I'm disappointed with EA's lack of research (into many other areas as well) in Russian special forces weapons. The Russians are making some noteworthy breakthroughs in small arms development - especially 2 stage auto configurations and recoil control using counter balancing pistons. I think that the Russians have quite a few improvements in small arms that makes its U.S. counterparts look like it's behind the curve. These weapons make the FN SCAR program look rather boring.
AN-94 Abakan
Firstly, the Russian Special forces are using the AN-94 which is like no other rifle in the world (excerpt from http://world.guns.ru/assault/as08-e.htm)
The key improvement of the AN-94 over the AK-74 is the introduction of the 2-rounds burst mode, added to the standard single shots and full auto mode. The two rounds bursts are fired at very high rate of fire, and a trained shooter can make a single hole in the target at 100 meters in this mode. This allows for significant increase in lethality, stopping power and body armour penetration over the single shot mode, with the same "single shot" accuracy. The full auto mode of AN-94 consists of the two stages - first two rounds are fired in the "high rate" fire, and the remaining rounds are fired in low rate of fire, until the trigger is released or the magazine is emptied. In the single shots or the full auto mode, there's no significant advantages over the AK-74. At this point, one can ask "is all this complication of the AN-94 mechanism worth the achieved results"? From my point of view, there's no simple answer. The trained professional warrior can use the 2-rounds burst capability of AN-94 to the great degree of success, but prior to this, a lot of time and resources should be spent to train this professional soldier to use AN-94 effectively.
AEK-971's Counter Recoil Pistons
Kalashnikov's son developed this rifle which is purportedly highly controllable under full automatic fire - this is made possible by having two pistons one to direct the bolt and the other to counter the effects of recoil. Not sure if this is necessary if you have a rifle that already has a lower rate of fire which also makes firing full auto more controllable and accurate - like the SCAR which is puportedly quite controllable under full auto. But this solution is quite interesting nonetheless.
An excerpt:
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 Russian 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.
More info on the AEK-971 - http://world.guns.ru/assault/as34-e.htm
Wish EA did it's homework and offered these two weapons for Spetsnatz - would've been interesting. What's wrong with them?
AN-94 Abakan
Firstly, the Russian Special forces are using the AN-94 which is like no other rifle in the world (excerpt from http://world.guns.ru/assault/as08-e.htm)
The key improvement of the AN-94 over the AK-74 is the introduction of the 2-rounds burst mode, added to the standard single shots and full auto mode. The two rounds bursts are fired at very high rate of fire, and a trained shooter can make a single hole in the target at 100 meters in this mode. This allows for significant increase in lethality, stopping power and body armour penetration over the single shot mode, with the same "single shot" accuracy. The full auto mode of AN-94 consists of the two stages - first two rounds are fired in the "high rate" fire, and the remaining rounds are fired in low rate of fire, until the trigger is released or the magazine is emptied. In the single shots or the full auto mode, there's no significant advantages over the AK-74. At this point, one can ask "is all this complication of the AN-94 mechanism worth the achieved results"? From my point of view, there's no simple answer. The trained professional warrior can use the 2-rounds burst capability of AN-94 to the great degree of success, but prior to this, a lot of time and resources should be spent to train this professional soldier to use AN-94 effectively.
AEK-971's Counter Recoil Pistons
Kalashnikov's son developed this rifle which is purportedly highly controllable under full automatic fire - this is made possible by having two pistons one to direct the bolt and the other to counter the effects of recoil. Not sure if this is necessary if you have a rifle that already has a lower rate of fire which also makes firing full auto more controllable and accurate - like the SCAR which is puportedly quite controllable under full auto. But this solution is quite interesting nonetheless.
An excerpt:
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 Russian 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.
More info on the AEK-971 - http://world.guns.ru/assault/as34-e.htm
Wish EA did it's homework and offered these two weapons for Spetsnatz - would've been interesting. What's wrong with them?
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