The World Turned on its Head

In a turn of events that most would not have anticipated, a Russian arms company is now making an AR-15 pattern rifle. Former Soviet weapons manufacturer Molot, a subsidiary of the Izhmash industrial concern that has been producing AK-74 and AK 100 series rifles has begun to produce a carbine called the HPE-140 (впо-140) or maybe Vepr-15 (Вепрь-15) which apparently means wild boar. It may be that the first run will use some parts from German manufacturer Waffen Schumacher under the trademark of Schmeisser.


Previously, Molot produced RPK light machineguns for the Soviet Union and Russia. They also made civilian (semi-auto only) VEPR AK rifles. The weapon was announced at the Moscow ARMS & Hunting '11 expo a few months ago. The rifle will be a M4 type weapon (M4gery) with a quad rail hand guard, improved/rubberized pistol grip and some type of muzzle brake or flash hider. No word about any other calibers, so for now it will likely only be offered in 5.56mm NATO/.223 caliber. Price in dollars is unknown, but they will almost certainly not be imported to the US anyway. Of course there have been American AKs for some time, some of which started out as parts kits from Eastern Bloc countries via Century Arms and some fully homegrown versions like the Krebs Customs guns, which seem nice, but are pretty expensive.

Mikhail Kalashnikov and Eugene Stoner each holding the others' weapon