From: alanko@ruuvi.me.tut.fi (Risto Alanko)
Newsgroups: rec.guns
Subject: Re: Eastern block weapons & "Battle rifles"
Date: 9 Sep 92 13:08:44 GMT

Motto: 
"A military gun has to rattle when you shake it" (Fedor Vasiljevich Tokarev)


I have some personal experience of Russian and other Warsaw pact countries' 
weapons. Most are just what is meant (IMHO) with "battle guns", designed to 
be made with simple machine tools and assembled by untrained war time 
work power. 


Tokarev TT 30 and TT 33 pistols:

A good, powerful cartridge 7.62 x 25 (7.62 Tokarev or 7.63 Mauser). It 
has enough stopping power also for SMGs. (No special SMG or Carbine loads)
WW II and Korean war showed that this cartridge is powerful enough, though
col. Cooper still doesn't like it.

Very simple design, of course it's a Browning copy, so what? So are 
almost all military pistols (except German). Much fewer parts and much 
simpler manufacturing process than FN or Colt. 

No safeties, only  half cock notch on the hammer. It's a holster pistol! 
Later copies have more safeties, quite unnecessary for the purpose the 
pistol was designed for. The hammer mechanism is a separate sub-assemly in 
the frame, also acting as a cartridge guide. This feature is unique and 
makes TT feed very reliably. 



New pistols:

I have never tried Makarov (9 mm Mak.) or the new PSM (5.45 mm) pistols. 

Basically, modifications of Walther PPK design. Russians do not consider a 
pistol as a "real battle weapon" anymore; a "last resort only" pistol can 
be much lighter and smaller; it's only useis in close range fight, so the 
cartridge doesn't have to be powerful. 


SKS assault rifle (or carbine "karabijn" in Russian):

Semi-auto is enough for most situations. SKS is Russians' last rifle with 
old style full wooden stock. Its only purpose was to fill the gap between
Mosin-Nagants (and Tokarev semi-auto rifles) and the new (then non-existent)
AK 47. Most SKS's were sold (read given) to other Warsaw pact countries when
Soviet Army got AK's. 

The 7.62 x 39 Russian M43 cartridge is a good solution in 
power - weight - recoil ratio. The mechanism is reliable and strong, 
but for a sport shooter and reloader, its action (especially extraction)
is violent and rough, but it works!


AK 47:

The best "battle rifle ever made" (IMHO) ! Try to shoot M16 with a handful 
of sand in the receiver! AK still works, wet, dry or dirty. As seen every 
evening in TV news, AK is simple to use and even in the hands of untrained 
troops, it means fire power.

This design is the best compromise between fire power, effective range and 
weight, the idea was copied from the German StG 44 with some unique 
refinements. A rifle, sub-machine gun, carbine, whatever.

I have never tried the new AK 74 with small-caliber ammo, but the basic 
design is the same. The new 5.45 mm cartridge might be TOO small. To get 
enough stopping power, the bullet, though a FMJ design, is designed to 
tumble when hitting soft targets.


I wasn't writing political propaganda!


I'm stirring some patriotic instincts in many readers, I know. 
But remember: many soldiers (Finns, Israelis, Americans ...), fighting 
against troops using these guns, have abandoned their own issue weapons 
and used captured Tokarevs, Shpagins, Kalashnikovs, Simonovs, Degtjarevs ...
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    Risto Alanko                          alanko@ruuvi.me.tut.fi   
    Machine Design                        P.O.Box 589
    Tampere University of Technology      SF-33101 Tampere, FINLAND
    FINLAND                               telefax INT+358 31 162307 
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