HUNGARIAN AVTOMAT KALASHNIKOVA
AK63D
LIKE OTHER WARSAW Pact countries, Hungary made military versions of the iconic Russian AK47 rifle designed by Mikhail Kalashnikov. These included the upgraded AKM version. AKM stands for Avtomat Kalashnikova Modernizirovannyi and is the designation chosen for the new modernised rifle following changes to the basic AK47.
The Hungarian-produced AKM is called the AKM63 and was released in 1963. (Some firearm designations include the year the firearm was accepted into service.) The basic AKM63 remained in service until a redesigned version,: Hungarian for ‘airborne’. Hungarian manufacturer FEG produced vast numbers of AK63D rifles during the 1980s. It’s unclear when they stopped producing AK63Ds, but they ceased all firearms production in 2004. Although this was Hungary’s standard-issue rifle, many AK63Ds went to Warsaw Pact trading partners such as Romania, Czechoslovakia, Bulgaria, Poland and many other countries.
