AK-47 vs AK-74
AK-47 is an assault rifle which operates with the power of gas used to launch the bullet from this 7.62x39mm assault rifle. AK 47 was made for the very first time by Mikhail Kalashnikov in Soviet Union. After the name of its developer, the rifle is also known as Kalashnikov. Development of AK-47 started in 1945 in the name of AK 46. The rifle was provided for trials to military in the year 1946. It was later made error free and was launched for the very first time in the year 1947 under the name of AK-47. The rifle was provided to specific units of Soviet Army for proper usage after that. AK-47 also had another predecessor named as AKS-47 which came with a metallic shoulder stock that came with. The armed forces of Soviet Union accepted the AK-47 and a large number of states who were members of Warsaw Pact started using this rifle from the year 1949. AK-47 has been a real assault rifle since it has been manufactured. About sixty years have passed and still this rifle holds the title of the most popular and widely used rifle in the world. Reasons behind this are most of the times its low cost, easy usage and the amount of durability that it offers. Manufacturing of AK-47 has taken place in numerous countries and it is in use of armed forces as well as a number of terrorist groups across the globe. A number of other weapons have been made after the development of AK-47 and have adopted most of its design and working mechanism.
AK-74 is an assault rifle made in the early years of 1970 in Soviet Union. The rifle follows the pattern of AK-47 and is a modified form of this rifle. AK-74 has also been referred to as automated model of AK-47 in numerous places. Work on rifle began in the early years of 1970 and it was launched in the year 1974. For the first time this rifle was used in the Conflict between Afghanistan Mujahideen and Soviet Forces. Most of the countries that were part of USSR at some time are still using AK-74. A number of non-licensed duplicate versions of this gun were produced in East Germany, Romania and Bulgaria.
What is the difference between AK-47 and AK-74?
There are a number of similarities and differences between the AK-47 and AK-74 assault rifles. Both the rifles have their origins in Soviet Union and have been designed by the same person. Also, both these rifles fall in category of assault rifles. The AK-47 weighs about 4.3 KG with an empty magazine. On the other hand, AK-74 has different models with weights ranging between 2.5 KG to 3.4 KG. AK-47 has an effective range of about 300 meters in the completely automatic model and a range of 400 meters in the semi-automatic model, AK-74, on the other hand, has a range of 600 meters with a sight adjustment of 100 meters to a 1000 meters. AK-47 is fed on a 30-round magazine and can also work with a 40-round magazine. It can also work on 75-round drum magazine. On the other hand AK-74 works on a 30 or 45-round magazine. The ease of usage, affordability and durability of AK-47 makes it a better choice over AK-74 in most of the cases making it the most widely used rifle across the globe.