Victor Kalashnikov, the son of Mikhail Kalashnikov, has passed away on March 27 at age 75. Like his father, he also was a firearms designer and worked in Izhevsk for many years. He is buried in a local cemetery in Izhevsk, Russia.

Kalashnikov Media published an article telling about the most significant firearms designed by Kalashnikov Jr. during his career. Let’s take a brief look at his guns, too.

PP-19 Bizon Submachine Gun

One of the most famous firearms designed by Victor Kalashnikov is the PP-19 Bizon SMG. This blowback operated SMG was designed in the early ’90s. It can be immediately recognized by its helical magazine. The gun is chambered either in 9x18mm Makarov or in 9x19mm Luger and has a magazine capacity of 64 or 53 rounds respectively.

Vityaz Submachine Gun

Another iconic Victor Kalashnikov design is the Vityaz submachine gun which was based on the Bizon SMG. Vityaz is a more simplified AK-style SMG chambered in 9x19mm. This gun proved to be a very reliable one and it is used by many special operations units.

PU-21 Belt-fed Light Machinegun

In the early ’70s, Soviet Union launched a project called “Poplin”. The idea was to develop an RPK-74 based LMG which would be possible to feed both by linked ammunition and standard magazines. There were many versions of this LMG in different stages of development. The final iteration was called PU-21 (see the above image). This LMG was not adopted.

AKB and AKB-1 (“Abakan” Trials)

AKB rifle

Victor Kalashnikov also took part in Abakan trials with two firearm designs. Both were balanced action rifles. One of them is called AKB and it used the barrel as the balancing part. The AKB-1 had a fixed barrel and a different balancing mechanism. You can read more about the AKB and AKB-1 by clicking here.

Rest in peace Victor Kalashnikov.