RomanS weapon reviews & photos

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[NapalmNymph]

I have been given permission to copy these to here, (and add extra photos)
originally written for RFF forum.

спасибо большое Рома!!!  (Huge Thanks as always Roman!)    

Enjoy    

BCC BИHTOPE3/VSS VINTOREZ

Personal review by Roman Stepanov

I remember flipping through pages of the 1995-97 Janes weapons catalogue, and I found this mysterious new assualt-sniper weapon called VSS.

There was a horrible quality black and white photo on the page, and a tiny short article. I could hardly identify the thing. I started laughing and showed it to my Russian collegues, and we all had a good laugh on those mooks who wrote about it. The information was incorrect, false and rediculous.

Understandable though. It was still secret in Russia, but why write things like 30 round mags, and 7..62x39 lol

Last summer I decided to take a closer look at our beautiful Vintovka Snaiperskaya Spezialnaya (Vintorez)

Peter Serdukov was in charge of a design for the new high-power assualt/sniper system. When GRU operators came back from Afghanistan in early 80s, they were asking for a weapon that is between a SVD and AKM.

During raids on and ambushes on some areas, spetsnaz of KGB needed a powerful, silenced and scoped weapon. AKM with PBS was great, but they need something with better accuracy. SVD with silencer, though in small numbers, was just too long for rapid operations.

One of the Klimovsk designers was working on a similar design for quite a while. Vladimir Krasnikov was the co-constructor on the new project called Vintorez.

They also were in charge of designing a new ammo for it. SP5
9x39 was the newest ideal cartridge for the VSS.

When I first  picked it up off the table, I was amazed on how light it was. I thought it would kick more, for such a powerful round. The weapon I played with had a custom made cheek rest. Guys from SOBR liked their weapons with full comfort.

The 10 round magazine was easy to load. The ammo looked funny. Those who've seen the 7.62x39 would also laugh at it. It looks like a fat 1943 cartridge, but packs a lot of power.

The weapon felt very comfortble to hold, the good ol PSO sat on the same rail as SVD. I pulled the charging handle back, and took 3 quick shots.
Jesus, the thing didn't move at all. It stayed on the target, and smacked it in a very tight group. I couldn't believe the accuracy of Vintorez. I took more shots and found my magazine to be empty fast.

I loaded another one, and wanted to try it on full auto. The SOBR guys smiled when I pulled the triger and looked at them with a confused look. Holly shit, the rounds came out at a screaming 900rpms. Bzzzzzz the mag is empty. It was also very controlable on full auto mode.

Again, no nasty fumes out of the silencer, and it felt like another .22.
Fuckin amazing

I now introduce you to my photos. Enjoy them, I know its very rare to see this.

http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b95/RussianBTR/vntrz.jpg
http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b95/RussianBTR/IMG_3660.jpg
http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b95/RussianBTR/P7310548.jpg
http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b95/RussianBTR/IMG_0954.jpg
http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b95/RussianBTR/bradvsss.jpg
http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b95/RussianBTR/vlad342.jpg
http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b95/RussianBTR/romafd.jpg
http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b95/RussianBTR/vssrfg.jpg
http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b95/RussianBTR/vss6.jpg
http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b95/RussianBTR/vssrfkh.jpg

[NapalmNymph]

БИЗОН/BIZON

Review by Roman Stepanov


I am no writer, no profesional Gun Magazine author, just your everyday guy. And this is my review of a gun
(please forgive my grammar and spelling)

First let me tell you that this small machine gun gave me many hard ons.
Yes, its that good.

When I first heard of the rumors of 9mm AK I said, no way. No such thing possible. But Viktor Kalashnikov (son of the great Mikhail Kalashnikov) and Aleksei Dragunov (son of great Eugene Dragunov) thought it was far from impossible. They had many ideas even in the early 80s for this little beast.

A lot of internal agencies complained about over-power of AK74s and AKMs. During the raids on organized crime members, and other "bad guys", the fire fights usually ended up in hundreds of 5.45 and 7.62 holes all over the battleground. Looked sexy, but that was in the city where behind the walls a peacful civilians walked everyday to work, school and home.

The agencies like MVD and KGB wanted something with less kick, less destructive power, and more then anything - A SHIT LOAD OF AMMO at once. Mikhail Kalashnikov let his son  take a bite at this issue.

Viktor and Aleksei began their work with looking at some of the world leaders at that time. German MP5, Izraeli Uzi, American Calico. They all had big pluses and minuses. But mp5 stood out a lot more then anything. Those who fired it or operated with it - know what I'm talking about.

The MP5 seems almost flawless. Beautiful design of shape, comfortability, and ease of use. But however, it is way over priced. There is still records of jaming, and sensitivity of ammo.

Izhmash brought numerous models of the HK SMGs to their plant for inspection. Funny how most of them were provided by MVD that their confiscated from criminal families, and even some were found in Afghanistan. no need to go to details here hehehehe

Anyway, Viktor shot many of them, and wanted to make a better version of it. Again, the artists went to work with genious ideas. Why design something from scratch, if you already have the original well respected weapon.

They took the AKM reciever in the original work, and later moved to AK-74M and AK-100 series reciever and top cover.

First was things first - They put together a stick magazine prototype pretty damn quick. It wasn't a big headache. Re-chamber the existing ak reciever for 9mm, make new short 9mm barrels, and cut out a new bolt. Piece of cake.

The real challenge now was the magazine. They looked at stick magazines and thought that this wasn't it. Firing from prone, or resting it on the uneven surface was not cool. The magazine would get on the way. So they looked at Calico and said - BINGO

When I asked Viktor Mikhailovich, what was more pain in the ass to design, magazine or the rifle?

He looked pale for a minute and with a deep sigh said - FUCKIN MAGAZINE.

Indeed fuckin, this thing rules. It is so reliable and robust, its insane to hear about the places and weather conditions when they tested the poor thing. Seriosuly poor, it went through hell of snow, sand, dirt, BMP tracks, BTR wheels, and even the VOG25 shock impact. I'm not sure in what type of situation you gonna get shot with a GP25, while storming some barricated suspect. But they did it anyways.

Loading magazine is not your simple click, click, click, click
You have to place the round in the one end, roll the spring at the other. Loading 64 rounds recomended with 2 people before you go to the mission. But during some sick emergency you can do it yourself just fine.

Viktor Kalashnikov himself invited me and my friends to test it for ourselves. We first went to the museum of Izhmash in Izhevsk, where we celebrated his happy 60th birthday with him. We also took out some of the prototypes of the display glass, and played with them for a little.

After celebrating his birthday, we went to the private shooting range, and took the Bizon2 with a PBS silencer with us.

This one was chambered in 9x18 Makarov. The Bizon comes in 4 different calibers. 9x17(380) 9x18makarov 9x19(para) and the weird old 7.62x25 that uses the stick mag.

We had a good thousand rounds of military surplus, and members of Krechet(SOBR) team came along to party with us. (good times lol)

Viktor Kalashnikov told us how he developed it, and how proud he was that this indeed was one of the best SUb Guns on the planet.
And it was!!!
IT FREAKING IS THE BEST!

First in the honor of his gun Viktor Mihailovich shot it himself. He smacked a Kobra sight on it, and just unloaded it at the target at 50 meters. The paper target took most of the rounds with a pleasant smacking sound.

Holly shit, we inspected the target and couldn't believe the accuracy of this thing. Most of the shots laid on the target, and the guy was dead for sure. But remember Viktor unloaded the Bizon in one long burst. Pulled the trigger once, and didn't let go untill the empty click sound.

we spent good 4 hours playing and shooting that thing. We also shot all this on video. High quality mini DV (Canon XL1, and GL2) from all the angles, and closeups. To be kind enough Viktor took the Bizon apart, and showed us how simple it was.

Again, just like the older family member AK-47, this thing was simple and gorgeous.

I loaded a full 64 round mag, and tried it for the first time. First on semi-auto with a silencer on. New clean target at 50 meters. Plink, Plink, Plink - damn!!!! It was like shooting a .22. I couldn't even smell the gases. We used regular - non subsonic ammo.

When you shoot an MP5, or even M4 with a Gemtech Supressor, you get that cloud of nasty fumes shoot back at you. But not with Bizon.
However the great Krechet guys put like 8 liters of WD40 in it. That was the only fume coming out of the Bizon. And not from the PBS silencer. Form the god damn bolt lol.

I didnt mind at all. That wasnt part of the design. I quickly ignored the over oiled slides, and felt in love with the gun. Not a single jam, or mis fire. All 64 rounds when in clean. Especially after i switched to full auto by selelcting it like any other AK. Same function, design and beauty of it.

With a skeleton folding stock, Bizon turns into this little cute toy that you can put behind your coat, and nobody will see it.
After the day was almost over, Viktor Kalashnikov wanted to show off the Bizon's quality by challenging us. We placed a human size poster target 50 meters away, and wanted to go nuts on it.
We each loaded 3 magazines with 64 rounds, and were ready.

The test was simple. You attach the 64 round magazine to the Bizon(which was actually cliped easy. Like a giant AK mag), load it, switch it on full auto, aim at the target, pull the triger and DON'T LET IT GO.

He went first. Ptssrooooooooooooomssssssss -all rounds peppered the target. We ran there to see the target, and counted 30+ bulletholes on the paper. NICE!

I went next, and sprayed the target in less then 3 seconds. The firing rate was perfect. Not too slow like Sten gun, and not too fast like Micro uzi pooooof your mag is gone. It was the perfect in between.
We looked at the target, and counted almost all of them on the target. The gun hasnt moved around at all, it was like a drill.
A M A Z I N G

I take it over the MP5 any time of the day.
I will let the photos continue this story

http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b95/RussianBTR/bxcv.jpg
http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b95/RussianBTR/IMGere2.jpg
(Viktor Kalashnikov)
http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b95/RussianBTR/IMG_3701.jpg
http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b95/RussianBTR/vikbzn.jpg
http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b95/RussianBTR/8a.jpg
http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b95/RussianBTR/Viktor.jpg
RomanS
http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b95/RussianBTR/bzn3.jpg
http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b95/RussianBTR/Viktormag.jpg
http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b95/RussianBTR/bcvv.jpg
http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b95/RussianBTR/roma45.jpg
Roman and Viktor inspect the target
http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b95/RussianBTR/roma4hj.jpg
The group (far left standing, Alexsey Dragunov)
http://img.villagephotos.com/p/2002-9/53088/Brad23.jpg
Dinner
http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b95/RussianBTR/meviktor.jpg

[NapalmNymph]

GRACH Pistolet Yarygina

Review by Roman Stepanov


Congratulations to mister Yarigin. His creation PYA(Grach) was accepted by Russian Federation as a replacement for PMM.

I had a great experience with this finest pistol.

I've shot many western, and Russian pistols in my life, but this one takes the cake. Last summer with the designers including Mihail Dragunov, I've shot plenty of Yarigin toys and prototypes.

I'll concentrate on GRACH 9mm parabelum

The pistol itself is well designed, very very comfortable to hold. And of course ultra fast pull on the slide during any situation using any part of your hand.

Accuracy was "HOLY SHIT". We filled bunch of 2 liter plastic bottles with pink water, and placed them at 25 meters. Loading 17 rounds was a pleasant experience. The spring in the magazin was perfect, round after round they went in there like a knife through butter.

I took slow shots at the bottle and hit it with the first one. WOW! I thought right away, the pistol stayed and hardly jumped on me. I killed the poor bottle with the last rapid shots, and asked for more...

Overall the Grach is the best pistol that I've ever shot. Untill that day I was too much in love with HK USP, Glock17 and CZ75. But GRACH changed it all

I took some photos of it for you guys to see.
BEAUTY

http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b95/RussianBTR/Grach1.jpg
http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b95/RussianBTR/Grach2.jpg
http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b95/RussianBTR/Grach3.jpg
http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b95/RussianBTR/Grach4.jpg
http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b95/RussianBTR/Grach5.jpg

Roman with the actual GRACH that was given to President Putin
http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b95/RussianBTR/Grach6.jpg

[NapalmNymph]

AN-94 Abakan

By Roman Stepanov

Well,
last summer me and my friends visited the Izhevsk - home of AN-94.
We were suppose to meet Genadi Nikonov and his creation with all the prototypes. Unfortenately great man passed away. Before visiting his creations, it was necesarry to visit his grave and pay respect.

We took hundreds of photos of his latest development AN-94P5
with GP25 and plum AK-74 bayonet.

Enjoy

http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b95/RussianBTR/abakanich.jpg
http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b95/RussianBTR/an94d.jpg
http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b95/RussianBTR/an944.jpg
http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b95/RussianBTR/an94ff.jpg
http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b95/RussianBTR/abakanich2.jpg
http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b95/RussianBTR/AN-94.jpg

[NapalmNymph]

Some awesome photos:

 (again thanks Roman for letting us have these personal photos)

This service sling was a gift to Roman from a friend in the Tula VDV  
http://img60.imageshack.us/img60/2847/tula1ve.jpg

Some of his and his friends collection:
http://img60.imageshack.us/img60/5320/kcashoot3390ri.jpg
http://img60.imageshack.us/img60/1592/nov2002rpk74joe14wc.jpg
http://img60.imageshack.us/img60/9311/akm16pj.jpg

This one is beautiful!!  just look at that wood colour!!  

http://img60.imageshack.us/img60/9176/aksudropcase10um.jpg

Now guys!!!!   You are gonna F*****g LOVE these!!!!!!

Very rare so you wont find them, so don't ask where to get them, they were 'special' gifts to Roman.

http://img518.imageshack.us/img518/5605/b4fa.jpg

This VYMPEL patch was made for the demonstrations of ALFA and VYMPEL to President Yeltsin.

http://img518.imageshack.us/img518/7169/fsb2bf.jpg
http://img503.imageshack.us/img503/4494/aleksrosn5fu.jpg
http://img503.imageshack.us/img503/4410/aleksrosn29ox.jpg

ROSN FSB vest, given to Roman by a famous Russian war veteran.

[Mein-Teil]

Great Reviews and pictures!

[DirtySanta]

awesome!
 

[FW200]

Very nice, loving it  

[Finarvas]

Gold

[Jafo]

I want a Bizon even more now!  

[RomanS]

Thanks Kate

I got more photos coming from todays Shoot of ROSN FSB impression

[RomanS]

[NapalmNymph]

I forgot to add this one  

I think you should get a hat and mittens to go with that scarf!!  

http://img55.imageshack.us/img55/2969/fsb28wl.jpg

[Robertomoe]

ROMAN, ADOPT ME!!!

You are a very very lucky man

[Jafo]

The VillagePics links don't work...