I took some time by Izhmash has stopped claiming there exists a foreign conspiracy to put them out of business and instead engage in the booming firearms industry in this country. At SHOT Show they apparently sold a number of Saiga-12 shotguns to some police forces.

Ria reports …

The contracts were signed at the Shot Show exhibition in Las Vegas on January 17-20. “The first Saiga-12 deliveries to U.S. law enforcement were already made in January 2012,” Izhmash General Director Maxim Kuzyuk said.

At the exhibition, Izhmash also signed an agreement on exclusive imports to the U.S. market with Russian Weapon Company and an agreement with Fime Group as Izhmash’s partner for manufacturing classic firearm models.

Shot Show also provided an opportunity for buyers from Central American countries to sign contracts on direct delivery of Izhmash sporting and hunting weapons for the first time. Previously they had only been able to buy Izhmash products via intermediaries in the U.S.
“The results of the exhibition are inspiring. The American market in non-military weapons is booming. We project a 20 percent increase in deliveries this year,” Kuzyuk said.

A few months ago I wrote an article entitled Could US Consumers save the Russian Firearms Industry?. The answer is “yes”.

[ Many thanks to REMOV for emailing us the link. ]