#7.62x39

A company called Chaos makes custom Micro Draco AK pistols. The most unusual feature of these AKs which immediately jumps out is the brace that houses an AK magazine!

An integrally suppressed variant of the AK called the Gopak was on display a recent demonstration at the Goncharivske trial grounds in the Chernihiv area of Ukraine. In two videos released via YouTube this week, the rifle is demonstrated firing and being inspected by the Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine, Oleksandr Turchynov. The rifle is visible in the video below, at 0:58 and 3:51:

Is it possible to convert someone into an AK fanatic, or do you have to be born one? Can the comfort zone of aircraft-grade aluminum and nitro-injected ergonomics be overcome by the simple elegance and robustness of the Kalashnikov? This question is one I’ve found myself asking a number of times after I published my love letter to the AK back in early 2015.

IWI’s Galil ACE series of firearms was highly anticipated by many throughout the firearms world.  A series of unfortunate events with the introduction of the platform to the US market most cruelly resulted in pistols being recalled due to noncompliance of regulations.  Though elusive for a long time, pistols and rifles are now in regular supply, and I was nicely surprised to find examples of both while stopping by one of my favorite brick and mortar gun stores.  The Galil ACE GAP39SB was designed to be a more controllable version of the GAP39II pistol, yet is just as compact due to the folding nature of its brace.  Chambered in the affordable and widely available 7.62×39 and using AK47 magazines, the GAP39SB is as close as the US civilian market can get to the compact Galil ACE 31 carbine without NFA paperwork.

Thanks to a recent leak exclusively to The Firearm Blog, we have now become aware of a new tender for rifles issued by the Pakistani government. According to the tender document, the Pakistani Army is looking for 75,000 “modern 7.62x39mm caliber weapons”, presumably as part of the program to replace their aging fleet of G3 and Type 56 assault rifles. The specifications for the tender are given below:

Hornady Manufacturing Company announced it was upgrading its 7.62×39 load in the Black line of ammunition. The upgrade is a change from steel cases to brass cases. This change is effective immediately. This allows the cases to be reloaded more easily than those made of steel.

Thanks to you friend at North Sylva for sharing these pictures. This is a Norinco M1A chambered in 7.62×39. It was imported into Canada where Dickson lives. This seems like a great idea. I would love to get these in the US. Sadly we can’t.

Legacy Sports International announced that it would now be offering two new calibers in the Howa MiniAction line. The two new calibers are the 7.62×39 and the 6.5 Grendel. These join the .204 Ruger, .222 Remington and .223 Remington that are already available in this rifle series.

One of the most interesting firearms for me at the 2017 SHOT Show was Hill & Mac’s quasi-reproduction of the WWII-era StG-44 Sturmgewehr. We’ve covered this weapon twice before at trade shows, including SHOT 2016 and the NRA 2016 Annual Meeting, and I am very pleased to say that the progress that HMG has made on this project is very apparent in the examples that were present at this year’s SHOT Show. A year ago, I had been fairly critical of the weapons the company had brought to the show, as they were in a very rough state and not very convincing as reproductions, but this year the weapons HMG brought looked extremely promising.

Back in September, TFB reader Brandon took us through the history and variations of Russian Kalashnikov magazine patterns in a two part article that’s well worth reading if you haven’t already. Having said that, if you don’t have the patience for articles or if you can’t get enough on AK magazine patterns, Ian McCollum of Forgotten Weapons has released a brief video overview on the subject:

Looking at the 24 different calibers we’ve covered as part of the Modern Intermediate Calibers series, some patterns begin to emerge. We see that larger rounds with heavier bullets weigh more, and have more recoil, that more slender bullets shoot further for their weight than other comparable projectiles, and that higher velocity rounds shoot flatter. Each of these patterns corresponds to a trade-off, however, as in some way each “improvement” in performance sacrifices good characteristics elsewhere. Sometimes, these trade-offs are obvious, but sometimes they aren’t.

@Z.militia posted this picture of an SBR rifle. It is a Rev Arms upper and chambered in 7.62x39mm. The hand carved wood furniture really adds a nice touch to this fun looking SBR. He used a collapsing style stock and added a wood accent on it as well. Check out @Z.militia for some cool weapon builds.

The frothing, boiling cauldron that is India’s collective rifle development and procurement entities has shifted again. Just two weeks ago, we reported to you that India had restarted its search for a 7.62x51mm foreign assault rifle to replace the INSAS. Now, we learn from IHS Jane’s that the Excalibur rifle – an improved INSAS – is slated to be adopted as an interim measure, while a new 7.62x39mm rifle (with 5.56mm conversion kit!) is to be sought from foreign manufacturers.

We are all familiar with the standard conspiracy theories: NASA faked the Moon landing on a Hollywood soundstage, President Kennedy was shot by another gunman who was working for the CIA/the mob, all world leaders are actually reptilian aliens from Alpha Centauri, and the others. If you’re a gun person, though, there’s one other conspiracy theory you probably know: The official history that Mikhail Kalashnikov designed the AK-47 assault rifle was a Soviet hoax, propagated by state agents as a propaganda narrative to promote the idea of Soviet exceptionalism.

ADEX is the Azerbaijan International Defense Exhibition held in the capitol of Baku, Azerbaijan. Ukraine came out with the 7.62x39mm (Also 5.45×39 but not at the show) Malyuk. Essentially the rifle is an AK74 or AKM in the guise of a bullpup, much like many of the experimental bullpup conversions in the United States and Russia, but this one is actually being adopted by certain elements of the Ukrainian military.