JJ_BPK
03-08-2021, 09:01
Stumbled onto this picture of Russia’s APS Underwater Assault Rifle ammo. Thinking not many 18B's have played with one??
The weapon Simonov came up with was simple, with only 42-named parts. Overall it greatly resembled both in lay out and action, the AK-47 series rifles, which was the standard assault rifle of the Soviet Army and Navy. With a skeletonized buttstock, it could compact down to just 24-inches long overall, perfect for storage in the gloveboxes of Soviet mini-subs.
Firing special 5.66x120mm steel darts from a 39mm long cartridge case at up to 600-rounds per minute, the action had to be stretched and redesigned to handle such an oddball outsized round.
APS dart penetration tests.
APS dart penetration tests. Darts can penetrate tanks and neoprene suits out to 100 ft. << not so sure about that claim :munchin
The barrel, not needed to stabilize the spin of the darts underwater due to the dart’s flat pointed hydrodynamic cavity, is smoothbore like that of a shotgun. This gives the weapon lousy range and accuracy above water but under the waves, it’s a killer.
Fully loaded with its oddly shaped magazine crammed full of 26 steel darts, the gun tips the scales at 7.5-pounds. As water displacement of an object submerged is roughly only 2/3rd its weight in air, the APS weighs less than 5-pounds when underwater. Speaking of shooting underwater, the gas-operated assault rifle acts differently the deeper submerged it is, due to the density and pressure of the water it fires through. In waters up to 16-feet deep, its range is up to 100-feet away with its darts still capable of piercing a dive tank or neoprene suit. However, this changes rapidly with depth and by the time the frogman gets to 130-feet deep, the APS is useless for anything over 30-feet away.
By 1975, the APS rifle was adopted, being produced by both TsNIITochMash, and the famous Tula arms factories for the Soviet and other Warsaw Pact navies. In the Soviet navy, the APS went to arm both Spetsnaz commandoes and underwater warfare units protecting naval bases from underwater attack.
The gun was a one-of-a-kind weapon with no true competitor throughout the 1970s-1990s. Its very existence was unknown in the West until the 1980s. Simonov received the State Prize of the USSR in 1982 for his work on the project. It’s thought that since then the rifle has been sold abroad to almost any country who wanted a few and with enough hard foreign currency to buy them.
Still, the APS is limited in its effectiveness and in 2000 it was replaced in Spetsnaz use by the ASM-DT rifle, a 5.45x39mm hybrid rifle that could fire either special underwater rounds while submerged or standard AK-74 rounds when on the surface. Even this new gun is thought to soon be replaced by the ADS, which would be Russia’s third generation of underwater assault rifle.
https://www.guns.com/news/2013/07/08/the-aps-russias-underwater-assault-rifle-what-frogmen-bring-to-pool-parties
Enjoy
The weapon Simonov came up with was simple, with only 42-named parts. Overall it greatly resembled both in lay out and action, the AK-47 series rifles, which was the standard assault rifle of the Soviet Army and Navy. With a skeletonized buttstock, it could compact down to just 24-inches long overall, perfect for storage in the gloveboxes of Soviet mini-subs.
Firing special 5.66x120mm steel darts from a 39mm long cartridge case at up to 600-rounds per minute, the action had to be stretched and redesigned to handle such an oddball outsized round.
APS dart penetration tests.
APS dart penetration tests. Darts can penetrate tanks and neoprene suits out to 100 ft. << not so sure about that claim :munchin
The barrel, not needed to stabilize the spin of the darts underwater due to the dart’s flat pointed hydrodynamic cavity, is smoothbore like that of a shotgun. This gives the weapon lousy range and accuracy above water but under the waves, it’s a killer.
Fully loaded with its oddly shaped magazine crammed full of 26 steel darts, the gun tips the scales at 7.5-pounds. As water displacement of an object submerged is roughly only 2/3rd its weight in air, the APS weighs less than 5-pounds when underwater. Speaking of shooting underwater, the gas-operated assault rifle acts differently the deeper submerged it is, due to the density and pressure of the water it fires through. In waters up to 16-feet deep, its range is up to 100-feet away with its darts still capable of piercing a dive tank or neoprene suit. However, this changes rapidly with depth and by the time the frogman gets to 130-feet deep, the APS is useless for anything over 30-feet away.
By 1975, the APS rifle was adopted, being produced by both TsNIITochMash, and the famous Tula arms factories for the Soviet and other Warsaw Pact navies. In the Soviet navy, the APS went to arm both Spetsnaz commandoes and underwater warfare units protecting naval bases from underwater attack.
The gun was a one-of-a-kind weapon with no true competitor throughout the 1970s-1990s. Its very existence was unknown in the West until the 1980s. Simonov received the State Prize of the USSR in 1982 for his work on the project. It’s thought that since then the rifle has been sold abroad to almost any country who wanted a few and with enough hard foreign currency to buy them.
Still, the APS is limited in its effectiveness and in 2000 it was replaced in Spetsnaz use by the ASM-DT rifle, a 5.45x39mm hybrid rifle that could fire either special underwater rounds while submerged or standard AK-74 rounds when on the surface. Even this new gun is thought to soon be replaced by the ADS, which would be Russia’s third generation of underwater assault rifle.
https://www.guns.com/news/2013/07/08/the-aps-russias-underwater-assault-rifle-what-frogmen-bring-to-pool-parties
Enjoy