Ukrainians Training with Bulgarian Arsenal AKs

Photographs recently shared by the Canadian, British and Australian armed forces, showing personnel training Ukrainian soldiers in the UK as part of the international training effort, showed a new rifle in use. In the photos the Ukrainians are seen equipped with Bulgarian Arsenal AK-pattern rifles.
Be sure to check out our accompanying article for this video here -
armourersbench.com/2023/02/05...
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[@TheArmourersBench]

Thanks as always for watching guys, check out our accompanying article for this video here - armourersbench.com/2023/02/05/ukrainians-training-with-bulgarian-arsenal-aks/ - Matt

[@stanislavstanchev7734]

Arsenal opens two new factories in Stara Zagora, Bulgaria. They increase the production.

[@fratercontenduntocculta8161]

Proud SLR-106FR Owner here! Greatest AK I've ever owned, and will be straight up Arsenal for the forseeable future. I can easily see why Arsenal fans are so crazy about the brand!

[@willallen7757]

Bulgarians make the nicest AKM I've personally held and used.

[@deleteduser7132]

They don’t make AKM’s though.

[@willallen7757]

@@deleteduser7132 they arent Ak-47's

[@willallen7757]

@@deleteduser7132 ok a Bulgarian AK style rifle with a sheet metal receiver. I've never owned one just used them so I don't know the exact nomenclature.

[@rockfella1377]

Bulgarian AKs are the best AKs. Always have been, every AK owner knows that.

[@thebulgalorian3940]

Hello from Bulgaria

[@mossydog34]

I love my Arsenal sam7. Great choice. 👍 I have a zastava, and norinco, but the arsenal is my favorite.

[@314299]

Interesting. Good to see all that cold war production capacity being turned around 180 degrees from it's original purpose.

[@sellerclothes2800]

same for the western weapons sold to third parties from the corrupt Ukies

[@rockfella1377]

Bulgarian AKs are the best AKs. Always have been, every AK owner knows that.

[@zack9912000]

They good but not the best

[@jawsfederation]

@@zack9912000 Which stamped receiver is better than a 5 hr long hammered to death Bulgarian milled receiver?

[@Chinunit22]

My beater Arsenal 104FR still going, too bad 5.45 is hard to find

[@EUROPAONTOP]

Hello from Sunny Beach Bulgaria!!!

[@AK-104]

@@jawsfederation a vepr, beryl or saiga would be better than a current arsenal since they use light barrel profiles and are still very heavy even for AKs Also if were talking about which milleds would be better than a current arsenal id say any polish, east german or russian type 3

[@AHalz]

Have the same type of AK from Arsenal. Amazing AK rifle, thing is built like a tank. Hands down a hell of a lot better than my Russian Saiga. Fit and finish is better on the Bulgarian AK, and the fire control group is superior to that found on traditional AK's (you can engage the safety with your thumb and not have to take your finger off the trigger).

[@singoller3749]

Bulgarian power

[@Hsutheguard]

Informative video as always

[@Jesses001]

Logistics must be a bit of a pain in Ukraine. They are feilding a wide variety of weapons in a wide variety of calibers. They seem to be trying to go with 5.56, but are have tons of others as well. They do seem to be at least trying to have commonality within units. Each unit seems to be issued one particular primary rifle of the same type.

[@joshuajoaquin5099]

agreed but i don't know about this but some units are fully fielding any different weapon on a single battalion level especially on 5.56 but idk if it applies on AK platform

[@TheArmourersBench]

Yeah, definitely plenty of evidence to support the theory they're localising rifle types - FN FNCs, FN F2000, M4s, C7s, M16A4s. Its not quite at the brigade level (yet) but it's definitely at Battalion and lower. Started with the Legion units and now seeing it with the recently formed or refitted regular brigades. It's a smart move, mitigates difficulties a bit at least.

[@Ukraineaissance2014]

I dont see the problem. How many different calibres do NATO countries drag around with them despite supposed commonality?

[@ReapingRose115]

@@Ukraineaissance2014 Calibre is one thing to consider but the various weapons they're receiving vary in manual of arms, parts and so forth. Even if every gun used the same ammo and mag, it's not exactly 1 to 1 when trying to train shooters for something like an M4, then translate that to an FNC, AK or other platform. If we're to take an example such as the US Military, while yes you may have one Designated Marksman using something like an SR-25, and a machinegunner using an M240 Bravo or even a SAW, there are still far more M4/M16s on the field. Those particular roles are specialised. It's not the same when talking frontline boots on the ground. Still, with the current situation, they probably have to make do and just work with what they got even on a basic level.

[@Ukraineaissance2014]

@@ReapingRose115 as long as each soldier knows how to do general maintenance and basic repairs on their weapons it's not a massive problem. The same situation exists within NATO with different weapons, and despite commonality realistically how many different calibres does NATO also use now, including new the US weaponry

[@kronblom3214]

Thanks for keeping us informed 👍

[@TheArmourersBench]

Thanks for watching

[@azovac]

Man i love this channel so much

[@joemorganeatmyshortschannel]

awesome footage as always

[@huskytail]

Good, as a Bulgarian I am glad. We have sent a lot of help to Ukraine and we must continue to send even more. The training is also essential. Our AKs are good quality, they won't let the Ukrainian soldiers nor the UK trainers down

[@lorneiggulden7123]

Will you be as happy when Russians start sending Bulgaria missiles?

[@whiteprivilege7961]

Arsenal Aks are sold in stores all across the United States they are popular and in abundance I see them often

[@whiteprivilege7961]

@@lorneiggulden7123 yes because when they do that it means Russia will be wiped of the face of the earth .

[@huskytail]

@@lorneiggulden7123 and attack us without provocation? Nothing they haven't done before multiple times. Thankfully, this time we are in NATO. So your wet dreams won't happen 😋

[@vassy2295]

@@lorneiggulden7123exactly!

[@StrangelyBrownNo1]

One of my favourite quotes from an Australian soldier 5RAR CPL: ‘remember your trigger control and breathing’ Ukrainian trainee: ‘I killed two Russians with a broken vodka bottle last week’

[@j.dietrich]

Can we all take a moment to admire the magnificent 'tache on the instructor at 0:42?

[@whogivesaflyingfock5401]

Thats cpt. Price

[@joelerk6298]

Very interesting

[@theenglandguy]

Is it just me or is the guy's plate at 2:19 inserted backwards?

[@stevemc6010]

British, Canadian, and Australian trainers? The Commonwealth is forming back up again, nature is healing 🙌

[@Spud500]

*Cries in New Zealand*

[@michaelguerin56]

@@Spud500We (NZ) have been providing artillery trainers and logistics specialists.

[@Spud500]

@@michaelguerin56 I know, but the bro forgot to talk about the kiwis

[@michaelguerin56]

@@Spud500 Fair enough BUT on another point I really cannot be bothered identifying myself with a former Australian brand of boot/shoe polish. I am even less inclined to do so, given that Sara Lee immediately acted to reduce the perceived value of their top product by going back to cheap and nasty ‘hard to open’ tins when they moved the operation to Indonesia. They appear to have the sales and marketing nous of a low end Chinese product counterfeiter😁. Have a good week.

[@sking3492]

@@Spud500 l was just about to mention this, too spud! Remember, it is not the size of the dog in the fight, but how much fight is in the dog.

[@prechabahnglai103]

After the war, we may get to see stats on how troops trained by each country performed. And I wonder if there is a friendly rivalry between the instructors.

[@churchowl3052]

That would be an interesting study to see performed.

[@WozWozEre]

'Performed' is an incredibly hard thing to quantify. This isn't a game with stats to compare, IRL there's so many variables that this sort of thing is either not possible or when it is done is so unreliable as to be meaningless.

[@churchowl3052]

@@WozWozEre Yeah no shit it’s not a game, did I ever mention it was? Should’ve clarified it would interesting to see if western trained units would have any meaningful impact in the field.

[@WozWozEre]

@@churchowl3052 triggered much?

[@jonh5832]

The fact that Ukrainian conscripts are getting any training at all is important for the war effort. Who's training them likely isn't important as NATO has never fought a war on this large of a scale before. If anything, after the end of this war, Ukrainian veterans should train the NATO countries on how to properly fight a full-scale war.

[@zoiders]

I'm curious as to where the olive green webbing came from as its not a pattern I am familiar with. Its not British the fasteners are wrong/too simple but it is seemingly quite good quality.

[@TheArmourersBench]

I wondered about that too. Not one I've seen anyone using

[@MrDK0010]

Each couple hundred/thousand recruits, the gear issued seems to change. They look mostly like off-the-shelf low- to mid-range quality commercial equipment. Cheap, plentiful and most importantly, quickly made and delivered.

[@johnmarstonification]

I LOVE THIS CHANNEL

[@MilushevGeorgi]

Greetings from Bulgaria

[@jonh5832]

AK is an AK is an AK. Both sides have an infinite amount of rifles to use on the battlefield. Ammo shouldn't be an issue either. The only bad AKs are the Pakistani and American ones. A couple of the older Chinese and Ethiopian ones aren't too great either.

[@willw8011]

4:24 that is a 5.56 or 5.45 mag in that rifle. The 7.62 x 39 has more of an arc to it.

[@TheArmourersBench]

As I say at the end, they're 5.56 judging by the most recent photos!

[@nunya2445]

​@TheArmourersBench these are sold in the US as the sam-5. I have one of the first 500 ever imported.

[@pistonar]

Can you identify the Load bearing equipment worn by some of the Ukranians at 4:04? It looks like an Allen belt, and it's hard to see if there is a yoke.It's OD and looks very basic.

[@AndrewTPewPew]

So that’s where all the Arsenal Aks went

[@seanm8665]

The quality ones. I think the commercial rifles being sold to US citizens are lower quality for a higher price.

[@jawsfederation]

@@seanm8665 what makes you think that?

[@donwyoming1936]

Cool. I've got the Bulgarian SLR, East German MPi-KM, Zastava M70AB2, and.... darn no Chinese AK. How about a Polish or Russian? Haha

[@Lulzalex]

Does anyone have the link to his cheat-sheet of all the AK variants? Please.

[@nian60]

Thanks for the video. 💛💙

[@deanbusch2727]

It makes total sense to train on the rifle they would be using simply for muscle memory, and familiarization. Using 5.56 makes sense as well in training due to supply, and will make no difference once these troops return home and are issued AKs in 7.62

[@TheArmourersBench]

Exactly! Thanks for watching.

[@RusskiyMed]

They use 5,56 AK’s because it bears resemblance to Ukraines 5,45 AK’s. The recoil is the same and the magazines are built very similar. Also, we do not use 7,62 AK’s unless a unit is short on the primary 74’s chambered in 5,45. Some prefer 7,62 but we mostly issue Izhmash 5,45 Saiga’s.

[@user-mw1gh4pb4d]

Interesting. If I recall correctly, wasn't there was an explosion at the Arsenal plant in Bulgaria recently? Did they acknowledge what caused the explosion?

[@filipfilipov8716]

there is explosion in every several months there :D No big deal

[@Jarod-te2bi]

With British, Canadian, Norwegian, danish, Latvian, Estonian and Australian troops all training Ukrainians. Plenty of skilled troops will be ready for the offensive coming

[@putindead2406]

❤💪

[@N238E]

So that's where the SLR-106FRs went!

[@TacShooter]

They appear to have ambidextrous safeties?

[@TheArmourersBench]

Yes, they do.

[@jawsfederation]

Finally a war between milled vs Stamped.

[@xXrandomryzeXx]

I am Bulgarian, and I am happy to see these AKs being used for training, and it would be even better if they are fielded in Ukraine. Although I don't consider myself pro ukrainian, I would be happy if they use them in combat, since I am after all a patriot before being pro-russian or pro-ukrainian. When I get the chance, I will get myself an AR AK.

[@rockfella1377]

Bulgarian AKs are the best AKs. Always have been, every AK owner knows that.

[@EpicThe112]

I wonder what version is this because if they wanted them to fire like an M16A4 FN FNC Scar-L then the Bulgarian Arsenal AK needs to be 5.56x45 NATO

[@DocMitchell69]

It’s the AR-M9F in 5.56. Being that Ukraine has likely depleted a significant portion of their old Soviet ammo stock, they’ll be moving to 5.56 for further use.

[@EpicThe112]

@Logan C thank you for that information and that's what explain why some of the troops were carrying other weapons 5.56x45

[@USMC_LAterZ]

Arsenal SLR-106FR for the win!

[@bradborgelt60]

Now we know why these rifles are not available for purchase in the United States. The King has snatched them all up!

[@jim99west46]

Hope the front sight posts arent canted to one side or the other like Arsenal AKs usually are.

[@RonlyBonly]

As long as it's not off so much that the rifle can't be sighted in properly, they won't care. Military users aren't near as picky as US collectors.

[@jim99west46]

@@RonlyBonly just a few degrees off might not change your poi at the usual AK sight in distance which is really short but at 100m plus it can mean a solid miss.

[@zack9912000]

They shouldn't be off at all with how much they claim they are worth 2k

[@DonetskBall]

note! 0:45 Are those rifles are yugoslavian Zastava M70A? Seems like there's no chinese type 56

[@TheArmourersBench]

Yep, see my earlier videos about the use of Type 56s and M70s.

[@sheriff0017]

I wonder if there is a NATO standard for BFAs - it would facilitate multi-national training. If so, Bulgaria might be manufacturing to that standard as a NATO member.

[@cantremember6794]

Honestly probably both caliburs

[@Bob10009]

Why the mystery ? The MOD publicly announced that they were buying 2,000+ AKs of varied origin to support this training. 🤷🏼‍♂️

[@TheArmourersBench]

No mystery here, just a report on the types of AK that were procured. Thanks for watching.

[@Bob10009]

@@TheArmourersBench the start of the video, you literally state you have no idea where they came from or if the MOD bought them…..😂

[@TheArmourersBench]

Nope I didn't say that, I know who bought them because I spoke to the MOD about it. This is one of three videos talking about the various types of AK that have been bought in the ~2000 rifles that were announced.

[@Bob10009]

@@TheArmourersBench “It’s unclear who procured the rifles” - your words 🤦🏻‍♂️

[@zeljkodrljaca2481]

Samo neka treniraju trebati će im mnogo više od toga za rat se ne trenira već iskustvo višegodišnjeg a i ono ne pomaže ponekau

[@MK12MOD_POOR]

Bulgarian AKs have NSNs. It's easy for NATO to get them.

[@thelaughingtiger5973]

can someone identify the plate carrier the ukrainians are using in the first photo?

[@seanmorrissey9326]

Leave for 5 days and they switch over to AK-47s and red tape.

[@realitygaming4088]

UK bought thousands of AKs for training Ukrainians from all over the place 😅

[@mr.c.3760]

Finest AK in existence IMO ask me how I know...

[@operator9858]

i dont know anything about these, but the vepr's are matched to what i thought was the highest level and have heavy and chrome lined materials putting them more on par with the rpk. would this still compare to that? and howso?

[@andrewpeterson549]

American civilians outmatch everything commonwealth on The Kalashnikov pattern rifle. End of story

[@baneofbanes]

What is that sentence eve supposed to mean?

[@BeerRepublic]

Exactly

[@user-fv7hl7ru2q]

🇧🇬🇺🇦 АК 💪💪💪🙏

[@ratagris21]

Quoting Robski of AKOUL "it is AK!" 🎩♠️🎱🇺🇲🏁🇺🇦🔱🌻🌼💮🌸🏵️🏴‍☠️🏹

[@Jarod-te2bi]

Wonder how many AKs and Draganovs have been donated to Ukraine?

[@Martin187ism]

Slava Ukraini, good to know you are using Bulgarian rifles (Bulgarian here)

[@slavaslava4821]

country's 404 warriors

[@Jarod-te2bi]

Thank you Bulgaria 🇧🇬 for giving Ukraine 🇺🇦 the tools to fight for freedom 💪

[@operator9858]

do the bulgarians know about it?

[@baneofbanes]

Bulgaria has been selling arms and ammo to Ukraine for a while now.

[@operator9858]

@@baneofbanes you might want to go back and listen to their statements about selling arms to ukraine man...

[@baneofbanes]

@@operator9858 yah that doesn’t change the fact that Bulgarian arms and ammunition, notably for artillery, has been showing up in Ukrainian since pretty much the start of the war. Bulgaria denies it, but they’ve been supplying Ukraine under the table for months.

[@operator9858]

@@baneofbanes ya ive seen much to that effect as well, altho they seemed to have tapered down on a lot of it after i c an only assume the russians probably warned them lol

[@baneofbanes]

@@operator9858 doubtful. There’s no evidence at all that the Bulgarians have drawn down on supplies. They like the money too much.

[@butchuichida851]

All AK variants function the same so what's the difference with Bulgarian, Russian, Chinese, etc.

[@mrHBarry]

All FREEDOM loving people have a moral obligation to help and support Ukraine. Slava Ukraine.💙💛

[@josedorsaith5261]

Nah. Not my concern

[@17cmmittlererminenwerfer81]

Just say five-five-six NATO. We know it's x45.

[@TheArmourersBench]

Not everyone watching has the same knowledge base. Thanks for watching.

[@garrisonnichols807]

I personally don't like the AK type of rifles. They're heavy the sights suck and I really wish it had a bolt hold open after the last shot to tell you the gun was empty. Also the rock back loading system feels uncomfortable to me.

[@greenmagic8ball198]

Cool, good for you.

[@zoiders]

Heavy compared to what exactly? It's a not a range toy and it's perfectly portable when compared to most of its contemporary peers. Some polymer rifles may be lighter but its in the ball park. If you want heavy try cutting about with a L85 in it's current spec with all the go faster bits on. As long as its not exceeding 5kg it's fine.

[@moritamikamikara3879]

@@zoiders Comparing it to the L85 isn't really fair, try comparing it to a gun that doesn't suck shit. Jokes aside, if I could just get an AK with a bolt hold open and a straight shove magwell, I can't think of anything I'd rather have.

[@zoiders]

@@moritamikamikara3879 The current incarnation of the L85A2/A3 is just fine as a service rifle and even the A1 was usable if you knew what you were doing. Unless you have used one stop believing the Internet hype. For modern infantry fighting the AK platform is showing its age as its difficult to mount optics, night vision, lights or laser designators to. It's fine for training but railed/flat top 5.56 weapons are the first choice of Ukrainian infantry on the sharp end.

[@garrisonnichols807]

@@AKguru762 yep i don't like the M14 either. Actually I really like the M1 Garand with its top loading clips. If I was going to have a full power battle rifle the M1 would be my first choice.

[@ImperatorSomnium]

Arsenal can't stop hiring people and expensing from an year now ...

[@katana258]

they fly them 1/2 way around the world to teach them how to insert a ak-47 mag... really ..

[@baneofbanes]

If you think thats the only thing theyre teaching them youre dumb.

[@jimmy12347654]

Sad to say but should of just spent that money on extra arty rounds

[@ddnak36]

They can train all they want to but they have no chance against Russia. Never had and never will.

[@TheArmourersBench]

lol come on now.

[@nobodyherepal3292]

Oh, is that’s why Russia ran away from 10,000+km of terrain and two major cities and oblasts, while begging Iran for weapons and recruiting prisoners? 🤡

[@whogivesaflyingfock5401]

Don has all the info, he also has a little russian flag stuck up his arse.

[@baneofbanes]

Buddy the Russians are bashing their own skulls in. They’re probably going to lose more men trying to take Bakhmut than lived in the city.

[@redrambler2000]

They are already whooping russia ass buddy where ya been?

[@rajesh_624]

Unimpressive

[@simeonatanasov8332]

Well in your surprise, the navy seals use this as one of their 3 primary choices for main arm. Food for thought. P.s. not the 556 but 762

[@baneofbanes]

Got a source for that?

[@simeonatanasov8332]

@@baneofbanes Mfkas asking for sources like bro go do some work your own self lazy ass boi

[@baneofbanes]

@@simeonatanasov8332 so you’re just making shit up.