The Zastava M72 is coming to the US! The M72 an LMG developed and manufactured by Zastava Arms in Serbia (formerly Yugoslavia). It is a variant of the Kalashnikov and is similar in many aspects to the Soviet/Russian RPK.

In part one of this series, I wrote about the history of DDR AKs which by many are regarded as the best in the world. In this part of the article, I will describe some experiences I had when I repaired those guns in Iraq and Afghanistan.

AK rifle is often thought of as something crude and easy to produce with shabby craftsmanship performed by slave laborers in dystopian socialist factories. So many times I heard: “Oh, what do you expect, it is an AK”. That is why it is ever more interesting to look at East German AKs, produced in a country that for the last 100 years has been thought of as the synonym of quality products.

Kalashnikov Concern and Tula Cartridge Plant have developed a new intermediate cartridge called 6.02×41 and two rifles chambered in it – Mini SVCh and AK-22. The 6.02×41 is designed to replace both the 7.62×39 and 5.45×39 cartridges in the Russian military service. This joint project started in 2020 and apparently was just unclassified with the publishing of the Russian patent (RU2809501C1) protecting the design of the cartridge.  Kalashnikov Gun Magazine were the first to report about this program.

A new dawn, new possibilities and another Photo Of The Day. Today we have an AKS-74U with a three-color beach frog skin triangle pouch from Rifle Dynamics.

In this episode of TFBTV James Reeves interviews Mr. Stanislav Strizic, an engineer for CZ and a member of the design and testing team for the original CZ-75. Mr. Strizic designed a competition version of the Vz. 58 which was never commercially released, thus, only two prototypes exist.

There is finally a good way to freshen up a tired Galil magazine. Wolff Gunsprings is now selling replacement Galil magazine springs for both the standard 35-round and extended 50-round models. These new springs also add 5% more power than standard springs for reliable feeding.

In this episode of TFBTV, Hop takes a look at the top-tier variant of the PSAK-47. The GF5 is the fifth generation of Palmetto State Armory’s PSAK rifle and adds more features on top of the GF3 and GF4, including a cold hammer forged barrel made specially for PSA by FN. Can an American company make an AK that competes with Combloc imports? Can the AK platform survive the cost increase of x39 ammo? Can we justify the existence of boutique AKs? Who knows!

Welcome to another edition of TFB’s Photo Of The Day. We don’t get contributions from readers too often, but it happens. Today is such an occasion, and it’s a pretty interesting one. Mike Owen of Meridian Ordnance LLC sent us pictures of various Russian AKs taken in the Horn of Africa.

Texas Weapon Systems, a company known for designing and manufacturing AK upgrade parts, have introduced a new series of AK-pattern rifles called IK-100 that are built with extensive use of their parts. Currently, there is only one rifle in the IK-100 series – the IK-103. Let’s take a look at the specs and features of this new rifle.

Few firearms are as iconic and legendary as the sturdy, heavy, and reliable AK platform. First developed in the Soviet Union beginning in 1946, the AK has come to be a world-dominating workhorse for virtually every rifleman on the planet. However, not all AKs are created equally, and not all of them necessarily have to be Russian-made in order to be quality – this especially applies to AKs chambered in 5.56 NATO. Rotating Bolt Industries (RBI) is a boutique gun shop specializing in built-to-order 5.56 AKs that incorporate modern features and a handful of options that can be selected by the customer to make it more suitable for them. Rotating Bolt Industries and American Steppe have partnered up to make the first run of these rifles and I’ve been fortunate enough to receive the very first copy of the RB-01, rifle serial number 001 to test out. Today we’ll go over my experiences and see how well this American-made 5.56 AK rifle held up.

In this episode of TFBTV, Hop visits CMMG to shoot the newest variant of the Dissent, and the newest variant of the Mk47. But it’s the same gun. The Mk47 “Mutant” is a beefed up AR chambered in 7.62x39mm that takes AK mags, and the Dissent is CMMG’s compact action recoil system that allows for the use of folding stocks. Put them together and you get an AR that shoots 7.62x39mm, takes AK mags, and has a folding stock. So does the AK even still need to exist?

James Reeves is at Thunder Ranch to talk to Jack Daniel and Clint Smith about the “budget” versions of the Thunder Ranch AK. These AKs are $999 but come fully decked out and ready to run with a number of great accessories and features right out of the box. Thunder Ranch accomplished this by working with Century Arms, using the BFT47 rifle made by Century as the basis for the Thunder Ranch models. However, Century has had issues in the past with some of their budget-oriented AKs, so in this video, James presses Jack and Clint about what – if anything – makes this AK truly different or worth looking at by your average AK enthusiast.

Strike Industries have released the AK version of their Multi-Angle Pistol Grip (MAPG). Like its AR counterpart, the new Strike Industries AK Multi-Angle Pistol Grip is adjustable allowing to have a grip angle from 10 to 35 degrees. Let’s take a closer look.

Back in January 2023, Russia’s Rosoboronexport announced that the first batch of India’s AK-203s had been completed. The rifles are being procured under India’s Make in India scheme with a joint venture, named Indo-Russian Rifles Private Limited (IRRPL), which is a partnership between India’s Advanced Weapons & Equipment India Limited (AWEIL) and Munitions India Limited (MIL) and Rostec subsidiaries Kalashnikov and Rosoboronexport of Russia. This will see production of the rifles shift from Russia to India and Kalashnikov Concern have announced the shipment of machinery and tools to allow India to establish production in Korwa.

The Battle of Mogadishu, also known as the Black Hawk Down incident, is a pivotal event in modern military history that took place in Somalia on October 3-4, 1993.  This battle, part of Operation Gothic Serpent, was a mission aimed at capturing key lieutenants of Somali warlord Mohamed Farrah Aidid. As U.S. and coalition forces found themselves in an unexpected and intense firefight, they relied on a range of firearms and equipment to navigate the urban warfare environment.

Texas Weapon Systems, a company specializing in designing and manufacturing upgrade parts for the AK family of firearms, came up with a new AK stock called Sledge. This is a non-adjustable aluminum stock designed for fixed-stock AKs. Let’s take a closer look at the new Texas Weapon Systems Sledge AK stock.

Georgia-based firearms manufacturer 21st Tec is proud to introduce their new rifle that combines the 7.62×29 cartridge with the DPMS/LR308 AR10 platform – the TEC47 rifle. The TEC47 uses some unique parts to allow the rifle to feed from common AK mags, and cycle reliably with the 7.62x39mm cartridge. These rifles are in current production and will be selling for a suggested MSRP of $1,399 beginning on September 29th of this year.

Kalashnikov Concern first introduced the AK-19 rifle, the version of AK-12 chambered in 5.56x45mm NATO, during the ARMY 2020 exhibition. Three armies later, at ARMY 2023, the company revealed the shortened AK-19 Compact carbine. This version of the AK-19 was designed for submission to trials of an undisclosed foreign partner. Let’s take a closer look at the features of the new AK-19 Compact carbine.

Despite the ongoing war or maybe because of it, the Ukrainian KPYK keeps releasing new firearm accessories at an impressive frequency. Earlier we reviewed their CRC 1U004 handguard and CRC 5002 stock designed for AKM/AK-74 pattern rifles. The company recently introduced the versions of these products designed for Kalashnikov’s light machine gun, RPK/RPK74. Let’s take a quick look at the specs and features of these new KPYK RPK parts.

James Reeves reviews the Serbian M91 Sniper Rifle. This modernized version of Zastava’s designated marksman rifle (DMR) shares some similarities with the famous SVD Dragunov but is actually a very different gun, even if it uses the same barrel length and caliber as the SVD. Is this gun still effective? How accurate is it? What type of range does this gun have with the included POSP 4x optic? Is it reliable? We answer those questions and more in today’s episode of TFBTV.

Leapers has announced they are making their own magazines. Their UTG AK magazine is coming out soon and has a lot of features for a sub $20 polymer magazine.

This past Monday, two Arizona teens were sentenced to federal prison for attempting to smuggle AK-47-style rifles into Mexico. While the drive and motivation displayed by these young, 19-year-old entrepreneurs – Manuel De Jesus Guzman of Rio Rico and Joshua Francisco Mendez of Tucson – is impressive, it’s the smuggling method that they employed that deserves attention. The teens were arrested in June 2022 after they tried to leave the United States through the pedestrian gate at the DeConcini Port of Entry in Nogales. Customs and Border Protection officers found four AK-47-style rifles taped to their bodies during a search at a secondary inspection.

The Foxtrot Mike Products Mike-102 is a very unique gun. It uses 5.56 AK mags but has internals similar to an AR. Why does this gun exist, and how does it perform? Let’s find out.

Tela Impex may not be a name you’ve heard previously, but they are the newest provider of steel case rifle ammo for the US market. Their 124-grain 7.62×39 load is available now, and a 60-grain 5.45×39 load is coming soon. Let’s dive into the details of this ammunition.

It’s finally time for Part 2 of the Palmetto State Armory AK-105 review. Part 1 was informative but not a very positive experience. Thankfully, Part 2 feels like (and is) a whole new gun.

Welcome everyone to the 198th edition of ‘Hot Gat or Fudd Crap?’, one of our many series here on TFB. If you’re new to the series, this is where we look at the most obscure firearms that are actually for sale and ask the question – is this Gat a sweet deal or only have Fudd appeal?  Each week the TFB staff weighs in with their thoughts, but readers get the final say in the poll at the bottom of each article.

Earlier this summer, James Reeves got to handle and film an unusual and highly intriguing AK-47 rifle chambered in 7.62x54R from Rifle Dynamics. This rifle is not your typical AK-47: It was made from a PSL. As you may know, the PSL rifle is a Romanian military designated marksman rifle that fires the powerful 7.62x54R cartridge. But Rifle Dynamics took this rifle a step further by converting it into an AK-47 platform, resulting in a unique and somewhat functional firearm. The conversion process involved a complete teardown of the PSL rifle, followed by modifications to accommodate AK-47 parts. The end result is a bizarre firearm that is surprisingly shootable while delivering outstanding power.

A couple of weeks ago we took a look at the new aluminum AK stocks from Kalashnikov USA’s Premium K-Series line of AK accessories. This family of KUSA products also has a wide selection of wood furniture sets for AKs with 5.5mm side folding rear trunnions. Let’s go over the features of KUSA Premium K-Series folding wood stock sets.

AK-74 magazines have become increasingly expensive over the last few years. These days, surplus Bulgarian mags often retail for more than $50. Thankfully, the commercial market is stepping up to the plate with new options. This article is an examination of three of those magazines to see which is the best value.