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In 1978, as AMD-65 rifles in service were starting to get worn out, FÉG launched a program to refurbish the old original AKM-63 rifles with new wood furniture for new military service. Conversions began in 1980, and when the supply of old rifles ran out, the factory began making new ones to the same basic pattern. However, production was slow, and by 1982 only about 50,000 had been produced (about 35,500 for Hungarian use and another 14,500 for export). At that point, complaints had built up about the length of the rifles, as people were used to works with the quite compact AMD-65.
The solution was to introduce the AK-63D, a model of the rifle with the same 16″ barrel but with a Soviet-style underfolding stock instead of the fixed wooden stock. These replaced the AK-63F in production until 2002, when the fixed-stocks guns went back into production using leftover parts. This production appears to have continued until 2016, with Hungary selling the rifles to states in the Middle East. The exact details are still classified by the Hungarian government, but a 2018 Conflict Armament Research report identified 166 AK-63Fs captured from Isis. Some of these late-production guns have come into the United States as parts kits, including this one (which I purchased from Atlantic Firearms).
The Hungarian military decided to adopt the Czech Bren 2 rifle in 2011, bringing its use of Kalashnikovs to an end. The AK-63F rifles still in service today are expected to be all replaced by 2030.
>>The AK-63F rifles still in service today are expected to be all replaced by 2030.<<
…hmm. A country nominally in NATO, still using Warsaw Pact stuff.
In a case of Hungary this is kind of a metaphor. Also known as "allegory".
Is there any regulation that bans Nato members from using (long defunct) warsaw pact stuff ?
Probably not since Hungary has aligned itself with Russia.
Better Russia than whoring for NATO and the West’s DEI toxins. Take a look at Philadelphia say. THAT is what the US wants to export to the world: drugs sloth and dysfunction. Wake up you complacent fools!
Hahaha! You actually believe what crap you watch on YouTube. I live in Philadelphia. What you see is a tiny subsection of a minority of the city. It’s just like every other place but you’ve never been here so you just belch out the propaganda.
Regarding Hungary, I would refrain from making such simplistic, childish “us and them” assumptions. There are many facets of this new tragic european situation
It might be interesting to know if figures are available for Hungarian-made Kalashnikovs that went to El Salvador, where at least some turned up in the hands of the FMLN guerrilla movement during the 1980s… Perhaps that sort of information remains un-available for some reason?
As for the claim about “the best book about Hungarian AKs…” perhaps it is the only book about Hungarian AKs, hmm?
It is interesting that there is now only Romania in NATO holding onto something other than 5.56×45 as their standard. Finland, is going to start the process of switching over to 5.56 in the next few years with the rifle that SAKO is going to produce.
Romania is still standardized on the 5.45×39 for the Poor Bloody Infantry though I suspect when they’ve got the space in the budget for it that they’ll switch over to 5.56 as their special forces are apparently already using the cartridge.
Something to not really get in a hurry for, I suppose. Most things on the military budget come ahead of rifles in importance particularly when you’ve made millions of the rifles already.
I’d be curious if anyone knows anything more about Hungary’s switching over to 5.56 or of any of the former Warsaw Pact countries.
I was at the Ludovika last week for a conference and there were some knowledgable people present along with a selection of firearms. According to the military present, Hungary lacks the capacity to manufacture the Bren2 but is assembling it in a “small town in the south west” from Czech parts. Hungary has no capacity to manufacture 5.56 ammunition although there are plans. What that means is the Bren 2’s feature prominently in parades (along with ceremonial rifles like bolt action Mannlicher action carbines and SKS pattern carbines). However its the AK variants and anything that fires Soviet 5.45 or more importantly 7.62 that features in actual service. (Spec Ops have more to play with though.) There is also a seemingly inexhaustible supply of ammunition in storage from decades ago. Again according to the officers I met, the old ammunition has been well cared for and there are no problems with reliability. The Bren 2 is heavy for a 5.56. And the Hungarians say its got teething problems. The preference among veterans is still for the AK, but modernised with rails for accessories and some other refinements.