What would you pick ?

Of these options? The 74s with Zenitco optic. Second the straight 74 with irons. The sight radius is ass, a Valmet or Galil-like peep at the rear dustcover that's not wobbly would be a huge plus, assuming you're still without optics in 2026. And I'd much prefer 5.56 to 5.45, but it would do. The plain 7.62 AKM is a distant third, but hittability on fleeting targets with a flatter trajectory and more forgiving battle-zero on 5.45 in the 74 wins. Plus, the underfolder is *terrible.* There's a reason all the AK family went side-folder. The underfolder was 100% "better than nothing" and because 7.62x39 was way better than any pistol caliber SMG pushed into a vehicle crew PDW role. The "real answer," as others mentioned, outside of specific DMR needs, is an M-16 family of rifle or one of the well executed AR-18 systems. And if one looks at anybody with *money* and who wasn't *beholden to prior tradition,* and "not invented here" problems, it's what most nations choosing or changing service rifles are settling on. If you have ever "runned & gunned" whatsoever and were expected to do mag changes, and maybe even *hit something * you probably know why this is true. That could be an American 3-gun match, a live ammo carbine class, or hell... even an Airsoft skirmish/milsim, where you only run 30 BB magazines for realism. I actually *like bullpups* I own a TAR-21, VHS, RDB, and an AUG, but even when you "train that mag change into irrelevance," *you are still having to overcome something.* There's a ballistic advantage in velocity (in 5.56 at least, less in 5.45 and 7.62...) to having an 18"/450mm, or even a 20" 500mm barrel, and having an overall length that's substantially shorter than a standard layout 16" barrel, or even a 14.5" 368mm barrel M4, but if you are going shorter, the benefits of the bullpup compromise vanish. Realistically, unless there's hostages/noncombatants, even in MOUT, you should be tossing explosives into/at structures, not sweeping the pie. A rock-in AK mag bullpup? *Jesus wept.* At least those AK bullpup kits look sort of cool, rather than the chunky late-1990s US gun magazine advertising ones.