The GP-25 Kostyor ("Bonfire"), GP-30 Obuvka ("Footwear") and GP-34 are a family of Russian 40 mm under-barrel grenade launchers (Granatomyot Podstvolnyj) for the AK family of assault rifles. They were first seen by the West in 1984 during the Soviet Invasion of Afghanistan. The GP-30 was lightened and the redesigned sighting system was moved to the right. The current Izhmash-made version, the GP-34, has a further-redesigned sighting system located to the right side of the weapon and features the following advantages: Reliability: It is designed and tested specifically for the Kalashnikov assault rifles, fits such assault rifles directly without any adaptors or forearm dismantling. Improved safety: The design prevents a round from moving within or falling out of the barrel, even if the muzzle is pointed down. The GP-34 features an additional mechanism (firing pin safety lever) to improve safety during loading. Development Development of a grenade launcher for the AKM assault rifle began in 1966 at the Sporting and Hunting Arms Central Design and Research Bureau. Development continued into the 1970s, and in 1978 it was accepted into service. The GP-30 first entered service in 1989, and is intended for use with the AK-100 series of assault rifles. The GP-34 is designed to be a universal service model that can be fitted to the AKM / AKMS, AK-74 / AKs-74, AK-74M, AK-101, AK-103, and AN-94 rifles. Description The grenade launchers are similar in appearance and fire the same 40 mm caliber ammunition and use the same High-Low System developed by Germany in late World War II to keep recoil forces low without a rocket or other type of recoilless weapon back blast. The GP-30(M) is a stripped-down model grenade launcher, consisting of a very short, 40 mm rifled barrel in front of a basic trigger mechanism with minimal hand grip. On top of the barrel is mounting gear to attach the weapon under the barrel of an AK-series assault rifle, from where it is designed to be fired. A grenade is first muzzle loaded into the barrel, the weapon is aimed, then the self-cocking trigger is pulled to fire the weapon. This fires the percussion cap at the base of the grenade which triggers the nitrocellulose propellant inside the body of the grenade. The hot expanding gas from the propellant is forced through vents in the base of the grenade that move the grenade along the barrel, and at