| AS-44 | |
| Origin: | Soviet Union |
| Is Ranged: | yes |
| Service: | Never entered service |
| Used By: | Soviet Union |
| Designer: | Alexey Sudayev |
| Design Date: | 1944–1945 |
| Unit Cost: | around $1,000 per rifle |
| Production Date: | 1944–1945 |
| Variants: | Seven different prototypes |
| Weight: | 5.61NaN1 |
| Length: | 1m (03feet) |
| Part Length: | 505abbr=onNaNabbr=on[1] |
| Cartridge: | 7.62×41mm |
| Action: | Gas-operated open tilting bolt (First six prototypes) Gas-delayed blowback (Seventh prototype) |
| Rate: | 600 rounds per minute |
| Range: | 8000NaN0 |
| Feed: | 30 round detachable box magazine |
| Sights: | Hooded post front sight, tangent notch rear sight. |
The AS-44 (Avtomat Sudayeva, Russian: Автома́т Суда́ева, АС-44) is a series of prototype Soviet assault rifles designed and developed by Alexey Sudayev in 1944—1945, they were produced in limited numbers and tested in 1944—1945, but its development ended in 1946 due to the death of its designer.
In 1943 the Soviet M43 7.62×41mm intermediate cartridge was developed and provided to Soviet small arms design bureaus to design a series of new weapons around this new cartridge. A design competition was announced and at least ten different designs were submitted for testing from designers such as Fedorov, Tokarev, Simonov, and Shpagin.[2] In May 1944 Alexey Sudayev who had already designed the successful PPS submachine gun delivered the first and fourth models of his AS-44 for tests. The AS-44 successfully met the competition's requirements and in the spring of 1945 an experimental batch of them were manufactured at the Tula Arms Factory. During the summer of 1945 these were sent for testing in the Moscow, Leningrad, Central Asian, and Transcaucasian military districts.[3] The tests determined the AS-44 was reliable, but not as accurate, or long ranged as the Mosin-Nagant rifle currently in service. When fired from its integrated bipod its range and accuracy were judged to be superior to that of sub-machine guns in Soviet service. However, the AS-44 was overweight at 5.6kg (12.3lb) and its accuracy, when fired without its bipod was considered inferior. In spite of positive evaluations, the AS-44 was not approved for mass production at that time. The next set of modifications and trials would have started in early 1946 but Sudayev became ill and died on August 17, 1946, which prevented this from occurring.
Sudayev built seven different prototypes with each having slightly different features, barrel length, and weight for the Soviet assault rifle design competition that would result in the adopted winning design becoming the standard issue assault rifle for the Soviet military. The layout of the AS-44 is similar to the what would be AK-47 with a fixed wood stock, wood handguard, wood pistol grip, curved detachable 30 round magazine, hooded post front sight and tangent notch rear sight, dust cover, and bayonet mount with other features including a heat shield, flash suppressor, and metal bipod. The AS-44 made use of stamped components to reduce production costs and speed production.