The Yugoslav M92 rifle is most often compared to the Soviet AKS-74U “Krinkov” – it is a compact, folding-stock version of Zastava’s M70 AK, just as the 74U was the compact version of the AK-74 series. However, the M92 was actually not made for a particular military requirement but rather for commercial export sales. While it is based on the 7.62x39mm M70 family of rifles, it was released in 1992 after both the 5.56mm M80 and M90 series were in production. Today, it serves a significant role for Zastava as the basis for the “pistol” AKs imported into the US.
Many thanks to the French IRCGN (Criminal Research Institute of the National Gendarmerie) for generously giving me access to film this specimen for you! They maintain an extensive firearms reference collection as part of their mission to fight crime and international terrorism.
Why the star thingy on the gas piston for short barreled AKs?
So would a firearm like this be more acceptable to those who are dubious about the whole personal defense weapon craze?
That is a maladroit question. The real question is whether a support unit, say, equipped with this weapon could handle s serious am bush by enemy equipped with their standard infants gear. War is not a matter of taking an opinion poll
And damn auto-correct.I wrote ‘an ambush…standard infantry gear?’
If I were an AFV crewman, one of these would be nice to include in my bailout bag.
If I were any sort of combat service support soldier, say someone manning a watch tower on a FOB? Oh, hell no.
I’ve said it before: There are no second-class soldiers. You have to be ready to fight wherever and whenever the enemy decides to engage you, and you absolutely have to carry the fight to the enemy, fix him in place, and destroy him.
If you’ve got one of these, that’s gonna be a lot harder to do than if you’re equipped like the line infantry in all the important details.
So would this type of weapon be acceptable to those who are dubious about the whole personal defense weapon craze?
I dont think this was officially released right in ’92, but later, because there were no pictures that it was used in wars that Serbia waged at that early 90s time, from what I’ve seen.
The article says the weapon was made for export sales
Not sales in ’92 and later as they were under various embargoes, I think not only import but also export was banned.
First batch was made in IIRC 1993.
Of course, what I’ve said many times before here in comments, there is no “yugoslav” BS,
the name of the factory is Crvena Zastava or Zastava, it means Red Flag in serbian.
Good point. Yugoslavia was a highly artificial construction to begin with. That is what happens when you elect a poofty college prof as POTUS than turn him loose at a peace conference
Ehhh… It’s not like there weren’t plenty of locals who signed on to the whole deal.
The Slovenians were enamored of the whole idea of a federal Yugoslavia, back around 1918. They maneuvered for it, fought for it…
Then, they got it. Took nearly sixty-plus years of being yoked to the rest of the Balkan idiocy before they finally reached the conclusion that the best thing to be was “independent”.
Pan-slavism was a great idea, until you had to implement it with the usual run of knuckleheads you found in the former Yugoslavia. After you spent enough time playing games with them all, the prospect pretty much palled. I spent a lot of my youth listening to various and sundry Slovenes bitching about the foibles and follies of Croatians, Serbians, and everyone else in the former Yugoslavia. Some of the points they made were likely valid, but… Man, were they mostly unhappy with the whole deal.
It’s amusing to read the early post-WWI literature that came out of what became Slovenia, then compare it to the deeply cynical and derogatory stuff that was prevalent circa 1990. You can see how the German banks that were the enablers behind the split were able to make it happen so easily…
Margaret Thatcher’s most famous quote regarding socialism is:
“The problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other people’s money”.
This can perfectly describe the situation Yugoslavia profited from, balancing between US and USSR money, which ended in 1990 with eastern block collapse. This is what local people there completely failed to understand, always complaining of the good old times and why Yugoslavia did not lasted longer, failing to understand the tectonic change in geopolitics that made the whole “merry brotherhood of 6 nations” (held together under the yoke of army, police and “secret services” that were killing the dissidents even in late 80s) construct obsolete. In the long run, the most tragic turn of events was not even the war, but infiltration of before mentioned elements into newly made republics (basicly, in great deal invented by them, so they can stay in power) whose corruption that stemmed from Yugoslavian way of conducting the business is staining the countries progress even today. But that is perfect for some other European powers and their interests as they do not want a strong and prosperous elements in that region, but a reservoir of cheap labor for them.
When the wheels come off the car that fast, I’d say the passengers were not too interested in maintaining the vehicle as operable.