AK-74

The AK-74 was developed by A. D. Kryakushin's design group under Mikhail Kalashnikov and adopted in 1974 as the successor to the AKM. Its defining change was the move from the 7.62x39mm cartridge to the small-calibre, high-velocity 5.45x39mm round, following the same reasoning that had led the United States to the 5.56x45mm: flatter trajectory, lighter ammunition and better controllability in automatic fire. Roughly half the parts are shared with the AKM, and some early rifles were reportedly converted AKMs rebarrelled to the new calibre. The AK-74 first saw combat with Soviet forces in Afghanistan from 1979, where captured examples were prized enough that the CIA is said to have paid 5,000 dollars for the first one recovered by the mujahideen. More than five million have been built, with licensed production in Bulgaria and East Germany.

Mechanically the AK-74 works exactly as the AKM does: a long-stroke gas piston drives the bolt carrier rearward, a cam track rotates the bolt about 35 degrees to unlock it, and roughly 5.5 mm of free travel delays unlocking until chamber pressure has dropped. The 5.45mm bolt uses a larger extractor claw for reliability. The barrel has a chrome-lined bore with four right-hand grooves at a 200 mm twist rate, and the gas port is set at 90 degrees to the bore axis to reduce bullet shear. The rifle's most recognisable feature is its muzzle brake, a large expansion chamber with asymmetric vent holes and an internal baffle that produces forward thrust from escaping gas, cutting recoil substantially at the cost of a harsh blast to the sides. The tangent rear sight is graduated to 1,000 m, with a 400 m battle-zero setting compared with 300 m on 7.62mm Kalashnikovs. Standard feed is a 30-round box magazine, with 45-round RPK-74 and 60-round casket magazines also usable.

Main variants include:

• The AKS-74, with a triangular side-folding stamped steel stock for airborne and air-assault troops

• The AK-74N series, fitted with a side dovetail rail for NSPU night sights and USP-1 optics

• The AKS-74U, a short-barrelled carbine developed from 1973 for vehicle crews and special units

• The AK-74M, in production since 1991, with a side-folding glass-filled polyamide stock, lightened bolt carrier, improved muzzle device and a standard optics side rail

Foreign versions include the East German MPi-AK-74N and MPi-AKS-74N, the Romanian PA md. 86 and the North Korean Type 88, the latter notable for its helical magazines.

The AK-74M is the standard service rifle of the Russian Army, now being supplemented by the AK-12. The AK-74 family remains in service throughout the former Soviet Union and with many client states, including Ukraine, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Cuba, Syria and Libya. It has been used in the Soviet-Afghan War, the Chechen wars, the Russo-Georgian War, the Syrian civil war and the Russo-Ukrainian War.