Just in case you want to see where the AK12 rusty video came from.... It's the actual Kalashnikov Concern site, download it / watch it before they delete it: en.kalashnikovgroup.ru/media/ttkh-2020/ak-12-obnovlennyy-ttkh?fbclid=IwAR1Dj6IuhVWDU2hR1WjlhwEpm45eUW-TTOreoFMy4qUX6sHN9XgbGNHAUBg
this only confirms that some marketing idiot used the wrong rifle to shoot the film and no one checked it... but won't this rifle kill on the battlefield... oh it will@@9HoleReviews
@@ostrygwint6110sure it will. That isn’t the point. The point is that the AK12 isn’t really an upgrade. If anything it’s a downgrade from the AK74M and should have been a whole lot more than it is.
I somehow misread "machinist" as "narcissist" 🤷🏻♂️ I've been watching too many psychology videos on serial killers and not enough Josh and Henry 🤦🏻♂️ But rationalisation of the 100-series makes a *hell* of a lot of sense. But I don't think the Russian state is capable of recognising what Kalashnikov had accomplished: they'd given the AK a great platform for entering the 21st century, making an admittedly old - but solid - design easier and cheaper to make. Someone obviously didn't get enough of a bribe. It's like the German arms industry during the Nazi era: politics and corruption trumping actual requirements and a deliverable long-term plan 😕
I don't think it's on purpose. Same game where a clapped out 1950's AKM is better than an AK103, an MDR is more used than an HK416, M4 carbines have obnoxious starting recoil to compensate for how much you can improve it using parts (maybe just reduce how much parts affect recoil so you'll actually encourage creative kits, but the meta streamers will cry), and 7.62x39 has lower recoil than 5.56
@@jiggy6486 I was interested in playing this game but seeing what a clusterfuck the weapons balance is kept me away. For a game with supposedly so much emphasis on gunplay and weapon technicalities it does horrible job at portraying realistic gun behavior (vertical recoil......WHY), technical gun mechanics and terminal ballistics (both penetration and body tissue damage). It's so rich in variety, items and little intricacies yet fails spectacularly at that biggest issue.
*THIS!* Disappointment is the right word to describe this rifle! It's not terrible but also not better than the predecessors. It brings nothing new to the table. Also funny how Josh was also disappointed with FNC because that was my exact reaction to it - not bad but just so blend and boring 😅
dudes come up with a million reasons why any variant of AK12 (that gun reviewers look at) is bad and the true military ones are of course the best. The crazy thing is how the upgraded 2023 version upgraded most of the parts that were in a lower priority for upgrading.
I think the most generous interpretation of it is basically that they were like "f**** it let's get a standard issue ak 74 with full rail system capabilities in the manufacturing pipeline and we can incrementally tighten things up from there and have it figured out by whatever time we actually feel comfortable issuing optics to regular infantry grunts"
@@9HoleReviewsI believe I’ve seen a report saying that due to the feed back in performance of the AK12 in Ukraine kalashnikov has been producing a newer upgraded version. Iam not sure what was done to the rifle in order to upgrade it but I believe eliminating the burst mode was one of those.
Being a proud owner of the semiautomatic Saiga 5,45 (AK-74M) and the semiautomatic TR-3 Gen 2 (AK-12 Gen 2), I can tell that I like the sights of the AK-12 more than the sights of the AK-74M. I also have a full auto blank firing version of the AK-12 Gen 1... The stock folding concept makes me sad... I do love the improvement in the Gen 2. My range is only 300 meters. Chest size steel popper is an easy target for both the Saiga and the TR with TR being way faster because of dioptric sights... Liked your video. It is clearly a subscription. Warmest wishes from Moscow.
Just a note on the T-14 story around 09:30. There was nothing mechanically wrong with the tank, the driver had accidentally engaged the parking brake, this was discovered later on in the video used to make the point. After a couple minutes, they discover the problem and the tank drives away under its own power.
I'm not familiar with the internal of tanks, but HOW can a driver accidentally engage the parking brake? Is that caused by a design flaw or the mistraining of the driver or a mere accident?
The thing about AK-12 is that in reality outside of all that media hype it was mostly only about slightly improving ergonomics and adding rails for scopes (and also that burst that was finally ditched). And interesting economic aspect of adding rails to AKs that is quite often lost is that it's simply cheaper for the MoD to make a brand new rifle than to recall AK74's. Remember that AKs for the government are dirt cheap
6:40 As a former CGO yourself, Henry, you should be fully aware that it's not about giving us peons in the trenches better tools to solve problems. It's about looking good on paper to beef up some O's annual performance report.
Maxim Popenker, russian gun historic, gave a lecture on russian Hexagon channel about development AK-12 program. It was a mess, firstly government approved A-545 as Ratnik main weapon, but it was too costly (around 300 000 rubles for a rifle, around 10000 usd at the time) because of new tooling required, so they brought up designer of ASh-12 to make competitor, and he created AK-12 that never hit the light, yeah it was very accurate rifle, but it was like sporterised AK-74, so it wasn't pretty reliable especially with grenade launcher and making things worse, it wasn't even cheap (around 250 000 rubles, roughly 8000 usd at the time) because of new tooling required. Russian command looked at this and said it was a dead project, we already have A-545 that better, so they fired that Tula engineer and brought up Izshmash engineers back. Told them make AK-12 but cheap, they have made it in 2015, using almost same tooling as AK-74, so you have Gen. 1 with all issues, it costed to Army 50 000 rub or 800 usd in 2015.
Whoa, similarly I'd just been going through the list of AK practical accuracy and clicked in. "Oh when was this one posted?" - '3 minutes ago' was a shocker and a thrill😅
Marco Vorobiev talked about how the AK-74 was used in Afghanistan and how bored soldiers would routinely shoot at power lines for shits and giggles at about 100m and see who could snap the power lines.
Yeah 500 yards is way past the effectiveness of the 7N6 round. That round is best inside 200 yards flatter shooting and more damaging wound channel than 5.56 but performance falls off way faster than 5.56 which can reach out 700 yards with a good gun and ammunition
The AK12 has good accuracy, but in ergonomics, the Beryl beats it by a mile. But I’ve always considered the Galil Ace as the best of both worlds for the AR and Ak systems.
Guess you never saw cheap plastic mags for beryl explode once you bump it onto something while fully loaded. They're very fragile, but at least they're dirt cheap, at least in poland. Apart from that military version in 5.56 is a decent rifle, unlike civilian rifles made by WBP which are mediocre to say the least.
@@RadzioTheGreat the mags are horrible but trashing the rifle for it's OEM mags is... weird? You simply just buy any other mags, can be AK101 mags too, whatever. The rifle itself is fine, and it's problems come mainly from being variant of AK.
The AK12 (AK400 series model) as I've repeatedly said since we've found out about its deficiencies, is a lot like the Battlefield 2042 of the Kalashnikov series Potential to be good, but was brought out the door unfinished and is still undergoing development to improve on something that should've had it in the first place. Time will tell where it goes, though it's clear that the 100 series and even the updated 200 series seems to be a far better choice for the given task. A half-hearted attempt at modernisation, it's a sad thing.
I knew a Indian army officer who had gone to inspect Ak factory. They found ak-15(7.62x39)to be twice the price of Ak-203, while having wobbly handguard. shockingly it didn't bring any accuracy improvement. Those accuracy improvement can also be done through training and a good optics. eventually it was decided for ak-203 is the way to go.
It's not "half-hearted". It's their first foray into re-modelling the AK. If you think that the engineering work was simple, then you are badly mistaken. There was a LOT of work conducted. In this case, it shown that more refinement is needed.
I own an ak12 because of the history it’s making currently, my love for the Kalashnikov platform, and quite frankly it looks badass. It’s also my first and only ak74 I’ve ever owned so I can’t compare it to any other 74. Mine runs just fine and I love it!
Please forgive me for my bad English. Main problem of ak-12 it's abakan competition, in 70s army wanted increase hit probability on 50% and 2 competing system ware introduced an 94 and aek 971. To meet the requirements of abakan, it was necessary to reduce the dispersion area of a short burst by at least 10 times compared to the AK 74. After testing the aek 971 expectedly failed, showing a dispersion area 2 times smaller than the ak 74. After the military decided that the AN 94 was too expensive and complex , they decided to return to the AEK 971 and its couterbalanced automatic, ratnik requirements were written for a counterbalanced automatic that is why the requirements had a 2 round burst (counterbalanced automatic increase rate of fire to 900-1000 rpm). Originally new ak should have counterbalanced automatic, but Zlobin decided that ratnik’s requirements could be achieved in the classical scheme and he actually achieved it. But his ak was expensive as a 545 and less reliable at the same time, the military decided that it was too expensive to arm everyone with the a 545 , so the military gave permission to remake the AK 12 from scratch, provided that the new ak was cheap enough and met reliability requirements.
I mean... the current iteration of the AK12 isn't shining and the first iteration of the M16 was a logistical issue by the user (U.S. Army's ammunition incompatibility)
@@9HoleReviews i'd say poor mmagazines as well for the M16 and lack of cleaning kits. The AK-12 was saddled with features nobody needed or wanted, except pencil pushers who really, really liked the two shot burst on the AN-94. Didn't help that it had a less than ideal development (ad re-development) cycle. Funny how the burst mechanism was an unwanted and less than promised feature on both rifles... As well as dropped in the long run with the M4A1 and tge later AK-12 revisions.
Your issue of expecting things from AK-12 is down to WESTERN pop-culture. In Russia, AK-12, both original and the new one, were never looked at as something to have massive new capabilities. What was wanted by Russian MOD is a rifle that is as reliable as the AK-74, better controllable and accurate in "unsupported" positions and able to mount modern optical devices. Nothing more. So basically it was meant to have accessory rails and adjustable furniture. Since original AK-12 has failed reliability tests miserably, AK-74M was reworked to have the features Russian military demanded. Basically all of which it has. So the fact that you guys thought it's lacking direction is baffling to me. Direction is clear. The fact that Russian military didn't order/issue optics with the rifle is beside the point. It's not the fault of the rifle. It's like blaming M-16A4 and M-4A1 for lacking direction if US MOD didn't order the optics for it or unit failed to allow them to be issued. Different issue. Was the execution found wanting? Yes. Reason for so many different products coming out of IzhMash in 90s and 00s was because different units of Russian military and law enforcement were privately looking for solutions to different requirements they had. AKS-74U for instance, was a weapon that had too much power for the distances it was required to be used at, shooting too fast and overheating too fast, as well as having way too much recoil for law enforcement use. And that was before all the accessories were invented for them. Thus Bison was made as an initiative hoping to score sales to law enforcement. Some units got a small batch if memory serves. AN-94 was available for military sales. Due to lack of state orders, it had to interest units privately. So. Stop treating AK-12 as something that's MEANT to be different to AK-74. It's meant to be little more than AK-74 in a modern shell with ability to adjust it for the user and accessorize it without making it very heavy (like Zenitco kit does) straight out of the box. Barrel is actually made to more precise tolerance and with techniques that favor more consistent barrel over cheaper and simpler. As is indicated by AK-74M having "pinch" mounting of the front sight base vs traditional pinned fitment on AK-12. Handguard. After you move it as you do in the video, it flexes back to its original position. And in combat I don't see how would you even bend it like that. Also sights themselves aren't dependent on the front handguard. That was the whole point: freefloated hand guard doesn't affect the POA and POI. Even if bent. 5-10 years? Are you for real Henry? Ukrainian war is a more high-intensity conflict that anything US military had been to since Vietnam, and the worst thing seen by it since was Wanat. AK-12 rifle does 30-40k rounds in a few months in Ukraine, and is discarded. It shoots the rifling off by then lol What 10 year life cycle are you talking about? Also Russian military looks after its firearms just as well as US military does these days, now that budget has caught up and there is more scrutiny. So there is no "especially" about Russian military these days. It's 2023, not 2003. As for the iron sights: you can wobble them around too even on older AK-74 and AKM, and newer AK-100 series and AK-74M you know. As for the top cover losing its tightness and zero as a result: AR platform also loses tightness through the receiver pins and holes, meaning it needs at least some adjustment, or the whole upper would wobble after a while, making it inaccurate. AR-15s solved that somehow, didn't it? Russians will simply make it not lose tightness too. Matter of perfecting the metallurgy. "New" AK-12 you are showing from a video. Sorry but that one is being superseded again. Look up AK-12M1 from a couple of months ago now. It was announced back in January. Solved a lot of things you spoke about. Now it has non-removable flash hider with a mount for suppressor to go over it, has a cheek riser (to be confirmed), removed the 2-round burst, the front handguard had been strengthened and stiffened, new rear sight with simplified 3-position aperture as opposed to traditional rear sight leaf, thumb-operated safety-fire selector.
A lot of people got algo boosts for anything trashing Russia. A lot of this stuff is nonsense. Henry talks about the advantages of private industry but that isn't working out to well for NATO in the Ukraine conflict we see some countries like Denmark have literally given away every single piece of artillery to Ukraine because the west for profit MIC is incapable of manufacturing good cheap and numerous pieces. For profit MIC excels at ultra specific, low batch, high cost and high quality weapons which is good enough for colonial wars and expeditions but not real war.
Great review guys. When it comes to the "why" behind the AK-12 or the T-14, just remember that Russia has an MIC just like the US does. The MIC doesn't make money off of warehouses full of surplus rifles, even if they do basically all the same things as the new versions do. Product improvement programs are pretty often just a case of, how do we tweak this design a little bit so that we can call it "improved" without changing the underlying design so much that we have to tool up a completely new production line at great expense? So you get the AK-12 that is 90% AK-100 series. In reality the sights and optics support was pretty much the only standout issues with the existing Russian stock of rifles, something that could have easily been achieved with an accessory kit and rearsenaling program for the 74M/100 series stockpiles, but then nobody would have made much money and there wouldn't have been as many places to hide the graft.
No, it was made to make AK more marketable for export (AK-100 and 200 series didn't sell well), Russian MOD refused to buy KM-AK kits and any other modernization kit because it made the rifle a full kilo heavier than original. They wanted a rifle that mounts things and doesn't get fat at the same time. Also MOD wanted a QD mount for the suppressor. Hence the "bayonet" fitting was born. Troops didn't like it and it was a source of annoyance for everyone. Also some people managed to lose the damn compensator. Soldiers always lose shit. As for graft in procurement - since a lot of people went to jail over that crap in last decade, and government tightened the controls over it, graft became barely there.
@@Max_Da_G AK-100 series sold well internationally (especially the AK-103, not to mention the saiga civilian versions based off the military versions), modernization kits have been spotted in Ukraine (although not that common), AK-200 series finished development after AK-12
I'd say it's absolutely on par with the 74M, shame about the wind being so problematic in the run. I'll stay with my AK-103 and AK-74M, but cool to see the AK-12 run well
@@StrainXv Sure thing i kinda agree with you partly, i just say that i think that its probably more a "Base" Rifle open for Improvements like with the OG AK47 like the "M" Program... but like you said, Costs to much to bring that little Improvement. Improvement over the 74M is prob that it has the Option to Mount Pic Optics without extra Stuff :)
@@StrainXv it's not necessarily a failure as it is an effective rifle, but absolutely a waste of money and resources. However I will say I am firmly in the AK-100 series is thr best AK series" camp, so take what I say at what it's worth
@@Strelok762 AK-12 is a step in the right direction for the base rifle. AK-74 couldn't remain the same and be viable in the times where accessories became a must. Russian military understood that and wanted a rifle that does all that without the need to swap all the furniture for heavier metal items. They learnt the hard way with KM-AK which made rifle top the scales over 4 kilos, compared to original AKS-74 being 2.97kg. Zenitco kit is made of aluminium and increases AK-74 rifled mass rather noticeably. AK-12 does that. As Russians say, "first crepe is always a crumple". AK-12 is a work in progress as far as military rifle goes. For civilians there is AKV-521 (AK-12 in an AR-15-style split receiver, left-side charging handle, full length rail), although western public isn't going to get it in a hurry due to these idiotic sanctions.
Funny enough Zastava did a better modernization with the dust cover rail, the solution was very simple, they made the rear trunniom taller making the dust cover more secure. If I was the designer I would do that very differently, actually they could've pinned the rail on the rear trunniom and where the rear sights use to be, that would make the rails integral to the weapon, at the front would be more interesting to use M-lock or analogous stuff, would be interesting if they changed the safety dust cover for something like the AKV-521 or Galil Ace without changing the charging handle, they could even made the dust cover out of polymer and here we go, a modernized AK without changing much from the stock, some could even be converted.
Presumably, the corrosive ammo has chlorate primers, like the South African Mk. 7 ball I use in my SMLE. An aqueous solution of "Young's 303" or similar water soluble oil keeps the 105 year old barrel shiny, after a thorough drying and oiling. .
Hot soapy water works well... problem being where do you find it in theater? Just soapy water or Windex works. WW2 GI solvent works too. That it can be cleaned is not really in doubt. That it was made more difficult is the issue.
My one takeaway from all this is that in Russia the state controls the military-industrial complex and in the US the military-industrial complex controls the state!
Your precious AR had major problems during its first years of service in the Vietnam war but was given a few tweets and was an excellent rifle. Same is probably going to happen for the ak12.
@@OurAshX There are 3+1 generations and 5 versions. Which is confusing. - First Gen.: * First Series obr. 2018: · AK12 and AK15 - 1st gen. AR15 Style stock tube, 1st gen. pistolgrip, 1st gen. rear sight, removable muzzle and selector problemo (fixed in the later batches). - Second Gen.: * Mixed Gen. for 5.56x45 obr. 2019: · AK19 - 2nd gen. Modular Stock, 2nd gen. pistolgrip, 2nd gen. rear sight, no 2 round burst mode, 2 gen. handguard, barrel with non removable modular muzzle. * M versions obr. 2020: · AK12M and AK15M - 2nd gen. Modular Stock, 2nd gen. pistolgrip, 2nd gen. rear sight, selector fix, 2 gen. handguard, extra chrome added to the gas block, 2nd Gen. magazine. * Spetnaz versions obr. 2021: · AK12SP/SPK - 2nd gen. Modular Stock, 2nd gen. pistolgrip, ambidextrous selector, no burst mode, 2nd gen. rear sight, M-Lok system with custom handguards. - Third Gen.: * obr. 2023: · AK12M1 - 3nd gen. modular stock, 3rd gen. pistolgrip, 3rd gen. rear sight, new ambidextrous selector, 3rd gen. handguard, new barrel with non removable modular muzzle. ** Too much stuff 🙂🙃
I love AKs and was super excited about the AK12 in the early development stages, but that excitement cooled fairly quickly as it materialized and I realized that a modernized 100 series is equal or better in every meaningful way. They could have saved a load of effort, time, and money by just loading up a 100 series with Zenitco.
*Dude, use your brain... The AK-12 is much better than the AK-74, you judge by the AK-12 but with different slats, but you don’t take into account that the AK-12 uses other materials, and since the AK-12 is first and foremost an automatic rifle and it must have a high density of fire, and the AK-12 here bypasses the AK-74 without problems! And what you see in the video is an early version of the AK-12, which underwent experimental military tests, now the design has been finalized and all childhood diseases have been removed!* ruclips.net/video/JNCQT7YL6SU/видео.html
IDKW, but seem like the A-545 escape every discusion of the AK-12 on the USA. There many artical about the Ratnik, even KC put one out themself, stating that the A-545 win Ratnik, and the Zlobin AK-12 had fail every test.
A545 isn't widespread to begin with. And none had ever been even held by a foreigner. Larry Vickers has held and fired an AK-107 and also an AEK-971, the predecessor to A545. And that's why noone talks about them: there is literally nothing to discuss since so few got even close to the predecessor, never mind the actual current A545. Since A545 only recently had been made and delivered to special forces, it's still a rare commodity.
@@Max_Da_GBut it still important to mention it while discuss the AK-12. Russian don't need Zlobin gun because they have the A545, a complete function weapon. And A545 explain the whole point of the 2 round burst.
AFAIK the 100 series is not just standardization over several variants; it also introduced a number of manufacturing optimizations, and changed around a few things in terms of production and treatment.
As much as innovation is sometimes needed, there’s a reason we’ve seen M4/m16 and 74 style rifles stay nearly the same internally for what feels like 50 (+) years. You can only reinvent the wheel so many times before you start adding problems that were supposed to be solutions for non issues in the previous generation of weapons. To be honest we ran out of issues to correct years ago so when there are solutions that genuinely improve the rifle they’re technology based like better optics, lights/lasers or mounting options. We’ve become so desperate to fix non issues thar we’re seeing dudes build 3 pound AR-15s to correct a rifle that a child could hold for hours on end. Or people putting a giant muzzle brake on their AR-15 to eliminate virtually non existent recoil. Rifle is fine, move on.
Nah, AK-74 style stays the same because russia doesn't have money for having a properly good rifle. Same thing with ak-12 rail, supposed to be cool for an optic, only to have 0 optics issued en mass. Look at Galil and how Israel switched to TAR-21. There are always a place for new designs and improvements, and AK-12 looks like it's made by a child in a garage lol They quality...the weld seams... omfg
I always got the impression the A545 was the rifle they wanted but couldn't really afford to issue in large scale so they kept it for everyone else but general infantry. It's not a rifle that gets talked about often.
Almost certainly not the case. The A545 is a specialists rifle for a few specialists that want it. Like the SCAR. The rest just gucci up their AK-74s or demand the changes done to the AK-12 2023 Gen3 model.
It wasn't a question of affordability of the rifle itself. It was a question of time and money needed to set up the large-scale manufacturing of A545. Degtyarov plant, unlike Kalashnikov, wasn't in dire straights financially and was manufacturing a wide range of civilian goods as well as military. AK-12 was adopted because it was going to be fielded far faster and indeed cheaper since existing lines were going to be used as well as a stockpile of KM-AK kits that Russian MOD refused to buy to upgrade AK-74s. Relatively recently info came through that at least 100k A545s had been ordered for Russian Special Forces and are being produced.
@@railroading5726 The A545 is INDEED a specialist rifle. No responsible military in its right mind will make a rifle with a complex balanced recoil system a general purpose rifle.
Yeah, thats true. I posted a comment how AK-12 was developed, russian gun historian told a story about this project, first version of AK-12 was better, but not reliable and costed a little less than A545. Pricing was at the time of making A545 10k usd, AK-12 that not got into production 8k usd, AK-12 that we have 800 usd.
It kinda reminds me of the Brazilian IA2, which have been designed to replace the 3 diferent rifles that the armed forces used a decade ago! The Air Force with the G33's & Sig 550's, Marines with the M16 and the Army with the FAL. The IA2 kinda "combined" features that all branches used, basically turning into this more modular & much more ergonomic rifle, with FAL & M16 mechanics. What differentiate it from the AK-12 is that the IA2 is indeed an answer to many problems!
My friend shot, at me, from a civilian version of the AK-12 (Saiga TR3) 5,45 with a prismatic Vortex spitfire 3x sight. Groups of 2-3 centimeters from a hundred meters. Cartridges Barnaul🤷🏼♂️
I do not know why, but I've always shot my AK-47 better with iron sights than with any of the optics I've tried. I don't know if it's the iron sights themselves that suit me well, or it's the case of being more accurate by not seeing and trying to fight the magnification wobble.
@@one-metallica4156 yeah, I remember people laughing at the beginning of the Russian invasion how they didn't have optics on their rifles, and you can still see a lot of footage on both sides showing no optics. And I am thinking, that's actually a good thing.
Shooting your rifle in combat is when you're tired like a dog, scared for your life, and know only the general direction, where your enemy is firing from. The moment optics come in handy is when you're firing at muzzle flashes at night.
You have a bit wrong information about the first AK-12 (Zlobin's). It was rejected not because it was somewhat expensive, but because it's failed harsh military tests in many categories measurably. Actually, the prototype failed so horribly, that the MoD refused to pay to fix it for the next round. Which is rare. Usually they like to waste taxpayers money up till the end.
Also a problem with top cover shift on guns like the FN-FAL, or lack of optic mounting ability on H&K's roller-lock systems.... it could be done, but it wasn't really convenient to pull off effectively.
Ratnik actually derives from the french Felin program, at a time when France was doing a lot of business in defense with Russia. The russians took a look at the best features, disregarded the worst, and tried to build something of their own from there.
Cold war Soviet barrels were actually really high quality in terms of barrel steel, while the US even in 2023 still uses essentially WW2 barrel steels. However, this mainly makes a difference with handling full auto, not with accuracy in the way you're testing it and the American barrels are probably more accurate despite their inferior steels.
There is already AK-12M2 in active production - Kalashnikov Group fixed most of it`s problems and the only issue I believe is that M2 variant is still custom-build unfriendly, like, you can`t change the pistol grip and can`t put on most models of suppressors etc.
Why this rifle should have been something new and revolutionary in the first place. It is just a new batch of infantry assault rifle production in all its simplicity to fulfill the simple task of a rifle.
I love how the entire point of the modernization was adding rails for optics and attachments, yet none of the Russian's are using optics or attachments lmao And the 'upgraded' 2023 AK-12M1 version is actually just removing features like the burst fire, and ability to remove the muzzle device.
Funny, cause i saw footage of their VDV guys and their Spetsnaz guys using optics and other attachments fairly liberally in Ukraine and in Syria. Hardly surprising. It's not like the US gave every Tom, Dick and Harry optics, peq-s and what not the moment the M16 and M4 was adapted with the pic eail top cover.
Removing pointless features that reduce performance seems like an upgrade to me. Strange that you don't mention the stock with adjustable cheek piece and the ambi safety selector redesign that everybody here in the west has been bitching about on AKs for as long as i've been alive.
Looks like the original base version. There is ak-12-3 now, updated after combat tests. Re. Armata incident was due to driver engaging a parking brake on it. Nothing was broken because later it was just driven away on it’s own without repairs
I mean I dont know why people are so upset, its an AK, its perfect just how it was, this new one just looks a bit modern, but why fix/improve on the weapon that isnt broke and is by FAR the most used weapon in the world As a American with a AK factory once said "нет Rifle is fine"
From what I’ve heard, the AK-12 was gonna be awesome with all the things it was gonna bring to the table. They got their orders from the govt and the govt said “make it happen” so the engineers got to work and came up with an awesome concept. Then the govt asked how much it was gonna cost and when they found the price, brought the plans to non engineers and that was the final product.
That's not really the case what happened. The initial AK-12 was an engineering disaster from reliability side. The version that eventually got into production was essentially developed by IPSC club members. As a result, they went for free floating barrel and the slowest aiming system possible (Which also turned out to be a disaster once water droplet hits that rear ring). Russian IPSC club is also an extremely toxic enviroment full of pretentious clucks and, because of how expensive it is to get import arms, this club gets off to western weapons a lot. It found it's way into AK-12 stock and I don't really need to tell you where it went. Mainternance kit placement, muzzle brake detachment and some other quirks in the design became victims of people not really caring about stuff since they are range monkeys that don't need to haul ass. Still the version got issues. And I don't think that things will stop at AK-12 mod 2023 (Which is not terrible, but it's incompatible with old silencers because non-detachable compensator ruins compability, requiring proprietary silencer that is attached over said compensator). So people kinda wait for things to die down and settle so Zenitco could fix it, lol.
I think you also have to look at it this way the point of the Ak12 wasn't really to equip soldiers with optical sight and laser designators but rather to give Russian soldiers the option to buy their own off the shelf commercial optics, flashlight, and grips which is rather common in the Russian Army because the Russian government is too poor to field everyone with optics and such. It sort of reminds me of the early GWOT era sights when SOPMOD was first being wide issued however big army didnt have enough ACOG's, CCO's, flashlights, and vertical grips hand out to everyone so people simply bought their own. So you would see soldiers with MARS red dot sights.
Russian MOD actually bought a whole lot of collimating sights for AK-12. What isn't as known is that many Russian officers have a culture of "Don't give those morons anything! They'll break/lose/steal it!". They aren't all wrong. However what happened was that Warrant Officers and low-level officers sold a bunch of full soldier kits and optic sights from the supply depots which caused the well-publicised issue of kitting mobilized troops in 22. Also a lot of people in the supply and storage were prosecuted and fired for that. Though for me many of those officers and men should have been demoted to Private and sent to Ukraine as punishment.
@@Max_Da_G well most of the cullminating sights were AK100 series optics meant to be used with the side dovetail mount. However even pre Ukraine you rarely saw these optics used and Spetznaz operators would rather buy eotechs other western optics
@@nemisous83 Actually, I'm referring to 1P87. A whole lot of the was bought by Russian MOD. And promptly sold by thieving WOFFs and junior officers from storage. As for Spetsnaz, they buy tried and proven, not general issue. And that's the case for most SF units I'd say. Most soldiers in Ukraine don't use any optic it seems. Getting batteries seems to be an issue among other things. Both sides target the supply lines, and dead red dot is worthless. So they use the irons.
Think about the defense budgets. NATO, combined, now spends over a trillion dollars annually, with the U.S. spending about $700B or close to 70% of that budget. Russia spends about $65B (allegedly). The U.S. has sent Ukraine over $76B (Jan. 2022 to May 2023) in assistance which over $40B has been in military support--not counting the hundreds of millions of yearly dollars the U.S has sent Ukraine since 2014. I would not be surprised if the U.S. has actually sent more to Ukraine. After Covid, the government has been truly careless with the taxpayer's money. Anyway, I think Russia just needed a budget rifle to arm its troops. I appears that Russia has been prioritizing its budget on munitions production. Supposedly, 80% of the casualties have been caused by artillery, and Russia has allegedly out-shelled Ukraine by a factor of 3-10, it's hard to really tell, but for sure Russia has more munitions. I'm interested to know how Russia's latest integrated fire-and-control systems compare with the West's systems. If I were Putin, I would also prioritize my budget on munitions and advanced integrated command and control and fire systems - that is what is winning the war, not rifles.
Your complaints of top cover mounted sights reminded me of the Valmet M62 and how that rifle (now 60 years old) probably has better sights than the rifle you tested. How has the AK platform not been improved more in 50 years than the Finns did in just over 10?
"How has the AK platform not been improved more in 50 years than the Finns did in just over 10?" Because it's simply a dead-end platform, that's why. Finns reached the peak of it's potential with Valmet rifles, and that's it. The only way to go further would require designing a new rifle over it's internals, like Swiss designed SG550. But at this point calling it "AK variant" is a stretch, it's a new rifle just using long stroke system and that's it.
@kilgor5793 it's excess mass disqualifies it from being "better" in any case as an assault rifle, which the Israelis quickly realised themselves with how quickly it was phased out. Nobody wanted to haul that thing around.
@@czwarty7878And yet the AK remains a popular platform even in the modern era, proof of this being the many attempts made to "modernize" it with all kinds of rails and other luxuries that a modern rifle offers. It may be outdated, but it's certainly not obsolete.
@@jubuttib Your wish has come true. Look up 2023 AK-12M1. It has an aperture sight with 2 (300m and 600m) settings and a flip-down low-light setting on shorter-range position
Knowing how Russia is, I bet much of the AK12 project involved streamlining production and logistics. I bet they can quickly manufacture a shit ton of these rifles. The earlier AK-12 design I must say looked very cool.
yeah honestly i think that's one of the biggest things is that they were cheaper to produce. I do wonder how that compares to robotized CNC machines in the US on cost.
Could we please see a comparison with the Galil Ace in 5.45 with a similar barrel length? It's a rifle built to compete for the same contracts, providing a modernised AK style rifle.
Great Video, as always. You guys didn’t mention the Ak 200 series. The Rifle Russia is selling to India. The Russians should go to that new rifle, or a railed up version of the Ak-103. Thanks.
Looking at the old AK-12, which according to some articles back in the mid-2010s, was supposedly intended to have a 1000RPM hyperburst, I think they were trying to make a cheaper AN-94, and once that didn't work out they just prettied up the AK-74M but forgot to remove the burst mode.
Hyperburst is technically impossible to integrate in any AK configuration. AN-94 achieves it by massive over-engineering. The AK-12 got its burst mode just for the sake of having new feature.
@@andybreadley429 ak-12 got burst mode because tech specs for Ratnik program was basically made to accept AK-12 competitor with counter-balancing system and RoF at ~950rpm. AK-12 submission have to comply in order to be accepted to trials.
0:17 Just opened the video, placing my bets now, it’s going to score less than par, but still be serviceable(will edit once I see the results) 0:52 so you’re going “clone correct” and not going for an optic, my bets have changed slightly Edit: better than I thought, although I’m sure that was your skill level, I would still want a standard AK-74M or hell even a malyuk
Yes AK 12 does have mechanical advantage. AK 12 has availability to have adjustable gas block. Which wasnt possible on any previouse military AK platform. Thus making it easier to run suppressors.
@@9HoleReviews and I didnt say that it has one from the factory. I said it has an ability to to have a gas regulator. If you do some research, there are plenty of aftermarket "gas regulating" plugs sold in the Russian market. That are just plug and play.
@@pennsyltuckyreb9800 oh dude the initial AK-12 was crazy but the end product was complete garbage and subpar to just modernization with zenitco furniture
@@jonathansmith7306spend all that money for a meh rifle. Its a piece of history sure, but a lot of guys thought they were buying a legit fighting rifle and not what they got.
Nice. But why do you use the old version of the iron sights? Or aren't they available in the US? And why didn't you use the 3 up to 500? Or is your target size smaller than the standard chest size? Thank you for the video! By the way, the T-14 Armata didn't brake at the parade, the driver didn't realized, that he still had a gear in. You can clearly see it in the videos, because it couldn't be evacuated, and after they realized it the T-14 continued driving just fine. Maybe they didn't show you that part in the US media 😅
so yes, the targets are smaller than actual torsos, they are about the size of a lv 4 trauma plate (c-zone reduced size targets) I also didn't know that the T14 had an operator error, and my fault on mentioning that as I am not an armor SME.
I watched valgear (Ukrainian soldier that captured a Russian ak12 and has been using it in actual combat) review the ak12 and he mostly had good things to say about it, it was not the first version tho, it was maybe the newer improved ones, I think everyone saying ak12 is bad does not understand how weapon development goes, the m16 had a very rough start for example and now people love it, so wait until Russia stops working on the issues and then you can say if its a bad platform or not. And one more point I don't agree with you on, it does solve many issues, the most obvious one being that you can have actual optics on it and adjustable and foldable stock, improved safety selector, iron sights are better. I think most of the issues like accuracy and build quality are just a consequence of sub optimal production, once that's ironed out the ak12 will be a dream gun for any gun enthusiast I guarantee it.
People misunderstand the AK12 a lot, in people's minds it's supposed to be the most tricked out AK when it wasn't even designed to be as such, like ofcourse a modded AK74 is better. BUT for every service member of Russia that isn't spetsnaz or anything as such, this is a much better upgrade. Better than just a simple rail n optic and a gp28/30
Small arms are kinda irrelevant, to be honest. AK-12 will be a perfectly adequate rifle after it receives the same amount of development that were needed to make AKM, AK74 and AK74M reliable, all of those had similar teething issues. That being said, the spec MOD requested was idiotic and they should've just requested new standard furniture for AK74M.
yeah that's the point we're making. For what they use these things for, the AK100 series rifles are more than adequate, and rail/furniture upgrades already exist. ... but they went and threw money at something that was worse.
Waste of opportunity, money-wise it's still a decent investment, keeping gun industry in alive condition is important. It employs people and allows experience and knowledge to be passed from one generation of gun designers and manufacturers to another. Some European countries lost that, for example.
@ForOne814 for that Russia already has specifications for highly specialised weapons. I feel like that would be both more efficient in terms of investment and create a far more practical result. Also do you realy want your entire gun industry to be built around iterating a single 75 year old design? With new specs they could have come up with original designs! Edit:D: for the standard rifle I think they should have just developed things to put on the 74m. It would have been far more economical. You could even support local business by contracting zenetzo to make something better, probably a bit lighter and cheaper.
@@davitdavid7165 I don't think there's any actual need for a new design. Defeating modern body armor with standard rifles is just unrealistic, so there's no need to change the caliber, and if you don't need to change the caliber, there's no need to change the basic design. What I think they should've done is to just run new production of AK-74Ms with new standard furniture, may be new muzzle devices, and that's kinda it. With experience from the current war, what we also need is rifle grenades. UBGLs are great, but their grenades are limited in terms of size and weight.
@ForOne814 a: I was not talking about changing the specs for the standard issue rifle. I was talking about stuff for spec ops or counter terrorism like the ash12 or the stechkin revolver. Such designs will do much more to give expertise to gunsmiths and sinse they would be adopted in limited numbers would not instantly break the Russian economy. B: there is a lot you can do to significantly improve the ak. If Russia was not broke and corrupt they could modernise it significantly by changing the receiver geometry to match the ar (ie sig550, galil ace, ak alpha) and could even try to implement a hold open-release mechanism and an improved chatging handle. The current receiver geometry is a huge limitation as it means that designs have to strap stable stuff on top to get good mounting capabilities instead of having a stable platform to begin with and changing the charging handle-hold open and stuff would be a ridiculous quality of life improvement. C: you could theoretically pursue such wild modifications to the ak as the 107and the an94. Who knows, maybe another mad Russian will do some other crazy thing to the ak!
people are thinking too much about the ak12. newer doesnt always mean better. buts is cheaper and easier to produce in mass and its still a reliable and solid weapon.
![What is a PDW? [The 4 types of Personal Defense Weapons]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/5eEt4Y_STOw/mqdefault.jpg)
Just in case you want to see where the AK12 rusty video came from.... It's the actual Kalashnikov Concern site, download it / watch it before they delete it:
en.kalashnikovgroup.ru/media/ttkh-2020/ak-12-obnovlennyy-ttkh?fbclid=IwAR1Dj6IuhVWDU2hR1WjlhwEpm45eUW-TTOreoFMy4qUX6sHN9XgbGNHAUBg
Time stamp 00:12
H&K: No one's ever going to embarrass themselves more than that photo where we'd put rounds in the magazine backwards.
Kalashnikov: Hold my vodka.
this only confirms that some marketing idiot used the wrong rifle to shoot the film and no one checked it... but won't this rifle kill on the battlefield... oh it will@@9HoleReviews
Holy shit LMAO you can't make this shit up
@@ostrygwint6110sure it will. That isn’t the point. The point is that the AK12 isn’t really an upgrade. If anything it’s a downgrade from the AK74M and should have been a whole lot more than it is.
Just being a machinist in my experience the standardization of the 100 series makes manufacturing far easier to set up and send parts out the door.
It confirms that issues with the new gas block design with corrosive ammunition are real, or it wouldn't have happened in the first place.
Shame the Jews banned them from import
I somehow misread "machinist" as "narcissist" 🤷🏻♂️
I've been watching too many psychology videos on serial killers and not enough Josh and Henry 🤦🏻♂️
But rationalisation of the 100-series makes a *hell* of a lot of sense. But I don't think the Russian state is capable of recognising what Kalashnikov had accomplished: they'd given the AK a great platform for entering the 21st century, making an admittedly old - but solid - design easier and cheaper to make.
Someone obviously didn't get enough of a bribe. It's like the German arms industry during the Nazi era: politics and corruption trumping actual requirements and a deliverable long-term plan 😕
Current AK-12 is a descendant of the 400 series which in turn is a descendant of the 100 series.
@@mrkeoghit's actually the opposite. The ak12 was rushed out the door because kalashnikov needed to sell something to stay in business.
The ak-12 was added to tarkov, and just like in reality, a modded ak74 is better than the ak-12. Kinda funny how they did that.
best thing to come from the AK-12 is the mags
I think the AK12's iron sights are better than the AK74's.
I don't think it's on purpose. Same game where a clapped out 1950's AKM is better than an AK103, an MDR is more used than an HK416, M4 carbines have obnoxious starting recoil to compensate for how much you can improve it using parts (maybe just reduce how much parts affect recoil so you'll actually encourage creative kits, but the meta streamers will cry), and 7.62x39 has lower recoil than 5.56
@@jiggy6486 I was interested in playing this game but seeing what a clusterfuck the weapons balance is kept me away. For a game with supposedly so much emphasis on gunplay and weapon technicalities it does horrible job at portraying realistic gun behavior (vertical recoil......WHY), technical gun mechanics and terminal ballistics (both penetration and body tissue damage). It's so rich in variety, items and little intricacies yet fails spectacularly at that biggest issue.
Pretmuch the last two comments, 5.56 M855A1 from various AR’s/M16’s,M4’s ought to be pretty meta but don’t seem to be from my understanding.
*THIS!*
Disappointment is the right word to describe this rifle! It's not terrible but also not better than the predecessors.
It brings nothing new to the table.
Also funny how Josh was also disappointed with FNC because that was my exact reaction to it - not bad but just so blend and boring 😅
PS: i shot an AK12 with original barrel and there were no surprises there - same performance as 74
dudes come up with a million reasons why any variant of AK12 (that gun reviewers look at) is bad and the true military ones are of course the best. The crazy thing is how the upgraded 2023 version upgraded most of the parts that were in a lower priority for upgrading.
@@9HoleReviews the only real thing that AK12 achieved was to lower the production cost
I think the most generous interpretation of it is basically that they were like "f**** it let's get a standard issue ak 74 with full rail system capabilities in the manufacturing pipeline and we can incrementally tighten things up from there and have it figured out by whatever time we actually feel comfortable issuing optics to regular infantry grunts"
@@9HoleReviewsI believe I’ve seen a report saying that due to the feed back in performance of the AK12 in Ukraine kalashnikov has been producing a newer upgraded version. Iam not sure what was done to the rifle in order to upgrade it but I believe eliminating the burst mode was one of those.
Being a proud owner of the semiautomatic Saiga 5,45 (AK-74M) and the semiautomatic TR-3 Gen 2 (AK-12 Gen 2), I can tell that I like the sights of the AK-12 more than the sights of the AK-74M. I also have a full auto blank firing version of the AK-12 Gen 1... The stock folding concept makes me sad... I do love the improvement in the Gen 2. My range is only 300 meters. Chest size steel popper is an easy target for both the Saiga and the TR with TR being way faster because of dioptric sights...
Liked your video. It is clearly a subscription.
Warmest wishes from Moscow.
Just a note on the T-14 story around 09:30.
There was nothing mechanically wrong with the tank, the driver had accidentally engaged the parking brake, this was discovered later on in the video used to make the point.
After a couple minutes, they discover the problem and the tank drives away under its own power.
Yeah and I got a bridge I’d like to sell you.
I'm not familiar with the internal of tanks, but HOW can a driver accidentally engage the parking brake? Is that caused by a design flaw or the mistraining of the driver or a mere accident?
@@AlexKS1992 the fact that a tank recovery vehicle couldn't move the T-14 proves it. This has already been covered by tank experts like The Chieftain.
@@AlexKS1992 Ok Lazerpig cool it...
@@Lv-sl3rm Well do you have something to disprove what people have said.
The thing about AK-12 is that in reality outside of all that media hype it was mostly only about slightly improving ergonomics and adding rails for scopes (and also that burst that was finally ditched). And interesting economic aspect of adding rails to AKs that is quite often lost is that it's simply cheaper for the MoD to make a brand new rifle than to recall AK74's. Remember that AKs for the government are dirt cheap
6:40 As a former CGO yourself, Henry, you should be fully aware that it's not about giving us peons in the trenches better tools to solve problems.
It's about looking good on paper to beef up some O's annual performance report.
Tell me about those retention problems we’re seeing, why won’t you?
DAAAMN SON
And pay for Shoigu's next dacha 🤷🏻♂️
Maxim Popenker, russian gun historic, gave a lecture on russian Hexagon channel about development AK-12 program. It was a mess, firstly government approved A-545 as Ratnik main weapon, but it was too costly (around 300 000 rubles for a rifle, around 10000 usd at the time) because of new tooling required, so they brought up designer of ASh-12 to make competitor, and he created AK-12 that never hit the light, yeah it was very accurate rifle, but it was like sporterised AK-74, so it wasn't pretty reliable especially with grenade launcher and making things worse, it wasn't even cheap (around 250 000 rubles, roughly 8000 usd at the time) because of new tooling required. Russian command looked at this and said it was a dead project, we already have A-545 that better, so they fired that Tula engineer and brought up Izshmash engineers back. Told them make AK-12 but cheap, they have made it in 2015, using almost same tooling as AK-74, so you have Gen. 1 with all issues, it costed to Army 50 000 rub or 800 usd in 2015.
How the hell did you know I just rewatched your hour+ long video with Brandon on the “virtues” of the AK12??
Whoa, similarly I'd just been going through the list of AK practical accuracy and clicked in. "Oh when was this one posted?" - '3 minutes ago' was a shocker and a thrill😅
Autistic obsession is a hell of a drug.
@@Butter_Warrior99 Augmented with Methylphenidate
@@Poverty-Tier And a lot of sleep deprivation with a healthy caffeine addiction, will create, the perfect candidate for the CIA!
@@Butter_Warrior99sounds like every servicemember, to be honest
Smoke has to be blown up Henry's bottom here.
500 yard hits with an open sighted Ak74 is incredible.
Marco Vorobiev talked about how the AK-74 was used in Afghanistan and how bored soldiers would routinely shoot at power lines for shits and giggles at about 100m and see who could snap the power lines.
Yeah 500 yards is way past the effectiveness of the 7N6 round. That round is best inside 200 yards flatter shooting and more damaging wound channel than 5.56 but performance falls off way faster than 5.56 which can reach out 700 yards with a good gun and ammunition
The AK12, one of the rifles of all time
Yes, it surely is a rifle, that we can all agree on! It exists for sure
@@popemobile12 and you are black
Once again proof that the Beryl is a better updated AK than the AK-12
I’d really love to try the more “boutique” WBP Rogów’s take on AK modernization ❤
ruclips.net/user/shortsp1mz5re8-GQ
The AK12 has good accuracy, but in ergonomics, the Beryl beats it by a mile. But I’ve always considered the Galil Ace as the best of both worlds for the AR and Ak systems.
Guess you never saw cheap plastic mags for beryl explode once you bump it onto something while fully loaded. They're very fragile, but at least they're dirt cheap, at least in poland. Apart from that military version in 5.56 is a decent rifle, unlike civilian rifles made by WBP which are mediocre to say the least.
@@RadzioTheGreat the mags are horrible but trashing the rifle for it's OEM mags is... weird? You simply just buy any other mags, can be AK101 mags too, whatever. The rifle itself is fine, and it's problems come mainly from being variant of AK.
The AK12 (AK400 series model) as I've repeatedly said since we've found out about its deficiencies, is a lot like the Battlefield 2042 of the Kalashnikov series
Potential to be good, but was brought out the door unfinished and is still undergoing development to improve on something that should've had it in the first place. Time will tell where it goes, though it's clear that the 100 series and even the updated 200 series seems to be a far better choice for the given task. A half-hearted attempt at modernisation, it's a sad thing.
This is an unitentionally hilarious comparison. Apt, but hilarious.
Battlefield 2042 is somewhat better now but I still hate the operator characters.
I knew a Indian army officer who had gone to inspect Ak factory. They found ak-15(7.62x39)to be twice the price of Ak-203, while having wobbly handguard. shockingly it didn't bring any accuracy improvement. Those accuracy improvement can also be done through training and a good optics. eventually it was decided for ak-203 is the way to go.
It's not "half-hearted". It's their first foray into re-modelling the AK. If you think that the engineering work was simple, then you are badly mistaken. There was a LOT of work conducted. In this case, it shown that more refinement is needed.
@@ftlity3417Are you serious or playing around?
I own an ak12 because of the history it’s making currently, my love for the Kalashnikov platform, and quite frankly it looks badass. It’s also my first and only ak74 I’ve ever owned so I can’t compare it to any other 74. Mine runs just fine and I love it!
Please forgive me for my bad English. Main problem of ak-12 it's abakan competition, in 70s army wanted increase hit probability on 50% and 2 competing system ware introduced an 94 and aek 971.
To meet the requirements of abakan, it was necessary to reduce the dispersion area of a short burst by at least 10 times compared to the AK 74. After testing the aek 971 expectedly failed, showing a dispersion area 2 times smaller than the ak 74. After the military decided that the AN 94 was too expensive and complex , they decided to return to the AEK 971 and its couterbalanced automatic, ratnik requirements were written for a counterbalanced automatic that is why the requirements had a 2 round burst (counterbalanced automatic increase rate of fire to 900-1000 rpm). Originally new ak should have counterbalanced automatic, but Zlobin decided that ratnik’s requirements could be achieved in the classical scheme and he actually achieved it. But his ak was expensive as a 545 and less reliable at the same time, the military decided that it was too expensive to arm everyone with the a 545 , so the military gave permission to remake the AK 12 from scratch, provided that the new ak was cheap enough and met reliability requirements.
Reminds me of M16 story, like first iterations were doomed with problems, but then it started to really shine.
And like with the M16, it was meddling from the top brass that fucked it up to begin with
I mean... the current iteration of the AK12 isn't shining and the first iteration of the M16 was a logistical issue by the user (U.S. Army's ammunition incompatibility)
@@9HoleReviews i'd say poor mmagazines as well for the M16 and lack of cleaning kits.
The AK-12 was saddled with features nobody needed or wanted, except pencil pushers who really, really liked the two shot burst on the AN-94.
Didn't help that it had a less than ideal development (ad re-development) cycle.
Funny how the burst mechanism was an unwanted and less than promised feature on both rifles...
As well as dropped in the long run with the M4A1 and tge later AK-12 revisions.
@@9HoleReviewsuser error vs design flaw
@@9HoleReviews any chance of getting hands on AK-12 version 2023?
Your issue of expecting things from AK-12 is down to WESTERN pop-culture. In Russia, AK-12, both original and the new one, were never looked at as something to have massive new capabilities. What was wanted by Russian MOD is a rifle that is as reliable as the AK-74, better controllable and accurate in "unsupported" positions and able to mount modern optical devices. Nothing more. So basically it was meant to have accessory rails and adjustable furniture. Since original AK-12 has failed reliability tests miserably, AK-74M was reworked to have the features Russian military demanded. Basically all of which it has. So the fact that you guys thought it's lacking direction is baffling to me. Direction is clear. The fact that Russian military didn't order/issue optics with the rifle is beside the point. It's not the fault of the rifle. It's like blaming M-16A4 and M-4A1 for lacking direction if US MOD didn't order the optics for it or unit failed to allow them to be issued. Different issue.
Was the execution found wanting? Yes.
Reason for so many different products coming out of IzhMash in 90s and 00s was because different units of Russian military and law enforcement were privately looking for solutions to different requirements they had. AKS-74U for instance, was a weapon that had too much power for the distances it was required to be used at, shooting too fast and overheating too fast, as well as having way too much recoil for law enforcement use. And that was before all the accessories were invented for them. Thus Bison was made as an initiative hoping to score sales to law enforcement. Some units got a small batch if memory serves. AN-94 was available for military sales. Due to lack of state orders, it had to interest units privately.
So. Stop treating AK-12 as something that's MEANT to be different to AK-74. It's meant to be little more than AK-74 in a modern shell with ability to adjust it for the user and accessorize it without making it very heavy (like Zenitco kit does) straight out of the box.
Barrel is actually made to more precise tolerance and with techniques that favor more consistent barrel over cheaper and simpler. As is indicated by AK-74M having "pinch" mounting of the front sight base vs traditional pinned fitment on AK-12.
Handguard. After you move it as you do in the video, it flexes back to its original position. And in combat I don't see how would you even bend it like that. Also sights themselves aren't dependent on the front handguard. That was the whole point: freefloated hand guard doesn't affect the POA and POI. Even if bent.
5-10 years? Are you for real Henry? Ukrainian war is a more high-intensity conflict that anything US military had been to since Vietnam, and the worst thing seen by it since was Wanat. AK-12 rifle does 30-40k rounds in a few months in Ukraine, and is discarded. It shoots the rifling off by then lol What 10 year life cycle are you talking about? Also Russian military looks after its firearms just as well as US military does these days, now that budget has caught up and there is more scrutiny. So there is no "especially" about Russian military these days. It's 2023, not 2003. As for the iron sights: you can wobble them around too even on older AK-74 and AKM, and newer AK-100 series and AK-74M you know. As for the top cover losing its tightness and zero as a result: AR platform also loses tightness through the receiver pins and holes, meaning it needs at least some adjustment, or the whole upper would wobble after a while, making it inaccurate. AR-15s solved that somehow, didn't it? Russians will simply make it not lose tightness too. Matter of perfecting the metallurgy.
"New" AK-12 you are showing from a video. Sorry but that one is being superseded again. Look up AK-12M1 from a couple of months ago now. It was announced back in January. Solved a lot of things you spoke about. Now it has non-removable flash hider with a mount for suppressor to go over it, has a cheek riser (to be confirmed), removed the 2-round burst, the front handguard had been strengthened and stiffened, new rear sight with simplified 3-position aperture as opposed to traditional rear sight leaf, thumb-operated safety-fire selector.
A lot of people got algo boosts for anything trashing Russia. A lot of this stuff is nonsense.
Henry talks about the advantages of private industry but that isn't working out to well for NATO in the Ukraine conflict we see some countries like Denmark have literally given away every single piece of artillery to Ukraine because the west for profit MIC is incapable of manufacturing good cheap and numerous pieces.
For profit MIC excels at ultra specific, low batch, high cost and high quality weapons which is good enough for colonial wars and expeditions but not real war.
Lmao cope harder with ur garbage rifle
It shoots comrade, rifle is fine
With that grammar, you are saying it shoots your comrade.
@@beowulf9878 well, I guess technically they're shooting former Soviet allies and comrades...
Great review guys. When it comes to the "why" behind the AK-12 or the T-14, just remember that Russia has an MIC just like the US does. The MIC doesn't make money off of warehouses full of surplus rifles, even if they do basically all the same things as the new versions do. Product improvement programs are pretty often just a case of, how do we tweak this design a little bit so that we can call it "improved" without changing the underlying design so much that we have to tool up a completely new production line at great expense? So you get the AK-12 that is 90% AK-100 series. In reality the sights and optics support was pretty much the only standout issues with the existing Russian stock of rifles, something that could have easily been achieved with an accessory kit and rearsenaling program for the 74M/100 series stockpiles, but then nobody would have made much money and there wouldn't have been as many places to hide the graft.
No, it was made to make AK more marketable for export (AK-100 and 200 series didn't sell well), Russian MOD refused to buy KM-AK kits and any other modernization kit because it made the rifle a full kilo heavier than original. They wanted a rifle that mounts things and doesn't get fat at the same time. Also MOD wanted a QD mount for the suppressor. Hence the "bayonet" fitting was born. Troops didn't like it and it was a source of annoyance for everyone. Also some people managed to lose the damn compensator. Soldiers always lose shit.
As for graft in procurement - since a lot of people went to jail over that crap in last decade, and government tightened the controls over it, graft became barely there.
@@Max_Da_G You really want to talk about how russian government eradicated corruption? lmfao
@@Max_Da_G AK-100 series sold well internationally (especially the AK-103, not to mention the saiga civilian versions based off the military versions), modernization kits have been spotted in Ukraine (although not that common), AK-200 series finished development after AK-12
I'd say it's absolutely on par with the 74M, shame about the wind being so problematic in the run.
I'll stay with my AK-103 and AK-74M, but cool to see the AK-12 run well
which means it's a failure. Cost's more than a 74M without any sort of real advantage.
@@StrainXv Sure thing i kinda agree with you partly, i just say that i think that its probably more a "Base" Rifle open for Improvements like with the OG AK47 like the "M" Program... but like you said, Costs to much to bring that little Improvement. Improvement over the 74M is prob that it has the Option to Mount Pic Optics without extra Stuff :)
@@StrainXv it's not necessarily a failure as it is an effective rifle, but absolutely a waste of money and resources. However I will say I am firmly in the AK-100 series is thr best AK series" camp, so take what I say at what it's worth
@@Deadmmann in which Zenitco solved without the need of a completely new rifle series
@@Strelok762 AK-12 is a step in the right direction for the base rifle. AK-74 couldn't remain the same and be viable in the times where accessories became a must. Russian military understood that and wanted a rifle that does all that without the need to swap all the furniture for heavier metal items. They learnt the hard way with KM-AK which made rifle top the scales over 4 kilos, compared to original AKS-74 being 2.97kg. Zenitco kit is made of aluminium and increases AK-74 rifled mass rather noticeably. AK-12 does that. As Russians say, "first crepe is always a crumple". AK-12 is a work in progress as far as military rifle goes. For civilians there is AKV-521 (AK-12 in an AR-15-style split receiver, left-side charging handle, full length rail), although western public isn't going to get it in a hurry due to these idiotic sanctions.
The Armarta drive train didn't stop, an untrained crewman accidentally hit the emergency brake and stopped it (or at least I recall reading this)
Funny enough Zastava did a better modernization with the dust cover rail, the solution was very simple, they made the rear trunniom taller making the dust cover more secure.
If I was the designer I would do that very differently, actually they could've pinned the rail on the rear trunniom and where the rear sights use to be, that would make the rails integral to the weapon, at the front would be more interesting to use M-lock or analogous stuff, would be interesting if they changed the safety dust cover for something like the AKV-521 or Galil Ace without changing the charging handle, they could even made the dust cover out of polymer and here we go, a modernized AK without changing much from the stock, some could even be converted.
Agreed. Their new M21 is proof of that.
Presumably, the corrosive ammo has chlorate primers, like the South African Mk. 7 ball I use in my SMLE. An aqueous solution of "Young's 303" or similar water soluble oil keeps the 105 year old barrel shiny, after a thorough drying and oiling. .
Might not be as easy to do that when you're squatting in a trench in some newly-aquired "Russian" territory that the former owners want back.
Hot soapy water works well... problem being where do you find it in theater? Just soapy water or Windex works. WW2 GI solvent works too. That it can be cleaned is not really in doubt. That it was made more difficult is the issue.
My one takeaway from all this is that in Russia the state controls the military-industrial complex and in the US the military-industrial complex controls the state!
I'm just here to read butthurt AK12 fan boy comments and whataboutsim comments.
Currently enjoying that too lol
Your precious AR had major problems during its first years of service in the Vietnam war but was given a few tweets and was an excellent rifle. Same is probably going to happen for the ak12.
I take it then Henry would prefer an AK-103 over an AK12?
yes
AK-15 in this case lol
I hope the new series (AK12M1) can solve most of the problems. Especially the oxidation problems in the gas block and the muzzle.
Isn’t it 3rd version by now?
@@OurAshX There are 3+1 generations and 5 versions. Which is confusing.
- First Gen.:
* First Series obr. 2018:
· AK12 and AK15 - 1st gen. AR15 Style stock tube, 1st gen. pistolgrip, 1st gen. rear sight, removable muzzle and selector problemo (fixed in the later batches).
- Second Gen.:
* Mixed Gen. for 5.56x45 obr. 2019:
· AK19 - 2nd gen. Modular Stock, 2nd gen. pistolgrip, 2nd gen. rear sight, no 2 round burst mode, 2 gen. handguard, barrel with non removable modular muzzle.
* M versions obr. 2020:
· AK12M and AK15M - 2nd gen. Modular Stock, 2nd gen. pistolgrip, 2nd gen. rear sight, selector fix, 2 gen. handguard, extra chrome added to the gas block, 2nd Gen. magazine.
* Spetnaz versions obr. 2021:
· AK12SP/SPK - 2nd gen. Modular Stock, 2nd gen. pistolgrip, ambidextrous selector, no burst mode, 2nd gen. rear sight, M-Lok system with custom handguards.
- Third Gen.:
* obr. 2023:
· AK12M1 - 3nd gen. modular stock, 3rd gen. pistolgrip, 3rd gen. rear sight, new ambidextrous selector, 3rd gen. handguard, new barrel with non removable modular muzzle.
** Too much stuff 🙂🙃
The gas system is what really gets me. They made a worse gas system than the 74 while still using corrosive ammo.
Getting a Midway ad featuring Henry right after they finished shooting on the range had me EXTREMELY confused for a minute lol
I love AKs and was super excited about the AK12 in the early development stages, but that excitement cooled fairly quickly as it materialized and I realized that a modernized 100 series is equal or better in every meaningful way. They could have saved a load of effort, time, and money by just loading up a 100 series with Zenitco.
It would be WAY to heavy, to expensive and Zenith just can't produce it kits at 200K-400K sets per year
*Dude, use your brain... The AK-12 is much better than the AK-74, you judge by the AK-12 but with different slats, but you don’t take into account that the AK-12 uses other materials, and since the AK-12 is first and foremost an automatic rifle and it must have a high density of fire, and the AK-12 here bypasses the AK-74 without problems! And what you see in the video is an early version of the AK-12, which underwent experimental military tests, now the design has been finalized and all childhood diseases have been removed!*
ruclips.net/video/JNCQT7YL6SU/видео.html
I dont wanna stereotype but i really hope Henry is the one that plays the piano intro
IDKW, but seem like the A-545 escape every discusion of the AK-12 on the USA. There many artical about the Ratnik, even KC put one out themself, stating that the A-545 win Ratnik, and the Zlobin AK-12 had fail every test.
A545 isn't widespread to begin with. And none had ever been even held by a foreigner. Larry Vickers has held and fired an AK-107 and also an AEK-971, the predecessor to A545. And that's why noone talks about them: there is literally nothing to discuss since so few got even close to the predecessor, never mind the actual current A545. Since A545 only recently had been made and delivered to special forces, it's still a rare commodity.
@@Max_Da_GBut it still important to mention it while discuss the AK-12. Russian don't need Zlobin gun because they have the A545, a complete function weapon.
And A545 explain the whole point of the 2 round burst.
The Osprey is a better example than the Bradley, of government imposing the wrong answer.
AFAIK the 100 series is not just standardization over several variants; it also introduced a number of manufacturing optimizations, and changed around a few things in terms of production and treatment.
You're right, it did, but the standardization (to us) was a huge step forward for an exciting line of products.
As much as innovation is sometimes needed, there’s a reason we’ve seen M4/m16 and 74 style rifles stay nearly the same internally for what feels like 50 (+) years. You can only reinvent the wheel so many times before you start adding problems that were supposed to be solutions for non issues in the previous generation of weapons. To be honest we ran out of issues to correct years ago so when there are solutions that genuinely improve the rifle they’re technology based like better optics, lights/lasers or mounting options. We’ve become so desperate to fix non issues thar we’re seeing dudes build 3 pound AR-15s to correct a rifle that a child could hold for hours on end. Or people putting a giant muzzle brake on their AR-15 to eliminate virtually non existent recoil. Rifle is fine, move on.
Nah, AK-74 style stays the same because russia doesn't have money for having a properly good rifle. Same thing with ak-12 rail, supposed to be cool for an optic, only to have 0 optics issued en mass.
Look at Galil and how Israel switched to TAR-21. There are always a place for new designs and improvements, and AK-12 looks like it's made by a child in a garage lol
They quality...the weld seams... omfg
@@Geth-vkWith the Galil Ace, we are seeing a bit of a return of the AK. Albeit actually modernized.
I am surprised at how well the gun did. Wasn't expecting that. Kalashnikov hasn't lost its mojo quite yet.
I always got the impression the A545 was the rifle they wanted but couldn't really afford to issue in large scale so they kept it for everyone else but general infantry. It's not a rifle that gets talked about often.
Almost certainly not the case. The A545 is a specialists rifle for a few specialists that want it.
Like the SCAR.
The rest just gucci up their AK-74s or demand the changes done to the AK-12 2023 Gen3 model.
It wasn't a question of affordability of the rifle itself. It was a question of time and money needed to set up the large-scale manufacturing of A545. Degtyarov plant, unlike Kalashnikov, wasn't in dire straights financially and was manufacturing a wide range of civilian goods as well as military. AK-12 was adopted because it was going to be fielded far faster and indeed cheaper since existing lines were going to be used as well as a stockpile of KM-AK kits that Russian MOD refused to buy to upgrade AK-74s. Relatively recently info came through that at least 100k A545s had been ordered for Russian Special Forces and are being produced.
@@railroading5726 The A545 is INDEED a specialist rifle. No responsible military in its right mind will make a rifle with a complex balanced recoil system a general purpose rifle.
Yeah, thats true. I posted a comment how AK-12 was developed, russian gun historian told a story about this project, first version of AK-12 was better, but not reliable and costed a little less than A545. Pricing was at the time of making A545 10k usd, AK-12 that not got into production 8k usd, AK-12 that we have 800 usd.
More a work around for potential exports. Easier to sell upper and lowers in all flavors of calibers.
It kinda reminds me of the Brazilian IA2, which have been designed to replace the 3 diferent rifles that the armed forces used a decade ago! The Air Force with the G33's & Sig 550's, Marines with the M16 and the Army with the FAL. The IA2 kinda "combined" features that all branches used, basically turning into this more modular & much more ergonomic rifle, with FAL & M16 mechanics. What differentiate it from the AK-12 is that the IA2 is indeed an answer to many problems!
My friend shot, at me, from a civilian version of the AK-12 (Saiga TR3) 5,45 with a prismatic Vortex spitfire 3x sight. Groups of 2-3 centimeters from a hundred meters. Cartridges Barnaul🤷🏼♂️
I use AK-12 with Leupold DPP for 2gun, and it's more accurate and faster than I am. We don't have particularly long range targets though
To note the T-14 on the parade ground, the new driver put the brake on accident.
I do not know why, but I've always shot my AK-47 better with iron sights than with any of the optics I've tried. I don't know if it's the iron sights themselves that suit me well, or it's the case of being more accurate by not seeing and trying to fight the magnification wobble.
😂, hey sometimes iron sights are just better. I got a Zastava M70 I don’t intend to put an optic on it.
@@one-metallica4156 yeah, I remember people laughing at the beginning of the Russian invasion how they didn't have optics on their rifles, and you can still see a lot of footage on both sides showing no optics. And I am thinking, that's actually a good thing.
@@AbcDino843 seeing these guys nail targets at 500yard with iron sight Aks is amazing and it’s how soldiers from the Cold War trained.
Shooting your rifle in combat is when you're tired like a dog, scared for your life, and know only the general direction, where your enemy is firing from. The moment optics come in handy is when you're firing at muzzle flashes at night.
You have a bit wrong information about the first AK-12 (Zlobin's).
It was rejected not because it was somewhat expensive, but because it's failed harsh military tests in many categories measurably.
Actually, the prototype failed so horribly, that the MoD refused to pay to fix it for the next round. Which is rare. Usually they like to waste taxpayers money up till the end.
Actually both reasons
In fact, both of these reasons played a role, and neither one of them.
@@calciumoxide3385 If it doesn't work there is no need for other reasons
Also a problem with top cover shift on guns like the FN-FAL, or lack of optic mounting ability on H&K's roller-lock systems.... it could be done, but it wasn't really convenient to pull off effectively.
@kilgor5793 Nope. And not an airsoft guy. what's your beef?
FN FAL... you are right. HKs ... not so much. The G3 was build for the stanag optics. The G3 ZF was the DMR before the term existed...
PTR does H&K style roller guns with pic rail welded to the top. Not that hard.
The claw mount wasn't even that bad.
22:54 i never heard him laughing like that 😂😂
bro must be hiding a cigar somewhere, his deadeye last longer than normal
Idk what it is but I love my Ak12’s and if you get your hands on the Sport 12 Zenitco rail for it. It just makes it miles better.
The sport 12 handguard looks pretty sick, but I can't justify $650 to lose all my railspace
Ratnik actually derives from the french Felin program, at a time when France was doing a lot of business in defense with Russia. The russians took a look at the best features, disregarded the worst, and tried to build something of their own from there.
Sucks for the Russians that the USSR fell apart... and the Ukrainians took almost all the technical knowledge and expertise with them when they left.
@@PeterMuskrat6968technical expertise that was lost with Ukrainians as well
@@PeterMuskrat6968A little brainwashed🤗. Turn off TV.
Good job Henly!
Thanks for making sure those flowers get proper fertilizer, again, Henry!
Excellent info in this vid as always.
Cold war Soviet barrels were actually really high quality in terms of barrel steel, while the US even in 2023 still uses essentially WW2 barrel steels. However, this mainly makes a difference with handling full auto, not with accuracy in the way you're testing it and the American barrels are probably more accurate despite their inferior steels.
We’ve actually found that Chinese /66\ and yugo (pre breakup) barrels to be even harder of an alloy than the Soviet barrels.
If someone can provide one, the rare Galil ACE 5.45s vs the AK-12 would be an interesting comparison
They’re $1,700-1,850 at the moment and last week I say 5.45 for 50¢ per round.
I love 7.62x39 more.
That would be a cool comparison
I just want to say Henry is a phenomenal good shot or shooter.
Well to be fair, rifle design in any country has improved much for the last 60 years.
Appearing just not in Russia
You guys should do review on A-545 / KORD 6P67 if you can get your hands on it then that would be the really interesting review
They can't. You can't import legal this rifle but for AK-12 you can import parts kit.
There is already AK-12M2 in active production - Kalashnikov Group fixed most of it`s problems and the only issue I believe is that M2 variant is still custom-build unfriendly, like, you can`t change the pistol grip and can`t put on most models of suppressors etc.
AK-12M2 or AK-12M1?
@@wyw201АК-12 2018, 2020, 2022
Why this rifle should have been something new and revolutionary in the first place. It is just a new batch of infantry assault rifle production in all its simplicity to fulfill the simple task of a rifle.
ive been waiting so long for this
I love how the entire point of the modernization was adding rails for optics and attachments, yet none of the Russian's are using optics or attachments lmao
And the 'upgraded' 2023 AK-12M1 version is actually just removing features like the burst fire, and ability to remove the muzzle device.
The burst fire should never have been there in the first place though
@@liamobrien9451burst fire should never be an option unless it can fire fast enough to negate the recoil impulses (IE the famas or g11)
Only time I actually saw optics on them was when it was ukrainian soldiers using captured AK-12
Funny, cause i saw footage of their VDV guys and their Spetsnaz guys using optics and other attachments fairly liberally in Ukraine and in Syria.
Hardly surprising. It's not like the US gave every Tom, Dick and Harry optics, peq-s and what not the moment the M16 and M4 was adapted with the pic eail top cover.
Removing pointless features that reduce performance seems like an upgrade to me.
Strange that you don't mention the stock with adjustable cheek piece and the ambi safety selector redesign that everybody here in the west has been bitching about on AKs for as long as i've been alive.
Looks like the original base version. There is ak-12-3 now, updated after combat tests.
Re. Armata incident was due to driver engaging a parking brake on it. Nothing was broken because later it was just driven away on it’s own without repairs
Ssssshhhhhhh, only narratives !
I mean I dont know why people are so upset, its an AK, its perfect just how it was, this new one just looks a bit modern, but why fix/improve on the weapon that isnt broke and is by FAR the most used weapon in the world
As a American with a AK factory once said "нет Rifle is fine"
From what I’ve heard, the AK-12 was gonna be awesome with all the things it was gonna bring to the table. They got their orders from the govt and the govt said “make it happen” so the engineers got to work and came up with an awesome concept. Then the govt asked how much it was gonna cost and when they found the price, brought the plans to non engineers and that was the final product.
That's not really the case what happened.
The initial AK-12 was an engineering disaster from reliability side.
The version that eventually got into production was essentially developed by IPSC club members. As a result, they went for free floating barrel and the slowest aiming system possible (Which also turned out to be a disaster once water droplet hits that rear ring). Russian IPSC club is also an extremely toxic enviroment full of pretentious clucks and, because of how expensive it is to get import arms, this club gets off to western weapons a lot. It found it's way into AK-12 stock and I don't really need to tell you where it went. Mainternance kit placement, muzzle brake detachment and some other quirks in the design became victims of people not really caring about stuff since they are range monkeys that don't need to haul ass.
Still the version got issues. And I don't think that things will stop at AK-12 mod 2023 (Which is not terrible, but it's incompatible with old silencers because non-detachable compensator ruins compability, requiring proprietary silencer that is attached over said compensator).
So people kinda wait for things to die down and settle so Zenitco could fix it, lol.
Y'all trying real hard to dodge Polonium poisoning...
I think you also have to look at it this way the point of the Ak12 wasn't really to equip soldiers with optical sight and laser designators but rather to give Russian soldiers the option to buy their own off the shelf commercial optics, flashlight, and grips which is rather common in the Russian Army because the Russian government is too poor to field everyone with optics and such.
It sort of reminds me of the early GWOT era sights when SOPMOD was first being wide issued however big army didnt have enough ACOG's, CCO's, flashlights, and vertical grips hand out to everyone so people simply bought their own. So you would see soldiers with MARS red dot sights.
Russian MOD actually bought a whole lot of collimating sights for AK-12. What isn't as known is that many Russian officers have a culture of "Don't give those morons anything! They'll break/lose/steal it!". They aren't all wrong. However what happened was that Warrant Officers and low-level officers sold a bunch of full soldier kits and optic sights from the supply depots which caused the well-publicised issue of kitting mobilized troops in 22. Also a lot of people in the supply and storage were prosecuted and fired for that. Though for me many of those officers and men should have been demoted to Private and sent to Ukraine as punishment.
@@Max_Da_G well most of the cullminating sights were AK100 series optics meant to be used with the side dovetail mount. However even pre Ukraine you rarely saw these optics used and Spetznaz operators would rather buy eotechs other western optics
@@nemisous83 Actually, I'm referring to 1P87. A whole lot of the was bought by Russian MOD. And promptly sold by thieving WOFFs and junior officers from storage. As for Spetsnaz, they buy tried and proven, not general issue. And that's the case for most SF units I'd say. Most soldiers in Ukraine don't use any optic it seems. Getting batteries seems to be an issue among other things. Both sides target the supply lines, and dead red dot is worthless. So they use the irons.
Think about the defense budgets. NATO, combined, now spends over a trillion dollars annually, with the U.S. spending about $700B or close to 70% of that budget. Russia spends about $65B (allegedly). The U.S. has sent Ukraine over $76B (Jan. 2022 to May 2023) in assistance which over $40B has been in military support--not counting the hundreds of millions of yearly dollars the U.S has sent Ukraine since 2014. I would not be surprised if the U.S. has actually sent more to Ukraine. After Covid, the government has been truly careless with the taxpayer's money. Anyway, I think Russia just needed a budget rifle to arm its troops. I appears that Russia has been prioritizing its budget on munitions production. Supposedly, 80% of the casualties have been caused by artillery, and Russia has allegedly out-shelled Ukraine by a factor of 3-10, it's hard to really tell, but for sure Russia has more munitions. I'm interested to know how Russia's latest integrated fire-and-control systems compare with the West's systems. If I were Putin, I would also prioritize my budget on munitions and advanced integrated command and control and fire systems - that is what is winning the war, not rifles.
00:21:05 excellent point about ammunition and maintenence of this AK 74 rifle. 😊
Your complaints of top cover mounted sights reminded me of the Valmet M62 and how that rifle (now 60 years old) probably has better sights than the rifle you tested. How has the AK platform not been improved more in 50 years than the Finns did in just over 10?
there's also a difference between a dust cover mount that holds iron sights and a dust cover mount that has pic rails on it to hold optics.
"How has the AK platform not been improved more in 50 years than the Finns did in just over 10?"
Because it's simply a dead-end platform, that's why. Finns reached the peak of it's potential with Valmet rifles, and that's it. The only way to go further would require designing a new rifle over it's internals, like Swiss designed SG550. But at this point calling it "AK variant" is a stretch, it's a new rifle just using long stroke system and that's it.
@@czwarty7878AKV-521...
@kilgor5793 it's excess mass disqualifies it from being "better" in any case as an assault rifle, which the Israelis quickly realised themselves with how quickly it was phased out. Nobody wanted to haul that thing around.
@@czwarty7878And yet the AK remains a popular platform even in the modern era, proof of this being the many attempts made to "modernize" it with all kinds of rails and other luxuries that a modern rifle offers. It may be outdated, but it's certainly not obsolete.
I love AK content!
You realize there's an already new and improved version of an AK 12, and your version is outdated.
Excellent Shooting Henry ' Another Great Video ' 💯 Thanks 💥💥💥💥💥💥💥💥💥💥💥💥💥💥
Would love to see that psak74 on tte practical accuracy! Zastava m77 would be rad too
I like the combination of AK, iron sights, and Henry.
AK12 has a lot of negative reviews.
Yeah, just wish it was a rear aperture iron sight...
@@jubuttib Your wish has come true. Look up 2023 AK-12M1. It has an aperture sight with 2 (300m and 600m) settings and a flip-down low-light setting on shorter-range position
@@Max_Da_G Cheers, certainly looks significantly better!
AK-47 had them too in the beginning... then it was recognized as the one of the best rifles produced ever.
@@jubuttib The rifle in the video exactly has a rear aperture iron sight. What're you talking about?
Knowing how Russia is, I bet much of the AK12 project involved streamlining production and logistics. I bet they can quickly manufacture a shit ton of these rifles.
The earlier AK-12 design I must say looked very cool.
yeah honestly i think that's one of the biggest things is that they were cheaper to produce. I do wonder how that compares to robotized CNC machines in the US on cost.
If you’re not going to validate my purchases, then who will? 😡
Could we please see a comparison with the Galil Ace in 5.45 with a similar barrel length? It's a rifle built to compete for the same contracts, providing a modernised AK style rifle.
Galil is better in any case than standard ak,maybe 103 in 7.62 can parry but in every other aspect gallil is just better
Great Video, as always. You guys didn’t mention the Ak 200 series. The Rifle Russia is selling to India. The Russians should go to that new rifle, or a railed up version of the Ak-103. Thanks.
Only problem the new indian rifle use 7;62x39 , Russian current use 5;45x39 , kinda weird for the indian to ditch 5;56x45 for 7;62x39 munition
The Pentagon Wars was a great movie, but accurate it was not.
Looking at the old AK-12, which according to some articles back in the mid-2010s, was supposedly intended to have a 1000RPM hyperburst, I think they were trying to make a cheaper AN-94, and once that didn't work out they just prettied up the AK-74M but forgot to remove the burst mode.
Hyperburst is technically impossible to integrate in any AK configuration. AN-94 achieves it by massive over-engineering. The AK-12 got its burst mode just for the sake of having new feature.
@@andybreadley429 ak-12 got burst mode because tech specs for Ratnik program was basically made to accept AK-12 competitor with counter-balancing system and RoF at ~950rpm. AK-12 submission have to comply in order to be accepted to trials.
Ha Henry is a laserpig fan lol
hey why are people saying this?
(Edit) nice good stuff
0:17 Just opened the video, placing my bets now, it’s going to score less than par, but still be serviceable(will edit once I see the results)
0:52 so you’re going “clone correct” and not going for an optic, my bets have changed slightly
Edit: better than I thought, although I’m sure that was your skill level, I would still want a standard AK-74M or hell even a malyuk
1p87 equipped AK12 coming shortly
@@9HoleReviews that will be interesting
Yes AK 12 does have mechanical advantage. AK 12 has availability to have adjustable gas block. Which wasnt possible on any previouse military AK platform. Thus making it easier to run suppressors.
The AK12 does not have an adjustable gas block. That's just a gas plug in the front. We've discussed this in our AK12 video.
@@9HoleReviews and I didnt say that it has one from the factory. I said it has an ability to to have a gas regulator. If you do some research, there are plenty of aftermarket "gas regulating" plugs sold in the Russian market. That are just plug and play.
Henry with Russian accent was awesome
Ready to see all the dudes who spent $5k on a AK-12 kit builds seethe in the comments
It's so funny, too. Because the Europeans have had the export variant for a few years now, and they've all said the AK-12/19 platform is shit.
True AK guys knew better. None of us rejoiced over the AK-12.
@@pennsyltuckyreb9800 oh dude the initial AK-12 was crazy but the end product was complete garbage and subpar to just modernization with zenitco furniture
Seethe about what?
@@jonathansmith7306spend all that money for a meh rifle. Its a piece of history sure, but a lot of guys thought they were buying a legit fighting rifle and not what they got.
Nice. But why do you use the old version of the iron sights? Or aren't they available in the US?
And why didn't you use the 3 up to 500? Or is your target size smaller than the standard chest size?
Thank you for the video!
By the way, the T-14 Armata didn't brake at the parade, the driver didn't realized, that he still had a gear in. You can clearly see it in the videos, because it couldn't be evacuated, and after they realized it the T-14 continued driving just fine. Maybe they didn't show you that part in the US media 😅
so yes, the targets are smaller than actual torsos, they are about the size of a lv 4 trauma plate (c-zone reduced size targets)
I also didn't know that the T14 had an operator error, and my fault on mentioning that as I am not an armor SME.
Yes the 300m battlesight is a useful setting. Worthy of mastery.
@@9HoleReviews oh wow, that's small. It makes your results then even better! Respect.
I watched valgear (Ukrainian soldier that captured a Russian ak12 and has been using it in actual combat) review the ak12 and he mostly had good things to say about it, it was not the first version tho, it was maybe the newer improved ones, I think everyone saying ak12 is bad does not understand how weapon development goes, the m16 had a very rough start for example and now people love it, so wait until Russia stops working on the issues and then you can say if its a bad platform or not.
And one more point I don't agree with you on, it does solve many issues, the most obvious one being that you can have actual optics on it and adjustable and foldable stock, improved safety selector, iron sights are better.
I think most of the issues like accuracy and build quality are just a consequence of sub optimal production, once that's ironed out the ak12 will be a dream gun for any gun enthusiast I guarantee it.
People misunderstand the AK12 a lot, in people's minds it's supposed to be the most tricked out AK when it wasn't even designed to be as such, like ofcourse a modded AK74 is better. BUT for every service member of Russia that isn't spetsnaz or anything as such, this is a much better upgrade. Better than just a simple rail n optic and a gp28/30
Not surprised to see how she performed. Will continue to enjoy my AK-19 for larp purposes 😂
The AK12 in Battlefield 4 was so much better than the ones deployed by the VDV
That ak12 was badass. This one's just ass.
When he said "is that better than it did with optics" 😂😂
Wait a second, I'm pretty sure I was subscribed to this channel. I watch like 80-90% of everything they've put out for a few years.
Can't say I'm surprised. The AK-12 is an altogether lackluster rifle.
Hopefully the Russian's and the Chinese continue to adopt mediocre rifles
Small arms are kinda irrelevant, to be honest. AK-12 will be a perfectly adequate rifle after it receives the same amount of development that were needed to make AKM, AK74 and AK74M reliable, all of those had similar teething issues.
That being said, the spec MOD requested was idiotic and they should've just requested new standard furniture for AK74M.
yeah that's the point we're making. For what they use these things for, the AK100 series rifles are more than adequate, and rail/furniture upgrades already exist.
... but they went and threw money at something that was worse.
@@9HoleReviews And that's a good thing for all of us
@@9HoleReviews the more money they waste the better
Been looking forward to this one since the podcast with Brandon H
“These sardines aren’t for eating. These sardines are for buying and selling.”
What a waste of money this gun was for Russia
Waste of opportunity, money-wise it's still a decent investment, keeping gun industry in alive condition is important. It employs people and allows experience and knowledge to be passed from one generation of gun designers and manufacturers to another. Some European countries lost that, for example.
@ForOne814 for that Russia already has specifications for highly specialised weapons. I feel like that would be both more efficient in terms of investment and create a far more practical result. Also do you realy want your entire gun industry to be built around iterating a single 75 year old design? With new specs they could have come up with original designs!
Edit:D: for the standard rifle I think they should have just developed things to put on the 74m. It would have been far more economical. You could even support local business by contracting zenetzo to make something better, probably a bit lighter and cheaper.
@@davitdavid7165 I don't think there's any actual need for a new design. Defeating modern body armor with standard rifles is just unrealistic, so there's no need to change the caliber, and if you don't need to change the caliber, there's no need to change the basic design. What I think they should've done is to just run new production of AK-74Ms with new standard furniture, may be new muzzle devices, and that's kinda it. With experience from the current war, what we also need is rifle grenades. UBGLs are great, but their grenades are limited in terms of size and weight.
@ForOne814 a: I was not talking about changing the specs for the standard issue rifle. I was talking about stuff for spec ops or counter terrorism like the ash12 or the stechkin revolver. Such designs will do much more to give expertise to gunsmiths and sinse they would be adopted in limited numbers would not instantly break the Russian economy.
B: there is a lot you can do to significantly improve the ak. If Russia was not broke and corrupt they could modernise it significantly by changing the receiver geometry to match the ar (ie sig550, galil ace, ak alpha) and could even try to implement a hold open-release mechanism and an improved chatging handle. The current receiver geometry is a huge limitation as it means that designs have to strap stable stuff on top to get good mounting capabilities instead of having a stable platform to begin with and changing the charging handle-hold open and stuff would be a ridiculous quality of life improvement.
C: you could theoretically pursue such wild modifications to the ak as the 107and the an94. Who knows, maybe another mad Russian will do some other crazy thing to the ak!
For the state, yes. I'm sure some friends of Putin felt the money was very well spent and are enjoying their new mansions.
WHO ARE YOU AND WHERE IS MY FORESKIN
people are thinking too much about the ak12. newer doesnt always mean better. buts is cheaper and easier to produce in mass and its still a reliable and solid weapon.
Great video as always. Thanks!
Should have stopped at 300 yards because that's as far as the ukranian counter offensive has gotten.
Still holding their own against "mighty" Russia.
@@skepticalbadgerif by "holding their own" you mean begging the west for weapons, then you are correct