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The Kalashnikov series of firearms is ubiquitous. Most of the time, what you see and think of as an AK-47 is probably not an original AK-47, but more likely the more popular AKM, the Automatic Kalashnikov Modernized, introduced in 1959. The Chinese Type 56, the Chinese rifle, is an example of what people would recognize as an AK-47 because it is a direct copy of the AK-47, which originated from the adoption of the M43 7.62x39 cartridge. The M43 7.62x39 cartridge drew its inspiration from the German StG 44 cartridge combined with the American .30 carbine cartridge. Back then, the Russians were using full-house Mosin Nagants and SVT-40s. They saw what the Germans and the Americans were doing with StG 44s and the M1 carbines, taking the fight to the 200- and 300-meter level and giving soldiers more firepower.
Shooting the 7.62x39 cartridge is not overtly stout, but it's quite a bit punchier than when shooting the 5.56, which we are used to here in the United States. If we were to compare this against a World War II rifle, such as the Mosin, the AK-47 is amply more wieldable and shootable, not just because it's semi-automatic but also because the overall power in the recoil of the cartridge is dramatically less than the full-house 7.62x 54 cartridge.
The 7.62x39 gave the Soviets an upper hand until the Vietnam War when the AK system and the 7.62x39 M43 met their match with the M-16 and the 5.56. With knowledge-sharing amongst the Soviet states, the Soviets started coming up with an answer: the 5.45x39 cartridge, for which the AK-74 is chambered. It was initially developed for less recoil, not better accuracy, despite having some pretty good characteristics riding through wind with an overall flatter trajectory than the 7.62x39.
NCOs in the U.S. Military overseas in Iraq and Afghanistan would sometimes say of the opponents using 7.62x39 rounds, “Oh, past 200 yards, you don’t have to worry about these things. It's a 200-meter cartridge, and they can't aim anyway.” Do not take that as solid advice because we have shown in multiple instances that the 7.62x39 can be fired out to as far as 500 yards with very good effect and still hit its mark.
But at 25-meters, we’re not concerned with effective range. Our discussion today is about recoil management. In the video above, we’re looking at the recoil management performance between the AK-74 and the AK-47. So, sit back, relax, and enjoy the fun as we fire several models and compare our accuracy between them!
--9-Hole Reviews
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