History of the AK

[Chuck]

For those who like that sort of thing

https://www.guns.com/news/2019/08/20/ka ... NBO,RZDY,1

[snayperskaya]

"By late 1945, Sgt. Kalashnikov’s initial rifle concept was far enough along to win a nod for further development and the next year it was paired with the Soviet Union’s new M43 intermediate cartridge, the 7.62x39mm that had been adopted for use in the SKS rifle"

The M43 7.62x39 round was first adopted for use in the RPD LMG and the RPD was the first weapon to use the new intermediate round, the SKS was chambered in it as the round was already available.

Most of the other countries that produced their own AK variants did so under old Soviet Licenses that expired with the fall of the Soviet Union or were blatant copies built with no licence at all.I believe that there is only two countries outside of Russia currently producing AK variants under official licence, those being India and Venezuela.

[Les]

Thanks Chuck - there's a nice bit of bedtime reading there!

[Chuck]

You're welcome Les.

[GeeRam]

Of course its just a pure co-incidence that the principal designer of the Stg.44 was forced into working at Izmash just prior to the redesign of what became the AK-47 being done there......

[U27 Shooting Range]

Currently the russian group Kalashnikov is manufacturing quite a nice and robust copies under the name Saiga. For example Saiga MK 103 is a nice civil version of AK 74, however still 7,62x39 and not 5,56x45 as AK 74 was.

[snayperskaya]

Currently the russian group Kalashnikov is manufacturing quite a nice and robust copies under the name Saiga. For example Saiga MK 103 is a nice civil version of AK 74, however still 7,62x39 and not 5,56x45 as AK 74 was.

Er.....the AK-74 is chambered in 5.45x39, not the 5.56x45 which is a NATO round.....


And the Saiga MK-03 is actually a civilian semi-auto or straight-pull in our case variant of the AK-100 series, the 7.62x39 AK-103 to be precise.There is also a short-barrelled carbine version based on the AK-104, also in 7.62x39 as well as .223/5.56x45 variants based on the AK-101 and AK-102 variants.

The Saiga range, named after a small antelope found on the Steppe of Eurasia, was first released in the 70's as a cheap but reliable hunting rifle based on the AK but in a non-military configuration and originally chambered in .220 Russian but it proved unpopular at the time and the range was dropped.

It was revived and improved in the 90's and production continues today.They are available in a "sportster" configuration with a more traditional stock and no pistol grip etc and also in the more familiar "military" configuration with AK furniture including either a fixed stock, solid polymer side folding stock or a skeleton side folding stock.Earlier AKM/AK-74 type laminated hand guards will also fit as will the laminated wood stock from an AKM/AK-74 if the Saiga is a fixed stock variant.

A pic of my old 103.....

And my old 104.....

[breacher]

I had a 100 series in 7.62x39 for a while.

The brass had a double shoulder once fired.

I have heard a rumour that it was to identify at a crime scene whether a civilian or military rifle was usex ?

[RJ156]

I had a 100 series in 7.62x39 for a while.

The brass had a double shoulder once fired.

I have heard a rumour that it was to identify at a crime scene whether a civilian or military rifle was usex ?

That would be interesting if it turned out to be true!

[snayperskaya]

It is indeed true....

It is a feature found on Saiga and Tigr rifles produced for the Russian domestic market in Russian military calibres (7.62x39, 7.62x54r and 5.45x39.....yes 5.45x39 Saiga's are produced) and it indeed so Russian law enforcement agencies can identify if a round was fired in a civilian or military chamber.There is a section regarding it in the owners handbook for both the Saiga and Tigr rifles.

As I said it is found on those rifles that were intended for the Russian domestic market and isn't found on those intended for export.....but.....depending on which barrels are available on the assembly lines at Izhmash on a particular day some export rifles end up with domestic market barrels.My old 103 had the case ringing feature as does my Tigr but my old 104 didn't have it.

As far as I'm aware the export market .223/5.56 variants don't have it.

It is also worth noting that as a rule the Saiga range of rifles don't have magwell dimples as they are "sporting" rifles but some do have them.Those that do actually have receivers that were originally intended for military rifle (AK-74) production but due to production over-runs end up being utilised on the Saiga lines instead.