#5.45

Back in March, I wrote a post on caliber configuration, or the effort to create and standardize effective and economical ammunition for infantry small arms. As mentioned in the post itself, it was written as a more in-depth companion article for a podcast recorded by Ryan Michad for a Gun Guy Radio segment at the Firearms Radio Network, which hadn’t been released at the time. Well, the show has now gone live for your hearing pleasure, so you can listen to me ramble on about military ammunition to your heart’s content!

Armament Research Services has a post on their blog, The Hoplite, that is showing a recent video released by the terrorist group Daesh, in which they display the equipment from a fallen Russian Special Operations advisor to the Syrian Army. As far as knowing what kind of equipment the various SF groups in the world are using, it can be difficult to see some of this because of their secretive nature. However in this case, we looking at some interesting trends and equipment that might be prevalent among Russia’s elite. The rifle is a 5.45x39mm AK74M, that has been heavily accessorized, from the CAA forend, to the AR telescoping (and what appears to be folding) stock, to the pistol grip, suppressor, IWT 640 ‘Haron’ thermal weapon sight with what appears to be an image magnifier, but ARES says it is probably a red dot sight. However, if it were a red dot sight, it would have adjustment knobs or screws, and it doesn’t appear to have any.

This post was written as a companion to an upcoming Gun Guy Radio podcast, hosted by Ryan Michad. The discussion below will be expanded upon in the show when it’s released later this month, but for now, read on to learn more about the past, present, and future of infantry weapon calibers!

Polish gun magazine Broń i Amunicja posted two photos of the elusive AN-94 rifle in use with Russian forces recently. The 5.45mm hyperburst rifles are seen equipped with optics mounted via rails to the Soviet-era dovetail scope mount integral to the receiver of the weapon.

An older design for an AK bullpup has surfaced from a trade show in the Ukraine, named the “Malyuk” and coming from a company called Interproinvest. Work was started on it in 2005. Essentially it appears to be an AK bullpupized, with the addition of a smoother magazine retention system, charging handle to the front, full length top picatinny rail, magazine release more of an AR type quick release than an AK one, and trigger group moved forward of the magazine. Other than that, the internals are all Kalashnikov. An article came out in the Ukrainian english version of a Defense Review, skip to page 48 here, or if you just want to read the article directly. Currently it is in 5.45x39mm and 7.62x39mm, the company is interested in contracts with the Ukrainian Army. A good summary of the rifle comes from a Reddit post about it–

On May 20th, 2015 we promised to destroy/catch on fire an AK74. We were looking forward to seeing where the gun either failed or the handguards melted/ignited.

I, for one, am glad we have never had a real all-out shooting war against the Russians. Their 7N6 is a nasty little ball round, designed from inception to tumble. To see just how much trouble the 5.45 round is, MrGunsNGear did a quick gel-block test using a Krinkov.

There has been a lot of news about the Russian AK-12 rifle to come out this past Winter, and we at TFB have stayed on top of our coverage of the design’s evolution. However, since late January, there are a few things we have learned, so now it’s about time for an update. One of the most informative videos regarding the rifle itself that I have yet seen is this one from December of 2014, which besides showing the monolithic upper rail fifth prototype in action, also comes equipped with both automatic and human translations. I encourage readers to watch it with both comments and subtitles turned “ON”:

The AK-12 has just been approved for use in the Russian Army, but what else do we know about the weapon? TV Zvezda has released a helpful video describing the rifle to the public:

Coming on the heels of (and surely related to) news that Kalashnikov Concern has decided to launch the AK-12 on the open market, the Russian Army has announced today that both the AK-12 and the A545 (improved AEK-971 variant) have passed state trials and will be accepted into service with operational units for evaluation. VPK.name reports:

This review could not have come at a worse time to a better company & product. TFB requested the Adams Arms upper when 7n6 was plentiful. With the recent ban on cheap MilSurp ammo, the allure of 5.45 may be waning, but as a DI guy I walked away plenty impressed with the Adams Arms piston kit.