TKB-0146

TKB-0146
TKB-0146
Type	Bullpup assault rifle
Place of origin	Soviet Union
Production history
Designer	Igor Yakovlevich Stechkin
Specifications
Mass	3.8kg
Length	794mm
Barrel length	420mm
Cartridge	5.45×39mm
Caliber	5.45mm
Rate of fire	600 rpm (sustained); 2000 rpm (two-round burst)
Muzzle velocity	920m/s
Feed system	30-round AK-74 compatible box magazine
Sights	Iron sights

The TKB-0146 (Russian: ТКБ-0146) is a bullpup assault rifle prototype designed by Igor Yakovlevich Stechkin at the TsKIB SOO. The gun participated in the Russian Army's Project Abakan assault rifle trials.^[1]^[2]

Nikonov's AS[M] and Stechkin's design were the only two truly innovative designs in the Abakan competition that made it to the final testing round; all the other 6 competitors that made it that far were based on more conventional designs. Stechkin's design could fire two-round bursts at 2000 rpm or sustained fire at 600 rpm.^[3] Stechkin's gun was slightly more accurate than Nikonov's, but turned out less reliable, mainly because it accumulated more fouling. Nikonov's design won and became the AN-94.^[3] In TKB-0146, switching from one-round semi-automatic to fully automatic fire was accomplished by a secondary trigger located behind the main trigger. Squeezing the main trigger slightly fired off a single round. Pulling it back fully, so that it pressed the secondary trigger, enabled fully automatic fire. Switching to the two-round burst mode was done by operating a different lever.^[4]^[3]

Two examples can be seen in the Tula arms museum; one of these is an early prototype that was configured for three-round bursts rather than two, which was the option for the later models.^[5]

References

^ "У Истоков «Абакана»", Ружьё. Оружие и амуниция, 1998/1, pp. 6-8
^ Nowa Technika Wojskowa 2002/03, page 23
^ ^a ^b ^c Михаил Дегтярёв, "«Абакан» Стечкина" (Stechkin's Abakan), Калашников. Оружие, Боеприпасы, Снаряжение, 2004/1, pp. 10-16; HTML version Archived 2017-11-15 at archive.today
^ "Фіналісти конкурсу «Абакан» » Військова панорама". Archived from the original on 2014-04-13. Retrieved 2013-07-05.
^ Оружие И.Я. Стечкина, Официальный сайт Тульского государственного музея оружия, retrieved 2013-4-7^{[dead link]}