AK-74 AK-74 The AK-74 (Russian: or "Kalashnikov automatic rifle model 1974") is an assault rifle developed in the early 1970s by Russian designer Mikhail Kalashnikov as the replacement for the earlier AKM (itself a refined version of the AK-47). It uses a smaller 5.45×39mm cartridge, replacing the 7.62×39mm chambering of earlier Kalashnikov-pattern weapons. The rifle first saw service with Soviet forces engaged in the 1979 Afghanistan conflict. The head of the Afghan bureau of the Pakistani Inter-Services Intelligence claimed that the CIA paid $5,000 for the first AK-74 captured by the Mujahideen during the Soviet–Afghan War. Presently, the rifle continues to
German military rifles designed in 1945 by Sergei Gavrilovich Simonov. It is formally known as the "Samozaryadniy Karabin sistemi Simonova" (Russian: Самозарядный карабин системы Симонова), 1945 (Self-loading Carbine, Simonov's system, 1945), or SKS 45. It was originally planned to serve as the standard issue weapon for the Soviet military forces, alongside the new AK-47. As mass production of AK-pattern rifles increased, the SKS carbine was soon phased out of service. It was quickly replaced entirely by the AK-47, but it remained in second-line service for decades afterwards. The AK-47 is a gas-operated assault rifle used in most Eastern bloc countries including East Germany