Yikes: Russian Soldiers Are Complaining About Exploding Guns

Charlie Gao

Security,

Modern weapons with ammo problems. 

As one infantry veteran lamented: “The Russian arms industry makes reliable and simple weapons, but ammo quality just annihilates it.”

Russian infantry weapons have a reputation for reliability. The AK and PKM are renowned for enduring through adverse conditions, powered by their powerful long-stroke piston actions.

(This first appeared last year.)

However, a recent report by warhead.su suggests that when these weapons do fail in Russian service, the problem is often not in their design, but rather in the Russian ammunition they fire. This is not a new phenomenon. Russian imported ammunition to the United States has always been regarded as “budget” brands, with inconsistent quality. But apparently, the same problems apply to Russian military ammunition.

The report opens with a story of a soldier operating a Kord 12.7mm (.50 cal) heavy machine gun. The soldier noticed the belt was a little lighter than usual, and when he pulled the trigger… the bullet got stuck in the barrel, not even passing the gas port on the barrel. The cause for this is the inconsistencies in Russian powder manufacture. In addition to bullets getting stuck in the barrel (squib), there are stories of guns shooting hotter than usual, and guns exploding due to too much powder being in a cartridge. Of course, for these reasons, Russian domestic ammunition is rarely the ammo of choice for Russian precision shooters.

The occurrence of these squibs poses a significant reliability problem for all weapons, as they can cause the barrel to explode if the soldier does not realize a squib has been fired and attempts another shot. Given the Russian predilection for automatic modes of fire, this only compounds the problem as a soldier would likely not have time to react before the second round is fired.

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