Source of information about Soviet firearms

Project description

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You are likely visiting this website because you are interested in Soviet firearms history and you want to find answers to some questions. The main goal of this website is to provide accurate, confirmed information, based on sources and documents from the Russian military archives.

One of the main areas of focus will be the history of Soviet firearms - model 1891/1930 rifles, model 1938 and model 1944 carbines, Tokarev SVT-38 and SVT-40 rifles, m1895 revolvers, and PPSH-41 and PPS-43 SMGs. These were the most mass-produced and are the most discussed Soviet firearms among collectors these days.

Their history is very voluminous, and currently little explored. This subject will require extensive research and will bring many surprises. This website will also cover other Soviet firearms, in detail that depends on the amount of the archive documents that will be available to the author. This amount of archival documents is huge - so far tens of thousands of archive pages have been researched, the information found there is being prepared for publication.

The website will have two main sections, one with static content, that will provide reference information (the main part of which will be the Soviet M91/30 section), the other will be a Patreon blog that will be available to subscribers.

The proceeds of the small cost of subscription will go towards conducting further archival research, which are quite expensive for a single person. Crowdfunding will allow for the possibility to pull currently undiscovered, dust covered archival documents with valuable information. That information will be analyzed, excerpts will be provided to the subscribers.

Previously access to such information was unavailable to the majority of people, but now you have possibility to familiarize yourself with and learn new facts about Soviet firearms production history, which are based on primary sources.

Details about subscription are provided in the Patreon blog , details about project author - in "Contacts/About" section.

Patreon blog area

SVT semi-auto rifle sniper scope mounts

One of the questions that is often asked about SVT sniper rifles is “does the SVT-38 sniper rifles exist?”. In general, the answer to this question is “No”, but it should be mentioned that development of sniper scope mount for Tokarev rifles was started when the SVT-38 rifle was in service and first tests of prototypes were made using SVT-38 sniper... Read more

November 11, 2021

Details about 1942 PU sniper rifle production

I recently acquired a group of archive documents which bring more light on 1942 sniper rifle production, especially on the PU sniper rifle. Despite this rifle being the most mass-produced sniper rifle ever made, not many details about its adoption into service and serial production are known. In years of archive research... Read more

October 27, 2021

October 13, 2021

Use of foreign rifles by the Soviets in 1941-1942

After the German invasion, and the huge losses suffered during the initial period of the war, the Soviets faced a serious shortage of firearms. This was caused by two main factors – millions of rifles were lost in combat and in stocks in the Western USSR, and because of the massive increase of the size of the army - newly formed army units required firearms. While regular army units sent to front lines were supplied with standard firearms, People’s militia... Read more

The Gurevich “soundless” revolver.

In 1943 the Soviets tested a sound suppressor for the M1895 revolver, I previously covered it in this article:

https://www.patreon.com/posts/m1895-revolver-49447261

In the same period an effort was made to create a new weapon model, with a new cartridge design, which in theory would have much better performance than a reworked design. However, the main element of this was a special cartridge, which functioned differently from a standard one... Read more

September 28, 2021

1941 production of TT-33 pistols and M1895 revolvers.

In this article I will step aside from rifles, to which most of the recent articles were dedicated, and will talk about TT-33 pistols and M1895 Nagant revolvers. I recently received an archive volume which covers pre-September 1941 production. It has almost 200 pages, but in general it contains very few interesting facts. Based on the available information... Read more

September 14, 2021

Wartime production of PEM sniper rifles

In the fall of 1941 it became clear that the SVT-40 rifle could not be produced in large enough numbers to cover the losses sustained during the early period of the war. It was more complicated than a bolt action rifle and required more maintenance from the soldier, it was not simple enough for civilian people recently called to military service. Combat experience showed that the SVT-40 was not a good rifle for sniper use, this was because often the first shot.... Read more

September 3, 2021

Reference area

Reference area provides interesting information about different Soviet firearms and devices, their markings, variations and manufacturers. At the current moment only some sections are finished, but later reference area will be updated with information about other firearms.

You already can find interesting articles on the M91/30 rifles and M38/M44 carbines subject, also about Tokarev SVT-40 rifles, PPS SMG's, some military optics devices.