The publication uses excerpts from foreign publications.
Regarding the 5.45-mm rifle complex adopted by us in 1974, there are various versions. The most common is that the 5.45-mm bullet is designed with a displaced center of gravity and due to this, not only somersaults in the barrier, but also breaks up into small fragments, which entails a guaranteed defeat regardless of the place of impact. In contrast to this, an opinion was expressed about the weakness of the cartridge and the insufficiency of its penetrating action. What is the truth?
Of interest are the estimates of the 5.45-mm cartridge that appeared in the foreign press after the arrival of the AK-74 assault rifle in Afghanistan. The first of them were "sensational" in nature. In particular, it was reported: “For some time now, those who have been in Afghanistan Soviet troops using bullets of unknown type. After penetration into the body, a bluish gaseous substance is released from them. The wounds inflicted by these bullets are difficult to heal." Or: “The Russians created a 5.45-mm cartridge with a poisonous bullet, since it was found in its lead in large quantities arsenic". After some time, a more sober assessment of specialists appeared: “The content of arsenic in Russian 5.45-mm bullets is insignificant and they cannot be considered as poisonous. Obviously, this is a consequence of the use of lead from natural deposits with arsenic impurities.
The final opinion was as follows:
“Unlike the cartridge used in the West (M193), the Soviet one has all the properties necessary for firing automatic weapons:
the steel sleeve has a precisely calculated groove for the extractor and a thick flange, which ensures its perfect functioning;
compared to the cartridge mod. 1943. The 5.45 mm cartridge provides better accuracy of fire, has one-third less weight, 40% less recoil momentum, less sensitivity to side wind and greater penetrating action;
reducing the caliber of the cartridge and using a small amount of lead in the pool will lead to significant savings. This is especially important, since the prices for lead and copper have risen significantly in the USSR over the past 10 years.”
“The USSR dared to adopt a cartridge with intra-ballistic performance, which is 10% lower than that of the M193 (in terms of pressure). However, the design of the bullet makes a very favorable impression in terms of external ballistics. There is no doubt that the Soviet Army adopted a successful cartridge capable of withstanding competition.
“The Soviet AK-74 assault rifle provides a 2-2.5 times greater effective firing range than the AK-47 and AKM. The 5.45 mm caliber cartridge provides 100% damage to a tall figure at 330 m and 50% at 550 m. Its bullet pierces ten rows of 19 mm pine boards, a bullet of a 7.62 mm cartridge mod. 1943 - seventeen boards. The gunpowder in the 5.45 mm cartridge is high-energy, with almost perfect speed burning. It is better than American gunpowder - WC 844 from Oipn: in the M193 cartridge, Russian gunpowder of the same weight provided an initial speed of 1040 m / s instead of 995 m / s at a lower pressure of 2.5%.
“The uniqueness of the design of the 5.45 mm bullet lies in the presence of a cavity in its head. The assumption that this cavity will cause the bullet to deform and fragmentation on impact has not been confirmed. It serves to shift the center of gravity of the bullet to the base and probably contributes to a very early loss of stability. On average, a 5.45-mm bullet begins to turn at a depth of 7 cm, but does not collapse, and a bullet of the M193 cartridge at a depth of 12 cm. However, when the bullet of the M193 cartridge begins to "prowl", it collapses, forming oblong fragments due to a break along the groove on the shell of the bullet and the subsequent destruction of the tail of the bullet (the 5.45-mm cartridge does not have such a groove). This leads to the occurrence of extensive wounds, reports of which began to appear with the introduction of the M16 rifle in the Vietnam War. The M855 bullet, which replaced the M193 bullet in the US Army (in 1982 with NATO standardization of 5.56 x 45 mm cartridge) and which is based on the SS109 bullet, also forms fragments when fired at a distance of 3, 5 and 100 m " .
Cartridges of caliber 5.45 mm (from left to right): with a tracer bullet; with a bullet steel core; idle.
Cartridges of caliber 7.62 mm (from left to right): with reduced bullet speed (US); with an incendiary bullet; with tracer bullet T-45; with an armor-piercing incendiary bullet; with a bullet with a steel core; idle.
“A 5.45mm AK-74 bullet loses stability in tissue after traveling 7cm, but does not break. From the bullets of the M193 cartridge, the wound cavity is larger, since when firing at 3 m, after passing 12 cm, they turn 90 degrees, strongly flatten and break along the annular groove into which the sleeve muzzle is pressed. The head of the M193 remains intact, and its tail, which is approximately 40% of the mass of the bullet, collapses into many fragments that penetrate to a depth of up to 7 cm from the channel.
At the same time, comparative evaluations of NATO cartridges of American, German and Swedish production were carried out in the foreign press. In particular, it was reported that “a 7.62-mm NATO cartridge bullet made in the USA (with a tombac shell 0.81 mm thick) goes normally up to 16 cm, then begins to tumble without collapsing. However, passing a distance of 20-35 cm and turning 90 degrees, it can cause great damage to tissues. A similar bullet of the 7.62 x 51 NATO cartridge manufactured in Germany (bimetallic shell thickness 0.51 cm) moves steadily 8 cm, then turns around and breaks at the annular groove. The wound channel is similar to the M193 channel, but the size of the tissue rupture is increased by 60%. In a Russian rifle cartridge, when firing at an initial speed of 850 m / s (at 3 m), the wound channel is similar to the American cartridge 7.62 x 51.
The most destructive bullet described above is the 7.62 mm West German NATO round. It can be assumed; that the bullet of the Swedish cartridge 7.62 x 51 is the same, causing much more extensive wounds than the M193.
Summarizing the statements of independent Western experts, we can state: bullets of domestic cartridges, including 7.62 mm rifle and machine guns of 5.45 and 7.62 mm mod. 1943, do not collapse even when fired point-blank at a distance of 3 m. Foreign bullets of the 5.56 mm M193 cartridge, 5.56 x 45 mm NATO M109 cartridge, 7.62x51 mm NATO cartridge manufactured by Germany and Sweden are destroyed at fragments when firing at a distance of up to 100 m or even more, severely damaging tissues. A similar effect of 7.62 mm caliber bullets is significantly "greater than 5.56-5.45 mm caliber bullets. Of course; in some cases, the destruction of bullets is also possible when firing 5.45 mm cartridges when fired at close range or in the event of a bullet hit to the bone, but this is already an inevitable tribute to the necessary live cartridge shot power.
All bullets, regardless of the position of their centers of mass, begin to turn (tumble) in tissues under the influence of environmental resistance. How quickly this happens depends on the rifling pitch of the barrel, that is, on the stability margin of the bullets. In small-caliber, a damaging effect approaching the action of bullets larger caliber, is achieved by reducing this stability margin (increasing the rifling pitch). This forced measure to compensate for the decrease in caliber is associated with the requirement to ensure the effectiveness of bullets at all ranges. combat use. We also have to take into account the characteristics of similar weapons. potential adversary.
Finally, a few words about the creators of the 5.45 mm cartridge. The cartridge is the most conservative part of small arms. Its design must be carefully worked out in all respects, taking into account the fact that it will be in service for decades. In the process of mass production of cartridges, a significant improvement in their characteristics is almost impossible, since this will require changes in the types of weapons in operation, sights and automation. Some modernization is possible only if the old and improved cartridges are completely interchangeable. On the other hand, the level of effectiveness of small arms largely depends on the characteristics of the cartridge, since the cartridge contains the recoil momentum, the flatness of the trajectories, and the action on the target.
In this regard, large teams of specialists are working on developing the design and manufacturing technology of the cartridge and its components, and it is impossible to name one author of the cartridge. Nevertheless, in any legend there is a certain amount of truth. In our case, it lies in the fact that when creating a 5.45-mm cartridge, a woman was at the head of a group of specialists at the leading enterprise - the developer of the cartridge - Lidia Ivanovna Bulavskaya, whose work was rightfully noted by the Motherland high state award.
It should be noted that in 1980 one of the deputies of the German Bundestag made a request to the Minister of Defense of the Federal Republic of Germany about the excessive lethal effect and "inhumanity" of 5.45-mm bullets to the AK-74 assault rifle used in Afghanistan. The answer was given that the Minister of Defense of the FRG had no complaints about the Soviet 5.45-mm cartridge in this regard. In 1981, to Soviet government received a similar request from the International Red Cross and the UN. Based on the results of extensive comparative tests, these organizations were presented with data demonstrating that, in terms of lethal effect, 5.45-mm bullets are somewhat inferior to bullets of the 5.56-mm M193 cartridge. Numerous symposiums on the damaging effect of bullets did not confirm the validity of the requirements to ban the 5.56-mm M193 cartridge on the basis of its "inhumanity" small arms.
Rifle cartridges of caliber 7.62 mm (from left to right): with an attachment-incendiary bullet; with tracer bullet T-46; with an armor-piercing incendiary bullet; with a bullet with a steel core; with a heavy bullet; with a light bullet; idle.
V. DVORYANINOV, candidate of technical sciences; lieutenant colonel S. DERYUGIN
5.45x39 discussions of the question do not subside - why is it needed? Let's try to figure it out.
To begin with, I will leave aside the value of this cartridge for Caeg owners who are nostalgic for footcloths and wear their hunting carbines into lacquered plywood and spray-painted nylon magazines plum. It was always incomprehensible to me, so to each his own.
Further, I note that the tales from the series “the ensign promised to fit the tracer zinc to me here” in practice remained in the dense 1990s. Now in the army, some kind of order has been put in place, taking into account weapons and consumables, and the probability of stealing or decommissioning a car of automatic cartridges is, of course, not entirely zero, but this is a rarity that you should not really bet on. If it were otherwise, then the hobbits would not have experienced the extreme years of a shortage of weapons and ammunition, gradually re-equipping with more and more ancient historical artifacts and stupid homemade products.
And, finally, let's not forget about the established law enforcement practice on the illegal circulation of military ammunition of the same caliber as civilian. If about ten or fifteen years ago they looked through their fingers at the presence of cartridges with cores in a hunter (let's be honest - there was a lot of mess), now two or more live cartridges perfectly excite and work out 222h1, and the presence of a permit for a Tiger or Saiga of a similar caliber - mitigating is not a circumstance. Yes, a cunning lawyer may try to come up with a line about a fantastic confusion of live ammunition with civilians that occurred in an unspecified place, at an unspecified time, etc., but this is only one of the lines of defense, and in no way a rehabilitating circumstance. So no need to mess with army cartridges - that's my advice. Not those times.
Well, actually let's talk about the material part.
external ballistics. The 5.45x39 cartridge is almost the same type as 5.56x45, and it should be compared with it. Let's take two Saiga-MK carbines with 415mm barrels. The score tables look like this:
Those. Roughly, 5.45x39 is very close to the powerful 4 gram Barnaul-223. However, as you can clearly see from the table, the .223 is slightly heavier and more powerful at the start, but has a slightly less flat trajectory, slightly more recoil and loses energy and speed faster. As a result, the difference in the recoil of a shot of 5J versus 6J makes it possible to shoot from a 3kg 5.45 weapon at the same speed as from a similar 4kg weapon 5.56. In addition, the point-blank range advantage of, for example, the Alpha of an IPSC metric target looks like this: 
Why it happens? With a similar mass and caliber, the relative length of the 5.45 bullet is greater than that of 5.56, and therefore the ballistic coefficient of the domestic cartridge is better. It did not happen by chance - our cartridge was made in response to the American one, and the creators tried to make it at least not worse, but better. As a result, rudely, if a p.223 carbine can be fired at 300 meters into the scoring zone without vertical adjustments, then with an AK-74 clone it can be fired at 350 meters. It seems to be an insignificant difference, but from these pennies a victory in sports comes.
Wound ballistics. It's even more interesting here. The 5.56 cartridge was created for weapons with a 510mm barrel, and any carbines in the AKM format are "sawn-off" by default. At the same time, the OD of this cartridge of the FMJ and HP types is based on the destruction of a short bullet in an obstacle due to the high flight speed. As soon as the speed drops below 700m/s, this destruction does not occur, and the jacketed 5.56 bullet begins to work like an ordinary small thing, and the expansion does not open. The effect is known, it can be treated only by using the SP half-shell, but such bullets are less reliable when chambered in semi-automatic weapons and have a number of other legal disadvantages. That is, for 5.56, a longer barrel is desirable, optimally 500mm, and not 350mm, like a weapon of the Saiga-MK03 class. In the case of 5.45, we have the well-known effect of a long “bullet with a displaced center of gravity”, which, due to its length, overturns after about 10 cm of passage through the target in almost all ranges of speeds and distances, causing a very stable traumatic effect. And the specified effect can be achieved on weapons with any barrel length - from "bitch" 214mm to RPKshnyh - 590mm. That is, OD does not depend on the length of the barrel, and in the case of a domestic caliber, it is possible to have a weapon that is effective not only on paper in compact dimensions.
Separately for imported ammunition. I often read the opinions of beginners and theorists of rifled weapons about the use of imported ammunition, which should increase accuracy to fantastic values. Unfortunately, in my experience shooting p.308 and p.223 at IPSC and just at the shooting range, the range of available imported cartridges in Russia is actually quite small. And the quality of these cartridges for a specific barrel is often much lower than expected for such money. I do not urge you to drop everything and switch to only the products of domestic cartridge factories. It’s just that you shouldn’t immediately discard it - with a high probability you will shoot the usual Barnaul or Centaur from Saiga, so the advantage of the existence of high-precision cartridges in your caliber somewhere in the world is very far-fetched.
Findings. It will be extremely interesting if domestic factories still issue a civilian AKMoyd at 5.45x39 to the mountain. This will be an extremely interesting complex, both for sports and as a NAZ weapon "just in case." The only question is the price, quality of performance and the timing of the appearance of such a complex. For me personally, the new caliber is interesting for the possibility of creating a weapon weighing 3 kg for it with a barrel length of 350 mm, which has a rate of fire and terminal efficiency comparable to more heavy weapons with a longer barrel under .223 caliber.
Upd. The excess table for AK105 is given below, for which thanks to the respected
What caliber a really good weapon has, almost everyone knows. In the case of the AK-74, this is more than fair: blank AK-74 cartridges are in high demand and hot commodity. The 5.45x39 mm caliber cartridge was made specifically for use in tandem with this creation of the legendary weapons designer, but later countless other weapons developments were modernized and manufactured for its use. Caliber 5.45 is a blank cartridge that is perfect not only for the AK-74, but also for many other machine guns and carbines, both domestic and foreign.
Description of the blank cartridge 5.45x39 mm
You can buy 5.45 mm blank cartridges in our online store. The technology of their production allows them to be used in all types of suitable caliber. The leading edge of the cartridge case, in which, for obvious reasons, there is no bullet, is clamped with an asterisk so that it is placed inside powder charge didn't wake up. Thanks to the accuracy of manufacturing, firing blanks from AK cartridges looks realistic and has an acoustic effect that is absolutely identical to real cartridges from each shot.
Blank cartridges AK-74 are actively used in some military units and departmental units for training personnel in the handling of this type of weapon. Such a cartridge is not used for shooting due to the impossibility of checking the accuracy of personnel without damaging the targets with a bullet.
For peaceful purposes, the townsfolk use noise cartridges mainly for the reconstruction of hostilities in the second half of the twentieth century. In addition, many owners of blank AK-74s enjoy the mere fact of firing blanks from AKs. Due to the bulkiness of the cooled machine guns and carbines suitable for shooting cartridges of this caliber (and also due to the rarity of 5.45 mm SKHP pistols), a blank cartridge is rarely used as an acoustic means of self-defense 5.45.
Buy blank cartridges for AK 5.45
If you need to buy 5.45mm blanks, then your search may well end here. Our online store offers you a truly profitable chance to purchase goods of this category at affordable prices. We can sell you from a few pieces to several boxes - depending on your goals and needs.
We guarantee the high quality of the 5.45 mm noise cartridges sold and the low percentage of misfires. All goods entering our range undergo strict quality control, and the detected defects are withdrawn from circulation in order to protect the interests and safety of our customers. It is for this reason that firing blank AK cartridges purchased from our store will undoubtedly give you great pleasure.
1. 5.45x39 7H6; 2. 5.45x39 7H24; 3. 5.45x39 7H10; 4. 5.45x39 7H22
A low-impulse intermediate cartridge developed in the early 70s by a group of Soviet designers as a counterweight to the American cartridge 5.56x34.5 (.223 Remington), which was widely used by the Americans in Vietnam in the 60s. By the early 70s Soviet designers also understood the promise of intermediate small-caliber cartridges. A small-caliber bullet, having a high initial velocity, provides a high flatness of the trajectory, has good armor penetration and significant lethal force. At the end of the 1950s, news reached the Union about tests in the United States of a new M16 small-caliber automatic rifle. As usual then, along with the news, the rifle itself appeared. Legend has it that a hybrid was tested, consisting of a Kalashnikov assault rifle, an M16 barrel and a newly designed magazine. The tests served as an impetus for the deployment of their own program to create a small-caliber machine gun. The American barrel was caliber .22 or 5.56 mm, which corresponded to our small-caliber cartridge known as 5.6 mm. Thus began - rather as a tribute to fashion, and not an urgent need - the development of a domestic 5.6-mm machine gun. Again, the legend says that in Podolsk a certain number of American-style cartridges were made for testing, which they quickly abandoned and set about designing their own ammunition with a bullet of the same diameter. They did something, but remembered that in the USA a different system for measuring the caliber of weapons was adopted. We measure by the fields of grooves, and overseas, as a rule, by the grooves themselves. With the same caliber designation, our bullets are thicker than American ones in terms of rifling depth. So, in the early 70s, their .22 caliber with a bullet diameter of 5.56 mm turned into our 5.45 mm. There is nothing criminal in such a practice of reasonable borrowing: the same Americans, having received our cartridge, albeit without a barrel, and having tested it on full program, came to the conclusion about his superiority over his own. Immediately, to some extent, they made an analogue of our XM777 bullet, replacing the lead core with a steel one. In the 80s, to replace the American M193 cartridge with a lead-core bullet, which is in service with NATO countries, the Belgian SS109 ammunition with a steel-core bullet was nevertheless adopted. To defeat protected targets, along with the SS109, the P112 cartridge with an armor-piercing bullet was adopted. A 5.45-mm caliber automatic cartridge with a 7N6 steel-core bullet and a 7T3 tracer bullet was developed under the guidance of V. M. Sabelnikov, a group of designers and technologists consisting of L. I. Bulavskaya, B. V. Semin, M. E Fedorova, P. F. Sazonova, V. I. Volkov, V. A. Nikolaeva, E. E. Zimina, P. S. Koroleva and others. i.e., it flies steadily in the air and begins to "tumble" when it enters a denser medium - living tissue, wood, etc. This is achieved by shifting the center of gravity to the bottom of the bullet. To ensure the loss of stability of the bullet in a dense medium, the bullet core is located in the shell of the bullet with a gap in the front of the bullet. There is a void in front of the core and jacket in the front part, which provides a shift in the center of gravity of the bullet and instability in a dense environment compared to air. Types of cartridges 5.45 x 39:
- "PS" - with a bullet with a steel core (index 7N6, 7N6VK) weighing 3.30-3.55 g. Since 1986 they have been produced with a heat-strengthened (up to 60 HRC) steel (65G) cylindrical core. Bullet unpainted. "T" - tracer (7T3). Green bullet tip. The cartridge for firing from weapons with silent firing devices (index 7U1) contains a bullet weighing 5.15 g, which has an initial speed of 303 m/s. The coloration is a black bullet top with a green rim. Blank (7X3) with a plastic bullet weighing 0.22-0.26 g. It has a charge of special fast-burning gunpowder weighing 0.24 g. Training (without a charge). It is distinguished by the presence of four longitudinal stampings on the sleeve and a double annular crimp of the bullet in the muzzle of the sleeve. In 1993, a PP (7N10) cartridge was produced with a stamped core made of special grades of alloys such as steel 70 or 75 (a bullet with increased penetration), a bullet of which, weighing 3.49-3.74 g, pierces a 16-mm steel plate at a distance of 100 meters, elements body armor made of titanium alloys at a distance of 200 meters. The sealant varnish is dark purple, unlike the red in 7H6. A stamped pointed core is used, having a short ogive, and the nose of the core has a flat area with a diameter of about 0.8 mm. In 1994, a cartridge with a modernized high-powered 7N10 bullet was developed and accepted for production, the main difference of which is that the cavity in the nose is filled with lead, which prevented the shell from being pulled into the hole punched in the barrier by the core. Upon contact with the barrier by the pressure of lead, compressed between the head of the core and the bullet shell, the latter is destroyed. Such a device eliminates the pulling of parts of the shell into the hole, which increases the penetrating power of the bullet. In 1998, a cartridge BP (7N22) with an armor-piercing bullet weighing 3.68 g was developed and put into service, which pierces an armor plate 5 mm thick at a distance of 250 meters. In the 7N22 pool, a pointed core is used, made of U12A high-carbon steel, by cutting with subsequent grinding of the ogival part. The sealing varnish is red, the bullet has a black nose. FSUE PO "Vympel" (Amursk) produces a 7N24 cartridge with an armor-piercing bullet weighing from 3.93 to 4.27 g, with a speed of 840 m / s (data from the manufacturer's website). Exemplary cartridge - designed for comparative verification of the ballistic characteristics of cartridges stored in warehouses. Corresponds to the standard cartridge (7H6), but made with increased accuracy. The nose of the bullet is painted white. Cartridge with enhanced charge (US) - the entire bullet is entirely black. Cartridge high pressure(VD) - the entire bullet is entirely yellow. Cartridge 5.45x39 (5.45x40) SN-P for the SONAZ TP-82 complex. The bullet originally had a lead core and a shell in the head part, later - a steel core and a hole in the head part. Bullet weight 3.6 g, muzzle velocity - 825-840 m/s.
1. 5.45x39 7T3; 2. 5.45x39 7x3
Main specifications bullets caliber 5.45 mm
| Characteristics / Bullet type |
7H6 with heat-strengthened core |
7H10 modernized |
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| Core weight, average, g. | |||||
| Bullet weight, average, g. | |||||
| Core material |
Under a low-pulse cartridge, it was a materialized expression of the spirit of sharp rivalry in the military field between the Organization Warsaw Pact and the NATO bloc in the era cold war. The appearance of a new "ammunition-weapon" complex in the main enemy required an urgent and effective response from our side. Possessing impeccable reliability, AKM 7.62-mm Kalashnikov assault rifles, however, are not full degree ensured the increasing demands of the Armed Forces on the probability of hitting the target due to increased dispersion when firing bursts, as well as the high steepness of bullet trajectories. This was due to the fact that the large recoil momentum of the 7.62 mm automatic cartridge model 1943 (0.78 kgf / s) did not allow even the modernized Kalashnikov assault rifle to achieve high accuracy of combat with automatic fire, especially when firing from unstable positions. For a long time, domestic specialists have been working on an intensive search for ways to increase the combat effectiveness of a regular Kalashnikov assault rifle. Studies have shown that the accuracy of firing from a machine gun is determined not only by the ballistic momentum of the cartridge and the recoil energy of the weapon, but also by the design characteristics of the sample itself (mass, moment of inertia, location of the centers of mass of the weapon and moving parts of automation), as well as dynamic characteristics (rate of fire and impacts moving parts).
In the Soviet Union, the expediency of switching manual automatic weapons to a caliber smaller than the existing 7.62 mm was scientifically substantiated by V. G. Fedorov already in 1939, when he wrote that the range of a direct shot of an “intermediate” cartridge should be no less than with a standard rifle cartridge. To reduce the weight and size characteristics of cartridges, he proposed to reduce their caliber to 6–6.25 mm. Back in 1945, V. G. Fedorov, in his work “Study of further ways to increase the efficiency of shooting from small arms,” proved that the development of automatic small arms would become the most promising only if it developed in the direction of reducing the caliber of cartridges. However, the official line pursued at that time by the leadership of the People's Commissariat of Armaments of the USSR and the Chief artillery control The People's Commissariat of Defense of the USSR, aimed at developing a complex of small arms designed to use a 7.62-mm "intermediate" cartridge, did not take into account Fedorov's conclusions. Along with subjective factors, this was also due to objective reasons - in the Soviet Union in the mid-1940s, the arms industry enterprises lacked the technical and technological base for the manufacture of both small-caliber live ammunition and the weapon itself.
Still, the very idea of creating a more effective "ammunition-weapon" complex was not shelved. By the beginning of the 1960s, domestic gunsmiths had gained some experience in creating advanced systems of automatic infantry weapons, consisting of an automatic rifle and single machine gun. They were developed under an experienced powerful 7.62-mm single machine-gun cartridge designed by S. I. Vetoshkin. In this direction, Soviet designers moved parallel to our opponents, whose bitter negative experience was taken into account when carrying out subsequent work on promising small arms systems in the USSR.
US military, only recently re-equipped with 7.62mm automatic rifles M-14, designed for the powerful 7.62 x51 NATO rifle and machine gun cartridge, by this time had already reaped the sad fruits of such a hasty decision. And this, in turn, forced the American military command already in 1957 to make a fundamental decision to start developing automatic weapons for a low-pulse cartridge, which thus became a turning point in all subsequent modern small arms. To a similar conclusion about low efficiency new ammunition of normal rifle caliber came after a lot of R&D by Soviet designers. High level the technical solution of new domestic cartridges and the certain decrease in the recoil momentum achieved at the same time, nevertheless, did not allow solving the main task assigned to the new “ammunition-weapon” complex: to achieve an increase in the effective firing range by one and a half times in relation to the standard small arms complex, designed for 7.62 mm automatic cartridge mod. 1943.
Along with this, research was also carried out in the Soviet Union in the field of the patterns of bullet dispersion depending on the recoil impulses, the design of muzzle compensators, etc. New ammunition of 4.5 mm and 6.5 mm caliber was being developed, various design options for non-classical bullets and weapons under them.
So, in 1960-1962, engineers and designers of NII-61 V. P. Gryazev, A. G. Shipunov, D. I. Shiryaev, I. Kasyanov, O. P. Kravchenko and V. A. Petrov created low-pulse cartridges with sub-caliber feathered (arrow-shaped) bullets with leading elements separating in flight (plastic pallets). D. I. Shiryaev developed for this cartridge prototype AO-27 assault rifle, relatively light and stable when firing with automatic fire. The large flatness of the trajectory of the arrow-shaped bullet to a certain extent compensated for the low accuracy of the battle. However, the accuracy results shown when firing from the AO-27 turned out to be much lower than planned, so all work on similar weapons was stopped. But this did not mean a complete rejection of the idea, since it was able to increase the efficiency of fire of individual automatic weapons, and after a few years a new modified rifle cartridge with an arrow-shaped bullet appeared, designed by the engineer of the same NII-61 V.N. easel machine gun Goryunov SGM and Dragunov SVD sniper rifle. Similar studies were also widely carried out in the United States, however, the negative results shown by these munitions during tests forced the Americans to curtail all work in this direction.
Simultaneously with the failure that ended work on the creation of a new domestic complex"ammunition-weapon", the leadership of the Ministry of Defense of the USSR receives information about the new high-performance rifles AR 15 (XM 16), developed for the low-pulse cartridge 5.56 x45 M 193, accepted for trial operation in american army. Soon, military trophies from South Vietnam- weapons and ammunition. And these facts forced the military to think seriously about the fact that the enemy is ahead of us in this area of military-technical research, since the Americans in 1961 were already conducting the final stage of military tests of a new weapon designed for a cartridge with a reduced recoil momentum. While in the Soviet Union, the 7.62-mm AKM assault rifle was only recently adopted, which was already inferior to the promising AR 15 rifle in some respects.
The evolution of small arms has led to the conclusion that while maintaining the classical scheme, which uses a powder charge as an energy source for throwing bullets, a decrease in caliber will increase the initial speed of the bullets. Thus, it will be possible to achieve a flat trajectory of the bullets, reduce the mass of the weapon itself and increase the ammunition carried by the shooter (without increasing the total weight load). The use of new designs of bullets and cartridges, new materials of bullet cores made it possible to provide the required damaging properties of bullets of reduced calibers. At the same time, theoretical calculations showed that the characteristics of the 5.6 mm cartridge are not the same for various conditions fight. In close combat, usually offensive, when firing from unstable positions at short ranges, bullets of this caliber have a maximum penetrating effect, therefore, to increase the effectiveness of hitting targets, a decrease in dispersion became of primary importance, which could be achieved both by reducing the power of the cartridge and by reducing the momentum recoil, but at the same time it also affected the decrease in the initial velocity of the bullet. In a defensive battle, firing was carried out at much greater ranges and mainly from stable positions, so the dispersion here is much less, and the flatness of the trajectory and penetrating action became the decisive factor, which could only be achieved by increasing the power of the cartridge. The contradiction between an increase in the muzzle velocity of a bullet and its mass and a decrease in these characteristics for different conditions battle forced the Soviet gunsmiths to look for the best option.
Therefore, in 1961, in the Soviet Union, NII-61 specialists began comprehensive research to reduce the recoil momentum of weapons and develop a new 5.6 mm cartridge with a high initial velocity based on a recompressed cartridge case of a 7.62 mm automatic cartridge mod. 1943.
The first stage of research work, which began in the Soviet Union in 1963, to create a new “ammunition-weapon” complex, was carried out on converted 5.6 mm AKM assault rifles. As a result of the research, it turned out that the new 5.6 mm cartridge had a 35 percent lower recoil momentum than the 7.62 mm cartridge mod. 1943, and this made it possible to reduce the recoil energy of weapons by 1.8 times. Research Artillery test site Ministry of Defense of the USSR in the Vsevolozhsk region Leningrad region, analyzing the possibilities of using new, most optimal design schemes for small arms, in his conclusion he indicated that "the most effective way to improve the accuracy of the machine gun when firing from unstable positions is to reduce the recoil momentum when fired."
An important factor that contributed to such a conclusion of our military experts was the fact that the AR 15 rifle was superior to the AKM assault rifle not only in one of the main parameters - the accuracy of the battle, but also in the probability of hits. Thus, the most realistic way to increase the combat effectiveness of individual automatic weapons could be the adoption of a new intermediate cartridge with a reduced recoil momentum and the development of a next-generation machine gun for it.
As a result of long-term work by a group of specialists - ammunition workers of TSNIITOCHMASH (Klimovsk, Moscow Region) under the leadership of V. M. Sabelnikov, consisting of L. I. Bulavskaya, B. V. Semin, M. E. Fedorova, P. F. Sazonov, V . I. Volkova, V. A. Nikolaeva, E. E. Zimina, P. S. Koroleva and others created a completely new domestic 5.6-mm low-impulse cartridge with a bullet with a steel core and with a sleeve length of 39 mm, which received originally the name "13 MZhV". Subsequently, when the designation of the caliber was adopted, corresponding to the actual diameter of the bore along the rifling fields - 5.45 mm, the cartridge received the GRAU index - 7 H6.
With a lower bullet weight (3.42 g instead of 7.9 g for the AKM and 3.56 g for the AR 15), the designers managed to achieve a reduction in the maximum allowable level of the recoil momentum of automatic cartridges (0.49 kgf / s versus 0.78 and 0, 58 kgf / s, respectively) and at the same time increase the range of a direct shot, i.e. the range at which the height of the trajectory is equal to the height of the target (440 m instead of 350 and 426 m, respectively), which, by the way, exceeded a similar characteristic of 7.62- mm rifle cartridge arr. 1908. The peculiarity of his bullet was that the steel core of the 5.45-mm cartridge 7 H6 had a lead jacket, and the bullet shell was steel, clad with tompak. A similar arrangement of bullets ensured its better strength and greater penetrating effect than the 5.56 x45 M.193 cartridges. The excellent aerodynamic shape of the bullet of the new Soviet 5.45 mm cartridge contributed to its high ballistic performance (muzzle velocity 900 m/s). In addition, its design was similar to the 7.62 mm bullet taken as a sample from a single submachine gun cartridge. It also had a void in the head, which, along with the optimally selected rifling pitch for this ammunition, provided the small-caliber bullet with the same bullet as the 7.62-mm cartridge mod. 1943 lethal action at the entire range of a direct shot. Only by the end of the 1960s were the recommendations of V. G. Fedorov, who 30 years earlier defended his point of view on the development of intermediate cartridges of small calibers, finally implemented.
Perfection of the mass type small arms of the Soviet army - Kalashnikov assault rifles was largely determined by the successful development of new 5.45-mm automatic cartridges. For firing from the AK 74 assault rifle, 5.45 mm low-pulse cartridges mod. 1974 with steel sleeves:
- with an ordinary bullet with a steel core (PS),
With a tracer bullet (T)
- with a bullet of reduced speed (US).
To simulate shooting, blank cartridges were used (initially without a bullet, and later with a plastic bullet), which were automatically fired using a special sleeve screwed onto the muzzle of the barrel instead of a muzzle brake-compensator.
At an initial speed of 900 m / s of the AK 74 machine gun, the bullet received a rotation speed of 4500 revolutions per second, and RPK 74 at an initial speed of 960 m / s - 4530 revolutions per second). This ensured the high stability of the bullet in flight, almost equivalent to the stability of the bullet cartridge 5.56 NATO (adopted to supply the armies of the North Atlantic bloc only in 1980). For promotion damaging effect in terms of manpower, the layout of the bullet was chosen so that the bullet in flight was “on the verge of stability” and lost stability when it entered a denser medium.
The new 5.45 mm 7 H6 cartridge with a flat trajectory made it possible to increase the range of a direct shot at a full-length figure from 525 (for AKM) to 625 m (for AK 74). Sighting range firing from 5.45-mm machine guns (machine guns) was 1000 m. on airplanes, helicopters and paratroopers - from a machine gun and a machine gun - up to 500 m.
Concentrated fire on ground group targets can be fired from machine guns and light machine guns at a distance of up to 1000 m. at light machine gun RPK 74–460 and 640 m (respectively).
However, in the AK 74 assault rifle, compared to the AKM, due to a decrease in caliber, the lethal range of the bullet was also reduced from 1500 to 1350 m, i.e. the ratio between the lethal action range and the effective firing range decreased from 3.75 to 2.7 times. Dispersion when firing from AK 74 in short bursts from stable positions (lying from a stop or standing from a trench) at a distance of up to 800 m began to be: the median deviation of the dispersion in height was total - 0.48 m, the lateral total - 0.64 m. Weight reduction cartridge allowed the soldier to increase the wearable ammunition load from 100 rounds of 7.62 mm caliber to 165 rounds of 5.45 mm caliber without increasing the mass of the weapon. An increase in the initial velocity of the bullet, a flat trajectory, and a decrease in the recoil momentum made it possible to increase the combat effectiveness of the 5.45 mm AK 74 assault rifle by 1.2–1.6 times compared to the 7.62 mm AKM assault rifle. A bullet with a steel core of the 7 H6 cartridge, when fired from an AK 74 assault rifle / RPK74 light machine gun, provided penetration of a 5-mm steel sheet (with 80–90 percent through penetration) at a distance of 350 m, steel helmets(helmets) - at a distance of 800 m, regular domestic army body armor Zh86-5 - at 550 m.
However, work to improve the "ammunition - weapons" complex in the Soviet Union did not end there. New trends in military affairs, as well as combat operation The Soviet army in Afghanistan 5.45-mm Kalashnikov AK 74 led to the need to undergo major modernization of both the weapon itself and the 5.45-mm cartridge. The widespread use in the 1980s in the armies of many countries of personal armor protection (in particular, bulletproof vests) showed that their defeat when firing from machine guns is not guaranteed. Further development of personal protective equipment, the use of bulletproof vests with plates made of durable titanium alloys drastically reduced the effectiveness of the 7 H6 bullet with a heat-strengthened core due to the imperfection of the core shape, which is not capable of penetrating a titanium alloy plate even at close range. Therefore, Soviet gunsmith designers had to look for new ways to increase the penetration action of bullets of low-pulse automatic cartridges. Already in 1986, the penetrating effect of 5.45-mm cartridges was significantly increased due to the use of a heat-strengthened core of increased hardness 7 N6 M in the bullet design: the penetration range of protected targets, in particular steel helmets (helmets), increased from 800 to 960 m, body armor with titanium plates from 20 to 200 m. Since the beginning of the 1990s, almost simultaneously with the adoption of the 5.45-mm modernized AK 74 M assault rifle (in 1991), cartridges with new increased penetration bullets have also been put into service, complementing together with a newly developed machine gun infantry weapon system. So, in 1992, the core was improved again, making it more pointed and heavy. At the same initial speed, a bullet with an increased penetration action (PP) with a heat-strengthened core (index 7 H10) now ensured penetration of the regular domestic army bulletproof vest Zh85-T (with 40 percent through penetration) at a distance of 200 m, and heavy bulletproof vest Zh95-K - at a range of 50 m, while a bullet with a steel core of a 5.45-mm cartridge 7 N6 M pierced the Zh85-T body armor only at a distance of 90 m, and the penetration of the Zh95-K body armor was not provided at all firing ranges. As a result, the 5.45-mm cartridge 7 H10 with a PP bullet came close to the 7.62-mm rifle cartridge mod. 1908, and their effectiveness in breaking through obstacles increased 1.84 times compared to the bullet of the 7 H6 cartridge. However, ensuring a given level of direct shot range and penetrating action required an increase in the power of the 5.45 mm cartridge, which in a certain way affected its increased recoil momentum and a fairly large dispersion of bullets when firing AK 74. In addition, the adoption of a new cartridge with an increased penetration bullet had a downside. The survivability resource of AK 74 M assault rifle barrels has sharply decreased when firing with a new cartridge. Therefore, the designers had to carry out a number of research works to increase the survivability of the bore. It should be noted that the reserves of the 5.45 mm bullet in terms of increasing the effectiveness of hitting obstacles are far from exhausted, work in this direction continues. In recent years, new modifications of 5.45-mm automatic cartridges have been created and accepted for supply to the Russian Armed Forces: with an armor-piercing bullet BP (index 7 H22); with armor-piercing bullet BS (index 7 H24); cartridge with an armor-piercing tracer bullet (index 7 BT4); - a modernized cartridge with a tracer bullet (index 7 T3 M); with a bullet of reduced ricochet ability (index 5.45 PRS).
Currently, the Russian Armed Forces use the following main variants of 5.45-mm low-impulse automatic cartridges.
5.45 mm automatic cartridge mod. 1974 with a bullet with a steel core PS (index 7 H6)
Live cartridges with bullets of all types are produced only with a steel, bottle-shaped sleeve coated with dark green varnish with a non-protruding flange and groove. The propellant charge is SFO33 spheroid powder, since 1989 it has been replaced by SSNf30 / 3.69 grade gunpowder.
A pointed bullet with a diameter of 5.65 mm, with an elongated head part with a rear cone without a belt, consists of a stamped steel core (St10 steel) weighing 1.43 g; lead jacket and bimetallic (steel, tompac-clad) shell. The lead jacket does not reach the end of the shell, and in front of the bullet, between inner surface the head of the shell and the lead jacket has a cavity 5 mm long, which contributes to the shift of the center of gravity of the bullet somewhat back, which reduces the stability of the bullet when it meets the target. The edges of the shell in the tail of the bullet are rolled up with support on the bottom of the core. The bullet is not painted. In all 5.45 mm caliber live cartridges, except for cartridges with PP bullets, red varnish is used to seal the junction of the bullet with the edge of the muzzle of the case and the junction of the primer, which does not have a distinctive color. Currently out of production.
5.45 mm automatic cartridge mod. 1974 with a high penetration bullet PP (index 7 H10)
In 1992, a new modification of the 5.45 mm automatic cartridge mod. 1974 with a bullet of increased penetration PP, developed by the creative team of designers and technologists of the Barnaul Machine Tool Plant. The increased penetration bullet PP received a stamped elongated heat-strengthened steel core of a larger mass. The core made of steel St70 (weighing 1.72 g) or St75 (weighing 1.8 g) has head part more streamlined ogival shape, a flat top with a diameter of 1.8 mm and a recess in the center of the bottom (unlike the PS bullet). The PP bullet with increased penetration ensured the penetration of alloy plates at a distance of 100 meters - 100 percent and steel plates with a thickness of 14 mm at a distance of 100 meters of at least 80 cents.
5.45 mm automatic cartridges mod. 1974 are sealed in regular cartridge wooden boxes of 2160 pieces each. Each box holds two metal roll-up boxes containing 1,080 rounds. There is also a closure option, in which packs of cartridges are placed not in steel boxes, but in paper moisture-proof bags (120 cartridges each), four packs of 30 cartridges each. At the same time, on wooden box the inscription "moisture-proof packages" is made. The closure contains special abbreviated alphanumeric designations. On boxes and boxes containing cartridges with special bullets, an additional color strip is applied, corresponding to distinctive coloration cartridge.
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