New Photos of AK-74 Upgrade Package For Russian Army (Courtesy Larry Vickers)
Via his Facebook page, Larry Vickers shares with us some photos of a prototype upgraded AK-74 rifle, made by Kalashnikov Concern and adopted by the Russian Army:
The modernization package offers the Russian Army the option to retrofit existing rifles to a newer standard, most likely with a significant cost-savings versus buying new AK-12s which are expected to cost the equivalent of about $1,000 per. I suspect the Russian Army will pursue both strategies, retrofitting AK-74s to the new standard and adopting the AK-12 or A545 in more limited numbers, slowly replacing existing and worn-out rifles with the new type.
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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A question and an observation....
A) is their rail the same M1913 picatinny standard as ours?
B) am I the only one who thinks that the rail looks like it was designed for use on farm equipment?
Russian ak 12 is awesome. but current model Ak74m , ak 100 series still doing well their jobs. kalashnikov concern should bring an intermediate solutions between ak 12 and exciting ak 100 series . I mean an hybrid version of classical ak platform (bolt group, receiver, safety selector) with new ak 12 barrel group (fore-end, improved barrel grooves , extended picatinny rail upper receiver, less recoil ,ext... ).it would make sense at classical aks with latest features, like as American / bulgarian arsenal gun makers developing on their ak s for their customers. same as , kalashnikov concern also could bring on the table with it's earlier proto type . these modern ergonomic/ ampidextous features for million of exciting ak 74 in russian arsenal to global market. as shown ishmazh earlier model. the so called Ak 200.