New Iranian Rifle Zolfaqar !

[PeeD]

Well those are good specs.
With the IRGC Fateh, Iran already joined the group of about 10 countries, working on/or having SCAR/AR18 layout assault rifles.
Now with the Zolfaghar a multi caliber variant adds to this (with all ammo which Iran already uses for: AK, M16, G3).

A young team getting developing it is all well and good, but the art is to get the rifle reliable. For that normally decade long experience and old veteran weapon designers are needed. H&K, FN, Kalashnikov company, Colt have such experience but a newly formed group of young engineers?
Either they need to trail the rifle for many years to get it reliable, or they have some engineering geniuses among them which compensate the lack of experience with advanced computer simulations to solve the details that are the hurdle for a reliable rifle.

Lets hope the tests go well and it is able to beat the competitors with an economic price tag.

PS: I hope they increase the barrel length of 450mm for the 5.56mm variant... the stopping power criticism of this already small round is mainly because it gets really effective with 510mm. They got that right for the long barrel MASAF and I hope they don't forget it for the Zolfaghar. Only with an expensive 5.56mm variant which Americans are just now introducing, 450mm lenght barrel with 5.56mm gets the necessary stopping power.

 

[yavar]

 

[mohsen]

Raefi poor's full introduction speech (23 minutes) about Zolfaghar rifle. just fantastic.
answers the 5.56 fans!

now I too believe this weapon is the best in the world, I may translate it later.

http://www.aparat.com/v/paIe0

 

[PeeD]

Good presentation.

5.56mm has indeed lethality problems yes, kevlar is nowadays standard equipment of Irans enemies.

The 5.56mm round was designed to be fired by a min. 508mm barrel to reach it's full energy/velocity. This is a quite long barrel and makes best sense with either a bullpup design or a design like the AR-15/M-16, where parts of the rifle mechanism is in the buttstock (best use of available space). These designs however are only really useful for normal soldiers, not SOF/airborne/security soldiers.

I already tried to explain the rest of the issues about recoil, ammo amount and so on in the previous posts.

7.62x51 with a 450mm barrel? Has still better lethality than 5.56mm with 508mm barrel. But the recoil of 7.62x51 in full auto for effective directed fire support could still be too much for a conscript, even with a modern design like the Zolfaghar.

As the Zolfaghar is multi-caliber it's good to go from my side, even if it lacks the usage of the buttstock for rifle mechanism (recoil reduction). This trade-off is good if it means that all units from conscript to CQB commandos would use the same rifle.

 

[arashkamangir]

Good presentation.

5.56mm has indeed lethality problems yes, kevlar is nowadays standard equipment of Irans enemies.

The 5.56mm round was designed to be fired by a min. 508mm barrel to reach it's full energy/velocity. This is a quite long barrel and makes best sense with either a bullpup design or a design like the AR-15/M-16, where parts of the rifle mechanism is in the buttstock (best use of available space). These designs however are only really useful for normal soldiers, not SOF/airborne/security soldiers.

I already tried to explain the rest of the issues about recoil, ammo amount and so on in the previous posts.

7.62x51 with a 450mm barrel? Has still better lethality than 5.56mm with 508mm barrel. But the recoil of 7.62x51 in full auto for effective directed fire support could still be too much for a conscript, even with a modern design like the Zolfaghar.

As the Zolfaghar is multi-caliber it's good to go from my side, even if it lacks the usage of the buttstock for rifle mechanism (recoil reduction). This trade-off is good if it means that all units from conscript to CQB commandos would use the same rifle.

I wonder if it is feasible to adopt 6.8 mm.

 

[Hack-Hook]

Good presentation.

5.56mm has indeed lethality problems yes, kevlar is nowadays standard equipment of Irans enemies.

The 5.56mm round was designed to be fired by a min. 508mm barrel to reach it's full energy/velocity. This is a quite long barrel and makes best sense with either a bullpup design or a design like the AR-15/M-16, where parts of the rifle mechanism is in the buttstock (best use of available space). These designs however are only really useful for normal soldiers, not SOF/airborne/security soldiers.

I already tried to explain the rest of the issues about recoil, ammo amount and so on in the previous posts.

7.62x51 with a 450mm barrel? Has still better lethality than 5.56mm with 508mm barrel. But the recoil of 7.62x51 in full auto for effective directed fire support could still be too much for a conscript, even with a modern design like the Zolfaghar.

As the Zolfaghar is multi-caliber it's good to go from my side, even if it lacks the usage of the buttstock for rifle mechanism (recoil reduction). This trade-off is good if it means that all units from conscript to CQB commandos would use the same rifle.

The problem is you must teach conscript not to go full auto . anyautomatic weapon in their hand would become a club in less than one minute. They usually have 2 or 3 spare Magazine and if they use auto then they'll ran out of bullet before they start engaging enemy
If it was by me for them I'd have built a weapon that only could fire single bullet or at must burst of 3 bullet.

 

[OldTwilight]

The problem is you must teach conscript not to go full auto . anyautomatic weapon in their hand would become a club in less than one minute. They usually have 2 or 3 spare Magazine and if they use auto then they'll ran out of bullet before they start engaging enemy
If it was by me for them I'd have built a weapon that only could fire single bullet or at must burst of 3 bullet.

Persian mauser

 

[Draco.IMF]

i hope iranian engineers learn from past and next rifles doesnt end in a disaster like the Khaybar KH2002
(in 2008 syria tested this rifle, in test 8 of 10 got malfunctions !!, it was a disaster for the iranian delegation, winner was the AK-74M)

 

[Hack-Hook]

Persian mauser

Well something in line of Colt AR-15 or SR-47 or FN SCAR 17 is a lot better for conscripts . at least they won't ran out of bullets in seconds

Or better something like m16a4 that have burst mode but lack fully automated mode.

 

[AmirPatriot]

Well something in line of Colt AR-15 or SR-47 or FN SCAR 17 is a lot better for conscripts . at least they won't ran out of bullets in seconds

Or better something like m16a4 that have burst mode but lack fully automated mode.

How were you trained on the G3?

Was single shot discipline enforced? Or was full auto spamming more more prevalent?

@PeeD although 7.62 is indeed good for penetrating armour, isn't the 20 vs 30 round mag too big a sacrifice for stopping power, considering that these will be in the hands of conscripts?

 

[Hack-Hook]

Well we were full auto always was discouraged .the only time we used full auto was when we were testing guns and had extra bullet to burn as returning those bullets was a little pain in the *** we would habe gone wild.

 

[AmirPatriot]

Well we were full auto always was discouraged .the only time we used full auto was when we were testing guns and had extra bullet to burn as returning those bullets was a little pain in the *** we would habe gone wild.

So were this instructions followed well by soldiers? If so, good discipline might make the 20 round mag of a 7.62x51 acceptable. But I'm still a bit worried when the Russians for example use 5.45 and have the 30 round mag (and their opponents also use proper body armour) but we see the need for the much bigger round with the high recoil, less mag capacity, harder logistics etc...

 

[Hack-Hook]

So were this instructions followed well by soldiers? If so, good discipline might make the 20 round mag of a 7.62x51 acceptable. But I'm still a bit worried when the Russians for example use 5.45 and have the 30 round mag (and their opponents also use proper body armour) but we see the need for the much bigger round with the high recoil, less mag capacity, harder logistics etc...

no the instruction is not followed by the conscript and here is the problem 30 bullet and 20 bullet made a difference of 2 second if press the trigger in automatic mode that's why I say we must gave conscripts semi automatic weapons and provide automatic weapons to professional soldiers or well disciplined conscript and 45 day is not enough to train acceptable level of restrain in conscript make it thrice that time and you get results.

 

[Oldman1]

How were you trained on the G3?

Was single shot discipline enforced? Or was full auto spamming more more prevalent?

@PeeD although 7.62 is indeed good for penetrating armour, isn't the 20 vs 30 round mag too big a sacrifice for stopping power, considering that these will be in the hands of conscripts?

There is a 25 round version magazine. Thats a good compromise.

 

[dr_jawwad71]

Guys!
May I ask about its firing mechanism. Is it short stroke, long stroke or roller delayed blowback?