Image credit
- Title
- File:Type 81 assault rifle 20220203.jpg
- Author
- Tyg728(attribution required)
- Licence
- CC BY-SA 4.0
- Source
- https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Type_81_assault_rifle_20220203.jpg
How Muzzle energy is calculated
E = ½ · m · v²
Inputs
- m8 g123.5 grverifiedsourceBallistics table of the cited article.
- v738 m/s2,421 fpsverifiedMeasured with a 520 mm barrel, not this arm's 445 mm. Velocity outside the sourced range is not projected.
1 of 2 inputs link to their source.
How Muzzle velocity is calculated
nearest sourced barrel length, no extrapolation
Inputs
- v at 520 mm738 m/s2,421 fpsverifiedsourceBallistics table of the cited article.
Assumptions
- This figure belongs to a 520 mm barrel. It is shown because it is the closest measurement that exists, not because it applies here.
1 of 1 inputs link to their source.
How Loaded mass is calculated
m_loaded = m_empty + m_magazine + n · m_cartridge
Not calculated: m_magazine has no sourced figure yet. Nothing is substituted for a missing input.
Assumptions
- One magazine, filled to the stated capacity. Spare magazines, optics, slings and lights are the owner’s, not the arm’s.
2 of 4 inputs link to their source.
How Free recoil is calculated
E_recoil = ½ · m_firearm · v_recoil²
Inputs
- m_firearm3.4 kg7.496 lbestimatedsourceempty, rifle configuration, from the infobox; no inline citation is given there.
- v_recoil1.736 m/s5.697 fpsestimated
Assumptions
- Propellant gas momentum is excluded: ARMAG does not record charge weights. This is therefore a lower bound on the real free recoil, consistent between entries but smaller than a figure that includes the gas term.
- Free recoil: the arm is unrestrained. Stock design, muzzle devices, stance and shooter mass are not modelled, because none of them is a property of the arm.
1 of 2 inputs link to their source.
How Capacity is calculated
as published for the primary chambering
Inputs
- capacity30estimatedsourceproprietary 30-round detachable box magazine, from the infobox, uncited there; a 75-round drum magazine and a 20-round magazine for the CS/LR14 export version are also published.
1 of 1 inputs link to their source.
Derived figures
Computed from the sourced values above. Open ƒ on any figure for the formula, its inputs, and the assumptions it makes.
How Momentum is calculated
p = m · v
Inputs
- m8 g123.5 grverifiedsourceBallistics table of the cited article.
- v738 m/s2,421 fpsverifiedMeasured with a 520 mm barrel, not this arm's 445 mm. Velocity outside the sourced range is not projected.
1 of 2 inputs link to their source.
How Sectional density is calculated
SD = mass(gr) / (7000 · diameter(in)²)
Inputs
- mass8 g123.5 grverifiedsourceBallistics table of the cited article.
- diameter7.92 mm0.3118 inverifiedsourceCartridge maximum, dimension G1.
Assumptions
- Reported in the conventional lb/in² so it is directly comparable with published figures.
2 of 2 inputs link to their source.
How Power factor is calculated
PF = mass(gr) · velocity(fps) / 1000
Inputs
- mass8 g123.5 grverifiedsourceBallistics table of the cited article.
- velocity738 m/s2,421 fpsverifiedMeasured with a 520 mm barrel, not this arm's 445 mm. Velocity outside the sourced range is not projected.
Assumptions
- A competition classification defined by the IPSC and USPSA rulebooks, stated in their units. It describes a scoring category, not an effect.
1 of 2 inputs link to their source.
How Magazine dump is calculated
t = (n − 1) / (rpm / 60)
Inputs
- n30estimatedsourceproprietary 30-round detachable box magazine, from the infobox, uncited there; a 75-round drum magazine and a 20-round magazine for the CS/LR14 export version are also published.
- rpm650 rpmestimatedsourcerifle configuration, from the infobox, uncited there.
Assumptions
- Cyclic rate held for the whole magazine, no stoppages, trigger held down. A theoretical figure for comparing mechanisms, not a measured one.
2 of 2 inputs link to their source.
How Sight error at 1 mm is calculated
θ = atan(misalignment / sight radius)
Not calculated: sight radius has no sourced figure yet. Nothing is substituted for a missing input.
Assumptions
- Shows what a stated aiming error costs. The misalignment is the reader’s figure; the site does not claim how well anyone aims.
No input on this calculation carries a clickable source yet.
Specifications
Every row here is generated from the schema, so a figure recorded on this entry cannot be missing from the table, and the same rows, read the same way, are what the comparison shows.
Identity
- Type
- Rifle
- Action
- Self-loading
- Fire modes
- Semi-automatic
- Fully automatic
- Operating system
- Gas, short-stroke piston
- Roles
- Designed in
- China
- Produced in
- Introduced
- 1983
- Production
- not recorded
Dimensions and mass
- Mass, empty
empty, rifle configuration, from the infobox; no inline citation is given there.
- Magazine, empty
- not recorded
- Length
stock extended, rifle configuration, from the infobox, uncited there.
- Length, folded
stock folded, from the infobox, uncited there.
- Width
- not recorded
- Height
- not recorded
- Barrel length
from the infobox, uncited there.
Sights and rifling
- Sight radius
- not recorded
- Sight height over bore
- not recorded
- Rifling twist
- not recorded
- Twist direction
- not recorded
- Grooves
- not recorded
- Sight graduation
- not recorded
Chamberings
- 7.62x39mmprimary30 rounds
Scale
A to-scale outline against family siblings. The dimensions are sourced; the shape is a representative outline for the type, and says so.
- Type 81 assault rifle955 mm37.60 inheight not recorded
Representative outline: the dimensions are sourced, the shape is not. Overall length, and barrel length where recorded, are drawn from this entry's own figures; the profile is a generic one for the firearm type and says nothing about this arm's actual contours. Type 81 assault rifle records no height, so its outline is drawn at the type's proportion. That height is part of the shape, not a measurement.
Gallery
Image credit
- Title
- Gabon, U.S. train to fight illicit activity
- Author
- Cpl. Alexander Mitchell
- Licence
- Public domain
- Source
- https://www.dvidshub.net/image/3089764/gabon-us-train-fight-illicit-activity
- Note
- Work of the United States Government, uncopyrighted under 17 U.S.C. §105: photographed for the Marines (U.S. Marine Corps Forces, Europe and Africa), VIRIN 161124-M-ML847-539. DVIDS states no separate licence per asset.
Detail
China developed the Type 81 after the 1979 Sino-Vietnamese War exposed shortcomings in the People’s Liberation Army’s existing small arms, the Kalashnikov-derived Type 56 assault rifle and Type 56 carbine. Wang Zijun’s design took features from both into a single new rifle rather than replacing them with a clean-sheet weapon, keeping the short-stroke gas piston and rotating bolt this family already used while reworking the receiver and controls.
The Type 81 was conceived as a “family weapons system” from the outset: the standard rifle, a folding-stock Type 81-1, and a light machine gun variant with a longer barrel and bipod share the same basic action and magazine-well dimensions, so a single production line and a common ammunition and magazine supply could equip riflemen and squad automatic weapon gunners alike. Because the LMG variant is classed under a different type in this site’s taxonomy (a light machine gun rather than a rifle), it is not modelled here as a variant; it would need its own entry.
The rifle armed China’s regular forces through the 1980s and 1990s and was licensed to Bangladesh Ordnance Factories, remaining a common sight across conflicts far from China itself. The People’s Liberation Army has since replaced most of its Type 81s with the bullpup Type 95 and Type 03 rifles, though the Type 81 remains in Chinese reserve and armed-police use and in first-line service with several other armed forces.
Every figure in this entry traces to the Wikipedia infobox without an inline citation and is recorded as
estimated. No twist rate is published for the rifle, and no published muzzle velocity for it carries a
stated barrel length, so none is recorded here.
References
This entry's own bibliography. Every citation key on this page resolves into this list.
- Type 81 assault rifle · Wikipedia · 1373254316 · read 2026-09-09 · CC BY-SA 4.0
Last verified 2026-09-09 · review status: agent-populated