The AK-103 was armored and barreled, but it still worked and maintained accuracy after 1,400 continuous rounds of discharge.
Russia's Kalashnikov weapons group last week posted a video titled "How to Destroy AK-103 Guns", showing the durability of one of its key export rifles.
Similar to the tests on AK-74M and AK-12, Kalashnikov also prepared 26 ammunition boxes, each containing 30 7.62x39 mm rounds for the "torture" test of the AK-103 model. Experts carrying out the test must fire the AK-103 in inter-bar mode until the ammunition runs out and quickly replace the next magazine to continue firing.
The gun quickly passed the 180-bar radio standard of the Russian Defense Ministry and continued smooth fire. Russian experts had trouble loading after about 400 rounds, the gun barrel was also so hot that it burned the polymer sleeve. The gunner discarded the broken palm lining after 720 shots and continued firing relentlessly.
The rate of discharge of bullets was too fast and the amount of bullets fired more than the gun's expectations made the support team could not install bullets in the new tape, forcing Kalashnikov's gunner to wait when he passed the 1,000-bullet mark. The test ended after 1,400 rounds. The Russian expert removed the gun to assess the damage, then quickly reinstalled and discharged another 30 rounds of ammunition to prove its performance.
Testing the ballistic track showed that the AK-103 was still accurate when all four rounds were highly accurate, not dissipating despite the barrel of the gun was bent due to the previous test firing.
The AK-103 rifle achieves more than twice the level of 587 AK-74M and 680 AK-12. This result is partly due to the lower caliber 7.62x39 mm ammunition of the AK-103 having less pressure on the gun and the muzzle velocity, which causes less damage than the 5.45x39 mm ammunition of AK-74M and AK-12.
The AK-103 is an assault rifle developed from the AK-74M model of the Russian army, but uses 7.62x39 mm bullets similar to the AKM series instead of 5.45x39 mm of AK-74M. Many wooden parts such as armrests, handles and grip are replaced with polymers, magazines are also made of synthetic resin to significantly reduce the volume of guns.
The AK-103 is more accurate and effective than the AKM series, and it has modern accessories such as a viewfinder, flashlight, laser projector and grenade launcher. At least 10 countries are in service of the AK-103, of which Venezuela orders 100,000 and is supported by Russia to develop its own production lines.