9A-91

The 9A91 9 mm compact assault rifle was originally developed as a part of the A91 family of compact weapons, which included versions chambered for 7.62 x 39, 5.45 x 39, 9 x 39 and 5.56 x 45 ammunition. Of those, only the 9 mm version survived and entered small-scale production at the Tula Arms Fa...

A-91

The A-91 bullpup assault rifle (also known as A-91M) was developed during the 1990s by KBP (Instrument Design Bureau) in Tula, as an offspring of the A-91 family of compact assault rifles described elsewhere in the 9A-91 article. While the A-91 retains the basic gas-operated, rotating bolt action...

Dragunov SVD

SVD was designed not as a standard sniper rifle. In fact, main role of the SVD ir Soviet / Russian Army is to extend effective range of fire of every infantry squad up to 600 meters and to provide special fire support. SVD is a lightweight and quite accurate (for it`s class) rifle, cabable of sem...

Dragunov SVDK

The Dragunov SVDK large caliber sniper rifle (any rifle in caliber above 9mm is considered a "large caliber" in Russia) is a somewhat controversial weapon, recently adopted by Russian army. It was developed through "Vzlomshik" (Breaker) research and development program, along with 7,62mm SV-98 sn...

Kalashnikov AK-47 / AKM

The Kalashnikov assault rifle, also known as the AK-47 (Avtomat Kalashnikova - 47, Kalashnikov automatic rifle, model of 1947), and its derivatives, also known under the common name of AK, is the most prolific small arm of the 2nd half of the XX century. It had been and still is (in more or less ...

Kalashnikov AK-74 / AKS-74 / AK-74M

The idea of the reduced caliber ammunition for military shoulder arms was played with for a very long time. Each time the technology leaped forward, the standard calibers were reduced - from the 0.45 - 0.50 inch (11.4 - 12.7mm) of the mid-1800 to the .30 of the mid-1900s. The idea of further redu...

Korobov TKB-408

The TKB-408 assault rifle has been developed by designer German A. Korobov by 1946. This weapon has been designed in Tula, for 1946 Soviet Army trials for a new assault rifle. Usually claimed as a first military-type automatic rifle of bullpup configuration, this weapon, in fact, has been precede...

Korobov TKB-517

German A. Korobov, Russian gun designer from Tula, began the development of assault rifles soon after the World War Two, when he designed the TKB-408 bullpup rifle for 1946-47 Soviet Army trials. Despite the failure of TKB-408, Korobov continued the development of various assault rifles, both in ...

Simonov SKS

The experience gained during the first part of the World War 2 showed some deficiencies of the existing rifles, both manually operated and semi-automatic. Those rifles were too long and heavy, and fired too powerful cartridge that had excessive recoil and effective range of about 2000 meters, whi...

VSK-94

The VSK-94 silenced sniper rifle was developed by the KBP (Instrument Design Bureau), most famous for its high-performance GSh-series aircraft cannons, as well as for antitank missile systems and other such "instruments". VSK-94 is actually an attempt to create a less expensive rival to the speci...