Rubuta ci gaba don wannan sakin layi - Bayan kammala aji na bakwai, Mikhail, tare da izinin mahaifinsa, ya bar iyalinsa ya koma Kurya, yana tafiya kusan kilomita 1,000. A Kurya, ya sami aiki a matsayin makaniki a tashar tarakta. Wani mai shirya jam'iyyar da ke cikin masana'antar ya lura da kwarewar mutumin kuma ya ba shi umarnin ("napravlenie") don yin aiki a ofishin ƙirar makamai na kusa, inda aka ɗauke shi aiki a matsayin mai gwada kayan aiki a cikin bindigogi. A shekara ta 1938, an kira shi cikin Red Army. Saboda ƙarancin girmansa da ƙwarewar injiniya an sanya shi a matsayin makanikin tanki, kuma daga baya ya zama kwamandan tanki. Yayin horo, ya yi abubuwan kirkirar sa na farko, wanda ya shafi ba kawai tankuna ba, har ma da kananan makamai, kuma Georgy Zhukov ya ba shi agogon hannu. Kalashnikov ya yi aiki a kan T-34s na 24th Tank Regiment, 108th Tank Division da ke zaune a Stryi kafin rukunin ya koma baya bayan yakin Brody
a watan Yuni na shekara ta 1941. Ya ji rauni a yaƙi a yakin Bryansk a watan Oktoba 1941 kuma an kwantar da shi a asibiti har zuwa Afrilu 1942. A cikin 'yan watannin da suka gabata na kasancewa a asibiti, ya ji wasu' yan uwansa sojoji suna gunaguni game da bindigogin su na yanzu, waɗanda ke fama da matsalolin aminci, kamar jamming. Da yake ya ci gaba da jin korafin da sojojin Soviet suka yi, da zarar an sallame shi, sai ya tafi aiki a kan abin da zai zama sanannen bindiga mai suna AK-47.