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   From: constitution@usa.us   
      
   Despite the envelope-pushing designs, none of these designs   
   became standard-issue.   
      
   by Caleb Larson   
   Strange Experiments in Soviet Rifle Design   
      
   The 1960s and 1970s were an interesting time in experimental   
   Soviet rifle design. Several radical bullpups came out of   
   Russia, and pushed the limits of gunsmithing, incorporating   
   features like triple barrels, plastic resin housing, and   
   blisteringly high rates of fire.   
      
   A hallmark of bullpups is their compact, high barrel-to-length   
   ratio, which makes them ideal for urban operations, or for   
   troops in vehicles, where space is at a premium. Magazines are   
   generally inserted behind the grip and trigger group.   
   Unfortunately, bullpups are plagued by a number of shortcomings.   
      
   Despite the envelope-pushing designs, none of these designs   
   became standard-issue.   
      
   TKB-011 & TKB-022 Prototype Families:   
      
   The KTB-022 and TKB-011 family of prototype bullpup rifles look   
   like something out of an alien/predator movie.   
      
   The variants in this family of prototypes had long AK-style   
   banana clips in the stock of the rifle, a compact design, large   
   sights, external red-orange resin housing, and a forward,   
   aggressive look. One notable feature in the prototype family had   
   an integrated magazine well and grip, which saves space, but   
   would presumably have been a problem for shooters with smaller   
   hands.   
      
   Dr. Allan Orr, a counterterrorism and insurgency specialist   
   described bullpups as “what an engineer comes up with when   
   working in a vacuum, untethered to any considerations of the art   
   of war.” A fixed butt length makes them less adjustable, a   
   problem for shooters with longer or shorter than usual arms, or   
   when wearing bulky body armor. Inserting a heavy magazine in the   
   butt also shifts the center of gravity rewards, making them   
   unwieldy, affecting situational awareness when reloading.   
      
   The extensive use of a hardened Bakelite-like resin for the   
   rifle’s outer hardware, then a new and untested material, led to   
   questions about reliability and robustness in extremely rugged   
   environments, an especially important question in Russia, where   
   winter temperatures can dip to -40 Celsius.   
      
   Both families of rifles actually had decent ergonomics due to   
   their ejection port. Instead of being simply extracted and   
   laterally ejected, spent casings traveled through a tunnel-like   
   ejection tube, either next to or above the barrel, exiting   
   forward and to the right. This allowed for ambidextrous firing,   
   and didn’t require any modifications for left-handed shooters.   
   This feature was picked up, albeit many years later, by Kel-Tec   
   for their RFB.   
      
   AK-47 Forever:   
      
   Starting in the late 1940s, the standard Russian cartridge was   
   the venerable 7.62x39mm, for which the AK-47 was designed in   
   tandem. The AK-47 was a reliable, rugged, and powerful design.   
   Its successor, the AK-74, designed in, yes you guessed it, 1974,   
   improved upon the AK-47. The redesign had better ergonomics,   
   extensive use of stamped, rather than milled steel components to   
   simplify mass production, and a redesigned muzzle brake that   
   better directed spent gasses to make fully automatic firing more   
   controllable. The AK-74 also switched to a smaller round which   
   is still standard-issue for the Russian armed forces, the   
   5.45x39mm.   
      
   Despite the attempt to improve accuracy, the AK-74, like its   
   predecessor, still suffered from high muzzle rise during   
   automatic bursts, contributing towards its reputation for low   
   accuracy.   
      
   Enter the TKB-0146.   
      
   TKB-0146:   
      
   TKB-0146 was one weird rifle. Despite its odd outward   
   appearance, what was stranger was its rate of fire. Its safety   
   selector has three firing positions, single, automatic, and   
   burst, plus safe. When on burst, the rifle would increase its   
   rounds per minute from a moderate 600, to a blistering 2,000   
   rpm. For reference, the H&K MP5’s rpm is 700-900, depending on   
   the variant, and the M4 carbine a similar 700-950 rounds per   
   minute.   
      
   But how could a shooter keep rounds on target in burst mode? The   
   solution was a delayed recoil action, in which recoil from the   
   first round is internally delayed and a second-round is fired   
   before recoil from the first shot is felt by the shooter. In   
   this way, the recoil created by the two-round burst is felt by   
   the shooter simultaneously, preventing excessive muzzle rise   
   experienced during fully automatic firing, and putting more   
   shots downrange on target.   
      
   The idea was to improve accuracy, but like the three-burst mode   
   of early M16 variants, this concept fell out of favor due to   
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
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