The IMI Galil is a family of Israeli-made automatic rifles chambered for the 5.56×45mm NATO and 7.62×51mm NATO cartridges. Originally designed by Yisrael Galili and Yakov Lior in the late 1960s, the Galil was first produced by the state-owned Israel Military Industries and is now exported by the privatized Israel Weapon Industries.
The AK-74 is an assault rifle designed by small arms designer Mikhail Kalashnikov in 1974. While primarily associated with the Soviet Union, it has been used by many countries since the 1970s. It is chambered for the 5.45×39mm cartridge, which replaced the 7.62×39mm cartridge of Kalashnikov's earlier automatic weapons for the Soviet armed forces.
A bullpup firearm is one with its firing grip located in front of the breech of the weapon, instead of behind it. This creates a weapon with a shorter overall length for a given barrel length, and one that is often lighter, more compact, concealable and more maneuverable than a conventionally configured firearm. Where it is desirable for troops to be issued a more compact weapon, the use of a bullpup configuration allows for barrel length to be retained, thus preserving muzzle velocity, range and ballistic effectiveness.
The FN F2000 is a 5.56×45mm NATO bullpup rifle, designed by FN Herstal in Belgium. The F2000 made its debut in March 2001 at the IDEX defence exhibition held in Abu Dhabi, in the United Arab Emirates.
The RPK, sometimes retroactively termed the RPK-47, is a Soviet 7.62×39mm light machine gun that was developed by Mikhail Kalashnikov in the early 1960s, in parallel with the AKM assault rifle. It was created to standardize the small arms inventory of the Soviet Army, where it replaced the 7.62×39mm RPD machine gun. The RPK continues to be used by the military of the post-Soviet states and certain African and Asian nations. The RPK is also manufactured in Bulgaria, Romania, and Serbia.
The Saiga-12 is a shotgun available in a wide range of configurations, patterned after the Kalashnikov series of rifles and named after the Saiga antelope native to Russia. Like the Kalashnikov rifle variants, it is a rotating bolt, long-stroke gas piston operated firearm that feeds from a square magazine. All Saiga-12 configurations are recognizable as Kalashnikov-pattern guns by the large lever-safety on the right side of the receiver, the optic mounting rail on the left side of the receiver and the large top-mounted dust cover held in place by the rear of the recoil spring assembly. Saiga firearms are meant for civilian domestic sale in Russia, and export to international markets.
Wassenaar Arrangement Semi-automatic Rifles are a line of rifles sold in the United States by Century International Arms. The rifles are manufactured in Romania by the Cugir Arms Factory and are a semi-automatic variant of the Pistol Mitralieră model 1963/1965, a Romanian licensed derivative of the Soviet AKM assault rifle. Century imports them and modifies them in order to comply with national legislation before sale to the general public via licensed traders. The WASR series takes its name from the 1996 Wassenaar Arrangement, a multilateral export control regime to monitor and limit the proliferation of certain conventional weapons and dual-use technologies.
The AS Val "Shaft" and VSS Vintorez "Thread Cutter", 6P30 and 6P29 respectively, were a Soviet-designed assault rifle featuring an integral suppressor based on the prototype RG-036 completed in 1981 by TsNIITochMash. The two rifles hereafter are referred to as the Vintorez and Val. The Vintorez and Val were developed by TsNIITochMash to replace modified general-purpose firearms, such as the AKS-74UB, BS-1, APB, and PB, for clandestine operations, much like the PSS Vul. Manufacturing began at the Tula Arms Plant after its adoption by the Armed Forces of the Soviet Union in 1987.
The OTs-14-4 "Groza-4" is a Russian selective fire bullpup assault rifle chambered for the 9×39mm subsonic cartridge. It was developed in the 1990s at the TsKIB SOO in Tula, Russia.
The ASM-DT is a Russian prototype folding-stock underwater firearm. It emerged in the 1990s.
The Vepr is the first Ukrainian-made assault rifle, designed in 1993-1994 by the State Space Agency of Ukraine and announced in 2003. It is one of several bullpup conversions of the conventional Russian AK-family design, along with the Polish Kbk wz. 2005 Jantar, the Chinese Norinco Type 86S, the Russian OTs-14 Groza, the Finnish Valmet M82 and the South African Vektor CR-21.
The Norinco Type 86S is an AKM-type bullpup rifle that was produced by Norinco. Many major parts are interchangeable with other standard Kalashnikov rifles.
The TKB-517 is an assault rifle designed by German Aleksandrovich Korobov. This rifle was externally similar to the AK-47, but based on the lever-delayed blowback mechanism invented by John Pedersen and refined by Pál Király. It turned out to be more reliable, more accurate and controllable under full auto, and easier to produce and maintain. Like the AK series, it was also manufactured with folding stocks, longer, heavier barrels with bipods and even a belt-fed variant. Its rejection was because of a greater proficiency with the AK-47 among the Soviet military, though it is just as likely it was rejected due to relatively high extraction pressure, which is a common issue firearms using lever-delayed blowback actions.
TKB-022PM No. 1, TKB-022PM No. 2 and TKB-022PM5 No. 1 were Soviet bullpup assault rifles, capable of fully automatic fire, chambered for the 7.62×39mm round and the .220 Russian round, developed by the small arms designer German A. Korobov in the 1960s.
TKB-011 (ТКБ-011), TKB-011M (ТКБ-011М) and TKB-011 2M were Soviet bullpup assault rifles, capable of fully automatic fire, chambered for the 7.62×39mm round, developed by the small arms designer Nikolai M. Afanasyev from 1963 to 1965.
An assault rifle is a select fire rifle that uses an intermediate-rifle cartridge and a detachable box magazine. Assault rifles were first put into mass production and accepted into widespread service during World War II. The first assault rifle to see major usage was the German StG 44, a development of the earlier Mkb 42. While immediately after World War II, NATO countries were equipped with battle rifles, the development of the M16 rifle during the Vietnam War prompted the adoption of assault rifles by the rest of NATO. By the end of the 20th century, assault rifles had become the standard weapon in most of the world's armies, replacing full-powered rifles and submachine guns in most roles. The two most successful modern assault rifles are the AK-47 and the M16 designs and their derivatives.
TKB-059 (ТКБ-059) was a Soviet three-barrel bullpup assault rifle, capable of fully automatic fire, chambered for the 7.62×39mm round and manufactured by Tula Arms Plant in 1966. It was based on the Device 3B, an earlier experimental assault rifle with three barrels. Both weapons were developed by the small arms designer Gennadij Korobov.
The AK-12, "Avtomat Kalashnikova, 2012" is a Russian assault rifle chambered in 5.45×39mm designed and manufactured by the Kalashnikov Concern, making it the fifth generation of Kalashnikov rifles.
The RK 71, commercially M71, is a Finnish assault rifle designed and manufactured by Valmet. It is based on the RK 62, which in turn is based on the Soviet AK-47. Finnish Defence Forces tested the 7.62 RK 71 between 1971 and 1973 as a possible replacement of the RK 62, but logistics issues prevented its larger adoption by FDF. The rifle was also exported to Qatar.
The Kalashnikov SR-1 is a semi-automatic rifle designed and manufactured by the Kalashnikov Concern. It is based on the AK-107 assault rifle.
