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The AK-47 was designed by Mikhail Kalashnivok as a response to the German Sturmgewehr 44
Widely considered to be the first true assault rifle
And used by Nazi troops from 1943-44 until the war’s end
Mr. Kalashnikov had the advantage of, having observed this rifle in action in the Eastern Front,
Was very familiar with the concept behind this design and was able to adapt
The German innovation with the tremendous industrial capacity of Russia, or rather the Soviet Union
Which makes the rifle easier to manufacture and more suitable to be used by conscript soldiers
The original design remain unchanged until 1959
When was revised and it’s denomination changed to AKM or Modernized
The difference is substantial but not obvious, and in fact many people still call them AK-47’s
And as such it would remain in service with different Armed Forces and guerrilla movements worldwide, until the early 70’s
Around that time the Soviets began to observe that the M-16’s ammo, despite of not being very effective at long distances 13 00:01:44,001 --> 00:01: 49,999 Was good a short distances and, generally speaking, infantry engagements tend to take place,
Either in an ambush or urban warfare at, or less than, 300 meters
So they redesigned the original rifle to reflect what was perceived as a new trend
And the result was a new rifle, the AK-74, which uses a new ammunition similar to the one used by the M-16
This is… no this is the wrong one, this is .223 Remington…, just a second I have some right here…
This is the right one compared to others, it is 5,45x39mm
At this moment I should clarify something respect ammunition:
When it comes to the naming of a round, there are 2 pieces of information, one is the caliber and the other is the length of the casing, in millimeters.
For example, consider the FAL’s 7,62x51mm
Or the 7,62x39mm
This would be the FAL and this one is the AK-103
What it means is, this first number tells the diameter of the projectile in millimeters
And this second one tells the length of the casing, also in millimeters.
therefore 2 weapons with the same caliber don't necessarely use the same rounds because the casing might de different
The other thing is that the caliber is nominal, for example the AK-103 round is 0.003" thicker that the FAL, even though both are 7,62
so, when we talk about caliber we usually use both numbers,
Having explained this, is easier to see why some weapons are better than others in different scenarios, or for different uses
In example, the idea of the AK-74 ammo was to replicate the M16's performance
which the Soviets percieved had been better than expected at short range
and they adopted it along with the rifle designed for it, which is this one we have today
this the original version, adopted by the Red Army in 1974, with wooden forniture
compared with the AK-47 and the AK-103 there are some obvious differences:
compared to the AK-47 one difference is this muzzle break that makes recoil very light
to the point of being practically null
another difference is the magazine which is less curve; this has to do with the ammo design
and in fact it resembles more the M-16's, althought the color is often, like in this case, different
AK-47 and AK-103 magazines are more curved.
The other difference is this groove here, about which there was a lot of speculation, and was designed to reduce weight, that's all
the design itself remained very close to the original, the caliber being the major innovation
with respect to the AK-103 this rifle is very similar with the exception of the round it uses
therefore the magazine is the more curved one, is totally black,
uses syntetic material instead of wood and the stock can be folded to the left
everything else remains practically the same
this level in the first position up is "safe' then, one notch down, automatic fire and the last one is semi-automatic
This particular weapon is only semi-automatic, due to the laws here in the US, is tough to get full automatic weapons.
Internally is very similar to the rest of AK arms
In comparison with the FAL, the AK-103 have some advantages;
Is shorter and more compact and easier to carry, like this for example, very comfortable
weights about 3.5 Kg, the magazine holds 30 rounds, which means that the soldier can now carry more ammo,
about 210 rounds, than the typical basic load for a FAL which is 100 rounds, without a major increment in weight
it also has some disavantages, in my opinion, compared with the FAL
Probably the main disavantage is that the barrel and the line of sight, from here to here, is rather short
whereas in the FAL the front sight is here and the rear sight here, making the line of sight longer and improving it's accuracy
it is also a function of the ammunition, being more powerful
Another disavantage is that, just like other AK's, there's no way to lock the bolt in the rear after the last round is shot
So, unless the soldier is paying attention, he has no way of knowing that he's empty 59 00;08:57,001 --> 00:09:07,999 With the FAL, a mechanism keeps the bolt locked at the rear, making it easier to notice an empty magazine
but this is not a common feature in the Kalashnivok family of weapons
beside that I like these weapons, light weight and recoil and very reliable
but this is a lighter caliber too, less powerful and very good at shorter distances
with the 7,62x39mm of the AK-103, although is more powerful, it's still somewhat less accurate at 300 meters
partly because of the intermediate round used and also due to a shorter barrel.
however this is a solid rifle, it can swim in mud or whatever and if you put in a magazine, it will probably fire without problems.
in that regards the FAL requires more attention to cleaniness, specially in the field, but the AK's will continue to work, very reliable.