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the Molot factory) to Izhmash to cover the settlement. The Russian court agreed and ordered Molot to pay a settlement to Izhmash which was of an amount that Molot couldn't afford, so Molot was forced to transfer its assets (i.e. A year or two ago Izhmash filed suit in a Russian court claiming they had exclusive patent rights on the Kalashnikov design. Incidentally Izhmash now also owns Molot. While when Molot started making their Kalashnikov type self-loading rifles and shotguns, they were of course instead based on the RPK pattern (by the way, Tula so far hasn't put any shotguns into production, or built any Kalashnikov pattern firearms other than the AKS-74U they have always made).
![ak moe stock vepr fm 11 ak moe stock vepr fm 11](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/c0PfjT1AZ3A/maxresdefault.jpg)
So when Izhmash started making self-loading rifles and shotguns based on the Kalashnikov design, they were based on the regular AK pattern. Naturally any new firearms designs they came up with, were usually ones that could be made using the machinery and tooling each of the factories had already been set up with from the Soviet era.
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So each factory was tooled up to only make its own specific variant of the AK.įast-forward to the end of the cold war and the collapse of the Soviet Union, and Izhmash, Tula, and Molot became (for a while at least) independent companies no longer under state control, and they were each now free to design, put into production, and sell their own designs. Izhmash made all the assault rifle (AK) variants of the Kalashnikov, Tula made the specialized short-barreled (AKS-74U) variant, and Molot made all the light-machinegun (RPK) variants of the Kalashnikov. Under the Soviet system of specialization and centralization of production, each of the three factories was assigned to produce a particular variant of the Kalashnikov.
![ak moe stock vepr fm 11 ak moe stock vepr fm 11](https://gvx.blob.core.windows.net/item-images/value-r-631372.jpg)
Saigas are made at Izhmash, and Veprs are made at Molot.ĭuring Soviet times all Soviet military small arms production, including of course production of the Kalashnikov series, was done at three state run factories, Izhmash, Tula, and Molot. In case you were wondering why the Saiga and Vepr are based on different versions of the Kalashnikov, as WaffenSchmied mentioned it is because they are made at different factories. Incidentally, because of differences to the receiver and barrel, the AK and RPK use different forearms and buttstocks which are not interchangeable with one another (though the pistol grips of the AK and RPK are interchangeable). The main differences between the AK and RPK being that the RPK has a longer and thicker barrel, a wider front trunnion with a larger barrel opening to accomodate the thicker barrel, and a thicker receiver with a pocket at the front to accomodate the wider front trunnion. RPK pattern) of the Kalashnikov assault rifle. AK pattern) design, while Vepr rifles and shotguns are based on the light-machinegun version (i.e. In a nutshell Saiga rifles and shotguns are based on the regular Kalashnikov assault rifle (i.e.