In addition to the “classic” 7.62×39, it’s available in. The VEPR comes in a number of configurations. In 1997, the factory introduced Becas (hunting) shotguns and began production of hunting rifles based on Mosin-Nagant and Mauser. In 1994, the company started manufacturing a civilian line, the VEPR based on the RPK, as well as products derived from the Simonov Rifles, called the OP-SKS. (The box that my VEPR came in reads “JSC Vjatskie Poljany Machine Building Plant”).

It’s no longer a state owned enterprise but I am told the state still exerts a great deal of influence. Already overstretched, mangement decided to move the manufacture of the RPK to the Vjatskiye Poljany facility.įast forward to the end of the cold war and in 1992, the Vjatskie Poljany Arsenal and Manufacturing Plant officially became “MOLOT” or more specifically, “MOLOT Joint Stock Company” aka MOLOT JSC. The genesis of the VEPR, as we know it today, was in the late 1950s, when the RPK light machinegun (a more robust version of the Kalashnakov) went into production at the at the Izvesk plant. Kozlov and his PPSh-41 Shpagin machine pistol. Between October 1941 to May 1945, the plant manufactured 2.5 million PPSh submachine guns, 350,000 OPSh and SPSh pistols. In October of 1941 the Vjatskiye Poljany plant started producing PPSh submachine guns for comrades to stave off the German onslaught. The plant played a key role in manufacturing weapons for the Russian Army during what the Russians refer to as the Great Patriotic War (WWII). Manufactured by MOLOT (which translates as “sledgehammer”) the company was conceived in 1940 as the Vjatskie Poljany arsenal. Among AK aficionados it enjoys a reputation equal to, or in the opinion of some, greater than the Saiga or any other animal in the AK kingdom. However, there’s another member of the Russian AK family that you may not have heard of called the VEPR (which translates as wild boar).

The most popular Russian AK in this country, the Saiga (named after a species of deer), is manufactured by the Izvesk-based IZHMASH facility. The original begat dozens variants manufactured in countries ranging from Albania to Yugoslavia. This is your chance to own one of these highly sought after shotguns.One fellow in particular from Siberia, Mikhail Timofeyevich Kalashnikov, didn’t have much of a formal education but created what was to be Russia’s most iconic export.Īs everyone knows, the original Kalashnikovs were produced in 1947 (hence the name AK 47). The Vepr 12 is known around the world as one of the finest shotguns made for the IPSC and 3 Gun competition. The pistol grip, fire control group, gas puck, and RPK style handguards are premium quality US made parts added for the 922R compliance. The Molot Vepr 12-03 is an original Russian production 12-gauge shotgun with a folding metal stock.

Molot vepr 12 manual english