According to Russian newspaper “Kommersant“, Russian firearms manufacturer “Molot” is announced to be sold. The famous arms plant, which is well known in the USA by its “VEPR” brand became bankrupt five years ago. Since then [Read More…]
One potential solution to the problem of a suitable anti-armor pistol and submachine gun round is to take the existing ammunition system and introduce one or more new kinds of ammunition which provide additional armor piercing capability through higher muzzle velocity [Read More…]
As you may remember we’ve already talked about the Soviet “space guns” (firearms developed to issue to astronauts) in the past. Particularly we had a couple of posts on TFB about the TP-82. It was officially adopted and was issued to Soviet astronaut [Read More…]
Here follows a short story from a recent visit to the Central Armed Forces Museum. The place is also known as the Museum of the Soviet Army and is located in the northern part of Moscow, close to the Red Army Theater. Lets’ begin with the entrance, where we find a [Read More…]
The Museum of the Great Patriotic War in Moscow contains a large amount of information, vehicles and firearms from the time around 1941-1945. It opened to the public in 1995 and is a museum and memorial for the World War II, in Russia known as “The Great Patriotic [Read More…]
The AK has a problem as a defensive rifle. Rifle projectiles that do not yaw, fragment, or expand tend to produce wounds that are little more severe than those produced by pistol bullets. In 7.62x39mm, this problem is compounded by its relatively low velocity, when [Read More…]
Russian Northern fleet mechanized infantry units (also referred to as Arctic forces) have recently held training maneuvers in Murmansk, Russia. Among expected equipment such as skis and snowmobiles, they were also practicing to ride reindeer and dog sleds. The idea [Read More…]
Russia has adopted a small arms training system called 1U35M (1У35М)․ It is designed by a company called TsNII Toch Mash (ЦНИИ Точ Маш, stands for Central Scientific – Research Institute for Precision Machine Engineering). The system simulates both [Read More…]
RTECH-NO is a Russian technology company that is bringing to market a less-lethal device that consists of an electronic charge fed from a removable magazine. The device is called a “GARD” and it essentially appears to be a Russian take on the Taser, but with [Read More…]
The very public shooting of the Russian ambassador to Turkey, Andrey Karlov, made headlines yesterday. The shooting was a politically motivated attack associated with the Syrian conflict and the city of Aleppo in particular. The gunman was an off-duty Turkish police [Read More…]
Russia is hosting the first ever Rifle World Championship in IPSC history. The Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation seems to do everything they can to offer an unforgettable week of rifle shooting. The heart of IPSC rifle competition will be the “Patriot [Read More…]
Russian company “FRONT – Tactical Systems” has developed, patented and manufactures a backpack style ammunition belt storage and feeding system called Scorpion. It works with 7.62x54R ammunition and with PKM machine gun and its versions. Russian [Read More…]
We recently had a look at what modern sniper teams from the Western countries use. This time, let’s have a quick look to the East. During the summer of 2016, the International Army Games was held at the Gvardeisky training area in Otar, Republic of Kazakhstan. In [Read More…]
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. The Russian World and [Read More…]
Red Oktober is an entirely Kalashnikov themed competition that took place at Southern Utah Practical Shooting Range in St. George, Utah. It was primarily by Rifle Dynamics, along with a number of other industry sponsors that all pitched in to really support the two day [Read More…]
Sabrewerks has been making a very indigenous optics mount that replaces the Kalashnikov factory rear sight blocks. The initial unit requires some gunsmithing or least knowledge of complete Kalashnikov disassembly (removing the OEM rear sight block). Once this is [Read More…]
We are all familiar with the standard conspiracy theories: NASA faked the Moon landing on a Hollywood soundstage, President Kennedy was shot by another gunman who was working for the CIA/the mob, all world leaders are actually reptilian aliens from Alpha Centauri, [Read More…]
According to RIA Novosti and TASS (Russian news agencies) Land Forces of Russian Federation started issuing “Ratnik” (Warrior) kits to the troops. As covered earlier on TFB, Ratnik includes a number of upgrades to existing weapons and gear, as well as new equipment. [Read More…]
Mikhail Kalashnikov, the designer of famous AK family of rifles, was born on November 10, 1919. So in 2019 it will be 100 years since M. Kalashnikov was born. To celebrate the 100th birthday of the ingenious firearms designer, Russian president Vladimir Putin has [Read More…]
Russian company, Lobaev Arms, has developed a fully suppressed sniper rifle called the DVL Lobaev 10 Saboteur. The rifle is designed for short ranges (0 – 650 yards) but optimized for the lowest possible sound signature. To achieve this they also designed [Read More…]
The PETCHENEG (PKP) is 7.62x54mm general purpose machine gun (GPMG) that entered service in 2001. It is a favorite weapon of the Russian armed forces and the Russian Ministry of Interior. These users requested a more compact version for use in urban combat or when [Read More…]
Fresh, and exclusive to TFB, pictures of the Kalashnikov Group’s Saiga MK 107 at the Army-2016 Expo combined with some history and background. In 2015, as a competitor in the European IPSC Rifle Championships (Hungary), I had the opportunity to test the Saiga MK [Read More…]
The Russian small arms firm Kalashnikov Concern has announced several new weapons during the International Military-Technical Forum “ARMY 2016” held by the Russian government in Moscow, the first of which is a new take on a promising 20th Century [Read More…]
This coverage of Army 2016 will be covering some of the precision rifles that are being introduced, apart from the SVK, which Nathaniel F. is writing about. If you aren’t tracking, Kalashnikov Concern is introducing a number of precision rifles at the expo, the [Read More…]
Here is a cool video of some Russian Special Forces practicing shooting from a seated position in an unstable platform. This simulator gives the shooters a similar sensation to riding in a moving vehicle where they will have to shoot out of. Once they get the basics of [Read More…]
After World War II, the nations of the world retired to lick their wounds and rebuild, but their arms engineers also began thinking about the next war. The war have brought forth a storm of new technologies and inventions, and one of the most significant in the field of [Read More…]
Perhaps the oldest rival of the 5.56mm round is its older brother in the intermediate cartridge world, the 7.62x39mm round developed by the Soviets in the late 1940s from their earlier 7.62×41 M43 cartridge. The 7.62x39mm, despite its age, has maintained a very [Read More…]
The TOZ-106 is a bolt action 20ga shotgun with a short barrel. It is magazine fed and made in Russia by Tulsky Oruzheiny Zavod back in 1993. I was not able to find this shotgun available on their website.
According to sources at the Eurosatory exposition in Paris, France, the Russian Army has nearly completed tests on the new pistol design likely to be adopted to replace the 9x18mm PMM Makarov and 9x19mm PYa Yargin pistols currently in service. The Udav (Russian for [Read More…]
Have you ever walked down the street and found some cash laying on the ground? One time I found a $20 bill on the sidewalk when I was walking home from school, that was pretty cool. Not as cool as one lucky guy in Russia who found a horde of AKs (or that guy who [Read More…]