About the book: 1983 / The monograph tells about the life and work of the outstanding Soviet designer of automatic small arms V. A. Degtyarev, about the history of creation and the development of this type of weapon, about the production of small arms for the Soviet Army at the Kovrov plant. The second edition has been revised and supplemented with new biographical information about V. G. Fedorov, V. A. Degtyarev, G. S. Shpagin, A. I. Sudaev, M. T. Kalashnikov, other data. The book is intended for the general reader and is addressed primarily to Soviet youth.