Current Russian Cartridge

[turnburglar]

Hey Dudes;

This conflict in Ukraine has me wondering: what is the current Russian fighting rifle? What caliber and bullet are they using now? As an OEF vet we mainly ran into the AKM pushing regular 7.62x39 ball sometimes with a mild steel core. Really curious what the Russian federation has changed since then.

Any information or links would be awesome.

[czgunner]

Pretty sure its 5.45x39 in the ak-74 platform.

If they had the capability, it would be the ak-12, but I'm not sire how widespread it is.
Odd source, but I'm pretty sure its legit for this.
https://www.popularmechanics.com/military/weapons/a20138224/russian-military-new-assault-rifles-ak-12-ak-15/

Sent from my Pixel 3 using Tapatalk

[gsd2053]

They are following us in the. This light round isn't cutting it against body armor at distance.

[utahjeepr]

5.45x39. Like us they have a variety of loadings. Roughly from 53g to 64g with steel or tungsten penetrators. No idea which is most common in the field ATM. My guess would be 7N24 or 7N39.

You can search for specs. Don't have em loaded on my soft drive.

[MegademiC]

They are following us in the. This light round isn't cutting it against body armor at distance.

Light round? Are you suggesting 45acp would defeat armor better?

[The Dumb Gun Collector]

I am guessing it is just old tins of 7n6. Brandon Herrera did a cool review on their new AK12 which, honestly, looks like a piece of crap. They should have just added Optics rails to their old guns and bought some holosuns. These guys are running around with Fancy new riffles that appear to be little more than Tapco'd 74s with a worse trigger and goofy burst mechanism.
https://youtu.be/Ju-gg3LaijA

I have been watching western and Russian media and it looks like very, very few of these guys have optics or lights on their weapons. Basically, they are in the early 90s at best.

[turnburglar]

Light round? Are you suggesting 45acp would defeat armor better?

According to the people that carry a 1911.....


Yes.

[turnburglar]

5.45x39. Like us they have a variety of loadings. Roughly from 53g to 64g with steel or tungsten penetrators. No idea which is most common in the field ATM. My guess would be 7N24 or 7N39.

You can search for specs. Don't have em loaded on my soft drive.

Thank You! Ill research 7N24 and 7N39 more in-depth. This is exactly the kinda answer I was looking for.

[Aries144]

I am guessing it is just old tins of 7n6. Brandon Herrera did a cool review on their new AK12 which, honestly, looks like a piece of crap. They should have just added Optics rails to their old guns and bought some holosuns. These guys are running around with Fancy new riffles that appear to be little more than Tapco'd 74s with a worse trigger and goofy burst mechanism.

I have been watching western and Russian media and it looks like very, very few of these guys have optics or lights on their weapons. Basically, they are in the early 90s at best.

The AK-12's changes are subtle, but encompass many of the things I did, or wanted to do, when I was using an AK in competition. The things I think it misses the most are a bolt catch and firing hand bolt release.

Moving the front sight back addresses weight balance: AK-74s are nose heavy in stock configuration, which becomes a problem with a mounted can. Spend some time with a suppressed AK-74 with optics and armor and tell me you prefer it to something with a more aft-biased weight balance. Any improvement here is welcome.

The AK-12's optic mounting rails allow for repeatable zero and long enough rails to support night vision optics and IR laser units. If I'm not mistaken, the front handguard is now free floated. The stock now has adjustable length in addition to folding. There are other subtle changes as well for better ergonomics or ease of maintenance.

Think of moving from an AK-74 to an AK-12 like moving from an M16A2 to a KAC SR-15: The KAC looks like an AR-15 with a bunch of rails you don't need all over it, but in comparative use it has many subtle improvements that make it significantly better.

They could have done all this without all the goofy condom ribbing though. Visually, that does kinda scream "AK-12! Brought to you by Tapcosky!"

[The Dumb Gun Collector]

Well, I’ve never shot one so obviously it may have some characteristics that have to be experienced (although Herrera didn’t seem blown away). But if it was up to me, I probably would have just made a bunch of rs regulate mounts and integrated holosun dots into existing 74s. And of course there are tons of adapters for putting m4 stocks on aks. That would seem to be a lot more effective for the average Russian grunt than a top-cover sights and some rail points of questionable utility. Even if they aren’t as rinky-dink as Herrera says, it doesn’t even look like the Russians have anything to put on the guns optics or laser wise. Suppressors seem hyper rare over there. I’m sure there are some sneaky squirrels making use of them though.