#MaximPopenker

20 years ago, in November of 1999, now renowned firearms expert, researcher and author Maxim Popenker started a gun website called Modern Firearms (www.modernfirearms.net formerly hosted under www.world.guns.ru domain) which I bet you’ve come across if you have ever done a research on any firearm. 20 years is a lot for an Internet source. To have an idea about how long of a time period it is in the history of the Internet, let me tell you that in 1999 there were no such things like Facebook, YouTube or Wikipedia and the World Wide Web itself was barely 10 years old. This author remembers himself eagerly absorbing any new information published on World.Guns.Ru as a teenager and I am sure for many of you that’s exactly how you started expanding your firearms knowledge, too.

The Ruger .22 LR 10/22 rifle probably has the record for the most “drop in” imitation firearms ever. There are 10/22 platforms that will allow it to look like a Garand, a P90, even an AK74! The majority of these are of course mostly aesthetic and don’t really add much to the actual system itself. At the end of the day, you aren’t much better off than if you hadn’t done anything to the 10/22 base action in the first place.

IPSC (International Practical Shooting Confederation) in Russia is a huge success, and is showing tremendous growth with some 30 000 members. I can’t think of any region which could be larger, and there are now regular sponsored events.

Both authors of this book may already be familiar to readers: Maxim Popenker runs world.guns.ru, and also occasionally contributes to TFB, and Anthony Williams is known both for his forum and his General Purpose Cartridge concept. In 2004, they co-published Assault Rifle, a relatively slim volume with the goal of giving the reader a comprehensive but digestible introduction to the subject.