Category Archives: Russia and also USSR

Military, Russia and also USSR

Understanding The Histories of Some of the Special Operations “Spetsnaz” groups in Russia Today

In the West, folks tend to think that Russian special operations groups, collectively termed “Spetsnaz” are one entity. In fact, there are many special operations groups in Russia both in the military as well as the police.

FTD Facts assembled a brief video focusing on a number of groups wherein he provides a historical narrative with photos as well as modern footage as well. It’s very informative if you ware wanting to understand a bit more about some of the Spetsnaz groups and how they were formed.

Here’s the Video

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All photos come from the video and remain the property of their respective owner(s).

Military, Russia and also USSR

Video of Anti-Terror Exercise in Russia in 2018

This is a video of a training exercise at the Kalingrad stadium simulating a hostage situation. Units from the FSB, police, Regardie and MOE were involved.

Parachute drop to the stadium
Going up a frozen ditch

Here’s the Video

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All photos come from the video and remain the property of their respective owner(s).

Russia and also USSR

Ian McCollum Reviews and Disassembles a M1916 Federov Rifle!

The Federov Automat rifle has an interesting niche in history as being an early successful design that enabled an infantryman to have a select fire weapon that didn’t weigh a ton. Design work began around 1906, a model was submitted to the Army in 1911 and it saw service from 1915-1917, 1920-1928 and limited use after 1940. Only about 3,200 of the Federovs were built and far, far fewer survive to this day.

I recently published a blog post where Larry Vickers reviewed one during a trip to the Central Armed Forces Museum in Northern Moscow. Another firearms scholar I follow is Ian McCollum, who produces the incredible Forgotten Weapon videos. He recently visited the Royal Armouries in Leeds and had a chance to produce a video segment on the history and disassembly of a Federov rifle.

Here’s the barreled action removed from the stock.
Here is the Federov disassembled. Ian noted that while the manufacturing was very complicated the design was surprisingly straight forward.

As with all of Ian’s videos, he provides some very interesting history and design commentary as he is taking the Federov apart. Here’s the video:

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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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Russia and also USSR

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:

Military, Poland, Russia and also USSR

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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Russia and also USSR

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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Russia and also USSR

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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