Category Archives: Russia and also USSR

Larry Vickers Interview in Russia – Is the AK Outdated?

During his visit to Russia in 2018, Larry Vickers was interviewed by
Vladimir Onokoy, a technical consultant with the Kalashnikov Concern, about Larry’s views on the traditional AK platform.

The two discussed a number of topics and I’ll just hit some personal highlights that I found interesting:

  • Larry mentioned that people get hung up on the design of the safety and the short sight radius but the positives of the design far outweigh the negatives. This is especially true because the safety works just fine once you get used to it and the addition of a good red dot is a game changer. I agree with both points.
  • Vladimir asked Larry his caliber preference. Larry said if he had to only pick one, it would be 7.62×39. That’s definitely my go-to caliber for the rifle.
  • Larry made a really interesting point – the tapers of the 7.62×39 and 5.45×39 aid in reliable feeding in the AK platform. The 5.56×45 is at a disadvantage because it does not have the same degree of taper. That caught my attention – I never really stopped and thought about the impacts of case taper on reliability given how to AK operates. Interesting point.

So, is the AK obsolete? In my opinion, it is an extensible platform but watch this interesting video and here Larry’s thoughts first hand.


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AK-200, AK-308, AM-17 and AMB-17 At Army 2018 in Moscow

DefenseWeb attended the Army 2018 expo in Moscow and released this video where they interviewed Vladimir Onokoy, a technical consultant with the Kalashnikov and experienced AK armorer, about Kalashnikov Concern’s new AK-200, AK-308, AM-17 and AMD-17 rifles.

AK-201 rifle in 5.56×45.  The AK-20x family of weapons is available in 5.45×39, 5.56×45 and 7.62×39 plus in long and short versions.
AK-308 for countries wishing to use 7.62×51/.308 ammo
AM-17 compact assault rifle that replaces the out of production AKS-74U.
AMB-17 compact assault rifle with integral suppressor.
To the left is the AM-17 and the AMB-17 is to the right.

The AM-17 and AMB-17 are of special interest to me as some groups are looking for compact weapons and this rifle will have to compete against the well established Tula’s AS Val, VSS Vintorez and SR-3 rifles.

Here’s the video


Please note that all photos above are extracted from the video.


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PSA AK Webstore Links

Interested in an American made AK? Consider Palmetto State Armory (PSA) as a source. Click on the following links for the associated webstore categories for AK-related rifles, pistols and parts at PSA:

Very cool Military Motivational Video – The Devil Inside You

I like military tribute videos.  This video has a catchy song and the real neat thing is that it is in high-definition (HD) video.  It has footage of men and women from a lot of different militaries and branches including:  Austria, Germany, Hungary, Norway, Poland, Russia and Sweden – probably more that I didn’t catch.

You’ll also get a chance to see quite a collection of ships, helicopters, uniforms, small arms, bases and what not – all in high def.  Very cool.  Here are some examples of the many cool videos they assembled:

Seriously, this is a cool video and a chance for a lot of folks to see other men and women serving their countries.  At 1:41, I got a kick out of the Russian operator wearing an “Infidel Strong” morale patch.

Here’s the 2017 video:


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Prototype AK-47 Underfolder Circa 1948

Kalashnikov Concern released an interesting short video of this prototype 7.62x39mm AK-47 that they say dates to around 1948.  There are some interesting design features to point out:

  • A sheet metal receiver with no reinforcing center rivet/spacer visible.
  • The muzzle brake is integral with the barrel
  • The fire control group is permanently mounted
  • The cocking handle is a hollow tube
Source:  Photo from the video

Source:  Photo from the video

Here’s the Video:


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Kalashnikov Concern’s Own Video About Early AK Variants

As you well know, I am very interested in AK rifles, their history and how they are evolving.  In September 2018, Kalashnikov Concern released a very interesting video that shows you some of their early AK variants.

In the video, Vladimir Onokay, a technical consultant with the Kalashnikov Concern, will show some unique AKs manufactured in 1948 at the Izhevsk motorcycle factory as well as models produced until the 1950s.

Please note that the following video is hosted in Russia and you may need to let it buffer a bit for smooth viewing.  It’s just over 4 minutes long and any student of the AK design will find it very interesting.


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Kalashnikov AK-308 Promotional Video

This is a promotional video hosted by the Kalashnikov Concern of the 7.62×51/.308 AK-308 rifle.  It looks pretty slick and borrows quite a bit from the AK-12 but some noticeable differences are the 20 round magazine and different muzzle device.

Here’s the Video


Please note that all images were extracted from the video and remain the property of their respective owner(s).


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Really Interesting Overview Video of AK-12K, AK-15K and RPK-16K at the Army-2017 Defense Exhibition Outside Moscow

In 2017, the Ministry of Defence of the Russian Federation held their annual international military-technical forum known as ARMY-2017 outside of Moscow.  There were over 1,000 exhibitors and over 500,000 visitors.  It was an ideal spot for the Kalashnikov Concern to show off their short AK-12K, AK-15K and RPK-16K weapons.

In the video, Vladimir Onokay, a technical consultant with the Kalashnikov Concern, does a great job showing the three weapons and giving an overview of each’s design points.

AK-12K in 5.45×39

Some things he pointed out were:

  • Free floating handguard
  • It has Picatinny Rails for mounting accessores
  • Front sight on the gas block and with the rear sight at the end of rail, the sight radius is longer than traditional AKs
  • The muzzle device is more for controlling flash during night operations
  • He showed the windowed magazine for quick round counts
  • The rear stock is adjustable

AK-15K in 7.62×39

The AK-15 is simply the AK-12 but chambered in 7.62×39.  He does make the interesting comment that they found a sweet spot in weapons weight of 3.2-3.3 kilograms for controllable fire in 7.62×39.  They try to make the weapons as similar as possible and this is really a family of weapons that can be made in different calibers.

The RPK-16K in 5.45×39

This light machine gun sports a 95 round drum and has swappable barrels.  A short one for close quarters battle (CQB) that requires a shorter weapon and a longer barrel for other use.

The Video

It’s an 8:00 video and has some great footage.

I hope you enjoyed this!


Please note that all images were extracted from the video and are the property of their respective owner.


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Russian Submachine Guns from 1927 to 2017 – Including Video Footage and Overviews

While many Westerners focus on the Mosin Nagant and Kalashnikov rifles, Russia has a very long history of submachine guns (SMGs).  SMGs are typically fire weapons that use a pistol cartridge as opposed to an intermediate- or rifle-sized round.

In this cool 25 minute video, Jmantime takes you on a journey with a lot of historical video footage starting with the experimental Tokarev Model 1927.  It was a blowback operated  7.3 pound SMG that fired the 7.62x38R round that the Nagant M1895 revolver.

On to more modern weapons that we see currently such as the PP-19 Bizon.

And my current favorite, he also has footage of the PP-29-01 Vityaz-SN:

He also covers many, many others such as the PP-40, PPSH-41, PPS-43, OTs-39, and PP-2000.  Here’s the 25 minute video – I think you’l find it very interesting — I just wish the clips were higher resolution :-):


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