Do Russian weapons ever have a ribbed buttplate?

 

butstock is tula

 

Yeah, it's Russian.

Do Russian weapons ever have a ribbed buttplate?

Always, when they are Tula AKSU's.

 

Always, when they are Tula AKSU's.

So to confirm:
All Tula AKSUs have ribs
Nearly all AKSUs are Tula
All Izhevsk AKS74s have smooth butts
All Tula AKS74s have ribs

Are those all correct? :mrgreen:

 

That movie's one of the main reasons I embarked on my quest to get a Tula krink kit built!

 

That movie's one of the main reasons I embarked on my quest to get a Tula krink kit built!

That movie IS the only reason I built a Krink. :grin:

 

Are those all correct?

I think so, except I've yet to see a Tula AKS-74, just a few fixed stock Tula 74's. Have you seen one with a folding stock? I assume they might exist. BTW, early Izhevsk AKSU's circa 1977-80 had ribs but they did not have rolled struts, just like the Bulgarian versions. In fact, I think that's where Bulgaria got the original dies to press theirs. But Bulgaria never made a ribbed buttplate stock with rolled struts, they had a bunch of them but they were made at Tula. At least I've never seen one without Russian welds and Russian proofs on it. Interestingly enough, they seldom if ever put them on their AKSU's, they used them on AKS-74's.

 

Are those all correct?

I think so, except I've yet to see a Tula AKS-74, just a few fixed stock Tula 74's. Have you seen one with a folding stock? I assume they might exist. BTW, early Izhevsk AKSU's circa 1977-80 had ribs but they did not have rolled struts, just like the Bulgarian versions. In fact, I think that's where Bulgaria got the original dies to press theirs. But Bulgaria never made a ribbed buttplate stock with rolled struts, they had a bunch of them but they were made at Tula. At least I've never seen one without Russian welds and Russian proofs on it. Interestingly enough, they seldom if ever put them on their AKSU's, they used them on AKS-74's.

At what period did the Bulgarians use ribbed plate, rolled struts? Does this mean later Bulgarian manufactured stocks are non-rolled struts with ribbed plate? Is it safe to assume then at all triangle ribbed butt, rolled struts were all made at the Tula plant?

 

I think so, except I've yet to see a Tula AKS-74, just a few fixed stock Tula 74's. Have you seen one with a folding stock?

No, I just thought AKS-74s were both Tula and Izhevsk. So it sounds like you're saying most AKS-74Us were Tula and most AKS-74s were Izhevsks, with just a few examples from the other pairings, right?

Interesting info about the Izhevsk machinery and Bulgaria :smile: Always great hearing your thoughts, man :mrgreen:

 

At what period did the Bulgarians use ribbed plate, rolled struts?

Most '88-'90 dated Bulgarian AKS-74's had Tula rolled strut stocks on them. It was not much later when Bulgaria started making their own, though, which were apparently initially made from Russian stampings and had smooth buttplates, then a bit later they went to the more commonly found ribbed version. All of these had non-rolled struts and drain holes, though. Used to think that all the smooth buttplate stocks were Russian, but you simply cannot ignore the lack of proofs and the tiny Bulgarian-spec spot welds found on many of the ones imported directly from Bulgaria in recent years. Russia just never assembled them that way.

Does this mean later Bulgarian manufactured stocks are non-rolled struts with ribbed plate?

Yes, that was their standard domestic version, and was probably first made in the 1990's.

Is it safe to assume then at all triangle ribbed butt, rolled struts were all made at the Tula plant?

Yes, that's what I so clumsily tried to say in my first post. They only show up in Bulgaria's earliest 5,45mm weapons production, they all have Russian style spot welds, they all appear to display Tula proofs in the correct location (big clue!), and they are in fact totally indistinguishable from standard late production Tula buttstocks. It's quite safe to assume with 100% certainty in my mind that they were shipped in as part of the late '80's Soviet parts kit/spares shipments Bulgaria used in the early years to begin their own pilot production of domestic 5,45mm weapons.

So it sounds like you're saying most AKS-74Us were Tula and most AKS-74s were Izhevsk, with just a few examples from the other pairings, right?:

The AKS-74U was developed at Izhevsk, of course, and both prototypical (conceptually from '72-'75, then more defined from '76-'79) as well as early series production ('79-'81) models were made there until the whole project was moved in whole to Tula in mid-late 1981. Tula had been tooling up to make overflow AK-74's up until that time, and they apparently made examples from '79-'81 (when surge production was at it's height) judging by a handful of MMG's that only recently surfaced. Once the AKS-74U project was sent their way, that all ceased which kept all AK-74/AKS-74 production at Izhevsk and all smaller scale AKS-74U production at Tula, for very sound logistical reasons. In any case, if Tula ever made AKS-74's it would be nice to actually see one or two. It would be surprising and interesting, but not impossible to imagine. Just a few years ago we thought they never made any AK-74's at all, hehe.

Always great hearing your thoughts, man :mrgreen:

The feeling is mutual, man!

 

Thank you for the detailed information Tantal. That clears a lot of information gaps for me.