Features
Caliber :5.45 mm.
Length :930 mm.
Barrel length :400 mm.
Weight of empty weapon :3,600 kg.
Rate of fire :650 rounds/min.
Magazine capacity :30 rounds.
Muzzle velocity :900 m/s.
Oddly, the Soviet Union was very slow to imitate the West in its adoption of small-caliber cartridges. Perhaps the sheer number of AK-47s and AKMs already in circulation made such a change less urgent; in any case, it was not until the beginning of the 1970s that any thought was given to designing a new cartridge for the countries of the Warsaw Pact. Western observers learned that it was caliber 5.45 x 39 mm, and that there were examples of a new weapon that was to use it:the AK-74.
The AK-74 is nothing but an AKM modified to accept the new cartridge. It has kept the same overall look (weight, dimensions), despite some changes:the magazine is plastic, the flash hider is large. Depending on the version, the stock is made of wood or metal (it is then foldable).
Of particular note is the ball he uses. In order to make the most of its small caliber, the designers resorted to an extremely effective process, but prohibited by international conventions. The projectile, with a steel core, has a hollow point, which throws the center of gravity backwards:when it reaches its target, the tip deforms, while the mass of the bullet maintains its speed of impulse, which unbalances the ball and causes significant damage, which is not limited to the impact area. This dreadful effect is observed with certain high velocity cartridges, but most of the time (as in the case of the 5.56 mm used with the M193) it is a consequence which is not intentional. . The same is not true of the Soviet 5.45mm, whose destructive power is deliberate.
International conventions have long outlawed "dum-dum" type bullets and their abundant descendants, but it does not seem that currently such condemnations have been pronounced about the 5.45 mm.