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AK-74M vs RPK / RPK-74: how to tell them apart

Easy to mix up at a glance. Here is what tells them apart.

AK-74M, rifle from Soviet Union

AK-74M

Rifle, Soviet Union. In service since 1991

What gives it away

Long curved magazine, cylindrical two-chamber muzzle brake, side-folding polymer stock and the rear sight just in front of the dust cover.

Used by

Russia, Ukraine and many others

Photo: Vitaly V. Kuzmin, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
RPK / RPK-74, machine gun from Soviet Union

RPK / RPK-74

Machine gun, Soviet Union. In service since 1961

What gives it away

An AK with a longer, heavier barrel, a bipod near the muzzle and a long 40- or 45-round magazine or a drum.

Used by

Russia, Ukraine and many others

Photo: http://www.defenselink.mil/multimedia/, Wikimedia Commons, Public domain
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