Kovrov plant named after Degtyarev. In the meantime, the Ministry of Defense decides what will replace the "eternal" AK-74, the "Warriors" will be equipped with modernized samples of the proven small arms. About what the Russian "soldier of the future" can fight today - in the review "Defend Russia".

"Kit"

According to the developer - the Kalashnikov Concern - the kit, which received the code "Kit", will increase the combat capabilities of the machine gun by 1.5 times. The gunsmiths calculated this indicator according to the criterion “frequency of destruction” at a distance of up to 300 meters at any time of the day and in different climatic conditions.

"Kit" includes several key elements. This is a new muzzle brake compensator.

With it, the recoil decreased and the flash when fired almost disappeared. Infrared laser pointer. You can see its beam only through a night vision device. Ergonomic handle and length-adjustable stock. The receiver cover and handguard are equipped with Picatinny rails. With it, you can install a collimator sight, a flashlight and a vertical handle to hold the weapon with your second hand on the machine.

The new upgrade kit for the AK-74 Kalashnikov assault rifle, according to the developers, will make this proven, but already outdated weapon suitable for use with the Ratnik.

Deliveries of AK-74 modernization kits to the troops have already begun.

Large-caliber sniper rifle ASVK (Kovrov)

This rifle is a further development of the large-caliber sniper rifle KSVK. Like its predecessor, ASVK is designed to fire 12.7 mm cartridges. Depending on the type of ammunition, a rifle can hit both manpower and lightly armored enemy vehicles.

Compared to the previous model, ASVK is lighter - about nine kilograms against 12.5. However, such relief was given due to the shortening of the trunk. And this, in turn, led to a decrease in the aiming range, it is 1200 meters (KSVK hits 1500 meters).

ASVK - a five-shot rifle with a longitudinally sliding butterfly valve. Made according to the bullpup scheme, when the trigger is located in front of the magazine and the trigger mechanism of the weapon.

Upgraded SVDM sniper rifle

The main innovation of the modernized SVD are folding bipods. The main variant of sniper shooting is from a prone position. In such cases, you always have to put something under the weapon or hold it under the forearm with your second hand. Bipod solved this problem, they are adjustable in height.

On the cover of the receiver there is a Picatinny rail, on which you can mount modern optical sights, including those of foreign production. Previously, the mounting bar at the SVD was located on the side and regular sights PSO-1, 1PN93 and some others were attached to it.

A new adjustment mechanism appeared at the “cheek” of the butt. With it, the shooter can adjust the height and position of the “cheek” to individual characteristics.

However, the main advantage of the new rifle is its heavier barrel. Due to its thickness, it was possible to increase the accuracy of fire during overheating.

Submachine gun "Vityaz"

PP-19-01 "Vityaz" became a continuation of the line of submachine guns "Bizon", which were created by order of the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs since 1993. The new model was designed taking into account the requirements received from the special forces detachment internal troops Ministry of Internal Affairs "Vityaz". From the special forces, he received the name.

"Vityaz" is designed on the basis of the Kalashnikov AKS-74U, the unification of parts is 70%. In particular, the trigger mechanism, receiver and safety are identical to the parts of the AK.

"Vityaz" is unpretentious in terms of the use of ammunition. The submachine gun can be loaded with both Russian 9x19 mm cartridges, including 7N21 cartridges with an armor-piercing bullet, and foreign Parabellums of the same caliber.

The choice of 9 mm ammunition is due to the fact that the Vityaz is intended for use in urban areas and indoors, that is, in an environment where there is a high probability of ricochet. In this case, the caliber 9 × 19 mm turned out to be the most optimal - compared to 5.45 mm caliber bullets used in automatic cartridges, the ricochet of 9 mm is much less.

SV-98 sniper rifle

SV-98 was developed on the basis of the sporting 7.62-mm rifle "Record-CISM". One of the key differences between this weapon and the SVD is the manual reloading bolt.

This design provides great speed bullets when fired, since the energy of the powder gases is not spent on pushing the bolt carrier piston (as in SVD and Kalashnikov assault rifles), but is entirely aimed at pushing the bullet out of the barrel.

The rifle is equipped with a low-noise shooting device. It is not capable of completely drowning out the sound of a shot, but it can blur its sound portrait so that the enemy does not guess the type of weapon used.

Initially, she was going on a wooden bed. In the new version, the rifle is assembled on an aluminum stock. Thanks to this, it has become immune to climate change. Rifles with a "tree" are already in service in Russian power structures ah, they were used in real combat operations.

And the sample shown in the photo is experimental, now it is being tested.

Russian media reported on the start of deliveries by the Kalashnikov concern of modernized Dragunov sniper rifles (SVDM) for the Russian Defense Ministry. The rifles were positively evaluated by the military, since the designers eliminated a number of technical shortcomings of the SVD. At the same time, the concern reportedly "dramatically improved the quality of manufacturing SVDM."

The upgraded Dragunov sniper rifle was first presented at the Innovation Day of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation in the fall of 2015. It has an improved gas mechanism operation scheme, is equipped with the so-called Picatinny rail for an optical sight and other shooting accessories and an ergonomic buttstock that folds on right side(at the request of the paratroopers). The butt is also adjustable "cheek" and butt pad.

Of the other improvements, it is necessary to mention, first of all, a thickened barrel, which provides more stable accuracy of fire when conducting intense fire when the barrel warms up. Received the function of adjusting the trigger mechanism. An important improvement is also mentioned - a posted trunk (a number of bloggers write about this).

The posted barrel does not touch the stock anywhere, and is fixed only in the receiver (receiver). This is checked by stretching a paper sheet along the trunk to the receiver itself. But this fact regarding the SVDM is doubtful, since the photo clearly shows that the front mount of the forearm rests on the barrel.

When I purchased the Tiger carbine, a hunting variant of the SVD, a few years ago, I was advised to immediately replace the plastic handguard, which creaks (!) in severe frost, with a wooden one. I did not follow this advice, because in the cold I simply will not go to the wild boar. And what about the Russian infantry snipers? Judging by appearance new rifle, the upgrade did not touch the creaking plastic.

I must say that the legendary Dragunov sniper rifle is not at all the most accurate, not the most powerful and not the most convenient (I know this from my own experience). However, it, like all Kalashnikov products, is the cheapest and most reliable. This is a real "Marksman" rifle.

Marksman rifle (Designated Marksman Rifle, DMR) - an infantry sniper ("Marksman") weapon, occupying intermediate position between conventional small arms and heavy, high-precision non-automatic bolt-action sniper rifles chambered for increased power.

Designed to solve the tasks of fire support of a subunit in an offensive at short and medium distances. In Russia, in the system of army small arms, this place is occupied by the SVD rifle. Another name, common mainly in European NATO countries, is “tactical support weapon”.

These rifles are more effective than assault rifles due to their higher accuracy, accuracy, and the probability of hitting a target at ranges exceeding the effective firing range of an assault rifle (400-600 meters), but due to their low weight (4-5 kg), in contrast to heavy large-caliber sniper rifles. rifles (8-12kg) chambered for .338Lapua and 12.7x99Browning / 12.7x108DShK, designed for firing from equipped firing positions at long ranges (800 m and beyond) allow you to quickly change the firing position, if necessary, fire from your hands, from unstable positions, on the move, supporting your unit with fire.

Usually equipped with a bipod and a low magnification optical sight (4-6x). Unlike rifles for counter-sniper combat with a longitudinally sliding, rotary, bolt, Marksman rifles, as a rule, are self-loading and have a large magazine capacity - for 10, 20 or 30 rounds, depending on the type of rifle.

Thus, the SVD and its modernization SVDM is the best Marksman rifle, based on the criteria of reliability and low cost. This is a kind of "long arm" of the infantry on the battlefield.

The appearance on the battlefield in large quantities of long-range rifled rifles during the First World War was one of the factors in the impossibility of a frontal attack on entrenched infantry, along with the appearance of machine guns and Bruno's spiral. It was these innovations that made the war positional and needed tanks to turn it back into maneuverable.

As for high-precision sniper rifles, the Americans are the undisputed leaders here. Their products are the most innovative. The CheyTac M200 "Intervention" sniper system, which includes an M200 rifle and a ballistic computer to which wind sensors, temperature and atmospheric pressure sensors can be connected, is designed to engage enemy personnel at a distance of up to two kilometers. This complex is not cheap - 50 thousand dollars.

No less innovative is the latest M2010 rifle. Its advantages: relative lightness (5.5 kg), high accuracy and accuracy of fire at distances up to 1200 m and advanced optics - the Leupold Mark sight.

You can name other, no less famous sniper rifles made in the USA and Great Britain. The products of the Kalashnikov concern can compete with them only in terms of price and reliability. However, there are other manufacturers in Russia, first of all, the world-famous gunsmith Vladislav Lobaev. He managed to develop original ultra-long-range sniper rifles that had no competitors, but in 2010 he was forced to move his activities to the UAE due to a conflict of interest with IZHmash (as the Kalashnikov concern was then called). Lobaev rifles adopted by the army of the emirates.

Two years ago, Lobaev returned to Russia and produces seven models of sniper weapons using equipment imported from the United States. There is no data in the open press about the interest of the RF Ministry of Defense in his rifles. +

The monopoly of large state corporations and the backward machine park are the main reasons for the non-competitiveness of our small arms in the class of high-precision and ultra-long-range systems. The lobbying capabilities of such nuggets as Vladislav Lobaev are unfortunately much inferior to the excellent characteristics of his rifles.

Recently, unusual automatic sniper rifles have begun to appear at exhibitions, shooting ranges and in combat units, in which only a professional recognizes the good old SVD - the Dragunov sniper rifle, adopted back in 1963. The rifle is legendary, but so old that many have long considered it right to send it to the museum along with the 7.62 x 54 mm cartridge, adopted back in the 19th century. Some time ago, Valentin Vlasenko agreed with this. Why his opinion has changed, let him tell himself.

For a long time, with varying degrees of success, I have been shooting from a carbine. Having shot to the master of sports in practical shooting, discovered high-precision shooting. At the same time, the love for semi-automatic rifles remained. But when the price of .308 match ammunition went off scale for 200 rubles per shot, I decided that I needed import substitution - a Russian semi-automatic chambered for a domestic cartridge of 7.62 x 54 mm. This cartridge suited me - it worked great from bolt-action (bolt-action) rifles, such as the SV-98 and MTs116. Flattered by advertising, I bought a civilian version of the SVD - "native", all in factory stamps, 1967 release. This is a legend, the older brothers of classmates fought with it in Afghanistan. I put a sight on it and at 100 m I gathered a group of 9 cm. AK-47 collects better. In general, I was very upset, because I bought a rifle for $ 3000 - legends are not cheap. I wrote to the seller, to which I received an answer that I simply do not know how to shoot. Laughed at the answer. I had to do something, especially since I have been tuning for a long time - I started with carbon fiber rifle stocks, after which I started working on aluminum handguards for the Heckler & Koch HK417. Dismantled, began to see what can be done. The two main problems of the SVD are the unmounted barrel and the side mount of the optics, on which even the most ideal bracket “walks”.

When Yevgeny Fedorovich Dragunov developed his rifle, he proceeded from the fact that all the iron fittings attached to the barrel should be planted on the barrel with minimal interference. Unfortunately, for civilian products, tolerances for the manufacture of fittings may not be observed by an order of magnitude. And as a result, a “sausage” with five clamps is obtained from the barrel - when the barrel heats up, all these clamps begin to work differently from shot to shot.

Valentin Vlasenko is a man who breathed a second life into the SVD. Now you know him by sight. And not just snipers.

Not relying on others

The problem with pinching the barrel was treated quite effectively by the famous Russian gunsmith Gennady Kozhaev, whom the shooters respectfully call "Mikhalych". For his work, Gennady Mikhailovich named a price commensurate with the price of a rifle, and a period of six months. If it was still possible to put up with the price, then the terms did not suit categorically. In addition, the second problem of SVD was not solved - installing optics on side plank. This problem is familiar to everyone who tries to shoot accurately from SVD at long distances: the rifle collects a group, but every day this group may be in a new place, the middle point of impact - STP - "walks" on the target. So I had to take on the job myself. Having suffered, I removed all the fittings from the barrel of my SVD, and I was left with a bare barrel. I made the first version of my rifle in a draft version, using welding, pieces of steel and a forearm from HK417. This Frankenstein weighed six kilograms, but the main thing is that he began to shoot!

For the next three months, I painted a whale - a set of parts that replace the factory ones and eliminate the described problems. Then for another three months I was looking for someone who would undertake to do it and, finally, I milled the first version of the chassis. Initially I thought to do it according to the principle of the SAGE EBR chassis for the American automatic rifle M14, which was in service with the US Army in 1950-1960. It is a large "cup" in which the rifle is placed. But for this, many additional details would have to be changed: the cover pin, the fuse box - in essence, the number of changeable parts was “pulled” onto a new rifle and exactly crossed out the possibility of self-mounting the chassis. And this was one of the fundamental points, the user should be able to install the chassis himself with the help of improvised tools without affecting the main parts.

An earlier version of SVD Vlasenko,
in which you can still guess the donor - SIDS with a folding butt. The Demon robotic thermal sight gives you a multiple advantage at night over an enemy that does not have such a sight. True, it costs as much as several sniper rifles.

Therefore, I settled on a three-piece chassis. Its central element is a bearing steel sleeve mounted on a ledge from the receiver. In this case, the barrel passes through the sleeve. The second main element is the upper "bar" (in terms of shooters from AR15 - "upper"). This element is an aluminum cup with a Picatinny rail 460 mm long on top, which is mounted on the regular side dovetail of the box and simultaneously mounted above / from the sides on an already installed steel sleeve. This turns the "upper" into a load-bearing two-arch structure for optics, while adding rigidity to the receiver. The third element of the chassis is the lower half-forearm, which is connected to the clutch and upper. Since the upper bar for attaching the optics has fallen, the base cover needs to be cut off - because now it is locked butt-to-butt with the upper. These sacrifices had to be made to ensure better ergonomics of the final product - the overall vertical dimension of the rifle has not changed. In this case, incomplete disassembly for cleaning and maintenance of the rifle is carried out as usual, but without the need to dismantle the optics. Patenting suddenly became a serious block of design work: not to violate someone else's intellectual property, but at the same time, protecting your ideas is just as important as putting a product on sale.

Happened!

The process carried away - now the eighth version of our chassis will go into production. We are constantly looking for ways to improve. For example, it turned out that in most SVDs, the barrel looks down to the left. And if we make the upper bar coaxial with the box, then in some “extreme” cases, there are not enough adjustments on the sight for long-range shooting and specialized brackets are required for mounting the sight. Therefore, in the new version, the entire bar is milled with a bevel for the required 20 minutes of arc. This jamb was shown to us, by the way, by the guys serving in special units, who are now driving the samples provided to them "both in the tail and in the mane."

One of the latest versions of SVD Vlasenko
can be identified by an adapter that raises the axis of the stock, aligning it with the axis of the bore. From the store, connoisseurs can also guess that this model was created under the NATO cartridge .308 (7.62 x 51), the production of which was successfully mastered by our cartridge factories.

The height of the Picatinny rail is made such that the shooter can use standard AR brackets (made for the AR-15 rifle) under a scope or a collimator and he does not need to adjust anything - everything will fit in height. For the chassis kit, we made an adapter that raises the buttstock axis, aligning it with the bore axis so that the recoil does not twist the rifle up and sideways. Plus, they developed and released a gas chamber with the ability to adjust the amount of gas that goes to recharge. Many civilian shooters found this feature necessary.

At first I thought that I would make ten whales for myself and my friends, but not a single production was taken for a batch of less than 50 sets. I had to make 50 sets. Taking into account development costs, patenting, installation parts, errors and dishonesty of suppliers, this batch went "gold". Some were given to the military for tests, some to their shooters, but, fortunately, the whole batch sold out in a couple of months. The second batch was taken apart by friends of friends. Part of the kits went to prizes for shooters at competitions. Now we are already making the fourth batch especially for the military.

The best compliment for us was that the SVD in our chassis is compared with the Heckler & Koch HK417. Economic calculations are also in our favor. "Nemets" is now cheaper than 360,000 rubles in Russia can not be bought. The civilian version of the SVD (Tiger carbine) costs from 40,000 rubles, our kit - 60,000. Total: 100,000 rubles. You can put a whale in the workshop - three hours of work and 10,000 rubles. Ammunition is cheaper by seven to ten times (!).

Now about shooting. The Heckler & Koch HK417 delivers 1.5 minutes of arc (a measure of weapon accuracy) with ten rounds of military match ammunition, but weighs under 5kg with a 20-inch barrel. Ours with a 24-inch barrel weighs 4.2 kg. At the same time, she stacks 10 7N14 sniper cartridges in 1.2-1.5 minutes of arc. Gross ammunition - in 1.5−2 minutes of arc. And it allows using the whole range of night and thermal imaging attachments, rangefinders and other accessories without which a modern semi-automatic complex for long-range shooting is unthinkable without dismantling the main sight. So it’s too early to write off the legendary SVD for retirement - I hope she still shoots well.

The Dragunov sniper rifle was not created for snipers in the modern sense of the word, but for the most accurate, accurate shooters in an ordinary military unit.

The main task of modern snipers, who usually work in pairs or groups, is to hit important targets with minimal ammunition consumption at maximum range. They mainly use bolt-action rifles with manual reloading, very powerful cartridges, expensive sighting systems, rangefinders and weather stations. Well-aimed shooters work on the move, in combat formations, at distances up to 600 meters, and the main requirements for their weapons are accuracy and high fire density. It was under these characteristics that the SVD was created.

How you can adapt the SVD to new realities, increase accuracy, can be seen on the example of the Vlasenko rifle. And the company IWT ("Innovative Weapons Technology") offers sights that are no less important in modern combat than the weapons and ammunition themselves. And for well-aimed shooters, their importance is generally difficult to overestimate, since in terms of high-precision shooting skills they are much inferior to professional snipers.

Vampire ST is a new generation lightweight and compact built-in ballistics calculator.

It easily integrates with a tactical optical sight (pictured with one of the best domestic sights Dedal DH 3-12 x 50), interfaces with the mechanism for entering elevation corrections and provides instant automatic calculation of vertical and horizontal corrections. The built-in OLED display shows the calculated correction value, the distance to the target, as well as the distance of an accurate shot for the current position of the elevation drum. The shooter has two options: if time permits, enter the necessary corrections, or instantly make the desired takeaway, guided by the picture on the display.

Vampire ST is optionally equipped with an IWT laser rangefinder, which communicates with the ballistic module via cable or radio channel. As a result, the shooter only needs to aim at the target, press the rangefinder button, enter corrections or set the crosshairs of the sight to the desired values ​​and pull the trigger.

Demon is the younger brother of the Sheitan automated thermal sighting system, which we have already talked about more than once on the pages of our magazine.

And if Sheitan is intended for high-class snipers (and not all of them can afford this technical miracle), then Demon is the perfect solution for our accurate shooters. IN small complex a thermal imaging sight, a highly selective laser rangefinder, a photo and video recording device, a ballistic calculator, a navigation system and (optionally) a weather station fit in. The list of everything Demon is capable of takes up a whole page, but in practice it looks like this: you point the crosshair at the target, pull the trigger, and the bullet hits exactly where the crosshair was. Calculation of external ballistics, range to the target, elevation angle of the target, the influence of weather conditions, wind and even derivation and the Coriolis effect - all this is done instantly by Demon itself. It looks like fantasy, but we were shooting - this is reality. But why then is this not a device of a real sniper? The fact is that Demon detects a target at a distance of 1500 m, but it can reliably identify it only at 180 m. It is at such distances that accurate arrows work in complete darkness.

Work on the modernization of the SVD sniper rifle has been going on for many years. Usually, this modernization is limited to invisible changes in the design of rifles and in mass production affects only some technological changes, mainly to optimize and reduce the cost of manufacturing and assembly. However, the forces of the IzhMash concern, on their own initiative, carried out work on a radical modernization of the rifle.

Carrier rail on SVDSM,
unloading barrel and mount for bipod

After the creation of the SVDS sniper rifle in the 1990s, the designers of the IzhMash concern in the 2000s proposed prototypes of the SVDSM and SVDM rifles chambered for 7.62x54 R.

The SVDSM rifle received a folding stock with an adjustable recoil pad from the SV-98 sniper rifle, a thick unloaded hanging barrel of the SV-98 rifle, an SV-98 bipod, a muzzle end and TGP-V also from the SV-98 rifle and a 1P59 optical sight.

Experienced version of the flame arrester,
installed on SVDSM and on part of SV-98

The main feature of the new rifle was a thick barrel from the SV-98, 650 mm long and 320 mm twist. The barrel is installed in the receiver and is completely unloaded due to the carrier tire, which completely covers the barrel from the receiver to the gas outlet assembly and takes on the load from the bipod or stop. The barrel is made by rotational forging with a chromium coating, a moving cathode method. The barrel can also be chrome-plated in the usual way, which is much cheaper and easier. The method of chromium plating, and hence the level of quality of the coating and, as a result, the level of accuracy is chosen by the end customer.

A TGP-V (Tactical Suppressor Flame Arrestor - Rifle), a regular flash suppressor or a “plug” from SV-98 can be installed on the muzzle of the barrel.

The SVDSM receiver actually repeats the SVD receiver.

bipod svdsm
in the stowed position

Like the SVD and SVDS rifles, the SVDSM sniper rifle is equipped with open adjustable sights and a special rail on the left side of the receiver, which is used to install quick-release brackets for optics. SVDSM is standardly equipped with a pentacratic sight with a variable magnification of 3-10X, 1P59 "Hyperon".

When firing, the rifle rests on a bipod borrowed from the SV98. It is also possible to install bipods of other models, both on the carrier rail and on the receiver.

The side-folding metal buttstock is borrowed from the SVDK sniper rifle (slightly elongated stock from the SVDS), but with an adjustable butt plate from the SV-98.

Adjustable recoil pad from SV-98,
mounted on the SVDM butt

The SVDSM sniper rifle, unlike the base model, has a slightly longer length and increased weight.

The SVDM rifle looks similar to the SVDSM, except for the standard SVD polyamide buttstock, also equipped with a SV-98 recoil pad.

For export, IzhMash designers proposed a variant of a sniper rifle chambered for .308 Winchester.

The combination of a suspended barrel and high-precision chromium coating improved accuracy, and allowed the SVDSM and SVDM rifles to closely approach the 1MOA line at all practical firing ranges. In the variant chambered for cartridge .308 Win, the rifle has a minute accuracy and even less.

In the version chambered for .308 Win

• Weapon " Sniper rifles» Russia / USSR
• Mercenary 45923 0