Talk:RPK

Additional Images

RPKM (also known as RPK-203) with 40-round bakelite plastic magazine - 7.62x39mm

RPK with cleaning rod removed, folded bipod and 40-round magazine - 7.62x39mm

Zastava M77 - 7.62x51mm

Norinco NHM-91, the post 1990 Ban import U.S. version had a thumbhole stock installed - 7.62x39mm

Vepr 3V (VPO-134), civilian carbine based on the RPK - 7.62x39mm

File:Rpk 02.jpg

RPK with 40 round magazine - 7.62x39mm

Romanian RPK with slanted muzzle brake and 40-rounds magazine - 7.62x39mm. The slanted muzzle brake is not a factory component for any RPKs, and is generally added to US imported RPKs for 922(r) compliance.

Discussion

Why is the RPK-74 listed here? We separated the 5.45mm AK-74 from the AK-47 series. And We separated the RPK from the 5.45 series of guns. Either do it one way or do it the other way, but stay consistent. MoviePropMaster2008 18:15, 2 May 2010 (UTC)

Lets just make an RPK-74 page and retitle this one RPK-47. --AdAstra2009 22:27, 2 May 2010 (UTC)

Other Imported Variants

• Chinese RPK 86S-7 Semi Auto (Imported in small numbers in 1989 only before the door shut on Assault style weapons import)
• Norinco NMD-83
• Norinco NHM-91 (Post Ban long barreled RPK style rifle with thumbhole stock)
• Maadi RML (Post Ban long barreled MISR with bipod and thumbhole stock)

RPK-74 Drum

The VG section of the RPK-74 says that many games have RPK-74s with non-existent drum magazine. I thought that both the RPK and -74 have drums, 75-rounder for the RPK, 100-rounder for the -74. ? -bozitojugg3rn4ut 08:12, 17 January 2012 (CST)

No, RPK-74 use only stick magazines, 45-rounds (and may use 30-rounds AK-74 magazines). It has no drums (at least, not Soviet/Russian-produced ones). Greg-Z 08:52, 17 January 2012 (CST)

But there are aftermarket drums for the -74 right? So it is not a mistake that games portray them with drum mags. --bozitojugg3rn4ut 10:58, 17 January 2012 (CST)

I don't think anyone makes an RPK-74 drum. There were experimental "drums" (90 or 100 round, have read both), but they weren't like the RPK drum, instead they were a pan type arrangement. Here is a picture of one fitted to an RPK-74 that also has the experimental belt feed mechanism installed on it as well (this is unrelated to the drum feed though, that goes through the magazine well as normal). You can buy converted 75 round 7.62 drum magazines (ones I have seen were built from Romanian ones, but could work with others), but it takes a lot of time and effort to do so are pretty rare and expensive. --commando552 11:30, 17 January 2012 (CST)

Yes, the BXC converts Romanian 7.62x39mm drum magazines to 5.45x39mm.[1] Needless to say, if Russian Military is portrayed using those, that's erroneous. --Masterius 10:19, 23 January 2012 (CST)

I remember seeing a picture file with a chart that showed various AK-47/74 magazines, drums included. One of them was a 90-round pan-type magazine that fed upwards into the receiver, labelled as a SAW-type magazine. If the RPK-74M can indeed accept AK-74M magazines, then it should be able to accept that one too (though the chart does make the mistake of identifying the rust-red AK-74 magazines as "bakelite" when they were in fact made of phenolic resin). I can post up that file if it's not a problem. I am, however, a little confused as to why the Soviets didn't make their own drum magazines for the RPK-74--did they just issue PKMs instead for that role? I thought a RPK-74 with a drum magazine might be lighter and much more portable, kind of like how the M249 displaced the M60 in US Armed Forces service. --Mazryonh 10:40, 23 January 2012 (CST)

Drum magazines have reliability issues. And PKM weighs very close to M249 SAW - 7.5 kg. --Masterius 10:53, 23 January 2012 (CST)

Didn't the Soviets have plenty of time to work out the bugs with drum magazines, what with their use of PPSh-41s on the battalion level not so long ago? And besides, a PKM is certainly a lot bulkier than an RPK-74, and an RPK-74 has "caliber commonality" with the other members of a squad/platoon (a belt-fed weapon usually can't load magazines from the same caliber, and if it can it obviously isn't as effective with just a 30-round magazine). You could make it so that everyone in a squad carries at least one RPK-74 drum magazine (just like the Soviet SMG battalions of old), and the RPK-74 user(s) carry some drum mags along with some standard box magazines for backup. If one drum magazine jams/misfeeds during a firefight, the SAW gunner switches to another one or to a stick magazine, or a team member hands him a fresh one while someone else tries to clear the jam/misfeed. This is hardly complicated, so has it already been tried? If not, why not? --Mazryonh 12:12, 25 January 2012 (CST)

Drum magazines of PPSh-41s too had reliability issues. As such, a year later after PPSh-41 adoption, a 35-round box magazine was developed, and common practice was to have a drum magazine as the initial one and box magazines for reloading. And 5.45 drum magazines were tried: prototype PU machine gun, but ultimately were dropped. --Masterius 13:32, 25 January 2012 (CST)

Al Quds model

Is there any chance we could get a decent image of the "Al Quds" version of the RPK? It's an Iraqi copy based off of the Zastava M72. It looks very similar to the Zastava, but has a regular AK pistol grip instead of the short, stubby grip of the M72 series. Orca1 9904 (talk) 01:21, 7 July 2015 (EDT)

Like this here? After brief googling that was the best I could find. Or the only one... --CnC Fin (talk) 06:20, 7 July 2015 (EDT)

Page Name

I've been doing this a bunch, but this is a pretty big page, so I just want to double-check: is it alright if I move this page to "RPK"? I'm fairly certain that there isn't anything else here called the "RPK", so I don't really think that the "light machine gun" suffix is necessary. Pyr0m4n14c (talk) 17:06, 18 July 2019 (EDT)

Right, it's been a few hours, and nobody's objected, so I'm going through with it. You can always revert the change if it's a problem. Pyr0m4n14c (talk) 00:42, 19 July 2019 (EDT)

For the record, many folks don't check the site constantly, admins included. In the future might be best to give it more like a few days before making any major changes to major pages, and in addition might be worth noting it on the main page discussion as well. That said, I personally have no problem with the 'move' (which is really just a rename) as I concur the 'light machine gun' part isn't really necessary. StanTheMan (talk) 12:17, 19 July 2019 (EDT)

Most correct way to rename this page, avoiding broken links and re-redirects, would be: 1) delete redirect RPK, 2) rename RPK light machine gun to RPK. Let me know when it would be need for the first step. --Greg-Z (talk) 13:15, 19 July 2019 (EDT)

Basically what Greg said, as it's useful for keeping track of the page history (alternatively, an admin can directly rename it to the already existing "RPK" name, and the older RPK redirect will automatically be "deleted to make way for move from" the current page). And to add on what Stan said regarding waiting a few days before making such changes, it would be useful if you directly message an admin about the proposal if nobody responds to the article's discussion. --Ultimate94ninja (talk) 08:45, 20 July 2019 (EDT)