[heartbreakridge01]

what is the purpose of the beefed up RPK trunion? does it help with accuracy or something?

 

[Exothermia]

Presumably it is more rigid and heavy duty to last longer under prolonged automatic fire.

 

[drakinclaw]

Presumably it is more rigid and heavy duty to last longer under prolonged automatic fire.

Yup, more rigid and heavy duty. And yes it does help with accuracy, as the rifle is more solid, there is less shaking of the rifle and barrel when a bullet is fired.

You ever see the movie clip on youtube of a standard ak barrel fired in slow motion?

Drakin

 

[heartbreakridge01]

no i have not,

i dont know a whole lot about RPK's where they built as a squad automatic rifle, or as a rifle to shoot more accurate and longer ranges?

 

[Exothermia]

Basically they fill a squad automatic weapon role. They aren't quite robust enough in design to be useful as a light machine gun (no quick change barrel, magazine fed). I believe the PKM fills that role.

They weren't really designed for accuracy. A new one certainly can be, due to the longer heavier barrel, but they were made to increase the firing rate of the infantry unit.

 

[BigAL]

I think Colt had a similar in concept heavy barrel HBAR back in the day

 

[heartbreakridge01]

so its kinda like a BAR. makes sense with the 40 and 45 round mags

 

[Vashthestanbeto]

The beefy trunnion also helps supporting the long and heavy RPK barrel, according to some articles I read, the standard AKM/AK74 trunnion is not quite strong enough for this application.