#RPK-74

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.

The Berlin Wall fell some 27 years ago. Now the situation around the Baltic Sea seems to turn to the worse again.

An image of a mysterious new Russian machine gun was leaked to the public recently, during a visit to the Kalashnikov factory by Deputy Defense Minister Yuri Borisov. The weapon is an intriguing dual-feed magazine/belt loading gun that features distinctly un-AK-like underbarrel gas tube, as well as integral top and bottom Picatinny-type rails. Little is known about the weapon besides its name which is reportedly “RPK-400” (Ручной пулемёт Калашникова -400, or “Handheld Kalashnikov Machine Gun 400”) EDIT: That is apparently the name of the modernized RPK-74 that is on the far left in the image

(This is Part 2 of the TFB Rifle Weight Omnibus. You can read Part 1 here.)