Everyone knows for sure that for modern firearms there is a huge number of all kinds of gadgets and accessories. They either make the handling of weapons more convenient, or they expand the functionality of a military tool. Silencers, flashlights, rifles and grenade launchers, optical and collimator sights, target designators - what not. And the assortment of weapon attachments is really much wider than it seems at first glance. For example, there is such a "mysterious" contraption for the AK-74.
At the first and not too detailed examination of the pictures with this device, one can erroneously assume that this is some kind of underbarrel accessory. In fact, the tube that can be seen in the picture is not a grenade launcher. Moreover, it is not a weapon at all. This device is called "Universal Optical Orthoscope". Why is he needed on a Kalashnikov assault rifle, and why you never see him in the movies?
The fact is that the UOO is used exclusively for educational purposes, more specifically, when a fighter is studying the intricacies of firepower training. Such devices appeared in the Soviet Union in the 1970s. An optical orthoscope is needed so that the fire trainer can check the correctness setting by the fighter of the parameters for the aiming bar, in particular, check the correct installation of the "float" for the side wind.
Not all optical orthoscopes were mounted from below. There were also modifications with side mounts to the AK. There was also a modification for night work. However, most often in the Soviet Army, it was the UOO that was encountered - universal orthoscopes that could be used in the most different conditions, as well as in working with different types of weapons, including for testing fighters, sniper students and machine gunners.
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Installing the UOO is a tricky business. The orthoscope is attached to the weapon strictly before the start of fire training classes, having previously fixed the machine gun on a special machine. The bottom line is that this device made it possible to test the accuracy of a fighter without actually firing live ammunition. This was extremely useful in training beginners who did not even know the basics of handling weapons and did not knew how to set the aiming bar on the machine in accordance with the parameters of the occupied position, target and external conditions.
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The technique of using the UOO was described in the Soviet educational film "Initial Fire Training" in 1977, as well as in the manual "Handbook for Small Arms", published in 1986.
If you want to know even more interesting things, then read about why did the German soldiers roll up their sleeves to the elbowbut the Soviet military did not.
A source: https://novate.ru/blogs/280620/55083/