Type 81

   The Chinese army had never been fully satisfied with accuracy of its Type 56 (license-produced version of the Soviet AK-47). In the early 1960s the Soviets refused to give licenses to produce the improved AKM assault rifle and RPK light machine gun. This led Chinese to design a new indigenous assault rifle. A prototype was ready in 1980. Its initial production commenced in 1983. This assault rifle was adopted with the Chinese army in 1986. It replaced the obsolete Type 56 assault rifle and Type 63 carbine (indigenous version of the Soviet SKS). For the past 20 years it was the standard-issue infantry weapon in service with the People Liberation Army. Export operators are Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and some other Asian and African countries. Bangladesh obtained a license to produce these weapons locally. Recently the Chinese Type 81 assault rifles were replaced with the QBZ-95. A large number of ex-military rifles was transferred to law enforcement forces.

   The Type 81 is a gas operated, selective fire weapon, chambered for a Soviet 7.62x39 mm ammunition. This assault rifle incorporates many design features of the AK-47, but overall it is a new design, rather than a clone. Tests showed that the Type 81 is much more accurate than the AK-47 and much more controllable in full automatic mode. Some sources report that in terms of accuracy it is close to a US M16 automatic rifle. Furthermore it has the same level of durability and reliability in adverse conditions as the Kalashnikov designs.

   A combined safety and fire mode selector switch is located on the left side of the receiver. It is much less clunky and faster to use than that of the AK-47. It has settings for "safe", "semi-auto", and "full-auto".

   This weapon is fed from 30-round box magazines. The magazines are made of metal and are externally similar to those of the AK-47, however these magazines are not interchangeable. The Type 81 assault rifle is also compatible with 75-round drum magazines and 20-rounds special purpose magazines.

   Initial production version had a fixed wooden stock. Only 40 000 of these assault rifles were made before production switched to a Type 81-1 with a side-folding metal stock.

   The Type 81 comes with simple adjustable iron sights. It has a sighting range of 500 m. There is no provision to mount any kind of optics. This assault rifle can launch rifle grenades. It is also compatible with a QLG-91A 35 mm underbarrel grenade launcher, which is based on the US M203, but uses less powerful grenades. A bayonet can be attached.

Variants

   Type 81-1 assault rifle, fitted with a side-folding metal stock. It replaced in production the original Type 81, as this model was cheaper to produce.

   Type 81 light machine gun, fitted with a heavy barrel, wooden stock, bipod and carrying handle. This weapon is typically used with 75-round drum magazines, though it was also compatible with standard 30-round assault rifle magazines. It has a sighting range of 800 m. This light machine gun replaced in service the previous Type 56 (Chinese version of the RPD).

   Type 87 (QBZ-87) experimental assault rifle, chambered for a new Chinese DBP-87 5.8x42 mm ammunition. In the late 1970s and early 1980s both the Soviet Union and Western countries already had their standard-issue infantry rifles chambered for a new-generation intermediate 5.45x39 mm (Soviet) and 5.56x45 mm (Western) ammunition, that had improved ballistics over the 7.62x39 mm round. Chinese military also decided to go with the trend and develop a new type of intermediate ammunition with improved ballistics alongside with a new assault rifle. The Type 87 assault rifle was not adopted to service. Though it was used to test ammunition for the next generation QBZ-95 assault rifle, which was eventually adopted in the late 1990s.