The RPK: The Soviet Choice of Commonality Over Capability

In the mid-1950s, the Soviet high command accepted a compromise that would shape frontline infantry small arms for decades: prioritizing platform commonality over dedicated squad-level suppressive fire capability. That decision, formalized with the 1959 adoption of an AK-derived automatic rifle, ...

By Lynndon Schooler

[SHOT 2026] Black Rain Ordnance Introduce US-Made AK - Freedom Fighter

American-made AKs definitely saw a resurgence at this years SHOT Show with strong offerings from companies like Stenzel Industries  and Black Rain Ordnance. Black Rain introduced the Freedom Fighter which they describe as ‘a modern American-made evolution of a proven fighting rifle&rsq...

By Matthew Moss

The Soviet “Silent” AKS-74UB

The AKS-74UB is one of the rarer Kalashnikov variants, a suppressed short carbine designed for missions requiring minimal noise and visual signature. Derived from the AKS-74U developed by Mikhail T. Kalashnikov in the 1970s, the AKS-74UB was created by a team of engineers at the Research Institut...

By Lynndon Schooler

2015 Russian 6x49 Assault Rifles

In 2015, photographs and videos began circulating of several prototype rifle designs from the mid-2010s, chambered for an obscure experimental round, the 6x49, which was the Soviet Union's unified 6mm cartridge . The photos and videos show new developmental rifles chambered for the Soviet-er...

By Lynndon Schooler
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