if it wasn’t for that chonky muzzle device this seems like it’d actually be pretty close to an MP7 in size

    • Tervell [he/him]@hexbear.netOP
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      13 days ago

      I think of it as the “Uzi-style layout” (although technically the Czechoslovaks were actually ahead on that one with the Sa 23-26, and there’s handful of even earlier prototypes, like the MCEM-2 and Shpitalniy, and of course the Japanese Nambu Type 1, which actually did enter production albeit in small numbers), or to be more verbose - the “magazine-in-pistol-grip layout”. But there isn’t really a proper term for it AFAIK.

      The problem with trying to scale this up to a rifle cartridge is that the magazine-grip becomes too large to really grip comfortably - the Soviets actually did try this:

      It could work if you do a sniper-style grip with the thumb resting on the side: https://www.snipershide.com/precision-rifle/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/0882165534b80b3f2734738d0b7a2.jpg (linking this directly since I managed to hit a rate-limit somehow doggirl-gloom)

      But those only work out on sniper rifles since you’re usually shooting from a very stable rest, and your trigger hand isn’t actually doing that much to hold the gun in place - the bipod or whatever else you’re resting the gun on the front, and a monopod on the stock or your other hand at the rear do that, while the shooting hand is mainly there to adjust aim and operate the bolt. On an assault rifle though, that hand does a lot more, and with a janky grip like that the weapon likely wouldn’t be as controllable.

        • Tervell [he/him]@hexbear.netOP
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          12 days ago

          tbf, the thing at the end is actually just a muzzle device - the barrel itself probably isn’t that thick

          see for example the AK-105 or AKS-74U, they similarly have a very wide muzzle device on the end of the barrel (although the function is a bit different to the AO-46)

          here’s another picture of the AO-46 - the smaller bit right at the end, at the bottom of the muzzle device, is probably closer to the thickness of the real barrel