Okay, in 2018, Gunbusters tested an AK-12. Since then, Klashnikov Concern has done a number of enhancement so they decided to torture one again. Watch as an up-armored Gregory Gubich puts the 2023 model through his testing.
Have to love the welding gloves and K6-3 Altyn Helmet. I’d want protection too!
Here’s a cool video (with the host speaking in Russian) for you to check out:
I hope you enjoyed this.
Note – any photos extracted from the video remain the property of their owner.
In this episode, Georgiy Gubich operates a 5.45×39 AK-12 on full auto until it fails. You’ll notice he is wearing body armor and for good reason as you’ll learn from the video.
He starts by loading up a case of 7N6 ammo into 30 mags and then dumping one after another. You get views from several angles and a shot counter plus his observations during the process.
The handguards are starting to smoke and Georgiy mentions he smells burning plastic.Note the barrel and brake care glowing red at 503 rounds. It’s hard to say for sure, but this puts the temperature at 930-1175F (500-635C) degrees. I don’t know if it is the camera lens distortion but the brake looks like it is drooping. In later photos it does not so I’m thinking the wide angle lens might be causing distortion.The handguard is on fire by round 510. It’s hard to say for sure but the temperature might be closer to 1490F (810C). She is hot!! Depending on the polymer they are using for the handguards, the ignition flash point could be from 572-1292F (00-700C). I would guess they are using something good because we can see the barrel is well past 1000F and there is an air gap plus the thermal mass of the handguard to consider which is why it took a while to reach the heat of ignition.Round 630 – Wow! That is an impressive photo. The handguard is on fire and by luck the camera caught one hell of a muzzle flash. I can’t help but wonder what the temperature of the barrel is under the handguards at this point. The barrel is started to rupture just prior to this point. Sparks could well be burning powder and there is definitely shrapnel flying as well. Yeah, right about now the body armor, gloves and face shield are making a lot of sense!Georgiy inspects the rifle and sees the burst barrel.This is where the barrel ruptured and it looks like it took out part of the gas block. Georgiy mentioned this is a common failure areas for 5.56 and 5.45 rifles due to the heat and pressure compare to larger calibers (I assume is he is referring to 7.62×39 and x51 variants). The rust you see is “flash rust” caused by the heat and being cooled down by water.It definitely took a beating.
Time for the Video!
Summary
The rifle held up three times as long as the Russian Ministry of Defense 180-round burst requirement. Practically, you would expect pauses during firing to allow it to cool down some. I thought his comments about the high-pressure 5.56 x 5.45 rounds causing significant stresses on the barrel was very interesting and hope you enjoyed this video as well.
By the way, a big shout out to Kalashnikov Concern for making these videos available. They are very good!
Please note that all images were extracted from the video and are the property of their respective owner.
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:
When I have time, I like to watch videos of foreign militaries. Some dedicated folks create motivational videos that have catchy music and often some very interesting clips set to the music. One of these gifted groups is Military Forces XXI Century that has a channel on Youtube.
They have a new one featuring some very interesting clips of Russian Spetsnaz teams training entitled “Russian Spetsnaz – Into Battle”. What especially caught my eye was the extensive use of optics – both red dots by themselves and with magnifiers – on their PKP Pecheng machine guns. The PKP is the modernized PKM.
PKP with both a red dot and a magnifier.That’s either a large red dot or some form of prismatic scope — it’s big enough.
Here’s The Video
Be sure not to miss when they are throwing their famous shovels 🙂
Folks, there is a really cool page in the Russian language that has an excellent breakdown of the Kalashnikov Concern’s AK-12. You can visit it and get a ton of info . A trick I would recommend is to use your browser’s ability to translate a webpage – it will not be perfect but you sure will get a much better idea of what they are talking about.
I wish I had better news but Youtube cancelled the channel for the Kalashnikov Concern so the video is no longer available. I am leaving the post up so at least you can see the screen shots.
Because of the import restrictions of the Russian firm Kalashnikov Concern, Americans will not get a chance to see a cool new rifle just released by them. Their AK TR3 rifle is a civilian version of the modern AK-12 and will be available in both 5.45×39 and 7.62×39 cartridges. [Click here for a previous post that goes into the AK-12 in more detail.]
The AK TR3 is identical to the military AK-12. Note that it has three fire control group pins.The AK TR3 is chambered for both traditional Russian cartridges, the 5.45×39 and 7.62×39
Yeah, I sure wish I could buy an AK TR3 but given the political issues between our countries, that is not going to happen. Regardless, it looks like a very slick rifle and I’ll just have to ogle it from afar.
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.
We have a new grip model based on the Russian AK-12. Our grip has a very similar outward appearance and profile to the Russian grip but is cast solid and is made here in Michigan by us. As a result, it counts as a 922r compliance part also.
The rifle is my personal FM-AK47-21 that has the cool Molot RPK side folder, a Chaos rail, the superb Vortex Sparc II red dot optic, and a Chaos rail and a JMAC RRD-4C brake.
I wear XL-size gloves and the grip feels very good in my hand and puts the rifle into a very natural position. In looking at the top of the grip, I think it will fit any AKM rifle or a pistol with a typical grip nut and screw. I think it would take some fitting to go on a Yugo with its unique riveted grip strap.
This grip is available for ordering now if you are interested – click here.
6/29/23 – We still make these and needed to change the design slightly. The “ears” that cradled the receivers were cracking due to slight differences in receiver outer diameters, the shape of the bend and that our plastic doesn’t really like to bend. So, if you go to the product page in our store you will notice the current model has the ears sanded off. The grip sits on the receiver like other grips and no longer cradles/straddles the receiver/
