Valmet M82 Assault Rifle Standard Nato

The Valmet M82 assault rifle has been designed for for the Finnish airborne troops. It was also intended to
replace weapons with the folding stock. It was introduced in 1978. The Finnish Army rejected this weapon because of failures in the design. Nevertheless Valmet produced a small batch of these assault rifles, mostly in semi-automatic versions, chambered for a standard NATO 5.56 x 45 (.223 Remington) round. These rifles were ex mostly to the USA. Production ceased in 1986. Designers intended to create a compact weapon.
An attempt was made to convert a well-proven Valmet M76 assault rifle into a bullpup layout. It allowed to save on overall length of the weapon. Internal design of this assault rifle is similar to that of the Valmet Rk.76, which in turn is based on the Soviet AKM.

The M82 is a gas operated, selective fire weapon. Finnish designers decided to keep receiver and barrel of it's predecessor. Also this rifle had a lightened bolt carrier and thinner barrel, to reduce weight. Early prototypes of this assault rifle featured wooden stocks. Later models had a polymer housing. It is worth mentioning that the Valmet M82 was poorly balanced, as most of the weight is in the rear.

Valmet M82 assault rifle Caliber 5.56 x 45 mm (.223 Rem)
Weight (empty) 3.3 kg
Length 710 mm
Length (with folded stock) -
Barrel length 420 mm
Muzzle velocity 975 m/s
Cyclic rate of fire 750 rpm
Practical rate of fire 40 - 100 rpm
Magazine capacity 30 rounds
Sighting range 300 m
Range of effective fire 300 m