AI-76

* 1C
* 2C
* 3C
* 4C
* 5C

*" “The most widely used assault rifle in the world. Very powerful, but very difficult to handle.""*
— Ingame description

The **AI-76** is an assault rifle that appears in *Generation Zero*. It is an assault rifle capable of firing fully automatic, semi-automatic or in a 3-round burst. It takes 7.62mm rounds and can hold a default magazine of 30 rounds.

The in-game description for the weapon is "The most widely used assault rifle in the world. Very powerful, but very difficult to handle."

### Pros

* Very powerful
* Good accuracy
* 30 Round base magazine size
* Can one-shot most Runners of any class

### Cons

* Strong recoil
* The Iron Sights can be a bit hard to aim with
* Hip-fire spread can be quite uncontrollable
* Cannot be equipped with any scope other than a Red Dot
* Cannot be equipped with Vision Modules

### Weapon Attachments

 Vision Module
 Barrel
 Magazine

### Locations

**Dilapidated**

* Found at:
	+ Masskar Resistance Camp - In a container and lying up against a fence (-1572, 3597)

**Worn**

* Dropped from
	+ Prototype and Military Harvesters

**Good**

* Found at:
	+ Tokerod Farm Safehouse - In a sleeping bag

**Exceptional**

* Found at:
	+ Klinte - Downstairs in apartment complex (-4396,-560)(Requires the mission Zero Hour. Requires Lockpicking)

**Special**

* Found at:
	+ Ålnästet, In the boat at the dock (5C). (Requires the mission The Enemy of my Enemy)

## Strategy

* A single magazine can kill a single runners and hunters. So it is used for quick kills or dealing small amounts of damage to larger machines.
* Attaching a red dot sight to the AI-76 is recommended to help with accuracy.

## Trivia

* The AI-76 is based on the iconic AK-47 Kalashnikov assault rifle due to the use of 7.62mm.
	+ Attaching an extended magazine and a barrel extension turns it into a RPK, a SAW version of the AK-74 (Well just without the bipod and extended barrel) with the stranded RPK magazine’ 40 rounds increased by 5 extra rounds.
	+ This is odd, as the dominant Kalashnikov variant in use by the USSR at this point was the AK-74, a 5.45x39mm modernisation of the platform.
	+ Another oddity lies in the ammunition itself. While the AK-47 and AKM do use a 7.62mm round, this is the 7.62x39mm (or .30 Russian Short), a completely different bullet to the 7.62x51mm NATO round used in other weapons in the game (e.g. the AG4). This in turn means that the AI should not be able to use the same rounds as these other weapons. The same issue is found in the Kotenok Sniper Rifle.
	+ The AI seems to be based on a milled-receiver AK: the notable features of which being the side scallops of the lower receiver and the smooth top cover in comparison to the more numerous AKM, which use a stamped-metal construction and featured a 'ribbed' top cover.
* The selector switch is incorrectly set to its safe position, meaning that the weapon should be unable to fire a round.
* The AI-76 incorrectly features a 3-round burst option, unlike its real-life counterpart. The first Russian-made AK derivative to include this option is the AK-12 / AK-15 family.
* The AI-76 can be mounted with a Red Dot x2 sight, despite lacking an attachment rail system.
	+ When equipped, the Red Dot is mounted on the weapon's dust cover, on what appears to be a strip of Picatinny rail. This feature is not seen when relying on the weapon's iron sights.
	+ The use of a Picatinny rail is also somewhat anachronistic; the system was developed in the early 1990s. A different system was used during this time in the Soviet Union - the Warsaw Pact rail. This was used on AKs via a side-mounted system, as mounting an optic onto the dust cover would make retaining the sight's zero impossible.

## History/real life counterpart

### AK47

During World War II, the Sturmgewehr 44 rifle used by German forces made a deep impression on their Soviet counterparts. The select-fire rifle was chambered for a new intermediate cartridge, the 7.92×33mm Kurz, and combined the firepower of a submachine gun with the range and accuracy of a rifle. On 15 July 1943, an earlier model of the Sturmgewehr was demonstrated before the People's Commissariat of Arms of the USSR. The Soviets were impressed with the weapon and immediately set about developing an intermediate caliber fully automatic rifle of their own, to replace the PPSh-41 submachine guns and outdated Mosin–Nagant bolt-action rifles that armed most of the Soviet Army.

The Soviets soon developed the 7.62×39mm M43 cartridge, used in the semi-automatic SKS carbine and the RPD light machine gun. Shortly after World War II, the Soviets developed the AK-47 rifle, which quickly replaced the SKS in Soviet service. Introduced in 1959, the AKM is a lighter stamped steel version and the most ubiquitous variant of the entire AK series of firearms. In the 1960s, the Soviets introduced the RPK light machine gun, an AK type weapon with a stronger receiver, a longer heavy barrel, and a bipod, that eventually replaced the RPD light machine gun.

Mikhail Kalashnikov began his career as a weapon designer in 1941 while recuperating from a shoulder wound which he received during the Battle of Bryansk. Kalashnikov himself stated..."I was in the hospital, and a soldier in the bed beside me asked: 'Why do our soldiers have only one rifle for two or three of our men, when the Germans have automatics?' So I designed one. I was a soldier, and I created a machine gun for a soldier. It was called an Avtomat Kalashnikova, the automatic weapon of Kalashnikov—AK—and it carried the year of its first manufacture, 1947."

The AK-47 is best described as a hybrid of previous rifle technology innovations. "Kalashnikov decided to design an automatic rifle combining the best features of the American M1 Garand and the German StG 44." Kalashnikov's team had access to these weapons and had no need to "reinvent the wheel". Kalashnikov himself observed: "A lot of Russian Army soldiers ask me how one can become a constructor, and how new weaponry is designed. These are very difficult questions. Each designer seems to have his own paths, his own successes and failures. But one thing is clear: before attempting to create something new, it is vital to have a good appreciation of everything that already exists in this field. I myself have had many experiences confirming this to be so."

however, some claimed that Kalashnikov copied designs like Bulkin's TKB-415 or Simonov's AVS-31.

### Early designs

Kalashnikov started work on a submachine gun design in 1942 and light machine gun design in 1943. Early in 1944, Kalashnikov was given some 7.62×39mm M43 cartridges and informed that other designers were working on weapons for this new Soviet small-arms cartridge. It was suggested that a new weapon might well lead to greater things. He then undertook work on the new rifle. In 1944, he entered a design competition with this new 7.62×39mm, semi-automatic, gas-operated, long-stroke piston carbine, strongly influenced by the American M1 Garand. The new rifle was in the same class as the SKS-45 carbine, with a fixed magazine and gas tube above the barrel. However, the new Kalashnikov design lost out to a Simonov design.

In 1946, a new design competition was initiated to develop a new rifle. Kalashnikov submitted a gas-operated rifle with a short-stroke gas piston above the barrel, a breechblock mechanism similar to his 1944 carbine, and a curved 30-round magazine. Kalashnikov's rifles, the AK-1 (with a milled receiver) and AK-2 (with a stamped receiver), proved to be reliable weapons and were accepted to a second round of competition along with other designs.

These prototypes (also known as the AK-46) had a rotary bolt, a two-part receiver with separate trigger unit housing, dual controls (separate safety and fire selector switches) and a non-reciprocating charging handle located on the left side of the weapon. This design had many similarities to the StG 44. In late 1946, as the rifles were being tested, one of Kalashnikov's assistants, Aleksandr Zaitsev, suggested a major redesign to improve reliability. At first, Kalashnikov was reluctant, given that their rifle had already fared better than its competitors. Eventually, however, Zaitsev managed to persuade Kalashnikov.

In November 1947, the new prototypes (AK-47s) were completed. The rifle used a long-stroke gas piston above the barrel. The upper and lower receivers were combined into a single receiver. The selector and safety were combined into a single control lever/dust cover on the right side of the rifle. And, the bolt-handle was simply attached to the bolt-carrier. This simplified the design and production of the rifle. The first army trial series began in early 1948. The new rifle proved to be reliable under a wide range of conditions and possessed convenient handling characteristics. In 1949, it was adopted by the Soviet Army as "7.62 mm Kalashnikov rifle (AK)".

### Further development

There were many difficulties during the initial phase of production. The first production models had stamped sheet metal receivers with a milled trunnion and butt stock insert, and a stamped body. Difficulties were encountered in welding the guide and ejector rails, causing high rejection rates. Instead of halting production, a heavy machined receiver was substituted for the sheet metal receiver. Even though production of these milled rifles started in 1951, they were officially referred to as AK-49, based on the date their development started, but they are widely known in the collectors' and current commercial market as "Type 2 AK-47". This was a more costly process, but the use of machined receivers accelerated production as tooling and labor for the earlier Mosin–Nagant rifle's machined receiver were easily adapted. Partly because of these problems, the Soviets were not able to distribute large numbers of the new rifle to soldiers until 1956. During this time, production of the interim SKS rifle continued.

Once the manufacturing difficulties of non-milled receivers had been overcome, a redesigned version designated the AKM (M for "modernized" or "upgraded"; in Russian: Автомат Калашникова Модернизированный [*Avtomat Kalashnikova Modernizirovanniy*]) was introduced in 1959. This new model used a stamped sheet metal receiver and featured a slanted muzzle brake on the end of the barrel to compensate for muzzle rise under recoil. In addition, a hammer retarder was added to prevent the weapon from firing out of battery (without the bolt being fully closed), during rapid or fully automatic fire. This is also sometimes referred to as a "cyclic rate reducer", or simply "rate reducer", as it also has the effect of reducing the number of rounds fired per minute during fully automatic fire. The rifle was also roughly one-third lighter than the previous model.

 Type 2A/B
 Type 3A/B
 Type 4A/B

Most licensed and unlicensed productions of the Kalashnikov assault rifle abroad were of the AKM variant, partially due to the much easier production of the stamped receiver. This model is the most commonly encountered, having been produced in much greater quantities. All rifles based on the Kalashnikov design are often colloquially referred to as "AK-47s" in the West and some parts of Asia, although this is only correct when applied to rifles based on the original three receiver types. In most former Eastern Bloc countries, the weapon is known simply as the "Kalashnikov" or "AK". The differences between the milled and stamped receivers includes the use of rivets rather than welds on the stamped receiver, as well as the placement of a small dimple above the magazine well for stabilization of the magazine.

### Replacement

In 1974, the Soviets began replacing their AK-47 and AKM rifles with a newer design, the AK-74, which uses 5.45×39mm ammunition. This new rifle and cartridge had only started to be manufactured in Eastern European nations when the Soviet Union collapsed, drastically slowing production of the AK-74 and other weapons of the former Soviet bloc.

However during the Russian invasion of Ukraine surplus of old ak-47s that were storage. Vast quantities have been donated by foreign countries to support Ukraine's ongoing war.

### AK74

The AK-74 is an updated 5.45x39mm version of the AK-47 rifle that was adopted by the Soviet Union since 1974, replacing the 7.62x39mm AKM rifle. The AK-74, and its modernized variant, the AK-74M are the standard service rifles of the Soviet Union and the Russian Federation from 1974 to the present day; though some Soviet/Russian special forces units and front line soldiers have used 7.62x39mm AK rifles in post-1974 conflicts, they represent only a minority exception, and the vast majority of Soviet/Russian infantry forces use standard 5.45x39mm rifles since 1974 (although as of 2018 it is to be steadily phased out for the <a AK-12. The AK-74 and its variants primarily saw service in the Soviet Union and later the former Soviet republics. Some Soviet Bloc countries also made efforts towards adopting the 5.45x39mm cartridge following the Soviet Union. While some like East Germany manufactured AK-74s under license, other countries like Poland and Romania instead developed indigenous 5.45x39mm Kalashnikov rifles like the Tantal" kbk wz. 88 Tantal and the PA md.

These latter rifles resemble the Soviet AK-74 but had more in common with their own locally designed AK variants than with the Soviet AK-74 and should not be confused with the AK-74. Another visually similar rifle of note is the Norinco Type 84 which a Chinese 5.56x45mm AK variant. They are commonly used in Western movies and TV shows to impersonate the AK-74 and can be easily confused with genuine Soviet/Russian AK-74s.