It doesn't always pay to be different

Cultural tradition has always been a sticking point for China, especially with the recent boom in modernization tending towards much “westernization.” China struggles to find its unique place as an Eastern nation keeping up with the socio/political/economic/technological standards of the West. Often, this results in emulation of the West with just enough of a twist to make things uniquely Chinese. Take for instance the new People’s Liberation Army QBZ-95 rifle and the 5.8x42 round. Developed in the 1980’s, the 5.8x42 “DPB87” was more similar to the NATO 5.56x45, a decidedly Western ballistics standard, than the Russian 7.62x39 used in various previous Chinese iterations of the venerable AK series. A new rifle family, the QBZ-95, was also introduced to chamber the new DPB87.

The QBZ-95, first seen with Chinese guards during China’s retaking of Hong Kong, is a modern firearm in every aspect – synthetic materials, bullpup design (in which the bullet chambers behind the trigger), and much more refined buffer system for the DPB87; however, the QBZ-95 failed to fix issues faced by existing bullpup designs. It is extremely awkward to fire prone, its integrated open sights give it an unnecessarily high line of sight, and its rightward-facing ejection port situated behind the trigger very close to the cheek makes it impossible to fire from the left shoulder, making it useless for left-handed shooters. Belgians fixed this issue with a downward-facing ejection port, and Germans fixed it (at least conceptually) with a few experiments in caseless ammunition. The new buffer system, while designed with the best intentions to fully exploit the new capabilities of the DPB87, is more complex than any previous rifles used by the PLA. This brings us to the crux of the confusing new rifle: the DPB87 itself. China has claimed extensive testing has shown it to be more effective in terms of trajectory and penetration than both the NATO round and the newer-generation AKs rounds (5.45x39), and in fact, it has shown 100% penetration of a NATO A3 steel test plate at 300 meters. However, it is immediately apparent that the DPB87 was designed with penetration in mind. It’s cavity in ballistic gel is inferior to both comparable NATO and AK rounds, both of which are already designed with attenuated stopping power in mind. Interestingly enough, the QBZ-97 is a variation for export that uses the NATO round.

China’s need to keep pace yet stay unique has left it with a new high-tech rifle with few obvious advantages that chambers an equally niche-less round. While it certainly shows China’s progressive modernization, what purpose does it really serve? This is one case when China would’ve fared better just submitting to a Western standard.

-Kane