The Firearm Blog

This is great news for Saiga rifle and shotgun fans the world over can sleep easy tonight. Backyard Safari reports (Translated in Google, emphasis mine):

The fact is this: on 21.09.2009 has been reported that a company declare named Gremikha LLC "at the Economic and Trade Arbitration matters relevant indicative of the Republic had requested Udmurtia, the" Izhmash AG "for insolvent. More backgrounds were, and are not known. Maybe Gremikha is or was a creditor of Izhmash who wanted to recover in this way its accounts receivable. As the court date was 07.10. scheduled and thus took place yesterday, the court dealt with the case. Result: The application is not accepted. Izhmash is not insolvent and can thus continue its business operations as normal. Good news!

I was very worried about the outcome of the court case and am relived the supply of Saiga's and Tigr's will not run out anytime soon.

Izhmash, possibly the world's most famous arms manufacturer, has filed an application for bankruptcy with the Russian courts. Pravda reports ...

Izhmash, the pride of the nation’s defense industry, may prove to be an unprofitable enterprise. Udmurtia’s Court of Arbitration will look into the financial documents of the group of enterprises of Izhmash Concern. If reasons for bankruptcy are unveiled, Russia’s largest maker of firearms will have to be reorganized. >

Izhevsk owns the designs and trademarks of many different guns including:

• AK-47, AK-74, AKM and AK-100 series.
• SVD Dragunov sniper rifle.
• Tigr rifle (civilian SVD).
• Saiga rifles and shotguns.

I asked Max Popenker, well known author and owner of world.guns.ru, about the situation. Max told me that the upper management of the company has been absolutely useless for years. He thinks eventually the government will save the company, but he is not optimistic about its future.

If you were thinking about buying a Saiga rifle or Saiga-12 shotgun. I suggest you buy it right now.

Many thanks to Jay for alerting me to the situation.

Like Jim, who emailed me these photos, it makes me want to cry to see these magazines abused in this way. I would pay top dollar to buy them by the ton!

Used to "pave" the garden path.

An innovative way to fix pot holes.

See more of these photos at English Russia.

Thanks to Jim for sending me the link.

English Russia has posted many photos of the firearms displayed at the Russian Arms Museum.

Igor Stetchkin’s creations.

Thanks to Richard for the link.

AimSurplus are selling a semi-automatic version of the belt-fed SG43 Goryunov machine gun. Their guns are build from original polish kits on new semi-auto US made receivers.

This gun is perfect for those of you who do not think the AR-15 offers enough protection from incoming fire. A shield comes standard and while it may not be tacticool, there is nothing cool about being hit!

The Goryunov was developed by the Russians during WWII and later copied by the Chinese. It served until the 1960’s.

Super Neat Semi-Automatic version of the Soviet Guryunov SG43 Belt Fed 7.62×54R Machine Gun. Built from original kits out of Poland on new US receivers. The original Goryunov was develpoed in WWII as a replacement for the Maxim, and saw service throughout the Communist world. Comes as shown with ammo can, 250 links, and carriage. Barrel 28.3″, overall 44.1″ total weight 96lbs. Packed in a wood crate, Rifle, carriage with spoked wheels and a 250rd belt and can.

They are selling for $4,399.95.

I find the armor design strange. It is inclined on a negative angle, deflecting incoming rounds down, instead of up and away from the shooter like tank armor. Anyone want to shed some light on the design decision?

Hat Tip: Ammoland

Last month in the Russian town of Tarusa, IDPA shooters held a public demonstration of their sport and allowed the local to give it a go. I must admit I was shocked to see that the demonstration was done out in the open, from an elevated position, with people, vehicles and boats behind the targets!

If you look closely, there appear to be people on the other side of the river.

The guns appear to be real, not airsoft or air guns.

Google Translate is a crude tool at the best of times, but I think they are saying that it was safe because the boat pictured above was 200-400 meters away from the firing line! I looked up the probable location on Google Earth / Maps and I think at best the boat was 200 meters, probably less.

According to Hatchers Notebook, the classic text on ballistics, a .45 ACP and .38 Special round can reach as far as 1200 yards ( 1097 meters ) if fired at the right elevation!

Am I missing anything that would make this safe? Can any Russian speakers please read the forum thread and let us know in the comments if they were doing anything that made it safe.

UPDATE: trigger288 says in the comments that the pistols are loaded with low powered rubber bullets, which are only dangerous up to 50m.

Hat Tip: Дмитрий Кочетков

The answer? They are both victims of piracy, or at least that is what the Russian media would have you believe. The issue, from the Russian perspective, is the reverse of the allofmp3.com controversy. Russia accuses the United States and other governments of being complicit in the piracy that costs them $2 billion per year. The issue caused a minor diplomatic incident with Pakistan at a Turkish defense expo last month.

Historical Context

To understand the legal history of the AK-47 you need to understand the intellectual property history of the Soviet Union. Contra to popular belief the communists did not oppose intellectual property (IP). Our Soviet comrades were encouraged to think up inventions, they just has to give the invention to the state! After the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution private ownership in general was abolished but IP was overlooked. This oversight was corrected in 1931 when private ownership of IP was banned and the state automatically inherited all rights to inventions. The inventor received some small remuneration in return, presumably only if the invention was used by the state in some capacity.

AK-47 / AKM clone made in Las Vegas by Arsenal Inc.

The Avtomat Kalashnikova 1947

Fast forward about a decade and a young sergeant named Mikhail Kalashnikov starts designing weapons for the Red Army. In 1946 his rifle wins a competition for the next standard issue rifle of the Soviet Union. During the following year the military began adopting the rifle and it was given the infamous designation AK-47, now a household name worldwide.

The Soviet Union was quite happy to allow other communist states to produce the rifle, with many other state and non-state entities around the world producing clones.

The flag of Mozambique featuring the AK-47 alongside a hoe and a book.

The AK-47 patent. Better late than never.

After the fall of communism the Russian Federation and eight other former Soviet Republics formed the Eurasian Patent Organization (EAPC). Izhmash, manufacturer of the AK-74 and AK-10x rifles (AK-47 successors), filed a patent with the EAPC. From the Google Translation of the patent (emphasis added):

Title of invention:
Automatic weapons “Kalashnikov”

Patentovlalelets (ltsy):
Open Joint Stock Company “Izhmash” (RU)

Inventor (s):

Mikhail T. Kalashnikov, Yuri Alexandrov K.,
Bezborodov Nikolai, Viktor Kalashnikov.
Azariah I. Nesterov, Paranin Valery Nikolaevich (RU)

The Eurasian application N: 970145
Priority of invention:

Date of filing of the Eurasian application: July 24, 1997
Date of registration of the Eurasian Patent
in the Register of Eurasian patents: October 10, 1997

The patent was filed over 50 years after the invention! The patent does not mention when the rifle was actually invented. Under United States law patents expire after 20 years. It seems ridiculous that a company can expect to patent an invention half a century after its invention especially at a time when it is so common that people build it by hand in caves!

Ironically the AK-47 is also the weapon of choice for the modern sea pirate.

US Government purchases of AK-47 rifle

Prior to the recent decision to switch the Iraqi Army over over to the M16 and M4, the US Government was purchasing a lot of AK-47 rifles to supply the fledging Iraqi Army. Russia was not happy about the US purchasing AK-47 clones from manufactures who were significantly under cutting Izhmash. From Novinite.com:

The Americans have allowed Bulgaria to built a plant producing the Kalashnikov sub-machine gun to be sold in Iraq and Afghanistan, the Director for Special Assignments of the Russian Rosoboronexport State Corporation Nikolay Demedyuk stated on Wednesday cited by ITAR-TASS.

…

The Russians stated that the “Arsenal” production was undercutting the gun prices on international tenders citing as example a 2003 tender for the supply of 40,000 sub-machine guns for the Iraqi army for USD 65 each won by Arsenal and lost by the Russian “Kalashnikov” manufacturer.

Russia has claimed it loses $2 billion per year from counterfeit production with only 10% of AK-47 rifles being produced under license.

Iraqi Military Policeman Training with AK-47 rifle.

Last Month in Turkey

There was a minor diplomatic incident last month at the IDEF ‘09 defense expo when the Russian delegation discovered that Pakistan Ordnance Factories had AK-47 clones on display. When confronted the Pakistan stated owned defense manufacture refused to remove the display.

Anatoly Aksenov, a senior advisor to the director general of Rosoboronexport (Russia’s sole export intermediary), said in a press release “Russia will ask IDEF-2009’s administration to impose sanctions on Pakistan’s delegation if the counterfeit weapon is not removed from the booth by tomorrow … is piracy and we will struggle against it.”. The Turkish Ministry of Defense, who organized the expo, acted swiftly and the following day the rifles were removed from display.

According to Mr. Aksenov Turkey is looking to purchase Russian short and medium range anti-aircraft systems, which no doubt gave the Russians much leverage with the Turkish Ministry officials.

The Russian media was quick to point out that the World Trade Organization worries itself with Western music, firms and clothing, but not Russian weaponry. From Lenta.ru (Google Translated):

Piracy in the music and film industry, protection of brand clothing manufacturers, food, tobacco and alcohol have long been one of the nabivshih oskominu so when discussing the economy nowadays. Combating concerned authoritative international organizations such as WTO, and thousands of bureaucrats. The trials against the creators of file-networks follow one after another and stable outside the top list of hot news. And the weapons you can not only forge in the huge quantities, but also opened it to show, without fear of any sanctions or condemnation, or loss of reputation.

Will this be resolved?

Russia wants to join the World Trade Organization. Prior to joining the diplomats will have to define the parameters for recognition of patents. It is unlikely the WTO members will want to open themselves to lawsuits from Russian firms over 50+ year old inventions.

A blog named Odd Russia has photos of what they claim are a French and Russian bullet that hit each other during the Crimea War.

Odd Russia has many more photos but no link to the source of the images. It could be true, or it could be a hoax. I think both the French and Russians both used muskets or rifles of caliber between .60″ and .70″ and I do not know enough about the ammunition at the time to say if the mushroomed bullets look authentic.

Thanks to Jim for emailing me the link.

Russian unveiled the new Balkan 40mm automatic grenade launcher at IDEX 2009 (massive military expo held in Abu Dhabi that was on earlier this week).

Click to expand.

The AGS-17 Plamya, the auto grenade launcher currently fielded by Russia, is 30mm. The new launcher extends the effective range from 1700m to 2500m and the larger round will of course give it more bite.

It is logical to compare it with the 40mm Mk 19 Automatic Grenade Launcher. The weight and rate of fire are much the same. The Balkan comes standard with optical sights and the Mk 19 can be fitted with sights if needed.

The ammunition is quite different. The Balkan uses Russian style 40mm grenades that are in a sense caseless. The primer ignites powder, the gas then exists through vents in the bottom of the case. This is similar to the infamous Gyrojet ammunition. Unlike the Gyrojet I think all the grenade powder is burnt before the round leaves the barrel, unlike the Gyrojet which burnt the propellant slowly and accelerated slowly.

The vents appear to have a shotgun-like star shaped crimp.

Another difference is that the ammunition box holds 20 linked rounds and weights 14 kg while the Mk 19 uses 32 or 48 round boxes weighing 20 and 30 kg respectively.

Hat Tip: diva @ WAFF

The Moscow Times reports that on 31 Jan. Prime Minister Vladimir Putin signed a decree allowing law enforcement officials to carry imported guns for self-defense.

The guns on the allowed list are the Beretta 92, CZ 75 and Glock 17. These are all chambered in 9mm Luger/Parabellum.

Previously they had been limited to the Makarov PM which fires the 9×18mm Makarov cartridge that is more than 30% less powerful than the 9mm Luger/Parabellum.

The Makarov pistol. Photo from AdamsGuns (used with permission)

I suspect this is the first time in the history of the Russian Empire since the Russian Tsar imported the S&W Schofield Revolver in 1880 that officials will be carrying foreign made pistols. Russian ended up canceling a large quantity of their order from S&W and produced clones themselves. Thanks to Brno223 for the correction.

UPDATE: Supernaut let me know in the comments that the internal security police have been using Glocks and other European firearms in a limited capacity for a while now.

I previously reported that a new line of AKs will be developed by Izhmash. Pracda.ru confirms this:

Anatoli Isaikin, the Director General of the state arms exporter Rosoboronexport, met recently with the creator of the Kalashnikov rifles, the head of the Izhmash Company, Mikhail Kalashnikov. The meeting’s objective was to look into developing a new generation of AK-100 series rifles.

The rifles in this series share a number of innovations that were introduced to the models AK-47, AK-74 and later. Like the AK-47, AK-100 models operate on the explosion of gas produced by the firing of ammunition. The gases eject the used cartridge and insert new ammunition into the chamber.

The models AK-101 and AK-103. AK-101 already use the standard NATO 5.56 mm caliber. AK-103 – Size: 7.62mm. Kalashnikov is a milestone in terms of small arms, especially because of its recognized and insurmountable resistance to all kinds of abuse by users even today. In other words, they are the best in the world. Besides this much appreciated characteristic, the weapon is also easy to maintain and use.

Hat Tip: THR.us

I came across a Russian firm called DAC / Demyan who manufacture a bullpup conversion of their T-4 Carbine PCP bolt action rotary magazine repeating air gun.

T-4 Bullpup


T-4 Carbine

The conversion to a bullpup configuration is straight forward. Initially I was confused by what appears to be a double set trigger but after looking at the below diagram is seems to be a simple safety that prevents the trigger from moving.

If you have ever wondered how bullpup rifles work then take a look at this cutout. I have annotated the diagram so that it is comprehensible by those with less technical knowledge of firearms. The parts needed to move the trigger forward, the trigger linkage, are plain to see.

Click to expand (warning: it is a big file)

Another interesting feature of this rifle is the built in suppressor. This probably prevents it from being imported into the US and any another other country that regulates suppressors. The Gamo Whisper, which also includes a built in suppressor, is apparently legal because its’ suppressor is made from plastic and would be blown up by the gas from even a .22 LR cartridge.

The T-4 is available in .177, .22 and .25.

Specs:

Weight: 2.8 kg : 6.1 lbs
Length: 680 mm / 26.7″
Barrel length: 420 mm / 16.5″
Trigger pull: 1.5 kg / 4.4 lbs
Magazine Capacity: 8 pellets
Operating pressure: 30 MPa (300 bar)
Verification pressure: 45 MPa (450 bar)

Price (Carbine, bullpup price not listed): 40000 Rubles (currently US$ 1371.88).

The stock seems to have been through a variety of evolutions. These are other photos I found:

I prefer the P90 inspired stock, although the pistol grip looks a bit square.

A cursory google search did not reveal a US distributer. Demyan is going to be at SHOT Show 2009 so either they do have distributor lined up or are looking for one. The SHOT Show description of the company:

Original research and manufacture of sportguns. Our company produces high-quality air rifles for Fild Target, BenchRest, as well as compact powerful air rifles for hunting by caliber 4.5, 5.5, 6.35.

10, 2nd Donskoy Lane
Moscow, 119071
Russian Federation
Business Phone: 011 74959847629
Business Fax: 011 74959847629
www.demyan.info

Booth : 2080

If you are going to SHOT and come across their booth I would be interested to know who their distributer is, if they have one, if the T-4 carbine is going to be exported to the US, and if so its’ price.

Reader Tarkan emailed me a couple of interesting news article about the assassination of a former Chechen commander in Turkey last week. Sabah reports:

According to police investigations the gunshots hit the victim from a diagonal angle and the weapons used were especially made for the KGB. Known as ’small special guns’ and used in assassinations, both the SP3 and SM4 models only let off minimal noise when shot. Police are stating that the previous Chechen commander that was murdered, Gazhi Edilsultanov was also killed by a 7.62 gun and the same weapon might have been used in both murders.

As usual, the media got the facts incorrect. The SP-3 is a cartridge. The S4M is a pistol.

SP-3 Cartridge (Photo from guns.ru)

S4M pistol (Photo from guns.ru)

The round is one of many Russia piston silenced rounds. The gas from the primer propels a piston (I doubt they contain any powder) which in turn propels a 123 grain bullet at 490 fps generating 66 lbs of muzzle energy. This is significantly less energy than a High Velocity .22 Long Rifle (130+ lbs). The piston then locks in the gas preventing muzzle noise.

The bullet itself is similar to the 7.62×39mm (AK) bullet. In theory this is supposed to fool investigators into thinking the victim was shot by a conventional rifle. This may have worked when the cartridge was classified but any modern forensic expert would not be fooled by a rifle bullet that clearly left the muzzle slowly and had very poor penetration.

A combination of very low power and a relatively large caliber bullet means the round is not capable of much apart from gangland style executions as demonstrated in the recent assassination.

JamesTown.org reports that in September another Chechen was assassinated in Turkey:

On September 6 Gazhi Edilsultanov, a former Chechen colonel, was gunned down in Istanbul reportedly during a dispute over financial aid being collected in Turkey for Chechen separatists. Edilsultanov was the head of the Chechen refugee camp in Istanbul

It is suspected that the killing was not a robbery but an assassination:

Perhaps, however, the story of killing Edilsultanov for the €50,000 was not true, and the suspects invented the money story to cover up the fact that the murder was committed by Russian intelligence.

Vesti.ru did a tour of the Izhmash factory and interviews with various employees and with Kalashnikov himself.

It is all in Russian but still very interesting to see inside the factory. According to a couple of Russian speakers at WAFF they mention that a new line of AKs will be launched next year (2009)! I wonder what they have in store for us? Maybe finally a left-hand side charging handle?

During the interview Kalashnikov says he gets a lot of hate mail asking how he sleeps at night. He says it is politicians not guns that kill people. Well said! I have seen many interview of Kalashnikov over the years.