The ShAK-12 (Cyrillic: ШAК-12), formerly known as the ASh-12.7 (Avtomat Shturmovoy, Автомат штурмовой in Cyrillic, meaning "Automatic rifle" in English) or ASh-12, is a large-caliber Russian battle rifle.
History
The ShAK-12 was designed by TsKIB SOO, and is manufactured by the Kalashnikov Concern, originally under the name of ASh-12.7 or ASh-12. The weapon has reportedly been used since 2011 by Russian Special Forces and was apparently adopted, though there have been no records of the ASh-12.7 actually being used.
The weapon was renamed as the ShAK-12 some time in 2017. In spite of the renaming, the weapon still retains "ASh" proof marks on the side of the receiver.
Design Details
The weapon is meant to be used for high-risk law-enforcement environments at short range to prevent mass collateral damage to innocent bystanders or hostages. Because it needs to fulfill these tasks, the ShAK-12 is made to chamber special large-caliber munitions to fulfill a variety of purposes for various missions. The ShAK-12 assault rifle has a bullpup layout, with a stamped steel receiver and a polymer housing and stock. It is speculated to use a gas operated, rotary bolt action. Firing controls include two separate levers; a fire mode selector at the rear and an ambidextrous safety lever above the pistol grip.
There are several configurations of the basic rifle; such as one with an integral carrying handle and a flat-top version with flip-up iron sights. Certain variations include a picatinny rail at the fore end used for mounting multiple-shot grenade launchers or foregrips. A compensator or a suppressor can be attached to the muzzle, which is noticably very short on the production ShAK-12 as it does not protrude out of the receiver.
Ammunition
The various loads for the ShAK-12. From left to right: light load, duplex load, heavy load, armor-piercing load.
The ammunition the ShAK-12 uses is based on the 12.7×55mm ammunition used by the VKS sniper rifle, also developed by TsKIB SOO. It uses a straight-walled, rimless brass case. The standard load for the ShAK-12 is a lightweight, supersonic bullet with an aluminum core, exposed at the front and hollowed at the rear, partially enclosed into a bi-metal jacket. The cartridge has a bullet weight of 48.14-76.08 grams and a muzzle velocity of 290–315 meters per second. It has several loadings; light loads, heavy loads and even a duplex load.