While the tactical craze may have been largely lost on Izhmash, the official makers of the AK series of rifles, our Russian friends appear to be embracing it. The previous issue of the Russian Reporter magazine featured some very cool AK rifles. Unfortunately I do not [Read More…]
Tsar Cannon, who are the exclusive provider of sniper rifles to the Russian equivalent of the Secret Service, claim that they produce the most accurate sniper and competition rifles in Europe. The company hopes to export into the United States. RT.com reports (emphasis [Read More…]
Last year I reported that Izhmash would launch a new line of AK-style rifles this year. While this new line has not yet materialized, a prototype has been unveiled. It modernizes the AK-74M / AK-100 series by adding rails for optics and other accessories, as well as a [Read More…]
Yesterday, on his 90th Birthday, Mikhail Kalashnikov was named “Hero of the Russian Federation“. This award is the highest that can be bestowed on an individual by the Russian president. Kalashnikov has previously twice been awarded Hero of Socialist Labor [Read More…]
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 [Read More…]
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 [Read More…]
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! 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 [Read More…]
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 [Read More…]
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 [Read More…]
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 [Read More…]
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 [Read More…]
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 [Read More…]
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 [Read More…]
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 [Read More…]
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 [Read More…]
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 [Read More…]
English Russia, a humorous blog about all things Russia, has photos of home-made firearms confiscated by police and army in Chechnya. Click to expand images: 30mm or 40mm grenade launcher? Looks like a Baikal over and under shotgun with pistol grip and cut down barrel. [Read More…]
Backyard Safari has a collection of images showing the AEK-919 K Submachine gun being used in training by the Vityaz (counter-terrorism Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs special forces unit). Click to expand. A surprisingly aesthetically pleasing gun. The Russians [Read More…]
The Russian State Research and Production Enterprise (SPE) have unveiled the latest RPG, the RPG-30. The system has been designed with one purpose: to bypass Western (and no doubt Chinese) active protection systems and possibly reactive armor. Cut-away RPG-30. Photo [Read More…]
The Fins are not happy with the Russians. DefenceTalk.com reports: The Finnish Defence Forces are investigating what they suspect is unauthorised copying of the M05 camouflage pattern by the Russian military, Finnish business daily Taloussanomat reported on its website [Read More…]
Last month the Deputy Head of the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs, Lieutenant-General Mikhail Suhodolskogo, announced that Russian police (the MVD) would be moving away from the AKS-74U (5.45mm 8″ barreled sub-carbine) and the famous Makarov pistol. Reasons [Read More…]
Last week Kalashnikov wrote an open letter addressed to the citizens, Prime Minister and President of Russia. He is very unhappy about rumors, presumably in the media, that Izhmash, the company that produces the AK and other military and sporting arms, is in trouble and [Read More…]
Deminer posted scanned images from a Russian sniper handbook. The picture below is interesting. It shows how to setup MON-50 (claymore like) mines so that a cluster can be set off by a sniper. More images here.
Click to expand. These rifles were captured from the Georgians by the Russians and destroyed. I don’t know about the rifles in the photo but I know Bushmaster was supplying Georgia. H/T: MP.net
Reuters reports: MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russian spending on arms will rise to a record $46.5 billion next year, a senior government official said on Friday, as the Kremlin moves to beef up the armed forces after a conflict in Georgia. Russian national defence orders [Read More…]
The photo below shows a couple of South Ossetia militia. The guy on the right is carrying a Sako TRG. It is unlikely Finland would allow arms exports to South Ossetia. It was probably bought on the civilian market and then exported. I cannot imagine that South Ossetia [Read More…]
The Fedorov Avtomat is possibly the first (see comments) an early firearm used in action that would classify as a true self-loading battle rifle. Photo by Semen Fedoseev It weights in at about 4.4kg compared to the 7.7-8.8kg of the BAR: much closer in weight to that of [Read More…]
President-Elect Dmitry Medvedev visited the Dubna Institute for Nuclear Research yesterday: It has all the aesthetics of Russian pistols 🙂 I wonder what that is. I first saw the image here. Confirmed it was not a fake here.
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