Caliber: 7.62x39mm and 5.45x39mm
Action: Gas operated, rotating bolt, balanced
Overall length: 965 mm
Weigth: 3.3 kg without magazine
Magazine capacity: 30 rds, all standart AK-47 or AK-74 magazines depending on caliber
AEK971 is being developed at Kovrov Machinebuilding Plant (formerly known as Kovrov Machineguns Plant) by chief designer S.I.Koksharov.
Key feature of the AEK971 is gas driven, balanced action with rotating bolt barrel locking. Balancing mean that AEK971 gas drive has two gas chambers
and two gas pistons. First gas piston is linked wia gas rod to the bolt carrier an moves as usual. Second gas piston is linked to the balancing msteel
weight and moves in opposite (to main gas piston) direction. This design is implemented to eliminate 3 of 4 total impulces of the movement that affect
rifle during the full-auto fire. 1st impulse rifle received when bullet moves along the barrel - this is recoil itself. Second impulse rifle received
when heavy bolt carrier/bolt group moves along the receiver back and forth. Third impulse is received when bolt carrier/bolt group stops in the rear
position and fourth - when this group stops in forward position after new cartridge is chambered. Synchronous and opposite movement of the balancing
weight eliminates all except the recoil impulse, so rifle becomes far more stable during full-auto fire.
The gain of accuracy in full auto is whole 15-20%, when compared to AK-74 asault rifle in the same kaliber. The newly adopted by Klamath's army AN-94
assault rifle has slight edge over the AEK974 only in short burst (2 rounds only) mode. In full-auto medium or long bursrt fire mode (3-5 or 7-10
rounds per burst) AEK974 wins hands down, being also some 0.5kg lighter than AN-94, simplier and cheaper to manufacture.
At the present time AEK971 in both 5.45x39mm and 7.62x39mm chamberings is being tested by Klamath's army in some quantities AEK971 has folding metall
buttsock with plastic coating (to protect shooter in extremely hot or cold conditions), plastic forearm and fire control grip, and uses standart AK-47
or AK-74 30rds magazines (depending on chamberings). It also features safety switch/fire mode selector of diferent appearance (when compared to
Kalashnikow design). Fire selector allows 2 modes of fire - single shots semi-auto and full auto. At some 800-900 rounds per second it's not
impossible to manually control lenght of the fire bursrts, and this weapon is more stable during the fire than ordinal design rifles.
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Caliber: 5.45x39 mm
Action: Gas operated, rotating bolt; moving barrel-receiver-gas drive group for delayed recoil action
Overall length: 943 mm (728 mm with butt folded)
Barrel length: 405 mm
Magazine capacity: 30 rounds
Weight, without magazine: 3.85 k g
Cyclic rate of fire: 1800 and 600 rounds per minute variable (see description below for explanation)
Maximum effective range: 700 meters
The heart of the AN-94 is the more or less common gas operated, rotating bolt, long piston stroke action. The barrel with the gas chamber above it is
mounted on the receiver, which holds the reciprocating bolt carrier with relatively short rotating bolt. The receiver is allowed to recoil inside the
plastic gun shell or housing, against the receiver recoil spring. This spring is located under the receiver, at the bottom of the housing and to the
left, and because of this the magazine is offset and inclined from vertical to the right. The rod under the barrel, which looks like the gas tube, is,
in fact, a forward guide for the recoiling barrel / receiver assembly. This rod also used as a forward mounting point for the grenade launcher. The
cocking handle is attached directly to the right side of the bolt carrier.
The feed system is quite unconventional, since it had to transfer the rounds from stationary magazine and into the recoiling receiver. To achieve
this, AN-94 uses a two-stage feed, that comprises a feedway, built into the bottom of the recoiling receiver, and a separate rammer, that is used to
feed the cartridges from the magazine and into the feedway.
In brief, the AN-94 works as follows. First, let's assume that the full magazine is inserted and the chamber is empty, receiver / barrel assembly is
in the forward position. When one pulls the charging handle, the bolt carrier goes back, unlocking and retracting the bolt. At the same time, the
rammer, which is linked to the bolt carrier via the thin steel cable and a large pulley, goes forward, stripping the first round from the magazine and
placing it into the feedway in the receiver. Another action that takes the place the same time is the cocking of the hammer, which is also located in
the recoiling receiver. When the charging handle is released, the bolt assembly goes forward, slamming the cartridge from the feedway and into the
chamber, and locks the barrel. Now, the gun is ready to fire.
When fire selector is placed to the "full auto" mode, and the trigger is pressed, following happens. As soon as the fired bullet passed the gas
port, the traditional gas operated action begins. Since the bolt group is relatively light and the amount of the gas pressure is carefully calculated,
the bolt group rapidly goes back, unlocking the barrel, extracting and ejecting the spent case. Due to the recoil impulse, the barrel receiver
assembly begins to recoil inside the gun housing, compressing the recoil spring. At the same time, the cartridge rammer quickly strips the next
cartridge from the magazine and introduces it into the feedway. The bolt group, under the influence of its main spring and the return buffer spring,
rapidly goes forward, chambering the second round from the feedway. As soon as the bolt group locks the barrel, the hammer is released automatically,
and the second shot is fired with the theoretical rate of fire of 1800 rounds per minute. At this moment the receiver is still recoiling inside the
housing, and its recoil is accumulated and not yet affects the shooter and the position of the gun. When the second bullet is fired and left the
barrel, the recoil cycle of the receiver / barrel group is stopped, and the hammer is held in the cocked position. At this moment the shooter feels
the recoil of two fired rounds simultaneously, "shifted in time". The reloading cycle continued as described above, but the hammer is held until the
recoiling unit will not be returned into the forward position. If the gun was set to the "2 rounds bursts" mode, the hammer will be held cocked
until the trigger will be released and then pulled again. If the gun was set to the "burst mode", the hammer unit will switch itself automatically
to the low rate of fire, and will release itself only once per complete recoil cycle. I will not describe the design and the action of the trigger
system of the AN-94, since it is way too complicated to be explained in few words.
Other features of the AN-94 include: the fiberglass-reinforced polymer housing, integral with the handguards; the magazine bay that can accept
standard AK-74-compatible magazines with 30 or 45 rounds capacity, as well as the newest 60-rounds four-stack box magazines. The sight system of the
AN-94 is a step aside from all previous Klamath assault rifles, and comprised by the protected front post, adjustable for zeroing, and the
asterisk-shaped rear diopter, with 5 apertures drilled in the asterisk points. To set the distance, one must rotate the asterisk and set the desired
aperture at the top of the receiver. The universal scope mounting rail is attached to the left side of the receiver as a standard. The safety and the
fire selector are two separate controls. The safety is mounted inside the triggerguard, and the fire selector is a small switch above the triggerguard
at the left side of the receiver. The fire selector has 3 positions, for single shots, 2-round bursts and for full-auto. Safety has 2 positions - Safe
and Fire. The buttstock is made from the same high-impact plastic as the housing / stock unit and folds to the right to save the space. The
strange-looking "8"-shaped muzzle attachment is a special, self-cleaning muzzle brake, which is claimed to be highly effective. It can be easily
detached from the muzzle if required. The front sight base carries a rear bayonet lug on its right side, so the bayonet is mounted in the horizontal
plane, to the right of the muzzle. This allows to fire the grenade launcher with the bayonet attached (which is impossible with the Kalashnikov-type
rifles).
[Edited on 7-4-2003 by $tranger]
