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Well, despite the fact that the Gorda SCH-21 looks like Frankenstein’s sister, the Russians might just have a nice little submachine gun on their hands here. Basically, it’s a cut-down AKM. Actually, it looks like someone took a hatchet to an AKM, did away with the upper part of the forearm, and moved the front site back all the way to the chamber area. The rear sight appears to hang off the back o the top receiver cover, by the way. They’ve also stuck on a vertical foregrip, a la the MP-5K. Now, add a 30-round box magazine that feeds into an adapted AKM magazine housing, and you pretty much have the whole picture.
It’s actually interesting to me that the Russians are still developing new submachine guns when….
the trend in small arms for CQB right now is subcarbines. M2 Corporation’s M16SP(8 3/4" barrel) and M16C(6" barrel), and the SIG 552 Commando…oh, I’m sorry, 552 C, are more versatile than any 9mm subgun. The only thing one must contend with when dealing with a subcarbine is sound level and muzzle flash, but muzzle flash can be solved with a Vortex flash suppressor by Smith Enterprise, Inc., and both can be solved together with a good sound suppressor. The latest suppressors are very light in weight and are not overly long. Sound suppressors also have the added benefit of taming recoil a bit.
Getting back to the Gorda SCH-21, cyclic rate is 700 rpm on full-auto. Trigger group, fire-selector switch, and pistol grip are all taken right off the standard AKM. The sights supposedly use some kind of flip-up aperture. The short barrel appears to screw right onto an interface collar on the AKM receiver, and can be removed and replaced with an integrally-suppressed barrel. Personally, I would think it would be easier to just thread the existing barrel, or use a Gemtech-style three prong hook-up, ad attach a suppressor directly to it. Optical gunsights, visible lasers, and combat lights are apparently all mountable on the gun.
The Gorda SCH-21 is manufactured by the State Military Scientific and Technical Center "Delta". Wow. Try sayin’ that fifty times in a row, huh? I mean, come on. The Russians really need to figure out some shorter names for their manufacturing facilities. Oh, by the way, this particular plant is located in Tbilisi, which is in Georgian Russia.
Sorry, no links available to any pictures, yet.
