The AL-7 is a Soviet

assault rifle An assault rifle is a select fire rifle that uses an intermediate cartridge, intermediate-rifle cartridge and a Magazine (firearms), detachable magazine.C. Taylor, ''The Fighting Rifle: A Complete Study of the Rifle in Combat'', F.A. Moyer '' ...

Izhmash JSC Kalashnikov Concern (; ), known until 2013 as the Izhevsk Machine-Building Plant (; ), is a Russian defense manufacturing concern and joint-stock company headquartered in the city of Izhevsk in the Republic of Udmurtia as well as the capita ...

engineer Yury Aleksandrov in the early 1970s. The AL-7 uses a type of operation developed by Pyotr Tkachyov of

TsNIITochMash TsNIITochMash () is a Russian industrial design bureau which is a major designer and producer of weapons for the Russian military and MVD National Guard. The name is an initialism for Central Scientific - Research Institute for Precision Machin ...

(Central Institute for Precision Machine Building) in the mid-1960s known as ''Balanced Automatics'' first used on the

AO-38 assault rifle The AO-38 is a 5.45×39mm assault rifle and AK derivative designed by Peter Andreevich Tkachev and first to use the Balanced Automatic Recoil System (BARS) to improve stability giving better accuracy over AK-74's. Its derivatives are the AK-107 ...

. The

Balanced Automatics Recoil System The AEK-971 (Russian: Автомат единый Кокшарова 971, "Automatic (rifle), Universal, (of) Koksharov, 971) is a selective fire 5.45×39mm assault rifle that features a balanced automatics recoil system. It was developed at the K ...

(BARS) replaces the traditional Kalashnikov gas

piston A piston is a component of reciprocating engines, reciprocating pumps, gas compressors, hydraulic cylinders and pneumatic cylinders, among other similar mechanisms. It is the moving component that is contained by a cylinder (engine), cylinder a ...

operating system, reducing the negative effects of

recoil Recoil (often called knockback, kickback or simply kick) is the rearward thrust generated when a gun is being discharged. In technical terms, the recoil is a result of conservation of momentum, for according to Newton's third law the force requ ...

and allowing more efficient use of automatic fire. BARS works by shifting mass toward the muzzle of the

rifle A rifle is a long gun, long-barreled firearm designed for accurate shooting and higher stopping power, with a gun barrel, barrel that has a helical or spiralling pattern of grooves (rifling) cut into the bore wall. In keeping with their focus o ...

as the bolt and bolt carrier recoil rearward. The AL-7 and its BARS system were never adopted by the

Soviet Army The Soviet Ground Forces () was the land warfare service branch of the Soviet Armed Forces from 1946 to 1992. It was preceded by the Red Army. After the Soviet Union ceased to exist in December 1991, the Ground Forces remained under th ...

. The project was overshadowed by the acceptance of the

AK-74 The AK-74 ( Russian: , tr. ''Avtomat Kalashnikova obraztsa 1974 goda'', lit. 'Kalashnikov assault rifle model 1974') is an assault rifle designed by small arms designer Mikhail Kalashnikov in 1974 as a successor to the AKM. While primarily ...

due to cost considerations. The passage of time has allowed manufacturing technology to advance, finally making the AL-7 concept economically viable, presenting itself in the form of the AK-107 and AK-108 rifles. Other rifles that use the balanced automatics system are the

AEK-971 The AEK-971 (Russian: Автомат единый Кокшарова 971, "Automatic (rifle), Universal, (of) Koksharov, 971) is a selective fire 5.45×39mm assault rifle that features a balanced automatics recoil system. It was developed at the ...

, AO-38, SA-006, AKB and AKB-1.

References

*''Legends and Reality of the AK'' by Charlie Cutshaw and Valery Shili

*Shadowrun and Firearms ''Alexandrov Kalashnikova 107 and 108'

External links

5.45×39mm assault rifles Kalashnikov derivatives Trial and research firearms of the Soviet Union Assault rifles of the Soviet Union Izhevsk machine-building plant products {{Rifle-stub

See also

References

External links