AK74MB: 2 to 1
Who served in the Trans-Baikal IN, do not forget this harsh land with summer sizzling heat and winter, penetrating to the bone, cold and omnipresent, snow replacing, sand. It is under these conditions that the familiarization tests of the AK74MB Kalashnikov assault rifle (patent No. RU2485429) developed by Vitaly BOYARKIN in Medium Scientific and Technical University LLC and the Laboratory of Dynamic Systems and Instrument Engineering NIIRGTU undergo familiarization tests. At the former army shooting range with a prototype, officers of the Transbaikalian transport riot police are working.
Pectoral and growth targets, car bodies, various obstacles that imitate destroyed buildings are placed on the slope of the hill.
A fighter leads a quick fire in single and short bursts at targets with the transfer of fire on the front and depth, first on 50, then on 100, 300 m from the positions "lying", "from the knee", "standing" and "zigzag runs." The bullets gently hit the target, punching them tightly in the center part.
“So what?” A sophisticated reader will ask.
The fact is that the shooting is conducted from a machine gun with the butt folded in the transport position. A severe demob will doubt that with a folded butt of AK74M into the target on 100 m you can get only by accident - and it will be deeply right.
But not from AK74MB.
Rumors about this development have been circulating on the Internet for about a year, but you see the photos of AK74MB first!
Meanwhile, AK74MB is an upgraded AK74М, which has additional features: the trigger mechanism (located in the butt), a folding diopter sight and a front sight on the pivot posts; modified store latch and emphasis for shooting from the left shoulder.
It is these additions that allow us to conduct aimed fire from a machine gun with a folded butt according to the bullpup scheme, this is when the machine gun trigger is in front of the store, and the butt is the butt plate of the receiver.
A total of 10 with and AK74MB is transferred from the “classical” open-butt scheme to the bullpup scheme.
We press on the latch of the additional trigger mechanism - and on the butt an additional trigger and stop are pulled out, which, when the butt is closed, are placed in front of the store and the standard trigger of the machine gun. Then we raise the stand of the dioptric sight and the additional front sight to the vertical position. This completes the transfer of the machine to the bullpup system. And where is the second fire control knob? Its function is performed by the store.
The modified store latch has a turntable that serves as a support for the hand holding the store when firing using the second trigger.
The use of the store as an additional handle for controlling the fire was solved by several long-standing bullpap problems. In the vast majority of bullpaps, built according to the schemes of the Kalashnikov assault rifle (“Thunderstorm”, “ADS”, “Vepr”), an additional fire control handle is mounted on the forearm. This creates several problems — a shift in the center of gravity. weapons back, inconvenience in the management of the fuse, cocking the gate, changing the store. To shift the center of gravity of such bullpaps forward, weighting equipment is installed on the machines - built-in rifle grenade launchers, silencers, additional shanks. This partially solves problems, but does not experience any special “love” for bullpaps based on AK in special units.
Nevertheless, bullpaps have a number of advantages over the classical open-butt design: increased maneuverability and accuracy of hits, looseness, less retention efforts on the target, reduced dimensions.
In general, I would like to have a machine gun with a butt, which, at the same time, is a bullpa-pom.
AK74MB has such a combined application scheme. From traditional bullpap AK74MB differs by the presence of a folding butt and the absence of an additional fire control handle. In the bullpup position, the machine is held by one hand behind the store, the other - by the regular forearm. Instead of the butt, in the shoulder, through the rubber shock absorber, rests against the back plate of the receiver.
Swivel pad for hands on the latch of the store
With such a scheme of holding the machine, the center of gravity remains in the area of the store and the forearm, so when firing and other actions the weapon does not roll over the receiver.
Magazine change, fuse management, cocking, shooting are done with one hand - conveniently and quickly.
An additional trigger from accidentally pressing AK74MB is protected by an easily detachable bracket that is installed on the machine in front of the magazine in two seconds and is also quickly removed if you need to install a rifle-mounted grenade launcher on the machine.
The AK74MB diopter sight is mounted on the standard aiming bar of the machine at the swivel stand. Correction of the firing range is carried out by movement of the standard clamp sight. The additional front sight is also located on the swiveling stand fixed on the modified polo of the base of the standard front sight of the machine gun.
Shooting AK74MB from the right shoulder in the bullpup position. Sights raised
The extra fly itself also has an original design. It is made of non-hardened steel, which allows for multiple deformations, and the shape of its bracket allows it to be deformed within 6 mm in any direction. For this purpose, the end of the punch from the accessory of the machine gun is inserted into the special hole of the front sight and the position of the front sight is set to the required to ensure normal combat. For fixing the position in space on it and the surrounding protective plate
scales are applied, which are read offsets. The absence of any screws for adjusting the front sight greatly simplified its design and increased the resistance to stresses arising from firing.
Weight AK74MB compared with the weight AK74M increased slightly - by 98 g, the dimensions have not changed.
AK74MB retains all the performance characteristics of AK74М, including the possibility of conducting hand-to-hand combat with the use of a bayonet and butt, installing sights on the side bar and installing sub-barrel rocket launchers.
Shooting AK74MB with an open butt. Sights stacked
Shooting from the left shoulder. The stop limiter fixes the position of the chin. The shutter does not interfere
Fuse Translator Control
Cocking
Change shop
A typical result of shooting while standing from a bullpup position. 50, fast paced single-shot 30, short bursts of 15
At the same time, the possibility of an equivalent aimed fire with a folded butt was added; installation of collimator and optical sights without the use of a side bracket; quick-mount muffler installation; store with a counter-equipment cartridges; bipods, pens, LCU, lanterns - as in the position with the folded, and with an open butt.
Unfortunately, we can not reveal the details of the design of brackets for mounting on AK74MB sights, as they are patented. But we can tell that they can be reproducibly installed on any Kalashnikov assault rifle in a time not exceeding the 1 minutes, they are lightweight and do not interfere with the use of standard sighting devices. AK74MB is completed with an easily removable tactical silencer AKB11 (AKB13), mounted on a standard DTK machine gun in one or two seconds. Tactical silencers AKB11 (vortex filtering type) have a relatively small weight - 600 g, reduce the sound on 10 - 14 dB (to 118 dB in the room - below the pain threshold), reduce recoil, remove the flame and allow firing a single and automatic fire.
With bipod on quick-release bracket
But back to the Chita shooting range. We shoot at 300 m with an optical sight with 9-fold increase. A growth target from such a distance looks like a small elongated green spot. Shooting from the "lying down" with a folded butt.
Despite the strong headwind - 17-20 m / s, the target is hit by all 10 shots! After that, the bracket with an optical sight was removed, and then installed back on the machine. After that, ten more shots were fired.
... Always striking at shooting ranges is the serenity of nature when you go to inspect targets. A few seconds ago, the air was ripped off by shock waves from bullets, and here in silence - Trans-Baikal snowballs “Urguyki” serenely flaunt, peacefully bees are buzzing, Manchurian voles chirp around the burrows, and all this is accompanied by the invisible lark.
Inspect the target. The result is satisfactory. Offset STP when changing the optical sight - 14 cm to the right. But all ten shots at the target. We remove the telescopic sight and shoot at the same target with an open butt on the standard sight ten shots. The result is eight hits with a large spread.
We shoot with a folded butt at a diopter sight - nine hits with the same spread as with an open butt.
The conclusion — at increased ranges — with the AK74MB folded and unfolded butt — is equivalent, and the telescopic bracket is mounted on the machine reproducibly.
The AK74MB examination tests were carried out not only in Chita, but also in the Irkutsk Territorial and Krasnoyarsk Transport OMON, as well as at the Barnaul Cartridge Plant. The results were about the same - no delays when shooting, high accuracy of hits with the use of any sights, increased accuracy when shooting with a silencer.
Among the shortcomings of the development were noted: increased gas concentration in the area of the shooter’s eyes when shooting in the bullpup position with a silencer in the premises; somewhat unusual stand when shooting from the left shoulder (which, however, does not affect the accuracy of shooting).
In addition to introductory trials in regional riot police, research trials were conducted
AK74MB at FSUE “TsNIITOCHMASH” (first stage) and introductory shooting at PKU “NPO STiS” of the Ministry of the Interior of the Russian Federation.
The AK74MB kit is planned to be released as a set of additional parts ready for installation on the AK74М and instructions on which you can install the kit yourself on the machine.
A kit of parts is installed for transferring AK74М to AK74MB using a special mounting kit included in the retrofit kit, including a clamp and a set of press tools. At the same time, the butt, sighting bar, the front sight track, the magazine latch, the butt latch, the butt lock axis, the fuse - the translator of fire are replaced on the machine. No additional modifications of the main parts of the machine is not made.
The installation time for the retrofit kit is 30-40 min. Modernization can be carried out in the field.
At the moment AK74MB is the only automaton with a combined application pattern. If you want to - shoot with an open butt, if you want to shoot from a bullpap.
Although it is easier to shoot from a bulpapa.
In the Krasnoyarsk transport riot police, the influence of a fighter’s fatigue on firing results from an unstable situation was specially investigated. At first, the machine gun with an open butt and a silencer mounted on a DTC stood up at the target for 2,5 mines while standing and then fired single-handed. Then, after a half-hour rest, the shooter moved the machine to the bullpup position and also kept the min. On the 2,5 target. Then fired.
As a result - with an open butt, the vertical spread at a distance of 50 m was 80 cm, and with a folded butt — 12 see. At the same time, the fighter in the first case was very tired, and in the second fatigue he almost did not feel.
The same applies to turnaround - the rapid transfer of the direction of fire.
When turning on 180 °, the turning time of the submachine gun with the butt unfolded and the silencer is on average 1,1 s with a large inertia of the turn stopping, and in the bullpup position - 0,56 s with a much lower stopping inertia.
In combat, these tenths of a second can cost the life of a fighter.
AK74MB in the position of bullpup greatly simplify the conduct of hostilities in cramped conditions - in buildings, armored vehicles, in car interiors. When unblocking the premises using armor, the position of the machine with the butt laid out and the barrel lowered requires its lifting for firing, and in the bullpup position the machine can be held horizontally, which reduces the time for aiming and shooting. Convenient bullpup when shooting in body armor and in winter clothes.
Except on AK74M, the retrofit kit can be installed on other models of the Kalashnikov assault rifle, which have a folding butt. For example, AKS74, AKS74U, automatic machines hundredth series.
Despite the obvious advantages of the combined application scheme, the new development met the cautious attitude of a part of the units of the RF power structures.
For the continuation of work, the organization of production and further testing of the kit requires a state customer interested in applying this unplanned development, which the developer is trying to find, including among the readers of this article.
In the meantime, it is quite likely that a strike-sick simplified version will be released, and I would not be surprised if it will be produced in China.
AKSU74MB
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