TKB-408

The TKB-408 was an experimental gas-operated bullpup assault rifle developed in the Soviet Union during the early years of the Cold War. The TKB-408 was designed in 1946 by German Korobov, a Russian firearms designer known for his unusual and interesting prototypes. The rifle was Korobov's entry into a design contest held by the Red Army to find a new rifle chambering the same 7.62x39mm cartridge used in the recently-adopted SKS. A number of individuals from across the Soviet Union participated in the contest, with Korobov's design being one of the few bullpup designs submitted. The weapon uses a tilting bolt system similar to older Soviet prototypes/weapons like Alexey Sudayev's AS-44, but it is not known if this tilting bolt system is mechanically related those older designs. The weapon's charging handle is located on the left side of the weapon on the gas tube, similar to how it is on a German G3 rifle, and is non-reciprocating. The weapon is select-fire, and can fired single-shot or fully automatic. The weapon's ejection port is located on the right side of the weapon, and has a flip-up dust cover; as the weapon's ejection port is on the right side of the weapon, it is non-ambidextrous and should not be fired by left-handers. While the TKB-408 showed promise, none of the designs submitted to the design contest were selected, although a design submitted by a young Russian named Mikhail Kalashnikov would be modified and tweaked over the following year before being adopted in 1947 as the Avtomat Kalashnikov.