New Russian rifle to replace the AK-74 (probably not)

[727Sky]

I am not a fan of the AK-74 simply because IMO it is only good for an anti-personal weapon. I would not hunt with one for it destroys rabbits due to the rounds velocity and is not a good weapon for hunting feral pigs unless at close range.

 Anyway here is a video about the never ending search for a better suited weapon for warfare.
 

[Ninurta]

For my money, the AK-74 is the single finest individual combat weapon ever produced. I had one up until a couple years ago, and there was nothing walking, on 2 legs or 4, that I would have had pause for thought to shoot with it.

With that said you're correct in assessing it to be an anti-personnel weapon... but then again, that's what it was designed for. That was it's purpose, and the Kalashnikovs were a purpose-built weapons family. Then again, I used to keep an arsenal because there is no single one-size fits all weapon. Each has it's use and proper place. The right tool for the right job - one tool may not suit another job. Just try driving a nail with a screwdriver some time, and you'll get my drift.

I used to hunt with mine, and encountered few problems - but again, the right gun for the right game. I'd shoot a deer, a bear, or an elk with one without qualms, but not a rabbit. Rabbits blow up too easily. I DID shoot a mouse with it once, because someone was talking crap about my "mouse gun"... it left a fist sized crater and assorted mouse molecules where the mouse had been a second before. No one mentioned my "mouse gun" any more, probably afraid of what my unstable psyche might do with it next. After all, who in their right mind shoots mice with an assault rifle? Point made.

In 2004, I was interviewing for a contract in Iraq, in Baghdad. As part of the process, I asked if I could bring my own weapons instead of carrying the issue weapons, and was told no, but the issue weapons were awesome, Sigs and M4's with all sorts of bells and whistles. Now I'm not now nor ever have been into Buck Rogers guns with all sorts of battery operated fooferaw and geegaws like "Pickatinny rails" festooned about them. Too much to break, go wrong, and snag in my mind. When I need a gun, I need it to be reliable and hassle (and snag) free. I want one that has iron sights available on short notice, and one that goes POP! when I goose the trigger. That answer of "no, but..." factored into my decision not to go - I prefer not to be the second best armed guy in the fight.

Now, having carried an AK-74 for a number of years, I'll say this one thing about that "improved" version in the video. That extended mag catch it sports would be the very first thing I would "accidentally" snap off of it. If you've dealt with AK's much, and I suspect you have, you'll know just how easy it is to surprise an opponent carrying one with one hand around the barrel just behind the front sight post and the other on the magazine, twist a bit to one side or the other to get out of the bullet's flight path, and snap that mag catch forward to dump the mag out of it, leaving said opponent with a club to fight with. The standard mag catches are easy enough to do that with, and that extended mag catch sticking out like a sore thumb ought to make that maneuver a damned sight easier and more user friendly, which I don't think is a particularly good idea.

Just my inflation-adjusted two cents worth.