Unborn domestic “saw”
Soldiers of the Special Operations Forces of the Russian Federation “in Saratov.” In the foreground is an RPK-74M. Nowadays there are many publications on the topic “RPK is not a machine gun,” but, apparently, MTR fighters found a use for it.
In 1972, it was decided for the US Army to create a new weapon system, and accordingly a specification was issued for new requirements for the SAW (Squad Automatic Weapon). weapon The Americans, having analyzed their experience of participating in the conflict in Southeast Asia, came to the conclusion that the squad needed a machine gun for a low-impulse cartridge with all the features of a single one - belt feed, replaceable barrel, but in addition to this also with the ability to feed ammunition from standard box magazines for a standard combat rifle.
When the Americans found themselves in Vietnam, the squad's standard weapon system consisted of an automatic rifle and a variant with a heavier barrel, which was supposed to fire a little more and longer than the "machine gun" of a regular infantryman. Well, that is, essentially a pair of M1 Garand and M1918A2 BAR in a new way. And it was precisely in the jungles of Vietnam that this system did not work, literally at all.
Where it often came down to sporadic, short-lived firefights, the box magazine and lack of a replaceable barrel became a problem. What the infantrymen themselves called the “seven-minute war” required the ability to “land” as much as possible on the enemy in as little time as possible. Waiting for the barrel to cool down or endlessly changing magazines was an unaffordable luxury.
The problem was partly solved by “releasing” standard reinforcement equipment from the platoon, M60 machine guns, to the squads on a permanent basis. But all was well while the soldiers were still armed with M14 rifles, which used the same 7.62 NATO ammunition as the machine gun. But now the system chambered for 5.56 cartridge has been introduced en masse to the troops, and it turns out that the squad already has 2 rounds of ammunition, and the entire squad, in addition to its own ammunition, also carries ammunition for the machine gun. And the power, range, and most importantly the heaviness of the M60 was not needed in the jungle... But belt power was needed.
PU-1 machine gun. You can clearly see the side location of the tape receiver and the internal structure, which differs little from a conventional RPK. In the top photo, another result of the Poplin R&D work is installed on the machine gun - a drum-type magazine designed by Yuri Alekseevich Shirobokov.
In addition, opponents of the Americans massively used a light machine gun of the Degtyarev system. There is one ammunition with AK and SKS, and belt feeding, and light weight. It is not surprising that captured RPDs were used by American special forces, in particular MACV-SOG fighters. Moreover, the special forces, realizing what kind of fire battle they would most likely have to conduct, sometimes shortened the barrels of their RPDs. The barrage of fire is the same, but there is even more roar and sparks; it is simply ideal for suppressing fire.
Plus, special forces from another department were running nearby - the US Navy, which had just that, namely the Eugene Stoner system chambered for 5.56 - Stoner 63.
By the way, the army tested the Stoner machine gun (or rather, it was a whole modular system according to the author’s idea), but never adopted it. The only real user in the US armed forces remained the naval special forces – the United States Navy SEAL.
Stoner, however, was not a pioneer here, much earlier there was Holek’s creation, which was also chambered for an intermediate cartridge, was friendly with both belts and magazines, and perfectly changed the barrel, and very quickly, but the Czechoslovak original school of weapons is worthy of a separate publication, and not alone.
Machine gun PU-2. Here they no longer relied on the design of the PKK.
In the USSR, naturally, they were aware of what was happening in the USA. In the early 1970s, the Poplin research and development work and the research work “Increasing the firing efficiency of 5,45 mm light machine guns” started. As the name of the research project suggests, the main goal was to increase the efficiency of shooting, which meant reducing the time between weapon reloads. It was decided to go two ways:
1. Create high-capacity magazines for the 5.45 caliber RPK being developed.
2. Design a belt-fed machine gun for the specified caliber.
PU-21 machine gun. A full-fledged machine gun with combined power supply and the “pinnacle” of the evolution of 5,45 caliber systems within the framework of the Poplin R&D project. A frame with an open receiver from a video with the Most Holy Popenker.
Taking the first path, the designers developed two samples of drum-type stores. At the very beginning of the 1980s, the GRAU wanted to put them into production, and then begin delivering them to the troops. The debugging of production was first supposed to be completed in the spring of 1984, then the deadlines floated... Then the USSR itself floated, and the standard “tambourine” on the RPK-74 was never born.
Work in the second direction in Izhevsk also continued throughout the 1970s. At first, even before the official adoption of the RPK-74, a PU machine gun appeared. It looked like some kind of compromise. A tape receiver was literally attached to the side of a conventional RPK, with minimal changes. Tape feeding acted as an alternative and additional one; it was mainly supposed to use standard magazines or “tambourines” developed in parallel; this, in fact, determined the lateral location of the tape receiver.
A still from a report filmed in 2013 in Kovrov. One of the few public appearances of a machine gun created as part of the Tokar R&D project.
It is clear that such a generally simple and cheap solution at first glance did not satisfy anyone. The next sample was designed virtually from scratch. It was decided to make belt feeding the main one. This branch of development led in 1978 to the appearance of the PU-21 machine gun. It was already a full-fledged machine gun, with the possibility of combined feeding, but where belt feeding was the main one, and most importantly, the fire was fired like a machine gun - from the rear sear.
And nothing.
In 1974, the RPK-74 was adopted and, in general, decided not to change anything. Probably, the reasons were purely economic; perhaps the fact is that the PU-21 still did not have some of the characteristics of the same SAW, for example, the ability to quickly change barrels. Somewhere there is information that they could not make a Rakov machine for the new belt and 5,45 cartridges, but this is more like a story.
Footage of the demonstration of the latest weapons at a meeting dedicated to the results of the operational activities of the internal affairs bodies for 2017, February 2018. Here the newest Kord-545 was demonstrated even to Vladimir Vladimirovich. However, this did not have a positive effect on the fate of the weapon.
Be that as it may, we had to wait quite a long time for the next approach to the projectile.
As a result of the operation to force Georgia to peace, our security forces had at their disposal a huge amount of captured equipment and weapons. All this was studied in some detail in specialized research institutes of various departments. Among the trophies were Israeli Negev machine guns of 5.56 caliber. The machine gun was an Israeli take on the SAW concept and was a fairly new development; it was adopted into service in 1997.
And our... policemen really liked this machine gun. Yes, it was on the initiative of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation that the Tokar R&D project was launched in 2011. The police themselves called the machine gun “assault.” It was supposed to be powered by high-capacity box magazines (in their absence, from standard AK and RPK magazines), a quick-change barrel and a variable rate of fire.
An experimental machine gun was manufactured at the Degtyarev Plant. Actually, no one else, except the Kovrovites, responded to the demands for a police assault machine gun. The machine gun and its fate as a whole were practically not featured in the public space; its appearance and stages of its life’s path were mostly not covered in the press.
Kord-5.45 in all its glory, 2018. The machine gun has a high-capacity magazine designed specifically for it. In front of the machine gun there is a spare barrel with a muzzle device.
The Tokar OCT did not end with the system being put into service. After its completion, the Tokar-2 development work started, this was back in 2016. The requirements for the machine gun have been revised. It was decided to abandon the initially dubious idea with a variable rate of fire. It was decided to make the machine gun powered primarily by belt feed, with the possibility of using box magazines. The machine gun received its own machine gun belt and belt boxes, some of which looked like a toy version of the “classic” PC/PKM box.
This machine gun, under the designation Kord-5.45, was already very active in the information field. It was shown to the leadership of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and footage of its shooting tests was officially published. In 2019, it was announced that the factory test cycle was over... And in general, that’s all, then silence.
Now, however, one can wonder how long it would have taken for the Degtyarev Plant to launch mass production of the Kord-5.45 machine gun, and would the Kovrovites have even managed it?
Now ZiD, which has become the only manufacturer of many machine guns in Russia (both for the army and for law enforcement), does not have any opportunity to deploy new production capacities. That is, we cannot produce machine guns of the Kalashnikov system of rifle caliber in sufficient quantities, let alone a new system, the production of which would have to be established from scratch.
A Russian MTR fighter “in Saratov” with an RPK-16 machine gun. Apparently, the reviews of these stern specialists put a final end to the project.
Seeing that there is general interest in machine guns chambered for low-impulse cartridges, the Kalashnikov Concern proactively began developing its project.
True, in Izhevsk, apparently, they decided not to bother and, in general, rethought the classic RPK-74. No belt feed, no firing from the rear sear. PKK as PKK.
Among the real innovations are a new “tambourine” made of polymer with as much as 95 rounds of ammunition, a “thicker” barrel, a reinforced receiver and the ability to change barrels. Not quick change, but the ability to change the barrel. Slowly, using a tool and a drift. The idea was modularity; if you want a long barrel, like the classic RPK-74M, you want a shorter one.
The new system was officially presented at the Army 2016 forum, and was also used in specialized shooting competitions with the participation of representatives of various law enforcement agencies. In 2018, victorious reports began to arrive from the general director of the concern, Krivoruchko, who was interested in the new machine gun (under the designation RPK-16), and that a batch would be purchased for military testing.
Later in the same 2018, Alexey Yuryevich, already in the status of Deputy Minister of Defense of the Russian Federation (personnel changes in the RF Ministry of Defense and bravura statements about the RPK-16, of course, are in no way connected with each other), explained that the issue of adopting a new machine gun for service already decided.
And then it was cut off. Information about the machine gun stopped coming in altogether, everything was limited to rumors and speculation, and finally it was announced that all work on the system had been stopped.
RPL-20 in all its glory.
And somewhere between the statements that it was about to happen, and now almost in service, military tests happened, and not just anywhere, but in Syria, and not by anyone, but by soldiers of the Special Operations Forces of the Russian Federation . And judging by the available information, they went very poorly.
Although the machine gun was declared to be lighter than the RPK-74M, lighter by as much as a kilogram, it had a short barrel, without a bipod and was not equipped. Due to the reinforced receiver and thicker barrel of the same length as the RPK-74M, and even with a drum magazine, the RPK-16 turned out to be heavier than the old man.
No miracle happened with the “tambourine”; its main drawbacks – the huge “empty” weight and dimensions – have not gone away. The polymer did not save, with every kilogram of cartridges in the drum-type magazine for the RPK-16, the fighter carried a whole kilogram of the weight of the magazine itself.
And finally, the machine gun turned out to be downright unsafe.
Having already delivered the first batch of machine guns to the army, the Kalashnikov Concern proposed to the military to formulate technical specifications. The military wanted a greater firing rate of the machine gun before it was necessary to cool the barrel.
No sooner said than done, but there was no quick change, so the barrel was made thicker. But shooting is also carried out from the front sear, as in general from a conventional machine gun, and the barrel can withstand high temperatures. And now in the heated chamber there is ammunition, plus the hot “Saratov” sun... Spontaneous shots occurred. It was possible to put up with the outdated design and concept, with excess weight, but without sacrificing the safety of the fighters.
There was also a solution to the problem - a universal feeding device. Such a device could be connected to both the RPK-74 and a conventional machine gun. It also didn’t take off, there was no sign of reliable operation, plus the weight characteristics turned out to be unsatisfactory.
So, almost 50 years later, engineers from Izhevsk came to the same conclusions that their American colleagues made back in the distant 1970s - what is needed is a machine gun, and not a converted machine gun. It didn't work out. Izhevsk residents returned to their own developments from the 1970s, fortunately they had them.
Thus was born the RPL-20 - a full-fledged belt-fed machine gun chambered for 5.45 cartridge. Many characteristics are not disclosed by the manufacturer, but some design features are already known. For example, engineers from Izhevsk decided that a quick-change barrel on a machine gun was not needed.
Again there will be some modularity, namely the ability to install two barrels of different lengths. The decision may be controversial, but the same FN Herstal specialists also decided to abandon this function in their new FN EVOLYS machine gun (replacing the barrel will require tools and up to three minutes of time). We can also say that the machine gun looks quite bulky for a system of this caliber.
At the beginning of 2024, it was known that the RPL-20 had completed the cycle of factory tests and was ready for the army. True, given what is happening in the Russian Defense Ministry itself, there is no confidence that the army is ready for testing. Plus, according to rumors, the main lobbyist for the interests of the Kalashnikov Concern within the walls of the Russian Defense Ministry is now preparing to either go on a free voyage, or move to an aquarium in the courtroom. So all we can do is wait and monitor the situation.
Be that as it may, we hope that the ordeal with a 5.45 caliber machine gun with a belt feed will soon end, since there is a catastrophic shortage of machine guns in the army; this, unfortunately, is already a fait accompli.
Now you can often find publications on the topic - the RPK-74 is not a machine gun at all. But the RPK-74 is at least something, and now even this is actually not enough. An attempt to make Kalashnikov machine guns chambered for 7,62 x 54 not a platoon support weapon and a single machine gun, but essentially a squad machine gun or even an individual assault weapon, only led to their high losses, an actual decrease in their combat potential and an outright shortage of these weapons.
As a result, RPDs, which at one time were considered a temporary phenomenon, are returning to the troops. But this, as usual, is completely different story.
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