China's Newest Assault Rifle

It's not "new" new because it was showcased on 2019, but the QBZ-191 and its improved ammunition, designated as DBP-191, is an attempt to modernize China's small arms, and its traditional layout with a long Picatinny rail along the top of the receiver and hand guard represents yet another country abandoning bullpup designs. The Firearm Blog relates:

    The QBZ-191 family of weapon systems consists of three types of firearms: a short-barreled carbine called the QBZ-192, featuring a 266 mm (10.5-inch) barrel; a standard assault rifle designated as QBZ-191, which has a 368 mm (14.5-inch) barrel; and a designated marksman rifle (DMR) called QBU-191, equipped with a 550 mm heavy profile barrel. The DMR is designed for selective fire and serves as a dual-purpose squad support weapon, allowing designated shooters to provide limited suppression fire based on magazine capacity. Continuous use of full-auto fire could reduce the DMR's effectiveness over time. 

    The QBZ-191 weapon system employs a short-stroke gas system controlled by a three-position gas regulator. It features a rotating bolt with four large locking lugs and helical locking surfaces, like the locking mechanism on AK-type rifles. The bolt carrier is equipped with a cam-in locking mechanism and an anti-pre-engagement lever, which is visible on the top of the bolt carrier and engages with a steel trip on the receiver. Additionally, the system has an elongated cam track that allows the bolt to remain locked for a more extended period, ensuring that the pressure in the barrel decreases to safe levels before unlocking. The QBZ-191's stated rate of fire is high, at 750 rounds per minute.

I will interject to say that they picked a terrible rate of fire for automatic weapons: too fast for being able to adjust the aim as you fire, and too slow to get off a few rounds before the barrel climbs too high to be usable even at close distances. In any event, the article goes on to further describe the rifle and its features. 

    The secret sauce, so to speak, will be the new ammunition. Unfortunately, the article relates, "[t]he 5.8x42mm DBP-191 ammunition developed for this rifle lacks publicly available data regarding projectile weight or muzzle velocity. However, it appears to utilize brass cases rather than the previous generations' steel, copper-washed, or lacquer-coated ammunition." The article does discuss earlier type of 5.8x42mm ammo, though, which offered bullet weights of 64, 71, and 77 grains depending on the specific type. 

• More:  "China's 5.8x42mm Rifle Cartridge - How Good Is It?"--Firearms News. This 2023 article has a lot of information on the earlier types of rounds and the projectiles they fire, but doesn't specifically mention the DBP-191 rounds. I came across a source that indicates that the DBP-191 has been re-designated the DVC12. If that is true, the Firearms News article relates:

 A dedicated Armor Piercing load was developed for the 5.8x42mm and designated the DVC-12. In place of a hardened steel core is a tungsten penetrator with a lead ball filling in the air gap in the bullet tip. The projectile weighs 84.7 grains and has a muzzle velocity of 2,881 fps when fired from the GPMG and DMR. The DVC-12 load is claimed to offer a 58% increase in armor piercing performance at 800 meters compared to the steel penetrator equipped DBP-10, and a 37% increase at 1,000 meters. The DVC-12 AP 5.8x42mm cartridge has a black color coded bullet tip.