[I]Valery N. Shilin, the author of this article, has been working in the Russian Defense Industry for more than 25 years. Most of his career has been dedicated to the IZHMASH Open Joint Stock Company--Russia's largest armory, known in the West as home of Kalashnikov, Dragunov and Nikonov families of small arms. Valery is IZHMASH's Deputy Director for Marketing, Arms Division and a member of both the National Rifle Association and the. National Defense Industrial Association.[D]
The founding of IZHMASH

The Izh Arms Plant (Izhevskiy Oruzheinyi Zavod) was founded on July 10, 1807,on the grounds of the Izh Iron Mill. The latter facility was founded in 1762 as a producer of high quality anchors, edged weapons and an assortment of metal wares. Toponymically, the city name was Izhevsk takes after the river Izh, on the banks of which the city is located.

There were several strategic reasons for starting up a new weapons factory in addition to the existing state operations in the Russian cities of Tula and Sestroretsk (near St. Petersburg). The latter two plants were located in the heart of the country, too close to the western national frontier, while the plant in Izhevsk was situated a long way from the center of Russia, in close proximity to the Ural Mountain Range.
The Russian Empire had many political and military problems at the beginning of the 19th century. France was actively preparing for military offensives in Europe and the vast Russian Empire seemed a very attractive target for its leader--Napoleon Bonaparte. Realizing the potential threat from France, Russian's War Ministry actively attempted to increase firearms and munitions output, but the existing small arms factories in Tula and Sestroretsk could not deal with the increased scope of military preparations because of their remoteness from raw materials and fuel sources. Thus, the reasons that led to the construction of a new plant in Izhevsk were of a geopolitical nature. Strategically, the Tula and Sestroretsk plants were too close to the western borders of the country and thus vulnerable to an invasion or blockage from the West. The Russian government needed a small arms factory far from the western border and close to raw materials, water resources and cheap labor.

Diversification of the Izh Arms Plant in the 19th Century
By the year 1825, the plant had established a reputation as a high-quality weapons producer. Nevertheless, the percentage of rejected steel lots was still quite high. As a result, the plant's engineers established a "Committee for improving methods of iron and steel production"--a prototype of modern quality control. A high level of effort was given to improving the process of making special barrel steels.

A team of metallurgists, supervised by a P. Obukhov, designed a new type of steel used to make a cannon that could fire 4,000 rounds and was accurate, strong and durable.

Subsequently, rifle barrels made of "Obukhov" steel were regularly subjected to the most stringent tests, such as the barrels being twisted together or coiled into a spiral while in a cold state. Knots could be tied with barrels without causing structural damage. To show that a twisted barrel had an intact bore, a steel ball of the diameter equal to barrel's caliber had to roll through the barrel without stopping. Prior to 1867, the plant had manufactured muzzle-loading small arms exclusively. After 1867, six-line (15.24 mm) breech-loading rifles were introduced into production along with a few other models. In 1874, the Izh Arms Plant began production of a four-line (910.6 mm) Berdan rifle.

The Izhevsk Arms Plant in the 20th Century
On the whole, the Izhevsk Arms Plant was one of the most advanced manufacturing facilities in the Russian Empire. Its production tooling was upgraded with the most modern western equipment at the end of the century in order to manufacture the Mosin-Nagant 1891 rifle. By the beginning of the 20th century, the plant had acquired a position of considerable importance in Russia's defense complex.

In the early 1900's, the plant began producing a rifle designed by the famous armorer Sergi Ivanovich Mosin. The 7.72 x 54 mm rifle was the prototype for Russian and Soviet small arms products until 1892.


Izhevsk during World War I
During World War I, the Russian Army had serious shortages in firearms supplies. During the course of the War, about 6,500 rifles daily were either damaged or fell into the enemy's possession. The arms plants could not increase production sufficiently to cover these losses. Production at both the Tula and Sestroretsk facilities were also heavily affected by the war because of their proximity to military activity. Despite the weapons available in the Army inventory at the start of the War, combined with 3,500,000 newly made Russian rifles and five million rifle and captured weapons, the Imperial Russian Army still had a weapons-shortage.

After the Bolshevik Revolution in 1917, the small arms shortage worsened due to the general economic chaos and political instability. Arms production dropped significantly due to the shortage in fuel, raw materials, manpower and food. In addition, most of the manufacturing equipment needed to be overhauled because of heavy usage.However, the Izhevsk Plant, being in a more favorable situation than most of the other Russian arsenals, was increasing its production levels.

In July 1919, the Izhevsk Armory manufactured 12,500 rifles. By December 191, its production had increased to 20,000 weapons per month. The total production of the plant in 191 was 171,075 rifles.

The role of the Izhevsk Arms Plant in World War II
During World War II, the armory in Izhevsk produced a wide spectrum of quality weapons. In the course of just a few months, the output capacity of the Mosin rifles was increased six-fold. The total daily output was equal to 10,000 units and included bolt-action rifles, carbines, submachine guns, aircraft cannon and anti-tank rifles. This was perhaps the largest number of weapons ever made in one place by a single plant in modern history. Many of the production and scientific facilities erected during World War II were hastily moved from the Western territories of the Soviet Union farther unto Siberia and the Urals.

As soon as machinery, equipment and tools were evacuated from zones under threat of German invasion, they were immediately placed into arms production facilities.

At the beginning of the war, anti-tank rifles (ATRs) were in high-demand as an effective means against the Nazis. The army experienced considerable shortages in this type of small arm, with the factory in Kovrov being the only manufacturer. The Defense Committee was concerned about the fact. The army needed more anti-tank rifles to stop advancing German troops. The solution was found pretty quickly. Izhevsk Arsenal received an order from the State Defense Committee to urgently organize manufacture of several models of anti-tank rifles. It was a totally new type of weapon for the Izhmash. However, it took Izhmash only one month to manufacture over a thousand various jigs and fixtures, several hundred stamping dies, a large number of new types of cutting tools, a huge variety of rolled and hot-forged steel parts and components.

Within only a few months from the moment that the war began, the Izhevsk Arsenal increased output of small arms by six to seven times. The variety of rifles being in parallel production is astonishing.

Once, Dr. Kalashnikov confessed that back in 1949, when he had taken a decision which plant to select to manufacture his famous AK-47, his choice in favor of the arsenal in Izhevsk to a great extent depended on its tremendous experience in small arms manufacture and flexibility of production processes. On several occasions he would say that "there wouldn't be Kalashnikov as an arms designer without Izhmash."

Modern history of IZHMASH fighting guns
Along with the Kalashnikov family of weapons, Izhmash developed and manufactured a large variety of small arms after World War II.

At the end of the 1950s GRAU--Army's Central Department of Missiles and Cannon, to which all Russia's small arms arsenals were submitted,--declared a contest for the purpose of developing a novel sniper rifle in caliber 7.62x54 mm. Evgeniy Dragunov entered a rifle known as the "SVD." Parallel to Dragunov's team, two more groups of designers, headed by Alexander Konstantinov and Fedor Barinov, worked on a similar project. Kalashnikov also tried his hand in developing a sniper rifle but had to quit because of another important challenge--designing a machinegun. The strongest team of those teams was, probably, that of A. Konstantinov. The competition became pretty tough as the stakes were high: The better of the two firearms would be adopted for service. Another year and a half was devoted to upgrading the first version of the new rifle. Dragunov, a sharpshooter himself, knew the subtleties of the sport. This helped him a lot in designing an accurate weapon. One of such subtleties was the construction of the handguards. Kalashnikov's rifles, for example, had handguards rigidly fixed to the barrel through a typically AK-type flange-ring. In firing, the force of gripping was inevitably transmitted to the barrel, thus influencing (decreasing) the accuracy. Dragunov's design was smarter. His handguard allowed a certain degree of freedom for the barrel. The main point into which the handguard rested, was the receiver.

In the end the Army ruled in favor of a superior accuracy potential, incredible durability and effectiveness of fire--all qualities the SVD possessed. Finally, in 1963, the SVD won the contest and became an issue weapon of the Soviet army sharpshooters.

In the 1970s, Izhmash took part in another military contest and developed the AK-74 assault rifle for a new cartridge in caliber 5.45x39 mm. In the 1980s, Izhmash's arms designer Gennadiy Nikonov developed the "lead-ahead" assault rifle, AN-94, which featured a unique combination of operational principles enabling the weapon to fire in variable rates: 1,800 and 600 r.p.m. The Nikonov's rifle was adopted for service in 1994.

In 1992 Izhmash developed a series of modernized Kalashnikovs. Dr. Kalashnikov's son and Alexey Dragunov, the younger son of Evgeniy Dragunov, developed the novel series of BIZON submachine guns, which had an interesting underbarrel, detachable helical magazine that was capable of accepting 64 rounds of the Makarov 9x18 mm cartridges.Later, in 1996-1997, Izhmash turned out the AK-based series of SAIGA-12 semiautomatic shotguns for police and Special Operations troops.Only a year after, in 1998, Gennadiy Nikonov and his team developed two modifications of the AN-94. One of these is chambered in 7.62x39 mm, while the other one is chambered in 5.56x45 mm. The latter modifications reveal IZHMASH's ambitions to enter the International gun market with a series of intriguing assault rifles.

Does this mean that some day U.S. troops might be issued a Russian-designed rifle? Unlikely, but still an intriguing question.