Croatian APS-95

from APS-95 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

"The APS-95 was a conventional select-fire assault rifle operating via a gas-driven piston and employing a 35-rounds detachable magazine for 5'56mm ammunition, in all similar to the ones used in the Israeli Galil or South-African R4 assault rifles. The APS-95 was made around a stamped receiver, rather than the refined milled receiver of the Galil and R4, thus achieving reduction in cost and manufacturing time. Its fire selector was based upon two distinct commands located on both sides of the rifle, similarly to the Galil and Vektor R4 but different in operation. The lever located on the right side of the receiver, based upon the AK-47 selector, had only two positions: lowered for "Fire" and raised for "Safe" (when raised, it blocked the bolt working as a dust cover). The small switch located over the grip on the left side of the receiver, at easy thumb reach, had two positions for semi-automatic and full-automatic fire. The folding stock was made out of stamped steel, and folded on the right side of the receiver; its profile didn't caused any hindrance to the handling of the weapon nor to the operation of the bolt - as such, the APS-95 could be safely fired with the stock folded.

The most prominent features of the APS-95 over the Galil and the R4 were its distinctive handguard and front sight, and its carrying handle integrating an 1.5x optical sight and optional backup back iron sights. The pistol grip was also different, featuring finger grooves, much in the style of the American M-16 assault rifle. Available optionals for the APS-95 included a removable bipod, sling, bayonet, and the RGB-1 - a quick attach/detach undercarried single-shot grenade launcher chambered for 30mm grenades. The RGB-1 was built with simplicity in mind, and equipped with a general mounting system to allow usage on many different assault rifles; the main drawback of the RGB-1 was its very sensitive single-action trigger which had no trigger guard or protection whatsoever, thus posing risks of accidental discharges in case of snags over a soldier's equipment.

The APS-95 was officially adopted by the Croatian Army around 1998, acquired and distributed in very small quantities before budgetary constraints stopped procurement. The manufacturer tried to push the APS-95 on ther international market for several years, with no success. The number of rifles manufactured, the quantity adopted by the Croatian Forces or any shipments abroad are unknown to date; so is the current status of the weapon."

Ho-ho! What's this, from Pictures of Croatian Armed Forces and their Equipment - Key Publishing Ltd Aviation Forums ?


And check out the magwell on the AK below...


Another shot of an APS-95. That might be the gas cutoff on the right side of the gas block.

It looks like the balance point is pretty far forward with the stock folded. That might be the reason for the long forward extension on the Truvelo Raptor's carry handle.


Below, a Croatian... something. There would be an AK in there, or an AR, or even something homegrown. Hard to tell under all the plastic and rails. The safety is in about the right spot for an AK selector, but the ejection port looks too low.


An AR variant in the foreground, the one in back looks Magal-ish. The folding stock means it's not an AR, though the ejection port still looks too low for an AK. There's a magazine well, but an AK-type mag release.


Another shot of the Magal-ish thing.


[edit] the AK-ish thing might be an H&K G36.

Aha! A better picture.

Looks like the barrel is riveted like a Valmet, and the rivets also retain some ears that point forward. I wonder why they didn't just use a keyed rear handguard retainer like the Valmet variants with a carry handle...

The scope/grip is attached to the top cover. It looks like the whole thing would swing up like a Krinkov. The gas tube appears to be straight instead of the block at the end that locks into the front trunnion. The cover *looks* like it should swing up, but you might have to remove the front pin and slide it back to disengage from the gas tube. Hard to tell from this picture.

The back of the top cover appears to have a large round button, and the back of the spring retainer in the picture under the receiver looks odd, so it might use a round button. I'm not sure what's going on there.

Note the projection at the front of the receiver to locate the vertically split handguard. All the other handguards I've seen work the other way. And it's interesting they chose to cover the gas tube instead of leaving it open like the other Valmet derivatives.

The parts picture apparently shows a tall, turned-up bolt handle, but the other pictures don't show that.

Fancy gas block, too... and I just noticed the hanguard has a sort of PSL-ish underbite, even though it's split vertically instead of horizontally.