Heckler-Koch HK417 Assault Rifle

HK417 assault rifle was recently developed by famous German arms-making company Heckler und Koch, as a "big brother" to the 5.56mm HK416 assault rifle. Information on this weapon first surfaced in 2005, on the wave of new interest for the 7.62mm NATO caliber military rifles. This interestcame in from experience of international forces gained in Afghanistan and Iraq, where increased range and penetration of the 7.62mm NATO bullets was (and still is) quite useful. Several companies developed new or updated versions of 7.62mm weapons, with intent to sell to military, law enforcement and in certain cases - to civilian shootersas well. The HK417 is one of such weapons. It is primarily oriented toward US market, as it mimics the popular 5.56mm AR-15 / M16 rifles in external appearance, controls, and many design features.However, there are more than few new and original features in HK417,including Heckler-Koch's patented piston-operated gas system,user-changeable barrels etc. Like most other competitors, HK417 riflesare available in several barrel lengths, suitable for full scale ofmilitary operations, from close combat in urban or forest areas and upto long-range accurate shooting.

HK417rifle is a gas operated,selective fired weapon of modular design. Ituses short-stroke gas piston located above the barrel, that operatesthe 7-lug rotating bolt. Barrels are cold hammer forged, and could bereplaced by end user in several minutes using simple tools. There are four basic patterns of barrels available for HK417 as of now (2008):305mm / 12" and 406 mm / 16" standard barrels and 406 mm / 16" and 508 mm/ 20" accurized barrels. Accurized barrels provide 1 MOA accuracy (with proper ammunition). Receiver ismade from high grade aluminum alloy and consists of two parts (upperand lower), connected by two cross-pins a-la AR-15 / M16 rifles. Combination-type safety / fire selectorallows for single shots and full automatic mode. HK417 retains all M16-style controls, including last round bolt hold-open device, bolt closure device, rear-based charging handle and magazine release button on the right side of the magazine well. HK417 isfitted with four Picatinny rails on free-float handguard as standard, and will accept any type of sighting devices on STANAG-1913 compliant mounts. It also can accept modified HK AG36/AG-C 40mm grenade launcher, which is clamped directly to bottom rail. Buttstock is of modified M4 design, multi-position telescoped. Production HK417 rifles useproprietary 10- or 20-round box magazines, made of translucent polymer(early prototypes used HK G3 magazin

es).

XM8 Rifle

The XM8 was a developmental U.S. Military designation and project name for a lightweight assault rifle system that was under development by the United States Army from the late 1990s to early 2000s. The Army worked with the German small arms manufacturer Heckler & Koch (H&K) to develop the system to its requirements in the aftermath of the Objective Individual Combat Weapon (OICW) contract, for which H&K had been a subcontractor to ATK. Although there were high hopes that the XM8 would become the Army's new standard infantry rifle, the project was put on hold in April 2005, and was formally canceled on October 31, 2005.
General Dynamics was involved in latter stages and H&K had plans to produce the rifle at a plant in Georgia. H&K was British-owned at the start of the project, but was later bought back by a group of German investors. Engineering work was done at facilities in the United States and Germany.
he U.S. Army's purpose in contracting for this prototype weapon was to provide replacement options for the venerable M16 rifle after the XM29 program ran into problems. The Army's goal was a weapon that was cheaper, lighter, and more effective than the M16 and M4 Carbine series of weapons. The XM8 was not just one weapon, but a system which could be reconfigured with appropriate parts to be any one of several variants from a short-barreled personal defense weapon to a bipod-equipped support weapon. It also included an integrated optical sight and IR laser aiming module/illuminator.

The XM8 was based on the kinetic energy module of Alliant Techsystems's XM29 OICW project, of which the weapon mechanisms were the responsibility of H&K. Following the indefinite delay of the Objective Individual Combat Weapon program, the U.S. Army requested that the contractors design stand-alone weapons from the XM29's kinetic energy and high explosive modules.

The first 30 XM8 prototypes were delivered by November 2003 for preliminary testing. Later, at least 200 developmental prototypes were procured. Among the complaints during testing was that the battery life was too low for the weapon's powered sight system and some ergonomics issues. Two other key issues were reducing the weapon's weight and increasing the heat resistance of the hand guard, which would start to melt after firing too many rounds. The main testing was largely completed, and the Army pushed for funding for a large field test. However, in 2004 Congress denied $26 million funding for 7,000 rifles to do a wide scale test fielding of the XM8 in 2005. At the time the rifle still had developmental goals that were incomplete, primarily associated with the weapon's weight; the battery life had been extended, and a more heat-resistant plastic hand-guard added. The earliest product brochure lists the target weight for the carbine variant at 5.7 lbs (2.6 kg) with the then current prototype at 6.2 lb (2.8 kg). The weight of the carbine prototype had since grown to 7.5 lbs (3.4 kg) according to a brochure released by HK and General Dynamics in January 2005.

The use of AK47 in World War 2 until now

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During the Cold War, the Soviet Union, China, and the United States provides equipment and technology to countries with their allies, along with the rebel forces they support. At that time the spread of large-scale AK-47 by the Soviet Union and China to countries and groups with pro-communists, such as the Nicaraguan Sandinistas and Viet Cong. AK-47 design spread to 55 armed forces of the world. [1]

The spread of the AK-47 is not only seen from the numbers alone, the AK-47 is in the flag and coat of arms of Mozambique. Also found on the coat of arms of Burkina Faso, and the flag of Hezbollah. "Kalash", short for "Kalashnikov", is used as the name for boys in some African countries

Listed only military variants only. Compiled from information contained in the book Poyer, The AK-47 and AK-74 Kalashnikov Rifles and Their Variations.

After extensive tests, conducted in December 1947 - January 1948, which included slightly improved Dementiev KB-P-410, Bulkin TKB-415 and all-new Kalashnikov AK-47 rifles, results were somewhat inconclusive. The AK-47 was found to be most durable and reliable out of three contestants, but it also dragged behind the other two in the accuracy department, especially in full automatic (which was, and still is considered the primary mode of fire for assault rifle in Russia). In fact, the only weapon that fulfilled accuracy requirements was the Bulkin AB-47 / TKB-415, but it had certain problems with parts durability. After lengthy discussion, trials commission finally decided that the better is the enemy of the good, and it is advisable to have not-so accurate but reliable weapon now, rather than to wait indefinitely for accurate-and -reliable weapon in the future. This decision ultimately lead commission to recommend AK-47 for troops trials in November, 1947. It was decided that the production of the new weapon must be commenced at Izhevsk arms plant (now Izhevsk Machine building Plant or IzhMash in short). Kalashnikov has moved from Kovrov to Izhevsk to help with production of the new weapon, which commenced in mid-1948. Official adoption followed late in 1949, with standard nomenclature being '7.62mm avtomat Kalashnikova AK' (7.62mm automatic carbine Kalashnikov). At the same time, a folding buttstock version was adopted for airborne units use, as '7.62mm avtomat Kalashnikova skladnoy AKS' (7.62mm automatic carbine Kalashnikov, folding).
It must be noted that the original design of the receiver, which was assembled from stamped steel 'box' with large machined steel insert pinned at the front, caused a lot of troubles at factory. The technology (equipment and labor) level of the time resulted in extremely high percentage of rejected receivers due to misformed walls, improper pinning of parts, bad geometry etc.

After critical revision of the process at the factory it was calculated that it will be more economically feasible to return to the 'old-school' machined receivers. New, machined receiver was designed by one of factory's staff designers, and after approval by military, it was put into production at IzhMash in 1951, under the same basic designation.

 The AK and AKM rifles were widely exported to the pro-Soviet countries and regimes all around the world. Manufacturing licenses along with all necessary technical data packages were transferred (for free or at nominal fee) to many Warsaw Pact countries (Albania, Bulgaria, China, East Germany, Hungary, North Korea, Poland, Romania, Yugoslavia). Certain 'non-communist', but friendly countries, such as Egypt, Finland and Iraq, also received manufacturing licenses.

 

AK47 Performance and Specifications

AK-47 rifle that is simple, inexpensive to manufacture and easy to clean and maintain. Resilience and well-known legendary reliability. [11] [12] [13] [14] The large gas piston, loose spacing on mechanical parts, and design of the bullet, make the AK-47 can still shoot smoothly even though the components it filled with dirt or foreign objects. But reliability is a little sacrifice of accuracy, due to large tolerances on mechanical parts ensures accuracy and consistency not found on the rifles are more accurate.
AK-47 behind shooting can be arranged, with setting the distance that the difference is 100 meters respectively. The front sight is adjustable for elevation in the field. And horizontally arranged in a warehouse setting weapon before giving it to the user. The battle setting places the round within a few inches above or below the target point, at a distance of 250 meters. This "point-blank range" is used for shooters do not need to change the settings tool viewfinder at close range. Such settings similar to those used for the Mosin-Nagant and SKS, in order to facilitate the transition and training.

AK47 Is Assault Rifle Designed By Mikhail Kalashnikov

AK-47 (Avtomat Kalashnikova stands for 1947, Russia: Автомат Калашникова образца 1947 года) is an assault rifle designed by Mikhail Kalashnikov, produced by Russian arms makers IZhMASh, and is used by many Eastern bloc nations during the Cold War. This rifle was adopted and used as the standard rifle of the Soviet Union in 1947. [2] Compared with the gun used during World War II, the AK-47 has a smaller size, with a shorter range, wearing a bullet with a caliber 7.62 x 39 mm smaller, and have the choice of shot (selective-fire). AK-47 assault rifles, including one ofThe key changes in AKM, as compared to AK, were the introduction of the stamped steel receiver instead of the milled one, and improved trigger/hammer unit, with added hammer release delay device (often incorrectly referred as a rate reducer). Other changes were the redesigned, slightly raised buttstock and the pistol grip, and the addition of the removable muzzle flip compensator. This spoon-like compensator is screwed onto the muzzle and utilized the muzzle blast to reduce muzzle climb during the automatic fire. The compensator could be replaced by the screw-on "PBS-1 noiseless firing device", generally known as a silencer. This silencer requires a special, sub-sonic ammunition with heavier bullets to be used. Another change from AK to AKM was a slightly improved rear sight, with settings from 100 to 1000 (instead of the 800 on AK) meters. Both 800 and 1000 meters, however, are way too optimistic for any practical use, since the effective fire is limited roughly to 300-400 meters, if not less.

In the 1974, Soviet Army officially adopted the 5.45mm ammunition and the appropriately chambered AK-74 assault rifle as its new standard shoulder arm. The AKM, however, was never officially declared obsolete and removed from service, and is still in Russian army stocks. Some non-infantry units of the Russian Army are still armed with 1960s vintage AKM assault rifles. There's also an increasing interest in the 7.62mm weapons since many troops were disappointed by the effectiveness of the 5.45mm ammo during the local conflicts in the 1990s. Some Russian special forces troops (mostly police and Internal Affairs Ministry), currently operating in Chechnya, are using the venerable 7.62mm AKM rifles. the first and remains a rifle of the most widely produced