[ Valmet M78 at the Range ]
Hi guys, thanks for tuning in to another video on ForgottenWeapons.com.
I'm Ian McCollum, and courtesy of Morphy's we are out here on the range today
with a Valmet M78. This is of course Finnish.
The Valmet company put this gun together
hoping to sell it to the Finnish military as a light machine gun.
The ... Finnish equivalent of an RPK.
The Finnish military looked at it, they considered it, they tested it,
and ultimately they decided not to adopt it.
They stuck with their belt-fed squad automatic weapons, the Kvkk 62.
Which by the way I have a video on if you're interested.
So Valmet didn't throw this away completely, obviously they already had ... the design done,
they'd put a lot of time and work into it, and they decided to sell it commercially instead.
So they actually manufactured this in two different calibres: 7.62x39 and also 7.62 NATO.
39 is what we've got out at the range today.
I'm pretty curious to see how it will shoot
because it should be a pretty nice, soft shooting gun
with this calibre, and a bipod, and a nice heavy barrel.
These are totally standard AK mags, it uses all the different patterns.
And we have a regular AK selector, so semi-auto is on the bottom.
Pretty much what you would expect from a heavy, bipod mounted AK, very pleasant.
Now let's try a few at a time.
That really is quite nice to shoot.
The Finns put night sights on all of these, which is pretty cool.
So this feels like it's almost certainly a bit over gassed.
I know some of the other Valmets I've shot have been.
That's pretty much standard on AKs
to ensure that they'll run reliably in cold weather, when dirty, crummy ammo.
Not that crummy ammo was an issue for the Finnish military with Lapua up there.
But it's a pleasant gun to shoot in spite of it being a bit over gassed,
and the bolt carrier being a little rough and tumble inside there.
I would definitely not want to be on the other end of this.
Oop, and I'm out because there's no bolt hold open on an AK.
One of the nice things about the RPK pattern is
while it's a little bit heavier than a standard rifle, which is nice off the bipod,
it's not that much heavier. And it's certainly not a problem to shoot it off hand.
(I keep over-inserting those magazines.)
Also reasonably controllable from the shoulder in full.
This is something, unlike say the Kvkk 62,
you can actually shoot from the shoulder ... reasonably well.
I suspect that the 7.62 NATO version of this guy,
probably a lot less controllable from the shoulder.
More punch to it - harder to shoot off hand, take your pick.
There's that last round in the full, and I'll flinch forward.
Well you know what they say: if you want to win, hire a Finn.
Valmets are absolutely some of the best, if not the very best, AKs out there.
That's going to start some fights, but I think it's probably true.
So the RPK version, 7.62x39, which I think is the better compromise.
I would much rather have this than have this gun in 7.62 NATO.
Larger capacity magazines, less recoil, more controllable.
I think it does the job better than something this configuration in 7.62 NATO.
Anyway, you guys have been wanting to see me empty the entire magazine I'm sure.
So, a big thanks to Morphy's for the opportunity
to come out and put some rounds through this thing. Hopefully you guys enjoyed the video.
Thanks for watching.