Pistol Mitraliera Model 1963 (PM md. 63)

History

The Soviet AK-47 Kalashnikov assault rifle became one of the most famous automatic weapons of all time after its introduction in the late 1940s. Its proliferation made it successful in the market, and countries that fell into the Soviet sphere of influence adopted the type to replace outdated World War II-era bolt-action rifles, semi-automatic rifles, and submachine guns in service at the time.

In 1959, the AK-47 was modernized to "AKM", a brand that is also used worldwide.

At the request of the USSR (who were trying to reduce production obligations outside the USSR), Communist Romania, along with other Warsaw Pact countries, developed a localized version of the AKM - this weapon became the "Pistol Mitraliera Model 1963". ( "PM Md. 63").

Design work was done by Romtechnica in the 1960s and manufactured by RATMIL ("Regia Autonoma pentru productja de Technica MILitara").

Externally, this rifle looks very much like part of a Kalashnikov assault weapon. In fact, the rifle appears to be nothing more than a replica of the Soviet model, complete with wooden furniture, a curved 30-round magazine, and a rectangular casing with a large fire selector.

As with the AKM, the gas cylinder is located above the barrel assembly and a wooden stock is used. It retains the Soviet 7.62x39 mm rifling and pneumatic operation. A distinguishing feature of PM md.

The 63 becomes an integral, forward-leaning foregrip, which is moulded as part of the front furniture to form the lower part of the handguard.

A slightly modified version appeared in 1965, replacing the wooden shoulder rest with a folding metal skeleton design for improved portability. The down-folding of the stock also forced the vertical foregrip to be reshaped to point rearward to release the folding assembly.

Then there are civilian market forms, "AIM" (wooden stock) and "AIMS" (metal stock) are the export models of Romanian weapons.

Production of PM md. The 63 started in 1963 and was produced in various forms until 1994. The series provided the Romanian army with a robust but unobtrusive automatic weapon, just as the famous Kalashnikov submachine gun did for the Soviet army.

The PM md family offers roughly the same powerful built-in qualities as the original - they are efficient weapons, proven easy to use (and train others to use), and can be mass-produced in Romania by the thousands.

Like the AKM, this assault rifle is reborn as a short-barreled carbine with a 20-round magazine. Both the barrel and cylinder have been appropriately shortened for the product, resulting in a more compact profile, which is further aided by the introduction of a side-folding metal stock. The weapon was called "Pistol Mitraliera Model 1980 (PM md. 80) or "AIMR". In 1990, "Pistol Mitraliera Model 1990" (PM md.

90) appeared as a modern product and received a short-barreled carbine form" Pistol Mitraliera Model 90 cu Teava Scurta".

The PM-md gun is in service outside Romania and has been adopted by the armed forces of Afghanistan, Georgia, Iraq, Iran, India, Lebanon, Libya, Syria and Saudi Arabia. Meanwhile, the Romanian army adopted the smaller Soviet 5.45x39 mm cartridge, making the 1986 "Pusca Automata Model 1986" (PA md.86) their standard assault rifle.

Specification

Basic

Roles

Dimensions

Performance

VARIANTS