AK-74 magazines have become increasingly expensive over the last few years. These days, surplus Bulgarian mags often retail for more than $50. Thankfully, the commercial market is stepping up to the plate with new options. This article is an examination of three of [Read More…]
Palmetto State Armory needs no introduction; they are one of the biggest names in American firearm manufacturing. Though they started out as an AR-15 supplier, their offerings have grown to include Glock clones, large-frame ARs, and AK-pattern rifles. That AK lineup has [Read More…]
Barwarus and Frontier Armory had a few interesting upgrades for AK-pattern guns at their SHOT Show 2023 booth. [SHOT 2023] AK And Galil Upgrades From Barwarus And Frontier Armory TFB has covered the Barwarus ALPHA-1 handguard previously, but this was its first [Read More…]
Fans of exotic AK builds, rejoice! BarWarus USA is bringing a Zenitco clone handguard and top rail to the US market. It is made in Turkey, so it can still be imported legally (unlike most/all Russian products). More AK Articles @ TFB: Zastava M19 MCS: The Next [Read More…]
Midwest Industries recently released a new AK Light & Laser Mount for AKM pattern rifles that attaches to the barrel. The new AK Light & Laser mount features two 1913 Picatinny rails, one on each side, with 2.1 inches of space for mounting, well, lights and [Read More…]
Volunteer Defense Groups are small groups of Ukrainians local to a town or village who have been organizing to augment the other more regimented security forces. The small groups will also act as partisans if their region is occupied. Overt Defense has recently had the [Read More…]
Welcome to another edition of TFB’s Field Strip series, in which we’ll look at the simplistic field strip AK rifles and pistols adhere to. Mikhail Kalashnikov‘s AK47 has become one of the most recognizable and iconic rifles and fielded by many nations, [Read More…]
This hasn’t been done before and has been demanded for a long time, the Century Arms AK74 completely American made! Check it out and let us know what you think in the comments below. Stay until the end for a special guest appearance. Read more at: ««« GUN AND GEAR GIVEAWAYS »»» PLEASE [Read More…]
In February 1993 members of Aum Shinrikyo cult traveled to Russia including among them a mechanical engineering graduate of the Tokyo Institute of Technology. Through a Russian contact they were able to tour several arms production plants and glean information on [Read More…]
Bad Element Co has been modifying AK magazines. Cutting windows into the sides of metal mags and various other modifications. Earlier this year he made an OTS-14 Groza Pistol. For those not familiar with the OTS-14 Groza, it is a Russian special forces bullpup typically [Read More…]
At this year’s KADEX 2018 held in Astana, Kazakhstan, the Kazakh state-owned GIS Center had a virtual reality headset that is designed to work with a Kalashnikov-patterned service rifle. The headset portion integrates (and likely licenses) software from a Russian [Read More…]
The Arsenal ARS30-1 made it’s public/dealer debut this week at the NASGW Wholesaler Expo in San Antonio, Texas. Made by Gemtech, the ARS30 is obviously purpose-built for the AK47/AK74 platform but is capable of withstanding a variety of calibers and barrel [Read More…]
It’s a blunder so bad it makes you look twice: On the new sculpture dedicated to Russia’s most famous small arms designer, there is an unintentional homage to a weapon of Russia’s hated adversaries during the Great Patriotic War. Behind the tasteful [Read More…]
This is Part II from TFB’s visit to the Imperial War Museum in London. The Imperial Museum is not complete without a part with The Falklands War in 1982, when Argentina invaded the Falkland Islands. Both British SAS and SBS special forces took important parts in [Read More…]
The Small Arms Survey is a global center with a mandate to “generate evidence-based, impartial, and policy-relevant knowledge on all aspects of small arms and armed violence“. Over ten years ago, in 2006, the Small Arms Survey launched a set of Small Arms ID [Read More…]
In what may seem like a sin in the eyes of true firearm aficionados, I don’t currently own an AK-patterned rifle. But I am on the lookout for something short and 5.45-based (thanks a lot, Nathaniel F.). The one thing I struggle with when it comes to [Read More…]
Rumors of a new Magpul magazine for the AK-74 platform are confirmed: The company has just released the PMAG 30 AK74 MOE magazine, designed to hold 30 rounds of 5.45x39mm ammunition and compatible with all 5.45mm caliber AK rifles that take traditional AK-74 pattern [Read More…]
Recently a number of AK groups on the internet have been abuzz with green AK furniture. At first I thought this might have been various owners painting existing bakelite material dark green, but this was not to be the case. The furniture sets are real and are some of [Read More…]
With a rather coy announcement and single photo teaser-only, Dead Air Armament has announced the upcoming release of a suppressor designed for ComBlock weapons. Designed to look the part, the new can is purported to feature modern baffle design in a communist-design [Read More…]
Ahh…. Reddit. Normally completely and totally useless. However, the occasionally useful nugget comes from the website and community (though I stress occasionally). The idea for the AK Magazine Reload Indicator comes from user ChrisKilo, a seemingly average guy [Read More…]
For the last few months, I have been using Magpul AK polymer furniture on my Kalashnikov rifle. The Magpul polymers transformed my Krebs special edition Early Afgan War pattern AK74 to something a bit more modern looking. My AK74 originally came with orange color [Read More…]
This month our good friend Max Popenker added a couple of Armenian firearms that I had never heard of to World.Guns.Ru. The K3 Assault Rifle, pictured above, is a AK-74 bullpup conversion from the mid-1990s that is currently in service with the Armenian Special [Read More…]
The weekend after the Big 3 Media Event at Daytona Beach, FL, I was invited to visit Definitive Arms (DA) in Saint Petersburg, Florida. DA started as a custom builder of doing magazine well conversion for Kalashnikov pattern rifles. Their patented mag-well design [Read More…]
I.O. or Inter Ordnance Inc, is mainly known as a manufacturer of AKs in the budget market segment. The company was started in 1995 as a military surplus importer. They eventually started to build East German pattern AKs a number of years back. TFB was invited to their [Read More…]
With his characteristic blunt charm Rob Ski of AKOU breaks down the basics of clearing AK-series weapon malfunctions. With the plethora of videos on running the AR series through various malfunction drills, Rob’s video is refreshing showing the AK-47 series [Read More…]
On May 20th, 2015 we promised to destroy/catch on fire an AK74. We were looking forward to seeing where the gun either failed or the handguards melted/ignited. The following ensued.
The famous Avtomat Kalashnikova has been copied and adapted by many nations and organizations, but some shine above the rest. In this episode of TFBTV, we take a look at our 5 favorites and explain why we chose the ones we did. Guns featured: Galil AK74M Yugo M70 Finnish RK 62 76. Serbian Zastava [Read More…]
One of the few people I have met in person and trust with instruction on an AK is Rob Ski (it does help that Rob has a real accent, not a fake one like some other infamous YouTuber). Fresh up from his growing comradery of AK operators is a video on the basic AK [Read More…]
Rifle Dynamics (RD) is one of the top tier custom AK builder in the USA. They are local to me and I was invited for a factory visit. Unlike the popular AR-15 platform with its lego like modular construction, building an AK properly requires a lot of skills and [Read More…]
A number of news sources (BBC, The Guardian, Moscow Times, and RT) have reported that arms maker Kalashnikov, Baikal, and Izhmash, sub divisions of Kalashnikov Group, have changed their brand logos as unveiled at an industrial meeting in Moscow. The change seems to be [Read More…]