#5.45x39mm

IWI USA released today a new version of its popular Galil ACE, the GEN II. This latest configuration is reportedly born to bring to the successful model improvement based on collecting user feedback. Indeed it brings to the table a few new features that most users will definitely appreciate. Let’s see in a bit more detail.

Though not common today, the 5.45x39mm AR-15 was popular for a time. There are still a fair number of these guns in circulation but they are something of a novelty today.

In a world dominated by AR15s, it’s always nice to see alternatives that make you want to open the wallet. For instance the Type 81 LMG in Canada, but also this Galil Ace in 5.45x39mm. IWI USA calls it “extremely limited edition” and it comes with either a 16″ or 8.3″ barrel. There are only 545 units produced in both barrel lengths (I wonder what made them come up with that number). If you purchase one, you can contact IWI and they will send you a Certificate of Authenticity that corresponds with your serial number.

The much anticipated brass-cased Boxer-primed 5.45x39mm ammunition that the AK community has been waiting for for a long time is now available. Hornady now offers such cartridges in their BLACK ammunition line as well as sells the  brass cases separately for reloaders.

Sureshot Armament Group sent us a tip with pictures of a rifle that will soon become the civilian version of AK-12. The new rifle is called SAIGA-AK12. The pictures are from testing of this rifle conducted by George Gubich (six-time IPSC champion of Russia) in the premises of a company called Orengun. George posted on his Facebook page his first impressions saying: “so far, I like almost everything”.

The Ukrainian  Ministry of Internal Affairs has published a news release telling about the visit of Arsen Avakov, head of the ministry, to FORT company where a new handgun ammunition line was launched. According to Mr. Avakov, this new production line will allow to completely fulfill the demand of the Ukrainian Border Guard, National Guard, Police, and other law enforcement agencies.

Kalashnikov Media has published an article telling the story of a very interesting device designed to allow feeding linked ammunition into standard magazine-fed RPK-74 light machine guns. This device was called SPU (СПУ – Съемное Подающее Устройство, stands for Detachable Feeding Device) and it was developed in the late ’70s right after the adoption of 5.45x39mm cartridge and AK-74/RPK-74 weapon systems.

Igor Stechkin, an ingenious firearms designer mostly known for designing the APS automatic pistol, had a number of other interesting firearms designed during his career which became forgotten or known to only a small group of firearms enthusiasts because these guns were never adopted. Today, thanks to the Kalashnikov Guns Magazine, we have a chance to take a look at the TKB-0146 rifle: one of the most complicated creations of Igor Stechkin which was his submission to the Abakan trials.

At the end of the past month, we reported about the  adoption of AK-12, AK-15, AEK-971, and AEK-973 rifles by the Russian military. Back then it was not clear if they are going to adopt the RPK-16 light machine gun, too. Today,  Kalashnikov Concern and TASS news agency announced that the Kalashnikov Concern and the Ministry of Defence of the Russian Federation have signed a contract concerning the procurement of RPK-16 LMGs. In other words, Russia has adopted the RPK-16.

Magpul announced on Facebook today that the long-awaited Magpul PMAG magazine for the 5.45 versions of the Kalashnikov are now shipping. Announced about one year ago, the Mapul PMAG 30 AK74 MOE, as it is officially named, will join the extensive and ever-expanding line of Magpul magazines and other products.

The elusive Tokar-2 5.45mm belt-fed machine gun made an appearance at the recent Rosgvardia Open House event late last month. The event demonstrated weapons and equipment being used by the Russian National Guard (Rosgvardia), and was open to the public. Russian media outlet Armytex posted pictures of the event to their page on the social media site VK.com, including photos of the Tokar-2:

The Kalashnikov Museum and Exhibition Complex of Small Arms has released another video showcasing a pair of rare trial rifles. These are balanced action rifles which took part in “Abakan” trials and were AN-94 rifle’s competitors. The guns are called AKB (АКБ) and AKB-1 (АКБ-1) and both are designed by a group of designers lead by Victor Kalashnikov (Mikhail Kalashnikov’s son). Below is the mentioned video. Although it is in Russian, you’ll find the explanation of the content below the video:

North Korea recently celebrated its national holiday, the Day of the Sun, commemorating the birth of the founder of the communist hermit-nation, Kim Il-Sung. In true communist fashion, the holiday was marked by a large military parade where all the latest North Korean hardware was on display, including several new ballistic missiles, the latest North Korean tanks and artillery pieces, and of course small arms as well. Notably, the North Korean People’s Army brought a new combined assault rifle/grenade launcher to the parade, in the style of the cancelled US Objective Individual Combat Weapon.

The American company Aeroscraft, founded by an immigrant from Ukraine, and the State owned company  Ukroboronservis will co-operate to produce M4 carbines to NATO standard.

Kalashnikov Concern’s newest weapon releases have received quite a lot of attention since they were first shown off at the ARMY 2016 military and technology forum in Moscow, and as the conference winds down, I want to take a more thorough pass through four of these new products from the company. Since we published announcements for three of these new weapons, Maxim Popenker, gun expert and TFB contributor, has published more detailed descriptions of the RPK-16, MA, and SVK rifles on his website, Modern Firearms. Let’s take a look at what he has to teach us about these new weapons: