Rk 95 TP
Encyclopedia
The Rk 95 Tp is a 7.62 mm Finnish
assault rifle
adopted by the Finnish Defence Forces
in the 1990s in relatively small numbers.
service rifle
. Between 1988–1990 the SAKO
company developed the M90 prototype, which was a substantially upgraded variant of the Rk 62. Changes to the original design included the fire control and safety selector, whose lever was transferred to the left side of the receiver housing, the cocking handle cut-out in the bolt carrier assembly was covered with a strip of metal, the cocking handle itself was placed at an upward angle (enhancing left-handed reloading), the rear sight assembly was installed on a sliding tangent with 150, 300 and 400 m range adjustments and the rifle was equipped with a folding tubular stock with a latch modeled on the locking solution employed in the SIG SG 540
rifle. The M90 was also equipped with a multifunction muzzle device and manual gas valve, enabling the use of rifle grenade
s. After undergoing further testing and implementing several changes (among them, the selector mechanism was reverted to the familiar Rk 62 configuration) the rifle was introduced into service with the Finnish Army
as the 7.62 Rk 95 Tp (Finnish
: Rynnäkkökivääri 95 Taittoperä or "assault rifle 95 folding stock").
, gas-operated
firearm using the Kalashnikov
-pattern operating system with a long stroke gas piston rod coupled to the bolt carrier as in the AK
rifle. The rotating bolt
locks into battery via two locking lugs.
and fully automatic firing modes. The fire selector switch, which is also the manual safety toggle, can occupy one of three positions: the top "safe" setting (the trigger and bolt carrier are both disabled mechanically), the middle setting (marked with three dot symbols) produces continuous fire and the bottom setting (single dot) activates a disconnector for single fire mode.
The weapon's barrel has a multipurpose muzzle attachment, which performs the role of a muzzle brake, flash suppressor
and a mounting base for launching rifle grenades. The gas block incorporates a manually-adjustable gas regulator that isolates and disconnects the gas system in the closed position and a lug at its base—used to attach a blade bayonet
(i.e. KCB-type bayonet). The barrel can also mount a sound suppressor
or blank-firing adaptor
.
The Rk 95 Tp has a plastic-coated tubular metal shoulder stock that folds to the right side and features an internal compartment used to store a cleaning rod. Both the forward handguard and pistol grip are made of a lightweight synthetic.
For maintenance the weapon is field stripped into the following components: the receiver and barrel, bolt carrier, bolt, return mechanism, gas tube, receiver cover and magazine.
(empty weight: 0.16 kg), with a 30-round capacity of double-stacked cartridges. These magazines are also interchangeable with standard AK-47/AKM magazines.
s, consisting of a forward post and an L-shaped dual-aperture rear flip sight with settings for firing at ranges of 150 and 300 m. The front sight, corrected for windage and elevation, is mounted in a semi-shrouded post on top of the gas block, and the rear sight—on the receiver top cover. For operation in low-level lighting conditions the rifle uses subdued self-luminous tritium
gas vials, installed in a separate folding post attached to the base of the front sight and deployed manually, and in the rear sight assembly in a fixed notch sight, exposed by rotating the rear sight arm 180° forward around its pivot axis. Additionally the rifle can be adapted to use various optical sights (i.e. the Trijicon
ACOG
or night vision equipment such as the Patria
VV 2000 passive night sight), through the use of a receiver-mounted side-rail. A detachable cheek riser is employed when using optics.
or a 40 mm under-slung grenade launcher
attachment. A railed gas block attachment was also developed for the weapon and is used to mount tactical accessories.
cartridge with the SS109 bullet, fed from plastic 30-round curved magazines. The barrel has four right-hand grooves with a rifling twist rate of 185 mm (1:7 in), and has a muzzle velocity of 920 m/s using standard ammunition. The rifle's rear sight is adjusted for firing at 200 and 400 m.
Finland
Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...
assault rifle
Assault rifle
An assault rifle is a selective fire rifle that uses an intermediate cartridge and a detachable magazine. Assault rifles are the standard infantry weapons in most modern armies...
adopted by the Finnish Defence Forces
Finnish Defence Forces
The Finnish Defence Forces are responsible for the defence of Finland. It is a cadre army of 15,000, of which 8,900 are professional soldiers , extended with conscripts and reservists such that the standard readiness strength is 34,700 people in uniform...
in the 1990s in relatively small numbers.
History
The rifle was developed in the late 1980s in response to a requirement to replace the 7.62mm Rk 62Rk 62
The Rk 62 is an assault rifle manufactured by Valmet and Sako. It is the standard issue infantry weapon of the Finnish Defence Forces....
service rifle
Service rifle
The service rifle of a given army or armed force is that which it issues as standard to its soldiers. In modern forces, this is typically a highly versatile and rugged assault rifle suitable for use in nearly all theatres and environments...
. Between 1988–1990 the SAKO
SAKO
SAKO, Limited is a Finnish firearm manufacturer located in Riihimäki....
company developed the M90 prototype, which was a substantially upgraded variant of the Rk 62. Changes to the original design included the fire control and safety selector, whose lever was transferred to the left side of the receiver housing, the cocking handle cut-out in the bolt carrier assembly was covered with a strip of metal, the cocking handle itself was placed at an upward angle (enhancing left-handed reloading), the rear sight assembly was installed on a sliding tangent with 150, 300 and 400 m range adjustments and the rifle was equipped with a folding tubular stock with a latch modeled on the locking solution employed in the SIG SG 540
SIG SG 540
The SG 540 is a 5.56mm assault rifle developed in the early 1970s by Schweizerische Industrie Gesellschaft based out of Neuhausen, Switzerland as a private venture primarily destined for export markets and as a potential replacement for the 7.5mm SG 510 automatic rifle known as the Stgw 57 in...
rifle. The M90 was also equipped with a multifunction muzzle device and manual gas valve, enabling the use of rifle grenade
Rifle grenade
A rifle grenade is a grenade that uses a rifle-based launcher to permit a longer effective range than would be possible if the grenade was thrown by hand...
s. After undergoing further testing and implementing several changes (among them, the selector mechanism was reverted to the familiar Rk 62 configuration) the rifle was introduced into service with the Finnish Army
Finnish Army
The Finnish Army is the land forces branch of the Finnish Defence Forces.Today's Army is divided into six branches: the infantry , field artillery, anti-aircraft artillery, engineers, signals, and materiel troops.-History of the Finnish Army:Between 1809 and 1917 Finland was an autonomous part of...
as the 7.62 Rk 95 Tp (Finnish
Finnish language
Finnish is the language spoken by the majority of the population in Finland Primarily for use by restaurant menus and by ethnic Finns outside Finland. It is one of the two official languages of Finland and an official minority language in Sweden. In Sweden, both standard Finnish and Meänkieli, a...
: Rynnäkkökivääri 95 Taittoperä or "assault rifle 95 folding stock").
Design details
Operating mechanism
The Rk 95 Tp is a select-fireSelective fire
A selective fire firearm has at least one semi–automatic and one automatic mode, which is activated by means of a selector which varies depending on the weapon's design. Some selective fire weapons utilize burst fire mechanisms to limit the maximum or total number of shots fired automatically in...
, gas-operated
Gas-operated reloading
Gas-operation is a system of operation used to provide energy to operate autoloading firearms. In gas-operation, a portion of high pressure gas from the cartridge being fired is used to power a mechanism to extract the spent case and chamber a new cartridge. Energy from the gas is harnessed...
firearm using the Kalashnikov
AK-47
The AK-47 is a selective-fire, gas-operated 7.62×39mm assault rifle, first developed in the Soviet Union by Mikhail Kalashnikov. It is officially known as Avtomat Kalashnikova . It is also known as a Kalashnikov, an "AK", or in Russian slang, Kalash.Design work on the AK-47 began in the last year...
-pattern operating system with a long stroke gas piston rod coupled to the bolt carrier as in the AK
AK-47
The AK-47 is a selective-fire, gas-operated 7.62×39mm assault rifle, first developed in the Soviet Union by Mikhail Kalashnikov. It is officially known as Avtomat Kalashnikova . It is also known as a Kalashnikov, an "AK", or in Russian slang, Kalash.Design work on the AK-47 began in the last year...
rifle. The rotating bolt
Rotating bolt
Rotating bolt is a method of locking originally developed by Ferdinand Ritter von Mannlicher and found in his Steyr-Mannlicher M1895 straight-pull bolt-action rifle designed for and issued to the Austro-Hungarian Army...
locks into battery via two locking lugs.
Features
The weapon's spring extractor is installed inside the bolt head and enclosed in one of the locking lugs while the ejector is a fixed protrusion of the internal bolt carrier guide rail. The firearm uses a hammer-type firing mechanism and a trigger group that enables semi-automaticSemi-automatic firearm
A semi-automatic, or self-loading firearm is a weapon which performs all steps necessary to prepare the weapon to fire again after firing—assuming cartridges remain in the weapon's feed device or magazine...
and fully automatic firing modes. The fire selector switch, which is also the manual safety toggle, can occupy one of three positions: the top "safe" setting (the trigger and bolt carrier are both disabled mechanically), the middle setting (marked with three dot symbols) produces continuous fire and the bottom setting (single dot) activates a disconnector for single fire mode.
The weapon's barrel has a multipurpose muzzle attachment, which performs the role of a muzzle brake, flash suppressor
Flash suppressor
A flash suppressor, also known as a flash guard, flash eliminator, flash hider, or flash cone, is a device attached to the muzzle of a rifle or other gun that reduces the visible signature of the burning gases that exit the muzzle. This reduces the chances that the shooter will be blinded in dark...
and a mounting base for launching rifle grenades. The gas block incorporates a manually-adjustable gas regulator that isolates and disconnects the gas system in the closed position and a lug at its base—used to attach a blade bayonet
Bayonet
A bayonet is a knife, dagger, sword, or spike-shaped weapon designed to fit in, on, over or underneath the muzzle of a rifle, musket or similar weapon, effectively turning the gun into a spear...
(i.e. KCB-type bayonet). The barrel can also mount a sound suppressor
Suppressor
A suppressor, sound suppressor, sound moderator, or silencer, is a device attached to or part of the barrel of a firearm which reduces the amount of noise and flash generated by firing the weapon....
or blank-firing adaptor
Blank-firing adaptor
A blank-firing adaptor or blank-firing attachment , sometimes called a blank adaptor or blank attachment, is a device used in conjunction with blank ammunition. Blank firing adapters are required for allowing blanks to cycle most automatic firearms.-Design:The design of the blank firing adapter...
.
The Rk 95 Tp has a plastic-coated tubular metal shoulder stock that folds to the right side and features an internal compartment used to store a cleaning rod. Both the forward handguard and pistol grip are made of a lightweight synthetic.
For maintenance the weapon is field stripped into the following components: the receiver and barrel, bolt carrier, bolt, return mechanism, gas tube, receiver cover and magazine.
Feeding
The Rk 95 Tp is chambered for the intermediate 7.62x39mm M43 cartridge. The rifle feeds from curved box magazines made of an impact-resistant polymerPolymer
A polymer is a large molecule composed of repeating structural units. These subunits are typically connected by covalent chemical bonds...
(empty weight: 0.16 kg), with a 30-round capacity of double-stacked cartridges. These magazines are also interchangeable with standard AK-47/AKM magazines.
Sights
The rifle comes with adjustable iron sightIron sight
Iron sights are a system of shaped alignment markers used as a sighting device to assist in the aiming of a device such as a firearm, crossbow, or telescope, and exclude the use of optics as in telescopic sights or reflector sights...
s, consisting of a forward post and an L-shaped dual-aperture rear flip sight with settings for firing at ranges of 150 and 300 m. The front sight, corrected for windage and elevation, is mounted in a semi-shrouded post on top of the gas block, and the rear sight—on the receiver top cover. For operation in low-level lighting conditions the rifle uses subdued self-luminous tritium
Tritium
Tritium is a radioactive isotope of hydrogen. The nucleus of tritium contains one proton and two neutrons, whereas the nucleus of protium contains one proton and no neutrons...
gas vials, installed in a separate folding post attached to the base of the front sight and deployed manually, and in the rear sight assembly in a fixed notch sight, exposed by rotating the rear sight arm 180° forward around its pivot axis. Additionally the rifle can be adapted to use various optical sights (i.e. the Trijicon
Trijicon
Trijicon ) is an American company, based in Wixom, Michigan, that manufactures and distributes optical sighting devices for firearms, including pistols, rifles, and shotguns....
ACOG
Advanced Combat Optical Gunsight
Advanced Combat Optical Gunsights are a series of telescopic sights manufactured by Trijicon. The ACOG is designed to be used on the M16 rifle and M4 carbine, but Trijicon has developed ACOG accessories for certain other firearms...
or night vision equipment such as the Patria
Patria (company)
Patria is a Finnish company which produces a wide range of defence, aviation and aerospace technology. It carries on the firearms tradition of Valtion Kivääritehdas and the aerospace tradition of Valtion lentokonetehdas.-Patria Aviation:* NH90* Mini-UAVs...
VV 2000 passive night sight), through the use of a receiver-mounted side-rail. A detachable cheek riser is employed when using optics.
Accessories
The rifle can be used with a barrel-mounted bipodBipod
A bipod is a support device that is similar to a tripod or monopod, but with two legs. It provides significant stability along two axes of motion .-Firearms:...
or a 40 mm under-slung grenade launcher
Grenade launcher
A grenade launcher or grenade discharger is a weapon that launches a grenade with more accuracy, higher velocity, and to greater distances than a soldier could throw it by hand....
attachment. A railed gas block attachment was also developed for the weapon and is used to mount tactical accessories.
Variants
A civilian 7.62mm-caliber semi-automatic version with a fixed buttstock was manufactured shortly as the M92S. An export variant of the rifle was also produced, modified to use the 5.56x45mm NATO5.56x45mm NATO
5.56×45mm NATO is a rifle cartridge developed in the United States and originally chambered in the M16 rifle. Under STANAG 4172, it is a standard cartridge for NATO forces as well as many non-NATO countries. It is derived from, but not identical to, the .223 Remington cartridge...
cartridge with the SS109 bullet, fed from plastic 30-round curved magazines. The barrel has four right-hand grooves with a rifling twist rate of 185 mm (1:7 in), and has a muzzle velocity of 920 m/s using standard ammunition. The rifle's rear sight is adjusted for firing at 200 and 400 m.