The AK-12 In Action
The AK-12 has just been approved for use in the Russian Army, but what else do we know about the weapon? TV Zvezda has released a helpful video describing the rifle to the public:
The problem for monolingual English-speakers such as myself being that we cannot understand Russian. EnsignExpendable, of the Soviet Guns Archive blog, has provided a short summary of the high points:
The recoil is reduced, better ergonomics (tester says it doesn’t slide around), extensible stock, lighter and shorter. There’s now a short burst feature. You can now reload the gun with one hand due to the new bolt release latch. The AK-12 can fire at -52 degrees. Production can be ramped up to 50,000 new AK-12s per year.
Approved by Kalashnikov himself.
Even with corporate spin being what it is, the AK-12 does seem like a serious improvement over the AK-74. Russian Army testing seems to indicate that the AK-12 significantly improves on the full auto and semi-auto controllability of the AK-74, though not quite approaching the level of the A545, its AEK-571-based competitor.
In 2012, before the death of Kalashnikov, RIA Novosti posted a video of Russian competition shooters evaluating the then-new AK-12 prototype. Their impressions were positive:
If sanctions are eased or even lifted, and the importation of AK-12s occurs and they are available for sale below $1500, I think they would be a strong competitor to the AR-15 on the market. Lighter than most AR-15 challengers, while supporting the range of modern optics as well as using the proven Kalashnikov mechanism, I think Kalashnikov Concern could in that scenario enjoy considerable US civilian market sales.
Even without the repeal of sanctions on Russia, the AK-12 offers more than the Galil ACE, a similar rifle that has been very successful recently. What remains to be seen is whether the AK-12 will be price competitive on the world market.
H/T, LooseRounds. Thanks to EnsignExpendable for translating for me.
Nathaniel is a history enthusiast and firearms hobbyist whose primary interest lies in military small arms technological developments beginning with the smokeless powder era. He can be reached via email at nathaniel.f@staff.thefirearmblog.com.
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Well written and unbiased piece of gun-journalism, as we got used to from pen of Nathaniel F.
The AK12 indeed may be improvement over previous line of rifles from Izhmash, now Kalashnikov group. What we will increasingly see is competition from inside of Russia, as its western counterparts are prone to stagnation. Well, capitalism (as opposed to corporatism) has moved next door, like it or not.
According to what we at ALL4SHOOTERS could gather from our Russian contributors, the AK-12 is not nearly as good as they'd want you (us) to believe.
The A-545/6P67 rifle (upgraded AEK-971) is a better performer under all points of view. The reasons why the AK-12 was accepted to the last phase of the "Ratnik" trials can be summed up as follows:
#1 -- The "Kalashnikov Group" has an enormous power to exert political influence over Russian decision-makers in this field.
#2 -- The "Kalashnikov Group" is (once again) at the verge of bankruptcy, and the Russian government can't ignore that.
Funny thing is, ever should the Russian government adopt the AK-12 over the best performer (the A-545/6P67) just in order to save the "Kalashnikov Group" (again), they may not even have the money to pay for the rifles.