Saturday, February 26, 2011

What are the differences between AK-47, AKM, AK-56, AK-74 and AK-101?

The AK family of assault rifles are pretty widespread around the world, because of their lower cost of manufacturing, lower tooling costs, general reliability under rough conditions and the fact that the former Soviet Union were pretty much handing them out like candy for years. Clones of the original AK design have also been manufactured by other countries: China, Bulgaria, Romania, even companies in the good ol' USA. Unfortunately, the media keeps referring to just about any assault rifle in the AK family as the "AK-47". This post aims to point out some members of the AK family and some of their major differences.

The AK is a Russian abbreviation for Avtomat Kalashnikova. The name Kalashnikova comes from the fact that its inventor is Mikhail Kalashnikov. The original development for this rifle started in 1945 and a prototype (the AK-46) was submitted for evaluation in 1946, but it was only in 1947 that it was cleared for production for use by select Soviet forces. There have been several improvements to the original design over the years and there are now many models in the AK family. With that little bit of history said, let's now study some of the key features of some models.

AK-47: This is the original version that was approved for use by the Soviets. It fires a 7.62x39 mm. cartridge. It was originally approved for some Soviet forces in 1947, which is why the name has 47 after it. During 1948-1951, it went into general production to be used by other Soviet military units as well (the Type-1 model). In 1952, the Type-2 version was introduced, which had a chrome plated barrel and receiver to resist corrosion and wear. The Soviets had originally tried to make the receiver out of stamped sheet metal, but didn't have the technology then to produce the part reliably. After a large number of rejections of faulty receivers, the Soviets opted to use a receiver made of forged steel, which was milled into the final shape using various machining operations. This made the overall production rate slower.

AK-47 Type 2 variant. Click on image to enlarge. Public domain image.

AKM: This is a popular variant of the AK family. This was created as an improvement of the original AK-47 design. The letter M in the name "AKM" stands for Modernizirovanniy, which is the Russian word for "modernized." The AKM design was developed in the 1950s and finally was approved for full production in 1959. It fires the same 7.62x39 mm as the AK-47 for backward compatibility. However, the design was much revised and enhanced from the original AK-47 to allow it to be mass-produced. The Soviets acquired modern mass production technologies from captured German engineers (including Hugo Schmeisser, the designer of the StG-44) and used those on the AKM. Among some of its improvements:
  • Replacement of the milled receiver with a receiver made out of stamped sheet steel. Machining is a lot slower process than using a press to stamp parts. Hence, use of stamped parts made it much faster to produce AKMs.
  • Using rivets instead of welds on the receiver, in order to speed up production.
  • Improvements to barrel, gas ports etc. to speed up manufacturing and enhance reliability
  • Weight reduction of approximately 1 kg. (2.2 pounds)
  • Retains the chrome lined barrel and chamber of the AK-47 Type-2 variant, but the barrel is pressed and pinned to the receiver, instead of the AK-47 which has a threaded barrel that is screwed into the receiver.
  • The barrel is the first in the AK family to have a slant compensator to reduce rifle climb, when shooting in automatic mode.
  • Gas relief ports are moved forward to the gas block, instead of the gas tube.
  • Bolt carrier was lightened slightly. The wooden stocks were also hollowed out as well, in order to reduce more weight.
  • Sights on an AKM are calibrated to go up to 1000 meters, whereas AK-47s are only calibrated to go up to 800 meters.
  • Changes to the metal treatment applied. The AKM is parkerized instead of blued like the AK-47.
  • Uses modified spring and trigger assembly for better safety. The AKM fires in automatic mode only when the bolt is fully locked. The new trigger assembly also reduces "trigger bounce" and has a hammer release delay device to delay the release of the hammer by a few microseconds in automatic firing mode. The hammer release delay mechanism is sometimes incorrectly called a "rate reducer" by some people, but it doesn't appreciably change the cyclic rate of fire. Instead it allows the bolt group to settle in the forwardmost position after returning into the battery.
AKM assault rifle. Click on image to enlarge. Public domain image.
Note the slanted barrel tip: that is the slant compensator, which is one of the improvements over the original AK-47 design

The AKM was used by the Soviets, most Warsaw Pact countries, several African countries and many Asian countries as well. Manufacturing licenses, as well as necessary technical data, were sold for very nominal rates (or gifted for free!) to Warsaw Pact countries, as well as other "friendly" countries like Egypt and Iraq, so that they could make their own AKMs. Because of this, it became very widespread around the world. Many variants of this design still exist in use around the world today. One popular variant of the AKM is the AKMS, which features a folding metal stock instead of the fixed wooden stock of the AKM.

AK-56: This is a Chinese made variant of the AK family. While it is officially called the "Type-56", it is often referred to as the AK-56. Predictably, the number 56 indicates that the production of the Chinese models started in 1956.  In the initial stages, the type-56 was a direct copy of the AK-47 type-1 model. However, in the 1960s, the Chinese incorporated some of the AKM improvements (e.g. stamped sheet metal receiver and slant compensator) and made some of their own modifications into their type-56 model, but did not change their version number for some reason. One visual difference between the AKM and the AK-56 is that the front sight of an AK-47 or an AKM is a partially open type, whereas the type-56 model has a fully hooded front sight. 

Chinese sailor carrying a type-56 assault rifle. Click on image to enlarge. Public domain image.

The type-56 is the most prolific version of the AK family, since it was exported by the Chinese to various communist movements, especially in third world countries of Asia, South America and Africa. Nearly one in five (i.e. 20%)  of  AK type rifles in the world today is a type-56. When US forces were in Vietnam, the type-56 was found in enemy hands far more often than AKM or AK-47s.

AK-74: This was the next rifle that was officially adopted by the Soviet military in 1974. It was based on the AKM design. However, this variant fires 5.45x39 mm. ammunition instead of 7.62x39 mm. ammunition that the older variants fire. Because of this new cartridge, the barrel, receiver, magazine, firing mechanism, gas cylinder, springs and sights are also altered to accommodate the new cartridge's dimensions and power. This rifle's magazine is made of a plastic, which makes it much more durable than the metal magazines of the AK-47 and AKM. The magazine shape is also subtly altered with two extra horizontal ribs, in order to make it impossible to insert it into an older AK model (since they don't use the same ammunition anyway). The pistol grip is made of a polymer plastic as well. Some early AK-74s have wooden hand guards and butt stock, but they use laminated wood instead of the plain wood that the earlier AK models use. Some later versions of the AK-74 use entirely polymer furniture (i.e. butt stock, pistol grip and hand guards) which is usually plum colored or black colored. The butt stock also has some cuts in it to reduce overall weight and also provide an easy way to distinguish it from an AKM.
AK-74 assault rifle. Click on image to enlarge. Public domain image.
Note the laminated wood stock with distinctive cuts on the side, laminated wood hand guards and the dark-brown plastic magazine.

There are also variants, such as the AKS-74, which feature folding metal stocks instead of wooden stocks, AKS-74U, which is a shorter carbine form of the AKS-74, AK-74M which features black plastic furniture completely (i.e. no wood parts) and has a mounting rail on the left to attach telescopic sight models etc. The firearm issued by the Russian military since the early 1990s is the AK-74M model, though earlier AK-74/AKS-74 still remain in service as well.

AK-74M assault rifle. Note the complete lack of wooden parts. Click on image to enlarge.

AK-101: This is a variant of the AK family that is meant for the export market outside Russia. That is why it is chambered to fire NATO standard 5.56x45 mm. ammunition, which is standard in many countries around the world. Naturally, many of the other parts (barrel, receiver, magazine etc.) are also modified to fit the cartridge. In short, the AK-101 is essentially an AK-74M design resized for the NATO cartridge.
AK-101 assault rifle. Click on image to enlarge. Public domain image.

Like the AK-74M, it also has a mounting rail on the side to allow attaching many optical devices that are common in Russia and Europe.

These are only a few of the models in the AK family of assault rifles. Unfortunately, many people in the media insist on calling all of them "AK-47s", in spite of the major differences between all the models. Surprisingly, true AK-47s are actually quite rare these days, especially the Type-1 variant. Most of what is referred to in the media as an "AK-47" is usually not the original AK-47 model, the weapon in question is usually a variant of AKM, a Type-56, an AK-74 etc. This became painfully apparent to the blog author when he attended a court case as a juror. The prosecutor kept referring to a firearm presented as evidence as "an AK-47 assault rifle". As the case progressed, it emerged that the firearm in question had a different firing mechanism as it was incapable of automatic fire (it could only fire in semi-automatic mode), had a laminated stock, used stamped parts and was made by an American manufacturer named Ewbank Manufacturing from Winslow, Arizona.

23 comments:

  1. Iron sights that are adjustable up to 1000, 800, or even 600 meters are completely useless in my opinion. In real warfare conditions, it looks like it's nearly impossible to hit anybody from further than approx. 400-500 meters with any 7.62x39-feeded AK rifle. It may be due to the bad 7.62x39 aerodynamics (compared to the 7.62x51, 5.56x45 or even 5.56x39 ammo, as you mentioned in one of your previous posts, "AK47vs. M-16" or something like that), short distance between the front and the rear sights, which is cleary visilbe on all images of the AK-family rifles, and maybe rather poor (russian, korean, chinese etc.) ammo quality?

    What do you think about it? Do you agree with me?

    PS. Merry christmas, happy new year and greetings from Poland!

    14-years old kid :)

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    1. For the average person, about 400-500 meters is about the most they can shoot reliably, but there are exceptional people who can shoot well beyond this.

      When it comes to man-sized targets, it is hard for many people to hit one at 400+ meters with iron sights (heck, even 300 meters is a challenge). This is true for all rifles, not just AK rifles. This is not necessarily because of the design of the sights or the ammo quality, but also because of the person shooting the rifle.

      However, there are people who are capable of hitting targets beyond that range with iron sights. For example, here in the US, the Marine Corps requires every recruit (male or female) to hit targets from 200-500 meters with a M-16 rifle and iron sights, to qualify as Marines.

      There are also "service rifle" competitions in the US, where people have to use rifles which are currently in use or were in use by US military and in these competitions, people shoot out to 600, 800 and 1000 meter ranges with iron sights. One of the categories in these competitions is "Foreign Military Rifles", where people use AK-74, SKS, FN-FAL etc. and they also shoot at these distances! Of course, people in these competitions are expert shooters and far better at shooting than the average soldier.

      Merry christmas to you as well, happy new year and greetings from the USA!

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    2. I forgot to mention that there are similar "service rifle" competitions held in many other countries around the world as well. So there are some talented shooters in every country in this world, who are capable of hitting targets at longer ranges.

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    3. Well, AK-47 was the first model (as you can see in the article), no wonder if it has a very bad accuracy. But how ever the worst accuracy of AK family is the AKM. The AK-101 is very good until a lot elite military organization (or what ever is it) adopt it. I'm also still 12 =D

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    4. ya its slightly up n down barrel when fire or reload.

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    5. Wow when I served not hitting a figure 11 @ 1000yds with a L1A1 was a fail. Standards have dropped!

      Mind you the elephant gun was pretty good at the longer range shots, at least better then the 5.56 rounds.

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    6. Suppressive fire. You see groups of soliders out in the streets, spraying the area where the enemy is located. Partly they hope to hit someone, but mostly it's to make them keep their heads down, say, because another group of friendlies is approaching to try and take the location. Basically the modern equivalent of "volley fire". You need sights calibrated to 1,000 yards to make sure the bullet will fall in the right area, not because you intend on hitting a specific target there. And yes, a 7.62mm ought to be reasonably effective, even at that range. Even if you don't kill him, the other guy doesn't want to get wounded, so he'll keep down.

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  2. This was a great read, very informative. Thanks for the pics too!

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  3. Excellent info! and btw, is there any AKs related website that I could check for AK variants? I'm looking for some answer and I couldn't find any. Or is there a way that I can contact with the Editor? Need some confirmation about an Ak model. I have a picture but I'm not sure if it's even an AK, since I have never seen such muzzle before. If the editor could contact me, that would be great!

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  4. You may not hit a target at 1000 yards, but you can get it close enough for covering fire. If the guy you are shooting at hears bullets wiz by, or hitting nearby, he is going to duck for cover. Useless if you hare hunting, but not necessarily in a tactical situation.

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  5. Amazing aritcle..thanks for such a great explaination

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  6. Hello!
    This post is excellent! I'd like to share some info. In Russia we simply call it AK instead of AK-47. Other people should call these rifles AKs as well, because as you said there are different variants. AK-46, AK-47 and AK-48 were prototypes. Final variant of Kalashikov assault rifle was adopted in 1949 by the Soviet military. Official military designation is 7.62-mm Kalashnikov assault rifle (AK) or 7.62-мм автомат Калашникова (АК).

    AK-103, 104, 105 and 107 are used by Russian military and LE.
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    AK variants made in USSR/Russia:

    5.45x39 mm:

    AK-12 (2012 - all-new AK with collapsible and folding stock, ambidextrous bolt catch and fire selector/safety lever, Picatinny rails, new muzzle brake, charging handle and pistol grip, semi-auto, 3-round burst and full-auto fire modes)
    AK-74 and AKS-74 (1974 - AKS-74 has side folding metal stock)
    AK-74M (1991 - side folding polyamide stock, polyamide handguard and dovetail side rail telescopic sight mount)
    AK-74M3 (2011 - new pistol grip and receiver cover, additional safety lever, recoil pad and Picatinny rails, semi-auto and full-auto fire modes)
    AK-105 (1994 - carbine version of AK-74M)
    AK-105-1 (1994 - semi-auto only)
    AK-105-2 (1999 - semi-auto, 3-round burst and full-auto fire modes)
    AK-107 (1999 - version of AK-74M with recoil reducing operating system, semi-auto, 3-round burst and full-auto fire modes)
    AKS-74U (1979 - carbine version of AKS-74)

    5.56x45 mm NATO:

    AK-12 (2012)
    AK-101 (1994 - 5.56 mm version of AK-74M)
    AK-101-1 (1994 - semi-auto only)
    AK-101-2 (1999 - semi-auto, 3-round burst and full-auto fire modes)
    AK-102 (1994 - carbine version of AK-101)
    AK-102-1 (1994 - semi-auto only)
    AK-102-2 (1999 - semi-auto, 3-round burst and full-auto fire modes)
    AK-108 (1999 - version of AK-101 with recoil reducing operating system, semi-auto, 3-round burst and full-auto fire modes)

    6.5x39 mm Grendel:

    AK-12 (2012)

    7.62x39 mm:

    AK and AKS (1949 - first model or Type 1, AKS has downward folding metal stock)
    AK and AKS (1952 - second model or Type 2, AKS has downward folding metal stock)
    AK and AKS (1955 - third model or Type 3, AKS has downward folding metal stock)
    AK-12 (2012)
    AK-103 (1994 - 7.62 mm version of AK-74M)
    AK-103-1 (1994 - semi-auto only)
    AK-103-2 (1999 - semi-auto, 3-round burst and full-auto fire modes)
    AK-103-3 (2009 - new pistol grip and receiver cover, additional safety lever, bipod and Picatinny rails, semi-auto and full-auto fire modes)
    AK-104 (1994 - carbine version of AK-103)
    AK-104-1 (1994 - semi-auto only)
    AK-104-2 (1999 - semi-auto, 3-round burst and full-auto fire modes)
    AKM and AKMS (1959 - AKMS has downward folding metal stock)

    Variants with night vision sights and sound suppressors are not included.
    -
    AK magazines:

    20-round box (5.45x39 mm, made by Izhmash (USSR/Russia))
    20-round box (7.62x39 mm, made by Norinco (China) and Promag (USA))
    30-round box (5.45x39 mm, 5.56x45 mm NATO, 6.5x39 mm Grendel and 7.62x39 mm, made by Izhmash (USSR/Russia))
    40-round box (5.45x39 mm, made by Promag (USA))
    40-round box (7.62x39 mm, made by Molot (USSR/Russia))
    45-round box (5.45x39 mm, made by Molot (USSR/Russia))
    45-round box (7.62x39 mm, made by US PALM (USA))
    47-round box (7.62x39 mm, made by Thermold (USA))
    50-round box (7.62x39 mm, made by National Magazines (USA))
    60-round box (5.45x39 mm, made by Izhmash (Russia))
    73-round drum (7.62x39 mm, made by Promag (USA))
    75-round box (7.62x39 mm, made by National Magazines (USA))
    75-round drum (7.62x39 mm, made by Molot (USSR/Russia))
    77-round drum (5.45x39 mm, made by BarrelXchange (USA))
    95-round drum (5.45x39 mm, made by Izhmash (Russia))
    95-round drum (5.45x39 mm, made by Atlantic Firearms (USA))
    100-round box (7.62x39 mm, made by National Magazines (USA))
    100-round drum (7.62x39 mm, made by Norinco (China))
    -
    I can send you AK manuals (.pdf and .djvu formats) in Russian if you want. I also have AK manual in English (.pdf format) written by the US Army.

    Greetings from mother Russia and have a wonderful day!
    Bernard Samartsev.

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    1. Thank you very much for your useful comments Bernard. They are much appreciated. :)

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    2. You're welcome! If you have any questions about Soviet/Russian weapons, then feel free to ask.

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    3. I would love the ak manuals in Russian and in English if you still have them available....all that you have for all variants. thank you...this is good stuff!! nightmareon5thstreet@yahoo.com

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    4. Marcus Lucas,
      Ok, I will sort them out, scan them with the antivirus software and send them to you. I have the AK manual in English and AK, AKM, AK-74, AKS-74U, RPK and RPK-74 manuals in Russian. If you don't know Russian, then I can explain some Russian weapon-related terms and phrases to you.
      My email is 83n1337@gmail.com

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  7. Our little Polish friend should know that the AK is an ASSAULT RIFLE (Sturmgewehr) which has a specific function, i.e. to enable attacking infantry to lay down a heavy suppressive fire on the enemy position ahead, at a relatively short range (up to 300 metres). It was designed for battle conditions like those on the Eastern Front in World War 2, with massed infantry having to advance on heavily defended strongpoints, and replaced the pistol-calibre submachine guns used by Soviet forces during the war. It does not have to be very accurate. There is nothing wrong with either the quality or the ballistics of the 7.62x39 round; it is generally accepted as one of the best military rounds ever developed.

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    1. Our big friend should carefully read the comment he is referencing and replying to before doing so, especially when said comment is nearly three years old.
      Back then, I found 1000m-adjustable sights on a regular AK very odd as they (i.e. the assault rifles) weren't designed to be effectively used at that range. The 7.62x39 was not, either. They've had 7.62x54R for that. Given these reasons, installing 1000m sights on, say, an AKM sounded ridiculous to me (and, frankly, it still does, even if they may have proven useful at times). That's what I meant. It's not very different from what you've said.
      I do, however, disagree with your opinion on mostly Soviet and Chinese military ammunition quality of 7.62x39 and it's (external) ballistics as both are, at least in my eyes, inadequate, especially when compared to their western counterparts like the Belgian 5.56x45 SS109 or US' M193. It is, nonetheless, an undeniably popular round.
      Best Regards

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  8. I have been researching all AK Variants, But they all seem to be the same in function. The AKM has the same Firing rate of 600 rpm as the AK-47. Whats the difference other than appearance?

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    1. Seriously?? You do realize that you've posted your comment at the bottom of the very page that explains what some of the significant differences are, don't you?

      Regards,
      The Editor

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  9. "A chromed receiver"? Are you sure about that? I've never seen an AK-47 with anything that looked like a chrome receiver. You sure you don't meant "bolt"? The bolt in my AKM (WASR-10/23, actually) appears to be chromed, as does the operating rod. Maybe stainless steel though.

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  10. Hello editor,
    Greeting for great info . also I would love to ask you one favor the weapon manual you acquired from Bernard can you please send it to me? i am a game developer so i need to watch them closely for modeling purpose . i tried to contact Bernard but his mail address is dead so if you can please send them to this mail address- shuvojit18chakraborty@gmail.com

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    1. Hi Shuvojit,
      I didn't contact Bernard myself, but one other reader of this blog did (Marcus Lucas above), so maybe you can try contacting him too. Alternatively, Bernard might see your comment and reply himself.

      Best wishes,
      The Editor

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