Kalashnikov Media, apparently inspired by IV8888, conducted a meltdown test of AK-12, the latest iteration of Kalashnikov rifle that was recently adopted by the Russian military. They fired this 5.45x39mm rifle in full-auto rapidly changing the magazines until the barrel ruptured right behind the gas block. The gun performed pretty well though firing 680 rounds of 7N6 ammunition before the failure which according to Kalashnikov Media is over three times the sustained fire requirement of the Russian Ministry of Defense.

According to George Gubich, the Kalashnikov Concern specialist who was conducting this AK-12 meltdown test, the smaller caliber rifles are more prone to having a barrel failure because heated up barrel expands and constricts the bore to a higher ratio in relation to the bore diameter than it is in larger bore barrels. Do you think that is the case or do you have another explanation? Personally, I think for any caliber AK, the barrel will fail the first in such a test. It looks like the company plans to publish more meltdown videos and if they do it with a 7.62mm AK, we’ll see if a different component fails the first (although ideally, such a comparison test will probably need the same bore to barrel diameter ratio for both calibers to exclude the barrel wall thickness variable).

Earlier, Kalashnikov Media published a meltdown video with the AK-74M (see it embedded below) which resulted in a similar failure except after a smaller 587 round count. The AK-74M barrel also curved down before the failure almost like in a cartoon.

Now, of course, firing with this kind of intensity is unrealistic and less likely to happen in any real-world scenario, however, these tests are still interesting in that they show what the gun is mechanically capable of. And meltdown tests are a lot of fun. And they are very dangerous that’s why I have to say – DO NOT TRY THIS AT HOME!

Images are screenshots from Kalashnikov Media videos.

UPDATE (02.03.2020). Kalashnikov Media conducted a similar test with an AK-103 (7.62x39mm). They prepared 900 rounds for the test, but apparently, that was an underestimation of AK-103’s capabilities. Not only the rifle fired all 900 rounds but additional 500 too without a catastrophic failure. Watch the AK-103 meltdown video below (with English subtitles):