 71) |
| Nationality | Soviet |
| Occupation | Weapons designer |
| Known for | Helping to invent the Dragunov sniper rifle |
Yevgeny Fyodorovich Dragunov (Russian: Евге́ний Фёдорович Драгуно́в; February 20, 1920 – August 4, 1991) was a talented Soviet weapons designer. He is most famous for helping to create the Dragunov sniper rifle. This rifle is a well-known semi-automatic rifle that carries his name.
Early Life and Training
Yevgeny Dragunov came from a family of gunsmiths. People in his family had been making and fixing guns for a long time. Before he joined the military in 1939, Dragunov worked as a factory machinist. This means he operated machines that shaped metal parts.
Designing Weapons
After 1941, Dragunov became a senior armourer. He worked on both Soviet weapons and weapons captured from enemies during World War II. After the war ended in 1945, he went back to his hometown of Izhevsk. There, he joined the Arms Design Bureau.
He worked as a project engineer, designing rifles for sports and target shooting. One of his designs was the Biathlon target rifle. This rifle was so good that it helped athletes win an Olympic Gold medal!
In 1959, Dragunov presented his design for a military sniper rifle. This rifle was called the SVD. The Soviet military accepted his design in 1963. Later, it became very famous as the Dragunov rifle.
Dragunov also took part in a competition to design a new type of rifle called the AKS-74U. His design was called the MA (which means "small-caliber automatic"). It used a special gas-operated system. Even though Dragunov's MA rifle worked very well, the design by Kalashnikov was chosen instead. This was because Kalashnikov's rifle shared many parts with the AK-74 rifle, which was already being made. The MA rifle used new materials like polyamides for its non-metal parts. The MA was Dragunov's last big design project.
Awards and Recognition
Yevgeny Dragunov received important awards for his work. He was given the Lenin Prize. He also received the State Prize of the Russian Federation. This second award was given to him after he had passed away, showing how important his work was.
See also
In Spanish: Evgueniy Fiódorovich Dragunov para niños
