The Afanasiev TKB-011 assault rifle (USSR)

The Afanasiev TKB-011 assault rifle is, in fact, an umbrella name that covers several vastly different experimental rifles, designed by Nikolay Afanasiev between the 1963 and 1969.

 

The experimental Afanasiev TKB-011 assault rifle

The experimental Afanasiev TKB-011 assault rifle, early bullpup variant

 

Afanasiev was an established weapons designer, previously known for successful development of the several aircraft weapons such as the 12.7mm A-12 machine gun and the 23mm AM-23 aircraft cannon. Through his entire life he worked in the city of Tula, first at the TsKB-14 and later at the TSKIBSOO design bureaus. The family of TKB-011 assault rifles was designed at the TSKIBSOO (The Central Design Bureau for Hunting and Sporting Arms), as a part of a large R&D program that sought lighter and more efficient rifles which could potentially replace the then-standard 7,62mm Kalashnikov AKM assault rifle. Another unusual weapon from the same design bureau which directly competed with the TKB-011 was an even more unusual TKB-022PM bullpup rifle, designed by German Korobov.

The first TKB-011 assault rifle, developed circa 1963, was a gas-operated weapon of a bullpup configuration. One unusual feature of this and later versions of the gas-operated TKB-011 rifles is that its bolt carrier moves back and forth at the downward-sloping angle to the barrel, in an attempt to reduce muzzle climb during the automatic fire. Therefore, the bolt carrier and the long-stroke gas piston rod were slightly “curved” down. Barrel locking is achieved by a vertically tilting bolt.

 

The experimental Afanasiev TKB-011 assault rifle

The experimental Afanasiev TKB-011 assault rifle, another bullpup variant

 

The experimental Afanasiev TKB-011 assault rifle

The experimental Afanasiev TKB-011 assault rifle, field-stripped into major sub-assemblies

 

Another advanced feature of the TKB-011 bullpup family was that most prototypes featured a forward ejection system, where fired cases are pushed forward and to the right via the short chute that opens to the right above and slightly to the rear of the pistol grip. This feature permits comfortable firing from the left shoulder without any adjustments.

The early versions of the TKB-011 rifle featured wooden furniture (forend, pistol grip and stock covers), mounted around the stamped steel receiver. Later versions featured reddish-brown AG-4 plastic (often erroneously called a “bakelite”) furniture around the same stamped steel receiver. Evolution of the bullpup TKB-011 rifle variants lasted until 1966 or 1967.

 

The experimental Afanasiev TKB-011 assault rifle

The experimental Afanasiev TKB-011 assault rifle, late bullpup variant with gas-operated action and plastick stock

 

For some not yet known reason the TKB-011 designation was later re-used for several entirely different rifles. First of these was another bullpup, but with the toggle-joint delayed blowback system. During the late 1960s, Afanasiev also designed at least two more prototype rifles firing then-experimental 5.45x39mm ammunition and using the traditional layout. One of these “non-bullpup” TKB-011 rifles was using a roller-delayed blowback system with horizontal rollers, as opposed to vertical rollers used in many German designs such as the HK G3 rifle. Another TKB-011 rifle of traditional layout used a toggle-joint (or a knee-joint) delayed blowback system probably inspired by the Schwarzlose machine gun.

 

The experimental Afanasiev TKB-011 assault rifle

The experimental Afanasiev TKB-011 assault rifles, late variants, top to bottom: gun with classic layout and roller-delayed blowback action, gun with a classic layout and a knee-joint delayed blowback action, and a bullpup wit a knee-joint delayed blowback action

 

All experimental guns mentioned above are now stored in the reference collection of the TSKIBSOO in Tula, and are not accessible for the general public.

As for the specifications, unfortunately no firm data besides calibers used was published for any of these prototypes.