November 13, 1947: The AK-47 Is Introduced

November 13, 1947: Mikhail Kalashnikov introduces the Avtomat-Kalashnikov (Kalashnikova Automatic) assault rifle. The number came from the year.

As Samuel L. Jackson would later say in a movie: "AK-47: When you absolutely, positively have to kill every motherfucker in the room, accept no substitutes!"

Kalashnikov, who designed it to counter a rifle the Nazis had used in their invasion of the Soviet Union, died in 2013, still insisting that his rifle was "a weapon of defense, not a weapon for offense."

Because of his initials and his homeland, the Russian-born basketball star Andrei Kirilenko was nicknamed "AK-47," and wore uniform Number 47.

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November 13, 1947 was a Thursday. Baseball was out of season. Football was in midweek. There was 1 game played in the NHL: The Montreal Canadiens beat the Chicago Black Hawks, 5-2 at the Montreal Forum.

And there were 4 games in the Basketball Association of America, the league that became the NBA 2 years later:

* The New York Knicks beat the Washington Bullets, 80-65 at the old Madison Square Garden.

* The Philadelphia Warriors beat the Providence Steam Rollers, 79-64 at the Philadelphia Arena.

* The Baltimore Bullets beat the Boston Celtics, 85-74 at the Baltimore Coliseum.

* And the Chicago Stags beat the St. Louis Bombers, 80-70 at the Chicago Stadium.