Sweden's Service Rifles Over The Last Century

Описание: These are all of Sweden’s standard service rifles over the last century

Starting off with The Model 1896. Adopted in 1896, this was a bolt action and took 5 rounds. It was an improved version of Mauser’s Model 1893 but was chambered in 6.5x55mm Swedish instead of 7x57 mauser. However, Sweden declared itself neutral during WW1 and WW2, meaning these didn’t really see any action other than a brief stint in Åland Finland in 1918.

But in 1952 Sweden also introduced the AG 42. This was loosely based on the SVT. It was a semi auto rifle, took 10 rounds and was still chambered in 6.5 Swedish and used in conjunction with the M96. This did see a bit of use in the cold war, specifically the Congo Crisis where 40 Swedish soldiers were injured and 19 were killed with two of those being eaten by the locals. I guess they had a hankering for some Ikea meatballs.

But These were replaced by the AK4 in 1965. AK meaning Automatkarbin and not Avtomat Kalashnikova. This was a swedish version of HK’s G3 with only minor changes. It was chambered in 7.62 Nato, took a 20 round mag and could fire full or semi auto.

However, in 1986, Sweden upgraded to the AK5. This was a Swedish built FN FNC but with minor changes to cope with the cold Swedish weather such as a larger tigger guard for use with winter gloves. This switched caliber to 5.56 NATO, took a 30 round mag, could fire full or semi auto, removing the 3 round burst of the original FN rifle.

But they’re now in the process of introducing the AK24