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ARMAG

Search matches names, aliases and the text of every page. An arm found by its service designation is found by its alias, not its title.

5.45×39mm

Introduced 1974CIP standard

Also known as 5.45 Soviet — the same cartridge under different names, all of which find this page.

Dimensions and pressure

Generated from the schema, like every specification table on this site, so a figure recorded on this entry cannot be missing from the table.

Identity
Designed by
not recorded
Introduced
1974
Production
not recorded
Standards body
C.I.P.
Case type
Rimless
Case shape
Bottleneck
Dimensions
Bullet diameter
5.6 mm0.2205 insource

C.I.P. G1, maximum bullet diameter.

Bore diameter
not recorded
Case length
39.82 mm1.568 insource

C.I.P. L3, maximum case length.

Overall length
57 mm2.244 insource

C.I.P. L6, maximum cartridge overall length.

Rim diameter
10 mm0.3937 insource

C.I.P. R1.

Neck diameter
6.29 mm0.2476 insource

C.I.P. H2.

Base diameter
10 mm0.3937 insource

C.I.P. P1.

Pressure
Maximum pressure
355 MPa51,488 psisource

C.I.P. Pmax 3550 bar; 1 bar = 0.1 MPa exactly.

Pressure standard
C.I.P.

SAAMI and C.I.P. measure pressure differently and their figures are not interchangeable, which is why the body is always named beside the figure.

Loads

Velocity is recorded per barrel length as published. A gun page interpolates between these points and never projects beyond them.

7N6 ball

Bullet mass
3.43 g52.93 grsource

Ballistics table of the cited article, which publishes bullet mass in grams.

Cartridge mass
not recorded
Bullet type
FMJ, mild steel core
G1 BC
not recorded
G7 BC
not recorded
Sourced velocity by barrel length
BarrelVelocity
415 mm16.34 in880 m/s2,887 fps

7U1 subsonic

Bullet mass
5.2 g80.25 grsource

Ballistics table of the cited article.

Cartridge mass
not recorded
Bullet type
FMJ subsonic
G1 BC
not recorded
G7 BC
not recorded
Sourced velocity by barrel length
BarrelVelocity
200 mm7.874 in303 m/s994.1 fps

Chambered in

Computed from every entry that lists this cartridge. Nothing here is hand-maintained.

Gallery

A 5.45×39mm cartridge on orange graph paper, sharply bottlenecked with a long pointed bullet and a red sealant band at the case mouth.

Image credit

Title
File:Cartridge 5.45x39mm M74 CC BY-SA by Grasyl.jpg
Author
Grasyl(attribution required)
Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0
Source
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Cartridge_5.45x39mm_M74_CC_BY-SA_by_Grasyl.jpg
A 5.45×39mm round on graph paper. The red ring at the case mouth is the lacquer that seals the bullet.

Detail

The Soviet answer to the 5.56×45mm, adopted in 1974 with the AK-74 and reached by the same reasoning from a different starting point. Where the American round was designed around a varmint cartridge, this one keeps the 7.62×39mm’s case head and shoulder position and simply necks it down — so the magazine well, the bolt face and the receiver of an AK did not have to change.

Its 7N6 bullet is the detail that made its reputation: a steel core with a deliberate air space in the nose, which shifts the centre of mass rearward and makes the projectile yaw early on impact. Soviet literature is open about the design intent; this site records the geometry and stays out of the wound ballistics argument, which has no agreed methodology.

The two loads below sit at opposite ends of the same case: a rifle round at 880 m/s and a subsonic one at 303 m/s, each with its own stated barrel.

References

  1. C.I.P. TDCC datasheet — 5,45 x 39 · 2015-05-19 · read 2026-08-31
  2. 5.45×39mm · 1371607862 · read 2026-08-31

Last verified 2026-08-31 · review status: agent-populated