The AK family tree

All major AK variants from 1947 - 2020

Before you ask, why some are missing? Here is the explanation of what made it to the tree and what not. 1. Rifles and carbines only 2. Mostly military rifles 3. Only from countries from the former Eastern-Bloc.

The roots of the tree start in the former Soviet Union (USSR). Where the AK-47 type 1 was introduced in 1949, the Ak-47 Type 2 came not long after and it used a stamped receiver, but due to the USSR lacking machinery for stamping, the AK-47 Type 3 was introduced, it used a milled receiver (like the Type 1) but it featured some improvements. It was mass produced by not only the Soviets, but also by Former East-Germany (DDR), Bulgaria (BG), Hungary (HU), North Korea (NK), Poland (PL) and the Peoples Republic of China (PRC). In 1949 the AK-47 Type 4 (designated the AKM) was introduced, it is the modernized and improved variant of the AK-47 and it used a stamped receiver. The AKM got later produced by the DDR, Hungary, North Korea, Poland and Romania. The Bulgarians did not produce the AKM and China did make stamped AK-47s (Type 56) but on their own way. Albania set on to produce the Type 56 (designated the ASH-78) instead of Soviet AK's due to Albania seeking closer ties to China. In 1974 the Soviets introduced the AK-74, a new AK in a new caliber. The AK-47 and AKM (and variants from other countries) were chambered in the 7.62x39mm M43 cartridge. The Soviets developed a smaller cartridge as a response to the 5.56x45mm nato round. The new round was the 5.45x39mm, and with the cartridge came a new rifle. While the Soviets was implementing the AK-74, but not all countries decided to pick up the AK-74, and for some it took a while to domestically produce. Romania and Poland did their own thing, Poland's WZ. 88 used AKM parts and it had alot of changed compared to the Soviet AK. Romania made their own copy of the AK-74. Some countries like Hungary and China did not adopt the 5.45 (China due to the Sino-Soviet split and developed their own cartridge later on). For most former Eastern-Bloc countries, the 5.45 AK's was the end. The Eastern-Bloc fell and the Warsaw pact went into thin air, and after the fall of communism, almost all former Warsaw-Pact countries decided to join Nato and wanted to standardize to Nato standards. Poland did this by developing the WZ. 96, which is bassicly a modernized WZ. 88 but in 5.56. Other countries still use older AK's as their standard issue rifle due to.... money issues.

Before and after the fall of the USSR around 1991, the Soviets developed the AK-74M and later the AK100 series, which were modernized and improved variants of the AK-74, with a selection of barrel lengths and calibers. In 2019, the final variant of the AK-12 got introduced and it was intended to replace the AK74m in Russian service, but looking how their war effort is going and supplying soldiers with rusty AKM's, it will never be the standard issue rifle.

Yugoslavia (SRB) did their entire own thing with the AK. They reverse engineerd stolen AK's and created their own line of AK rifles.

For a more detailed explanation of the history and evolution of the AK, check out my other article about the Evolution of the AK.

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