I’m definitely a fan of the AK-47 rifle and am always looking for more insights about the history and design. Ian McCollum of Forgotten Weapons recently hosted Max Popenker, who is a Russian small arms researcher and publisher of Modern Firearms – one of the original firearm research websites. Between the two of them, there is a ton of knowledge.
The AK-47 design was the result of collaboration and competition amongst designers and didn’t happen magically overnight.
Now the video portion is ok but what is really cool is listening to Max unravel the history that led up to the AK-47 rifle’s design – the desire by the Soviets to develop a system of small arms, the influence of German small arms, and other Russian designs.
Here’s an interesting but short video of Vladimir Onokoy, who is a Technical Advisor with Kalashnikov Media, showing the AK-203 undergoing environmental testing – freezing cold, desert sand, rain and a combination. Vladimir is speaking in Russian but there are subtitles and it’s not surprising that the AK-203 performs well.
Going from the freezer to the test rangeCovered in very fine sand that is blown on and into the weapon
As my wife will tell you, I like T-shirts and, of course, I like AK rifles so the two go together! There are so many cool designs out there these days, I thought you might like to see them. Plus, since they are on Amazon, you know you will have their excellent customer service backing you up.
I hope you have some fun looking at the photos at least plus it is time to get ready for summer and having fun outdoors!
Until I watched this video, I’d only seen the very unique Hungarian AMP-69 in books. Ian McCollum did one of his impeccable reviews of this very interesting AK. He calls it the ugliest AK he’s ever seen but I think it’s pretty cool.
One of my first AKs was an AMD-65 it ran like a top. Like the Yugoslavs, the Hungarians had no issues with producing some very uniquely designed rifles based off the Kalashnikov design.
This amazing video has four parts. First is a private tour of the FB “Łucznik” Radom factory and you will note the extensive automation, cleanliness and attention to detail. The second part is a media group touring the facility and the third is a montage of military groups shooting Beryls and different weapons.
You get to see a variety of weapons including the Mod.96 Beryl, Mod.96 Mini-Beryl, PM-06 and PM-98 submachine guns, the MSBS GROT and more.
Here’s the Video
Please note that all images are extracts from the video and remain the property of their respective owner(s),
At a tradeshow, a representative gives a brief overview of the RPK-16 light machine gun in 5.45×39. He highlights design features including the adjustable buttstock, full length Picatinny rail, 4 kilogram light weight, 96 round drum, ability to use AK magazines, free floating handguard, different barrel lengths and that the barrels can be changed in the field.
The RPK-16 builds on the innovations developed for the AK-12.The RPK-16 in 5.45×39 can use a 96-round drum or standard AK magazines.
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.
Being interested in AK weapons also leads me to an interest in the militaries that used them. AKs are in military use in 106 countries and the USSR licensed production to 30 countries including East Germany, Hungary, Iran, Iraq, Poland, and Yugoslavia just to name a few. Interestingly enough, there have been some licensing issues but that is a topic for another day.
One of the high quality producers of small arms is Poland. In my opinion, their AKs and other small arms are very well made. When I started to research about their Beryl series, I was surprised to find out that Poland has been very pragmatic with their weapons and are leveraging designs from Eastern and Western countries.
A Polish soldier with a kbs wz. 1996C Beryl.Polish soldiers with kbs wz. 1996A Beryls. I’m pretty sure these are A-series rifles because with the B, they introduced a fixed front grip that is integral with the lower handguard.Another soldier with a kbs wz.1996C series Beryl. The Poles use the Russian Hind-D gunship and plans to modernize them. This is one of my favorite helicopters so I had to include the photo.
A young man assembled the below video about the Armed Fores of the Republic of Poland as part of his Facts Without Borders broadcast series and found it very interesting. He has assembled some excellent footage and commentary about the Polish military including aspects you may not have considered. You ought to consider subscribing to his channel on Youtube also.
Here’s the video
Please note that all photos were extracted from the photo and remain the property of their respective owner(s).
