AN-94

The AN-94, or otherwise known as Avtomat Nikonova 1994 or another alternative name, Abakan, is a 5.45x39mm gas-operated Russian firearm made by PO Izhmash. The AN-94 was made during Project Abakan, a Russian assault rifle programme that took place in 1980-1994. The AN-94 was intended to be used as a service rifle for the Russian military, however the costs of the rifle and its complexity and being user unfriendly in maintenance limited its use to professional jobs, mainly to be used within Russian internal affairs, FSB, and Spetsnaz. The AN-94, however, is a unique rifle and for many reasons. The AN-94 uses an unconventional method of operation, it utilizes a pulley system with steel wire to load its rounds and utilizes a rotating bolt to lock the action, its called "Blow-back shifted pulse" by the Russian engineers. The AN-94s uniqueness comes from its 2-round bursts that fire at approximately 1800 rounds per minute with minimal to practically non-existent recoil and extreme accuracy. The recoil mitigation is due to the barrel, gas tube, receiver and bolt carrier existing as a single component group that moves back and forth along an axis parallel to the bore suspended within the composite fiber/polymer stock, something very similar to the German prototype, the H&K G11. This separates the events inside the rifle from the user, which results in low-recoil. The motion described is also employed by design to drive the unique rotary conveyor mechanism(Pulley system) that performs the separate ammunition pre-feeding cycle that is key to the extremely rapid two round burst function that defines the AN-94 system. The magazine was made to be canted several degrees to the right from the center, this was a necessary design feature to accommodate the unique ammunition feed mechanism. However, the AN-94 is incredibly user unfriendly when it comes to maintenance. Due to the rifles complexity in its design, it takes the user weeks and possibly even months to learn how to properly assemble and disassemble the rifle itself, resulting in the rifle being unfit to be a service rifle and instead transferred to being a limited rifle to limited roles. The rifle itself, however, is an excellent choice for a professional, its accuracy and 2-round burst is incredibly effective at a distance and is able to penetrate body-armor with speed and precision.