New Iranian Rifle Zolfaqar !

[ilia]

This is just the first prototype

 

[Gold Eagle]

They've already said that a 7.62 variant of MASAF was under development. So this might be it.

And BTW Army still loves G3 and 7.62! They won't give it up!

 

[Aspahbod]

And BTW Army still loves G3 and 7.62! They won't give it up!

Actually, Artesh is slowly replacing G3 with AKM.

The only good thing about this gun is the fact that it is developed by some enthusiasts using their own funds. Even I can see a lot of design flaws here (and my knowledge of small arms design is near zero). The military is going to give these guys a good pat on the back and send them their away.

 

[PeeD]

Now for the case that the 7.62mm MASAF has a modern gas operated rifle with resulting reduced recoil:

It would be like a SCAR-H.
7.62mm NATO with a short barrel can be pretty good and more lethal for highly trained special operation force.
Compared to AR-15 (M4, HK416, MASAF 5.56) based rifles it has a folding stock for compact and airborne usage.

If the soldier is trained for the heavier weight, tougher recoil and more complex range compensation estimation of the lower velocity round, I would chose it over a M4.
Iran lacked such a specialized assault rifle for its special operation forces (if it is indeed gas operated).

I hope its a short stroke as operated system if yes it is a very promising prototype.

 

[AmirPatriot]

More than just "like" a SCAR-H @PeeD!

As for the 7.62x51, it's really bad for such a round to used by regular soldiers. It's just overkill, and makes for extra weight, bulk, and logistics.

The 5.56 would be best used by riflemen and the 7.62x51 by designated marksmen. Which intrigues me, @PeeD how is the structure of small infantry in the Artesh? Is it like the fireteams of the UK, US and other countries which have a leader (M4), a rifleman (or 2), with a LMG carrier (SAW), and a designated marksman (M16)?

 

[PeeD]

All basically AR-18 root assault rifles such as the SCAR, ACR, G36 up to the HK433 look similar in some way.

The Fateh is also from this family. They have a similar look and layout, recognizable by the folding stock which AR-15 designs lack.

The cocking handle position of the Zolfaghar is like the G3, different to the ACR and SCAR. Luckily I seem to see a gas adjustment valve just at the top of the top barrel, so for now I'm confident that it is gas operated.

With the 5.56mm and a long barrel full rifle you can give a ordinary soldier a reach out to 400-500m (from the 200-300m of the AKM) with easy re-aiming for a second shot due to low recoil. It can even be used in full auto with a modern design like the 5.56 MASAF and still provide effective suppressive fire. A G3 in full auto is almost useless for a ordinary soldier.

A modern AR-18 heritage 7.62 NATO rifle like the Zolfaghar could still be effective (lethal) as a short carbine (like displayed) while controllable in full auto for a highly trained SOF soldier. More importantly in semi-auto the re-aiming after first shot will be much faster than with a G3.

I haven't followed the Army squad layout but AKMs (for M4), G3 for (M16 and marksmen) plus PKM (for SAW) would be good. However I fear that its G3 and MG3...

 

[mohsen]

Raefi poor explains about their designed rifles (Masaf and zolfaghar), 3 months ago:
aparat.com - رائفی پور و اسلحه خودکار مصاف

he also mentions the Fajr-224 rifle and says it was actually Fajr-244, but we had a contract to name the gun after our team (Masaf). (explains a lot)
then he talks about a new coming rifle (must be current Zolfaghar),
he compares it with Oscar and ACR auto rifles and says our rifle is the most advanced auto rifle in the world without any exaggeration, cause:

it's a localized platform,
completely modular design
changeable caliber (both action and barrel) from 5.56 to 7.62 (all available bullets can be used in it)
(left-handed) soldier can choose from which side the spent cases should be ejected.
free floating barrel design
a very cheap production line, cause three axis CNC machines can produce it's parts (first prototype was built with a four axis CNC machine which was also built by this team itself! which apparently has drawn the interest of the defense ministry too)

he didn't mention a lot too like:
Polymer Magazine, multiple magazines can be locked together.
...

so looks like all that we have seen, is actually done by Masaf group, a cultural/art group, and not the defense ministry.

You may wonder what kind of culture they are practicing, it's definitely the kind that west and its puppets don't like.

 

[Hack-Hook]

I don't get the hate for 7.62 and love for AK series when I was conscript more than 90% of times I could hit targets with G3 and never managed to hit shit with Ak-47 even at 50m .
and honestly we must move toward a professional army and use conscripts in other fields like police and engineering and such . and I believe a trained soldier can be more lethal with such weapon.

 

[AmirPatriot]

I don't get the hate for 7.62 and love for AK series when I was conscript more than 90% of times I could hit targets with G3 and never managed to hit shit with Ak-47 even at 50m .
and honestly we must move toward a professional army and use conscripts in other fields like police and engineering and such . and I believe a trained soldier can be more lethal with such weapon.

The problem with the 7.62x51 NATO is that It's even bigger and heavier than the AK's 7.62x39. It's just overkill, it's heavy and bulky which makes logistics difficult. You can carry way way more 5.56 rounds than the 7.62 in one crate.

Importantly while a G3 only has a 20 round mag, a 5.56 firing gun could easily have a 30 round mag.

As @PeeD mentioned the 5.56 also has lower recoil so it may be easier to fire for conscripts.

 

[OldTwilight]

The problem with the 7.62x51 NATO is that It's even bigger and heavier than the AK's 7.62x39. It's just overkill, it's heavy and bulky which makes logistics difficult. You can carry way way more 5.56 rounds than the 7.62 in one crate.

Importantly while a G3 only has a 20 round mag, a 5.56 firing gun could easily have a 30 round mag.

As @PeeD mentioned the 5.56 also has lower recoil so it may be easier to fire for conscripts.

7.62x51 has better chance to kill normal solder who wore anti bullet jacket .... and even if it couldn't pass the protection , the impact is strong ...

now days almost all solders ( except Iranian ) are wearing this kind of protection suit ...

 

[PeeD]

The 7.62x51 is a better solution than a short MASAF/M4 with 5.56mm if the soldiers are disciplined enough to use it in semi-automatic only.
However I don't know how well Army conscripts are trained and whether they can keep single shot discipline.

Jeskandari said his AKM was useless at over 50m, but in a force where discipline is low a normally working AKM in full auto would provide better directed fire support than a G3.

Iran has a long range engagement terrain, a single shot G3 is economically the king there. AKM could only beat it with reliability and even lower price but it will only be useful from to 200-300m (a proper working one). The G3 has the enemies (US) range performance (M4) 300-400m+, but is useless in full auto.
Actually for the Army I would favor a squad structure with AKM's, Dragunovs and PKMs if low disciplined.
If sufficiently disciplined for single fire use, a structure with G3, Dragunov and PKM would be better for Irans terrain.

At the moment I'm in favor for this MASAF variant for G3/AKM replacement:

It's supposed to be more reliable than the M16 and the designers were smart enough to go for a 508mm long barrel to make best use of the 5.56mm round and give it sufficient lethality out to max range of ~500m.
The only risk is that it is not reliable enough because in a life and death situation a working AKM is still probably more worth than a state of the art gun that has 1% jamming probability. This goes for all new Iranian rifles, you can't beat the AKM in that field and that's one reason why the AK-133 was developed (Iranian AK-103). I just hope the carbine/short barrel MASAF (right in the photo) does not win the contest for standard issue rifle because just like the M4 it lacks lethality at longer ranges and is poor at penetrating obstacles/objects. It is useful for urban warfare units and SOF, not for the regular force.

The new Zolfaghar has the benefit of being a shorter weapon with folding stock (SOF, CQB, airborne) than the long barrel MASAF while still having enough punch due to the 7.62x51 round. However its recoil in full auto fire support should still be for SOF-only. As said like all others reliability is here again the key issue, the AKM/AK-133 is still more reliable than the very expensive SCAR.
The higher range performance of long barrel MASAF and the 7.62x51 Zolfaghar should be still worth the risk of lower reliability because Irans terrain and opponents require a long reach.

 

[Aspahbod]

Judging from what we are seeing, AK-103 is chosen as IRGC's standard rifle. Imam Hossein Basij brigades might still use some upgraded CQ but might phase them out. Army also is slowly replacing it's G3s with AKM. I think they want to stick with 7.62x39 to avoid the logistics problem of having 7.62x39m, 7.62x51m and 5.56m. Remember that Cost is a very important factor here. MASAF would be more expensive to procure and maintain than AK type rifles and it won't be much different in the hands of a conscript.

 

[Hack-Hook]

The problem with the 7.62x51 NATO is that It's even bigger and heavier than the AK's 7.62x39. It's just overkill, it's heavy and bulky which makes logistics difficult. You can carry way way more 5.56 rounds than the 7.62 in one crate.

Importantly while a G3 only has a 20 round mag, a 5.56 firing gun could easily have a 30 round mag.

As @PeeD mentioned the 5.56 also has lower recoil so it may be easier to fire for conscripts.

Honestly using it was a lot harder for me .and in training I always liked G3 . and about the recoil, well I'm not a fire and spray guy I prefer to take my time when I fire so maybe my situation was a little different from other conscriots but I still believe using G3 was easier than AK

 

[Gold Eagle]

More information just been released. This rifle comes in three models with different Calibers. Each model has two varients with one designated as "C", enjoying shorter barrel.
Caliber can be changed in all models.

Specs :

Operating System : Short stroke gas piston system with the ability to change gas pressure inorder to use sub sonic ammunition.
Fire modes : Semi / Full Auto
Caliber : 7.62×51 in Z1 , 7.62×39 in Z2 and 5.56×45 in Z3 model
ROF : 650 ~ 660 rpm
Muzzle Velocity : 707 m/s
Barrel lenght : 18 inches in reqular models and 12.5 inches in C models.
Empty Weight : 3.5 kgs in Z-1C and 3.8Kgs in Z-1
Accuracy : less than 6 cm group in a range of 100 m. Better than 2 MOA

 

[sobhan]

More information just been released. This rifle comes in three models with different Calibers. Each model has two varients with one designated as "C", enjoying shorter barrel.
Caliber can be changed in all models.

Specs :

Operating System : Short stroke gas piston system with the ability to change gas pressure inorder to use sub sonic ammunition.
Fire modes : Semi / Full Auto
Caliber : 7.62×51 in Z1 , 7.62×39 in Z2 and 5.56×45 in Z3 model
ROF : 650 ~ 660 rpm
Muzzle Velocity : 707 m/s
Barrel lenght : 18 inches in reqular models and 12.5 inches in C models.
Empty Weight : 3.5 kgs in Z-1C and 3.8Kgs in Z-1
Accuracy : less than 6 cm group in a range of 100 m. Better than 2 MOA

bro we are waiting for your beautiful clips please make a new clip for iran