Hrachya H – Page 3 – Silah Report

AJWA Arms Company of Darra Adam Khel

February 24, 2018 by Hrachya H

As you may know, Darra Adam Khel is a town in Pakistan, which is known for domestic arms manufacturing. Information concerning the firearms made in this region is normally very scarce. However, there is a tendency of local shops to start using the internet as a tool for promotion. When doing a research for another article, I came across a facebook page of a Darra Adam Khel Company company called AJWA Arms Company.

Among many firearms posted on their page, there are several quite interesting ones which we’ll take a look at in this article.

The gun shown in the top image of this article is a Russian PPSh-41 with a stock adapter made to accept a pistol grip and a side folding stock borrowed from an AK rifle. AKs with such stocks have been made in Romania, Poland and East Germany. Another pistol grip is attached to the barrel jacket slots of the PPSh-41.

Below are more images from AJWA Arms Company Facebook page depicting some of their most interesting firearms (in no particular order).

AJWA Arms Company of Darra Adam Khel (2) — Many firearms seen in this region are built using parts from different other guns and sometimes even in a different caliber. For example, the far right rifle has a milled AK receiver, AKM/AK-74 style handguard and the shape and size of the magazine make me think this rifle is chambered either in a full-size rifle caliber or it is a shotgun.

AJWA Arms Company of Darra Adam Khel (4) — Another Darra AK chambered in a pistol caliber and featuring a top carry handle.

AJWA Arms Company of Darra Adam Khel (6) — This pistol has a red dot sight and a folding forward grip. The markings on the slide say “MADE IN CHINA. 4 GENERATION BY CHINA …”. The last word of the slide markings is illegible. Note also how similar their logo looks to a Glock logo.

AJWA Arms Company of Darra Adam Khel (5) — The same pistol shown from the reverse side.

We’ll keep following these companies and in case if they publish something interesting from the small arms perspective, we’ll report it to our readers.

Winter Drills of Armed Forces of the Republic of Kazakhstan

February 17, 2018 by Hrachya H

Ministry of Defense of the Republic of Kazakhstan regularly publishes news on their official website. We collected photos from various winter exercises and drills and depicting small arms in the hands of Kazakh soldiers. The units in the photos represent various branches of this country’s military.

Winter Drills of Armed Forces of the Republic of Kazakhstan (18) — PKMs “at work”.

Winter Drills of Armed Forces of the Republic of Kazakhstan (17) — Note that these soldiers use skis. That should tremendously increase their mobility. Of course, it requires some knowledge and skills to manipulate the weapons and transition between different shooting positions (kneeling, prone etc.) with skis on.

Winter Drills of Armed Forces of the Republic of Kazakhstan (13) — Note the Picatinny (1913) rails on the handguard, top cover and the gas tube of the AKS-74 of this recon unit soldier. It is most likely a Russian Zenit B-33 set of rails shown in the image below. The rifle is also equipped with a FAB Defense PTK angled forward grip. Surprisingly, there are no optics on the rifle.

Winter Drills of Armed Forces of the Republic of Kazakhstan (8) — Most of the soldiers in this recon exercises have the Zenit rail system. Most, but not all of them. Note the soldier in the center of the image aiming a standard AK-74 with a side rail to top Picatinny rail conversion mount.

Winter Drills of Armed Forces of the Republic of Kazakhstan (7) — A good example of how easy (relatively) it is to effectively blend with the surroundings in winter by merely wearing white clothes and having the guns wrapped in white fabric.

Winter Drills of Armed Forces of the Republic of Kazakhstan (6) — This soldier is using a special device to sight in the RPG-7 grenade launcher.

RPG sighting device — Images of that sighting device from an RPG-7 manual.

Winter Drills of Armed Forces of the Republic of Kazakhstan (4) — Female personnel holding AKS-74 and SVD rifles.

Winter Drills of Armed Forces of the Republic of Kazakhstan (3) — Vehicle mounted PKM machine gun

Winter Drills of Armed Forces of the Republic of Kazakhstan (2) — Note the AKS-74U rifles and the Multicam uniform.

Winter Drills of Armed Forces of the Republic of Kazakhstan (1) — The rifle of this soldier is equipped with an underbarrel grenade launcher (GP-25 or GP-30) and a rubber buttpad to mitigate the recoil when firing the grenade launcher.

I hope you enjoyed this set of photos. Let us know in the comments section what interesting piece of gear have you noticed.

PKP Pecheneg Machine Gun in Syria

February 11, 2018 by Hrachya H

Russian PKP Pecheneg machine gun was earlier spotted in the hands of Syrian Armed Forces soldiers back in 2015. The top image of this article is taken in 2015. Lately, another image appeared in the web (see the image below) showing this machine gun again with Syrian Armed Forces. Reportedly, Pecheneg was acquired by Syria even before the civil war. It was purchased in small numbers to arm some special forces units.

PKP Pecheneg Machine Gun in Syria — Note the distinctive carry handle shape over the barrel jacket of PKP Pecheneg machine gun

PKP Pecheneg is a general purpose machine gun chambered in 7.62x54mmR. It was designed in the late ’90s by a Russian company called TsNII TochMash. This gun is based on the PKM machine gun. Most machine guns of this category feature a quick change barrel which allows to change the heated barrel in the battlefield and keep shooting the gun with the new barrel. In the case of the Pecheneg, the designers’ goal was to get rid of the barrel changing mechanism without compromising the firepower. To achieve that goal, they had to develop a system that would allow cooling the barrel. They incorporated a forced air cooling system into the design of this machine gun. After each shot fired, the gasses escaping from the muzzle create a pumping effect forcing the air to enter the barrel jacket and pass through its length thus cooling the barrel. The barrel of PKP Pecheneg is also ribbed.

The barrel jacket also reduces the mirage coming from the heated barrel. Another difference from the PKM is the location of the bipod. Unlike the PKM, Pecheneg’s bipod is moved forward to the muzzle – much like it is seen in RPK light machine guns. Despite the described design changes, Pecheneg still has a high rate of parts compatibility with the PKM (up to 80%).

Below are several images of the PKP Pecheneg machine gun.

Diamond Arms Company of Darra Adam Khel

November 12, 2017 by Hrachya H

Darra Adam Khel is a town in Pakistan where the trade of many locals is the manufacturing of firearms and ammunition. It is normally hard to find information concerning any new guns of the local masters. However, some of these shops started using the Internet as a marketing tool and are now presented in social … Read more

Barrel Rifling Device from Darra Adam Khel

June 30, 2019June 15, 2017 by Hrachya H

As you may know, Darra Adam Khel is a town in Pakistan which is famous for its indigenous firearms manufacturing. Many people living in this area are busy making guns and loading ammunition. There are some rough firearm clones made in Darra Adam Khel, but there are also really impressive ones both in terms of design and execution. Sometimes it is really unbelievable how these people manage to make firearms using only basic tools.

The top image of this article shows a local gunsmith operating a barrel rifling device. Although it is not confirmed, some sources say the picture is taken in 1902.

Note the barrel secured in the lower portion of the device and the gunsmith holding the handles of the cutting tool. The cutting tool itself has a spirally shaped shaft, which I assume runs on a guide pin so that when worked back and forth the cutting tool will do a spiral motion thus cutting the rifling at a certain twist rate.

What is even more interesting is that there are newer images from Darra Adam Khel showing an exactly identical device. So even if it is a homemade rifling tool, it should be working great to be used until modern days.

Kazakh Armed Forces Preparing for a Military Parade

October 2, 2017April 22, 2017 by Hrachya H

Various branches of Kazakh Armed Forces are preparing for the military parade which will be held on May 9, 2017. The parade is dedicated to the 25th anniversary of the establishment of Kazakh Armed Forces. Although there was no new firearm spotted (yet), it is still interesting to take a look at some of them in the hands of Kazakh military personnel.

In the above picture, the special forces units carry Beretta ARX 160 rifles chambered in 7.62x39mm, which also feeds from AKM pattern magazines. They also have EOTech 512 series reflex sights and GLX160 grenade launchers mounted on the rifles.

Kazakhstan Army Parade1.jpg — On this picture, you can see the soldiers (possibly also special forces) with accessorized AK-74 rifles.

Kazakhstan Army Parade 2.jpg — Female soldiers with AKS-74U also known as “Krinkov” rifles.

Kazakhstan Army Parade 3.jpg — As in many post-Soviet countries, SKS rifles are used for the ceremonial roles in the parades and other events.

Kazakhstan Army Parade 4.jpg — Military police personnel armed with pump-action shotguns.

Other than mentioned firearms, the rest (majority) of the soldiers taking part in the parade are equipped with AK-74 and AK-74M rifles.

Interesting to note how the weapons from the ’70s are still capable and are the main weapons of many armies. Also, newer weapon systems find their way into the arsenals blending with existing ones. In that sense, it was a wise choice made by Beretta to not only chamber their ARX160 rifle in 7.62x39mm caliber, but also design it to take AK magazines. As you can see that configuration allows countries like Kazakistan to adopt modern rifles without any trouble concerning logistics, compatibility and interchangeability.

If anything small arms related appears during the actual parade, we’ll post about it here on Silah Report.

AK-74s of Kazakhstan Army’s Military Exercises

October 2, 2017March 13, 2017 by Hrachya H

Ministry of Defense of Kazakhstan has recently posted news releases on their website concerning military exercises of high-ranking officers.

Particularly, battalion commanders of mechanized infantry, paratrooper and marine regiments took part in mentioned exercises. The purpose of that event was to upgrade the qualification of the officers by a number of tactical and strategic classes, defensive and offensive scenario studies, as well as familiarization with new weapon systems.

During these exercises, the officers were carrying AK-74 assault rifles, which had some interesting upgrades and mods on them. Let’s take a closer look at each of them.

The railed dust cover, handguard and gas tube cover are most likely made by Russian company Zenit. The dust cover is Zenit B-33 (Зенит Б-33), the handguard is a Zenit B-10M (Б-10М) and the railed gas tube cover is a Zenit B-19 (Б-19). Here is a picture of all three accessories:

The stock adapter is probably made by Israeli company FAB Defense. It is the model M4-AK P or a similar one. Some of these stock adapters differ only by the material, which is almost impossible to distinguish by only a visual reference. In any case, it is a conversion stock which allows mounting AR-15/ M-4 rifle stocks on the AK platform. It also has a built-in side folding mechanism. Here is the image of M4-AK P model:

The buttstock itself is also made by FAB Defense and it is their GLR-16 CP model with an adjustable cheek riser.

The angled foregrip mounted on the handguard has the distinct shape of another FAB Defense product – PTK.

The scope is unidentified, but it is presumably a Russian made one. It is a night vision or thermal scope judging from the looks. Possibly, it is a newer version of NSPU scope. We’ll update this post as soon as we find out the exact model of the scope.

Similar exercises of squad leaders were held too and it is interesting to note that squad leaders were equipped with AK-74 rifles in stock configuration. Judging from that, the upgrades for AK-74s are available for high ranking officers only. Here is a picture of squad leader sergeants firing their AK-74s:

FYI: here is the small arms’ list of Armed Forces of Kazakhstan (from Wikipedia):

Small Arms

9×18mm Makarov PM Standard issue pistol for armed forces.

9×18mm PP-90M1 Submachine gun, used by special forces.

5.45×39mm AK-74 Standard issue rifle of Kazakh military.

5.45×39mm RPK-74

7.62×39mm AKM Reserve units

7.62×54mmR SVD Dragunov sniper rifle

7.62×54mmR PKM machine gun

7.62×54mmR PKP Pecheneg machine gun, used by special forces.

7.62×39mm ARX-160 Assault rifle, used by special forces

12.7mm NSV machine gun

Homemade Anti-Materiel Rifle With Iraqi Militia

October 2, 2017March 1, 2017 by Hrachya H

A Polish small arms magazine recently posted this to their social media page. It appears to be of a group of Iraqi militiamen from the Imam Ali Brigade, as is evidenced by the circular yellow patch with a Kalashnikov over an image of a green country profile of Iraq . The bearded militiaman is posing with a huge bolt action anti-materiel rifle. These DIY conversions had been seen multiple times during the Syrian conflict. Supposedly this gun uses either 14,5mm (from KPV or KPVT) or 23 mm (from ZU-23-2) barrel with an improvised receiver, bolt, trigger mechanism, furniture and bipod. You can also see a picatinny rail section mounted on top of the receiver for attaching a scope.

I guess they use the survived barrels from guns with damaged or destroyed mechanisms. Otherwise, it won’t be justified to take the barrel from a functional heavy machine gun or automatic cannon. Although depending on the situation it can be the case, too.

When making the new stock and forearm, the gunsmith definitely tried to make it look like an SVD/Al-Kadesiah.

Note also the other guys’ weapons: an AK, M4 Carbine and an M249 SAW LMG.

The Shi’a Imam Ali Brigade (Cited Source- The Observers)

The Iraqi Shiite militia known as the Imam Ali Brigades is accused of having committed multiple war crimes in the fight against the Islamic State organisation in Iraq, including summary executions and torture of captives. But its brutality isn’t the only thing fuelling the militia’s notoriety – it also has a well-oiled communications strategy.

In June 2014, Shiite leader Ayatollah Sistani made an appeal for mobilisation against the Islamic State organisation. Numerous Iraqi Shiite militias were formed after this announcement.

These new formations joined the four large, already-existing Shiite militias in Iraq: the Badr Brigade, founded in Iran in 1982; Saraya al-Salam (the “Peace Brigades”), which is directed by the radical Shiite religious cleric Moqtada al-Sadr; Asaib Ahl al-Haq (the “League of the Virtuous”); and, lastly, the Iraqi Ketaeb Hezbollah.

The Imam Ali Brigades have distinguished themselves by resorting to extreme violence. The militia, made up of combatants trained in Iran or Lebanon, has faced widening criticism since the release of a YouTube video showing men wearing the Imam Ali Brigades insignia burning a man.

Basij Militia Selfie Stick

February 24, 2017 by Hrachya H

During the training exercises of Iranian Basij militia forces, the personnel found a controversial use for what looks to be a Chinese made underfolder AK-47. The guy in the image has mounted a phone on the stock and uses the gun as a selfie stick! Why controversial? Well, at first it looks to be a nice trick, which various armies’ soldiers have been doing lately. On the other hand, the Basij soldier violates key safety rules by pointing the gun at himself. He actually doesn’t care about three of four safety rules. I hope at least he has a good trigger discipline.

About the Basij Militia, from Wikipedia-

The Basij (Persian: بسيج‎‎, lit. “The Mobilization”), Niruyeh Moghavemat Basij (Persian: نیروی مقاومت بسیج‎‎, “Mobilisation Resistance Force”), full name Sāzmān-e Basij-e Mostaz’afin (Persian: سازمان بسیج مستضعفین‎‎, “The Organization for Mobilization of the Oppressed”), is one of the five forces of the Army of the Guardians of the Islamic Revolution. A paramilitary volunteer militia established in Iran in 1979 by Ayatollah Khomeini.
It was an independent organization from inception until 17 February 1981, when it was officially incorporated into the Revolutionary Guards organization structure by the Iranian Parliament.
Today the force consists of young Iranian volunteers. Basij serve as an auxiliary force engaged in activities such as internal security, law enforcement auxiliary, providing social services, organizing public religious ceremonies, policing morals, and suppression of dissident gatherings. The force is named Basij and individual members are called basiji.