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| Country |
Finland |
| Type |
Assault rifle |
| Manufacturer |
SAKO |
| Introduction |
1990 |
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The RK 95 TP is a 7.62 mm assault rifle of Finnish design, accepted into service with the Finnish Defence Forces in the 1990s in relatively small numbers.
The rifle was developed in response to a requirement to replace existing 7.62 mm RK 62 service rifles, which was pursued in the second half of the 1980s. Between 1988–1990 the SAKO company developed the M90 prototype, which was a comprehensive modification of the RK 62. Changes to the original design included: the fire control and safety selector, whose lever was transferred to the left side of the receiver housing, the cocking handle cut-out in the bolt carrier assembly was covered with a strip of metal, the cocking handle itself was placed at an upward angle (enhancing left-handed reloading), a sliding tangent was fitted to the rear sight assembly with 150, 300 and 400 m sight adjustments and the rifle was equipped with a folding tubular metal stock with a locking latch system modeled on the one employed in the SIG SG 540 rifle. The M90 was also equipped with a multifunction muzzle device and manual gas valve, enabling the use of rifle grenades. After undergoing further testing and implementing several minor adjustments (among them, the fire control and safety selector mechanism were reverted to the previous RK 62 configuration) the rifle was introduced into service with the Finnish Army as the 7.62 RK 95 TP (translating to Assault Rifle 95 Folding Stock).
An export variant of the rifle was also produced, modified to use the 5.56x45mm NATO cartridge with the SS109 bullet, fed from plastic 30-round curved magazines. The barrel, which has four right-hand grooves at a twist rate of 185 mm (1:7 in), has a muzzle velocity of 920 m/s (3,018 ft/s) using standard ammunition. The rifle\'s rear sight is calibrated for firing at 200 and 400 m. A civilian semi-automatic version with a fixed buttstock was manufactured under the name Sako M92S.
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