bad guy round

[Red Machine]

I have a question or two I would like to get cleared up:
Do AK 47's shoot 7.62x39 exclusively or is there a chambering in this weapon of a larger round like the 7.62x52R? I had seen a special a while back saying that when the USA made the 5.56 the standard issue military round that the Soviet's panicked and came out with a smaller round for the AK. I wasn't paying attention at this time and never got it straight what bullet the Soviets came up with. Was the weapon renamed and was the round a 5 mm round or was it the 7.62x39? Also what round does a SKS typically shoot in it's military role? Also what were the communists using in their AK's during the Vietnam war?

Thanks for your time .......

Red Machine

The AK-47, SKS, and RPK all fire the 7.62X39 cartridge.

Starting with the AK-74, the Russians started using the newer 5.45X39 cartridge.

The 7.62X54 Russian round was used in the Moisin-Nagant bolt action rifle.

[Lonerunner1]

There have been a ton of variants based of the AK action. Here is a list of variants and chamberings:

AK-47 7.62x39
AK-74 5.45x39
AK-74su 5.45x39
Dragonov 7.62x54R
7.62x51 NATO

GALIL 5.56x45 NATO
7.62x51 NATO

Those are the most common chamberings, but there are literally hundreds of variants, more than I could ever list. The top list were all originally made in Russia, the GALIL is Isreali. There have also been some shotguns made by SIAGA that use the AK action in a 12 and 16 gauge.

Lonerunner,

The Russian chambering is 5.45X39 not 5.56x39

[Lonerunner1]

sorry, it was a typo.

[MrMurphy]

They are correct, the original AK-47, SKS carbine, and RPD light machine gun all chamber 7.62X39mm.

So does the RPK squad automatic rifle.

The newer-generation AK-74, RPK-74, etc and variants of the newer AK (AKSU, "Krinkov" etc) all chamber 5.45X39mm, the Soviet small-caliber round.

The 7.62X54mm round formerly used in the Mosin-Nagant bolt action rifle is also chambered in the PKM general purpose machine gun (equivalent to our M60/M240), the SVD Dragunov sniper rifle, and several tank coax machine guns.

There are also some 9X39mm rifles and carbines, a heavier-bullet subsonic round for their special operations troops.

AK's have been made in 5.56mm and 7.62X51mm Nato in Yugoslavia when it still existed, Romania in 5.56mm (the SAR-3) the Israeli Galil is made in 5.56mm and 7.62 Nato, and the Swiss Stg90 (Sig 550) is a very-very-high-grade Kalashnikov-based action, chambered in 5.56mm. Much more accurate, and made (typically) like a Swiss watch. Robert DeNiro uses one in Ronin during the car ambush.