TKB-0146
TKB-0146
Bullpup assault rifle
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]
