For the first time in a long time, Russians have used AN-94 Abakan assault rifles

Have you ever seen a fairy tale character in real life? Well, this photo shows just such a fairy-tale character, the AN-94 assault rifle. It was a product that made a lot of advertising noise in the dashing 90s, but it later quietly disappeared from the scene. For 15 years now, there have been no mentions of it in the media, and I was sincerely convinced that this assault rifle had died a natural death… However, today, Twitter brought a fresh photo of AN-94 assault rifles in use by the FSS Border Guard Department in Dagestan. Therefore, it’s a good time to remember this miscarriage of the Russian arms industry.

The history of the AN-94 began in 1978 when the USSR Ministry of Defense announced a competition to create an automatic weapon that would surpass the AK-74 in combat performance. The main requirement was to increase shooting efficiency, including from uncomfortable positions: on the move, from the knee, without a rest.

As a result of the preliminary study, a recoil pulse-shifting scheme was adopted for further development. Its essence is to delay the impact of the recoil on the weapon’s position until the bullet leaves the barrel. For this purpose, small arms are built according to the “carriage scheme” adopted from artillery when the barrel rolls back during recoil together with the bolt.

In 1981, a competition was announced under the code name Abakan, in which twelve models of assault rifles took part. Among them were designs by Gennady Nikonov. His first products (NA-2, NA-3, NA-4) were built according to the bullpup scheme (with the pistol grip and trigger located in front of the magazine). They had one more stupid feature: the magazine moved relative to the weapon body along with the receiver when firing! This was done to simplify the feeding of ammunition. But just imagine: you fire a burst from an assault rifle, and the magazine moves back and forth rapidly!

In 1986, Nikonov switched from the bullpup to a conventional design, creating the AS (Russian “rifle with a blowback shifted pulse”). At the same time, he retained the movable magazine, which had to be protected from the front with a special “spoon.”

Finally, in 1987, the designer abandoned the idiotic idea of a moving magazine in the ASM assault rifle. In this form, the assault rifle was recognized as the competition winner and sent for military testing.

How does the ASM work? Without going into details, I will say that its automation works so that when the trigger is pulled, two shots are fired in one cycle, and the shooter feels the recoil when two bullets have already left the barrel channel. Thus, the rifle practically does not wobble when firing them, and the aiming point does not shift. The rate of fire reaches an astronomical 1800 rounds per minute. BUT! This works only for the FIRST TWO shots. If you fire in automatic mode, then the automation works in the usual way (one shot per cycle), the rate of fire drops to 600 rounds per minute, and the recoil is no longer compensated. In other words, the Nikonov rifle is superior to the AK-74 only when firing in fixed bursts of two shots.

In 1991, the ASM passed state tests in the Taman Division. Based on the test results, it was recommended for adoption. However, the process was delayed. The ASM was adopted by the Russian military only in 1997 under the official name “Nikonov 5.45mm rifle, mod.1994 (AN-94)” (why 1994 and not 1997 – don’t ask, I don’t know. Perhaps the documents were lying around the Ministry of Defense for three years, waiting for a signature). The name “Abakan” often appears alongside the designation AN-94. In 1998, Izhmash launched mass production, which lasted for ten years.

In the 1980s, there were optimistic plans to completely rearm the army with Nikonov assault rifles. But the reality turned out to be quite different. The AN-94 has a highly complex design: when disassembled, it is divided into 13 parts, including two springs, a cable, and a roller. While it takes no more than 10 hours to learn how to disassemble an AK, the Abakan takes weeks. This complexity hindered the massive introduction of the AN-94 into the army, making it difficult for recruits to master. Therefore, such assault rifles were only used by the Taman Division and various police SOBRs, the FSS’s Alpha, the Federal Penitentiary Service’s prison special forces, etc.

And now this greeting from the 90s has reappeared in public. How effective will it be in combat? I think not significantly – because the advantages of the AN-94 are manifested where high accuracy is important, not high fire density (in defense of positions and various special operations).