Rifle #4 in my collection, an American built semi-automatic AK-74. The name of this rifle is the PSA PSAK-74S, which has a side folding AK-74M style stock. Both the stock and handguard are molded in a dark plum colored polymer furniture. This rifle sports an authentic Izhmash 30 round plastic magazine in the famous orange color, which is made of an AGS-4 plastic compound.

The AK-74 was the Soviet answer to the US M16A1, introduced in Vietnam in the 1960's. The M16 was a revolutionary rifle that reflected the changes in military tactics of the time; military strategists found that full most engagements were within 200-300 yards and closer, negating the need for a long range full sized round. A smaller, high velocity round meant that more ammunition could be carried for less weight penalty for the solider. The M16, originally intended for the Air Force, became the standard Army weapon for US forces in the 1960's. Eventually 5.56x45mm NATO would become the standard NATO cartridge in the 1970's.

In response, the Soviets decided to adopt an intermediate, high velocity round, to replace the incumbent 7.62x39mm ball ammo, which had been in service with the Soviet Army since the 1950's. The end result was the creation of the 5.45x39mm ball ammo. There were a couple prototype rifles created to fire the new bullet, but in the end, Mikhail Kalashnikov's AK won out. Taking the AKM rifle and changing the barrel out, created the AK-74. Sporting a new, distinctive muzzle brake, the already low recoil was further reduced, improving accuracy. The first rifles were introduced in 1974. Early AK-74's carried over the AKM's 45 degree gas block, until a 90 degree gas block was adopted in later rifles.

Starting in 1984, the Soviets switched to polymer furniture. Polymers offered numerous benefits over the traditional laminated birch handguards and stock. They resisted swelling in moisture, and were resistant to weathering and chemical damage. Early polymer furniture was colored in a sort of black-plum color; there are multiple theories as to why the Russians adopted this unorthodox color. Theories range from a shortage of black dyes, to the plum color blending in better with night vision goggles- whatever the case may be, the Soviets stuck with that color until the end of the USSR. In 1991, Izhmash introduced the AK-74M, which went to a true black polymer furniture, and remains to this day, the standard infantry rifle of the Russian Army, and the beginning of the modern AK-100 family of rifles.

5.45mm never fully caught on in the global market, and most AK's sold today are still 7.62x39mm, with the AK-103's, and Norinco's Type 56-2's. The dissolution of the Warsaw Pact doomed the larger adoption of 5.45mm; only East Germany, Poland, Bulgaria, and Romania began converting over when the pact ended. Most users of the AK-74's are the former Soviet states that make up the CIS. North Korea augments their Type 55 and 68 rifles with a 5.45mm version of the AK-74, the Type 88~