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
This is an interesting video that is a collection of both training and combat footage. Absolute Production assembled it with some catcy music in 2018 and I noticed the date stamp on some of the drone footage was 2015.
The video provides a good opportunity to see weapons and tactics.
Here’s the Video
Please note all images are extracted 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.
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.
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:
In 2015, Larry Vickers had a great chance to visit the Central Armed Forces Museum in northern Moscow. While there, he had a chance to visit the museum’s archives and see an original Federov rifle, an early SKS and a preproduction AK-47 that was produced in 1946. He assembled this part of his visit along with a comparison of a German StG 44 and a Type I AK into a video.
The Federov
The Federov Avtomat was arguably the first assault rifle. It was designed in 1913 and produced at the Kovrov Arms Factory from 1913-1925. Roughly 3,200 of these forward thinking rifles were built. Personally, I think the rifle was very novel for its time including the use of the 6.5x50mm SR (Semi-Rimmed) Arisaka cartridge (What we call 6.5 Japanese today).
An overview of the Federov from the video.Larry steps shows the Federov to viewers and has a lot of great close ups of this rare rifle.
The SKS
The Samozaryadny Karabin sistemy Simonov (SKS) was designed in 1944 and went into production in 1945. Thus, it became known as the “SKS-45” in the USSR and was widely exported. In total, the Soviets produced about 2.7 million SKS carbines first at the Tula Arsenal (1949-1958) and also Izhevsk Arsenal (153 and 1954). The rifle was chambered for the 7.62×39 round that would later on be used the the AK-47.
Larry provides an overview of the SKS carbineHere, he is holding an early SKS model and gives a quick overview of it.
A Preproduction AK-47
Larry had a chance to review an actual pre-production AK from about 1946 that was used in the Army’s trials of the weapon prior to official adoption in 1947. This is what I especially wanted to see. You see, many people assume the AK-47 was one single assault rifle when, really, it evolved over time. They had the Type I, II, the III/AKM and so forth.
At any rate, Mikhail Kalashnikov and his design team worked on the AK-47 design from 1946-1948. From 1949 to present, it estimated at least 75 million AK-47s were built. Like the SKS, it uses the 7.62×39 cartridge.
Larry shows the Army Trial rifle and the viewer gets to see a number of angles of the rifle.
German StG-44 vs. Type I AK-47
Larry then goes on to argue that the StG-44 greatly influenced Kalashnikov and his design team. Folks, this is a hotly debated topic. As a point of Russian pride, they minimize any thoughts of influence. At this point, it’s really hard to say. If it were me, I’d look at a previous design and get ideas from it to save time, money and reduce the risk of mistakes.
Larry has a German StG-44 on the left and a Type I AK on the right.
The Video
So with no further to do, here’s Larry’s video:
Please note that all images above are extracted from the video and are the copyright of Vickers Tactical.
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 :-):
So I was surfing one day and stumbled across these cool souvenir personal liquor flasks from Russia that hark back to the Soviet era. They looked really cool in the photos and were brand new so I figured why not get one and check it out. Thus, out came the credit card and I got one from worldgifts1 on eBay. I should point out that a number of vendors are selling these and they all look the same.
The below are photos of my exact flask. I actually bought two – one for myself and one for my buddy Scott. They really are nicely done – the chrome plate is good and what really caught my eye is the coat of arms – the CCCP is the abbreviation of the Cyrllic words “Союз Советских Социалистических Республик” that translate as the Union of Soviety Socialist Republics. The КГБ is the Cyrllic abbreviation for Комите́т госуда́рственной безопа́сности which translates as the Committee for State Security, which we better know as the KGB.
I bought this strictly as a novelty plus as a place to keep either vodka or, gasp, my beloved tequila. I think I am in big trouble for the tequila comment 🙂 It’s definitely a cool conversation starter and you could put whatever drink you want in there of course.
At any rate, it arrived as you see above and is water tight. I sloshed some soapy water around inside, rinsed it out several times and then let it dry and it was good to go.
In my opinion it is a good deal – sure you can get cheaper generic flasks but they scream “boozer” vs. being a conversation starter. I’d recommend these and they do make flasks with other insignia too – I opted for the KGB one due to growing up during the Cold War and tons of spy movies.
