Having once appeared, the Kalashnikov assault rifle overshadowed almost all other domestic developments in the field of handguns for more than half a century. But once in the Soviet Union they tried to make an alternative machine gun for the needs of the army, including on the basis of the bullpup layout scheme. The brightest attempt in this area was the efforts of German Korobov, who began his design activity in Tula in 1939.
In addition to the Kalashnikov assault rifle, many other developments were created in the USSR. However, none of them, even being the best in a number of characteristics, could not push the legendary AK. And all because the Kalashnikov was created to arm the draft army. The main weapon of conscripts serving only 2-3 years should have been as simple as possible, reliable and at the same time quite effective. Nevertheless, numerous experimental developments contributed, among other things, to the further development of the AK family.
1. TKB-408-2
German Korobov thought about the merits of the bullpup layout back in the 1940s during World War II. The TKB-408-2 submachine gun, which was born in 1946, became the fruit of the designer's intellectual activity. The bold Tula processing even participated in the same competition with the Kalashnikov assault rifle. However, the design commission and representatives of the army, although they were interested in Korobov's vision, nevertheless preferred a more traditional layout.
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2. TKB-517
In the 1950s, German Aleksandrovich moved away from work with the bullpup layout and switched to traditional weapon design options. As a result, it turned out to create a sample of the TKB-517, which was almost twice as superior to the AK in such an important parameter as the accuracy of fire. However, according to other parameters, the TKB-517 was either worse, or did not differ at all from the AK. Therefore, the sample was destined to remain experimental.
3. TKB-022
The most striking work of German Korobov was the TKB-022 assault rifle, which was born in the 1960s and laid the foundation for a whole family of experimental bullpup assault rifles. In the future, 4 more models appeared with various modifications. Despite a number of interesting solutions, TKB-022 and its “children” turned out to be too complicated from a technical point of view. Nevertheless, the experience gained by German Aleksandrovich was taken into account by Tula and used in further developments in the 1980s and 1990s.
In continuation of the topic, read about "Superkalashnikov" for special forces and intelligence: how the AK-12 was improved in comparison with its predecessor.
Source: https://novate.ru/blogs/201221/61608/