It is that time again. Brannigan’s Blackhearts is back with Enemy of My Enemy, so that means a guns post. And since this one goes down in Azerbaijan, there’s a lot of Eastern Bloc weapons. (Also, because of the difficulty in finding good, royalty-free images of some of these guns, I’ll be embedding videos about them for the most part.)
Shamil Mashadov and his Aswad al Islam brethren are armed with AK-203s in the beginning. The 200 series AKs are improvements on the 100 series, the 203 being specifically chambered in 7.62x39mm, and currently entering service with the Indian Army. Apparently, the Russian Army decided to forego the 200 series in favor of the AK-12 and AK-15, which are somewhat more expensive.
They’re also carrying RPG-26s to use on the guard towers around their target.
Specialist Owens is manning an M240B in one of those guard towers.
Once the Blackhearts get on the ground, the weapons the Spetsnaz loan them–at least to begin with–are bog-standard AK-103s. The Spetsnaz don’t use them, but since the Blackhearts are–as always–supposed to be deniable, they get the 103s. Like the improved 203 that the Chechens use, the 103 is chambered in 7.62×39. This is a longer video,
For the final phase of the mission, most of the Blackhearts are carrying AS Val integrally suppressed assault rifles. Chambered in 9x39mm, the Val was introduced for Spetsnaz use in 1987, and has seen use up to the present. It is reportedly (it’s not exported, so I don’t know if there are even any working samples in the West) reliable and quite accurate.
In addition to the AS Val rifles, the Blackhearts get two VSS Vintorez 9x39mm sniper rifles. Derived from the Val, the Vintorez shares quite a few parts with it.
The Spetsnaz troops, as mentioned above, aren’t using regular AKs. They are mostly armed with the A-545, the service version of the AEK-971. Equipped with a counterbalance system, it’s expensive, but it’s very controllable in automatic fire.
Enemy of My Enemy is now available for Kindle preorder, and will release on December 18!
I heard it said that the AK-103 was used by some elements of the Russian military, namely some special ops forces, and some special police groups.
BTW, who made the Chechens AK-203s? Russia or India?
Mashadov probably neither knows nor cares.
Isn’t the AK-200 in use by the Russian National Guard?
9×39 fires a 247 grain (!) subsonic bullet, with ball and AP available.
Mongo want.
If any of you guys are interested, here’s a page which talks about the difference between the Russian original AK-203, and the version that India is going to make:
https://www.thefirearmblog.com/blog/2020/02/26/indias-ak-not-quite-an-ak-203/