Home Business Izmash to Begin Manufacturing Civilian AK-107 and Saiga-9 9mm

Izmash to Begin Manufacturing Civilian AK-107 and Saiga-9 9mm

December 12, 2012

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-73_5LWMgdc

There’s news today that Izmash will begin producing a civilian version of their famous AK-107 rifle. For those who don’t remember, the AK-107 uses a unique “balanced” operating system, where a counterweight for the bolt is used to remove most of the recoil from the gun and allows faster firing with quicker follow-up shots. Something tells me that the 3-gun shooters will be all over it. Also coming soon is a civilian version of their 9mm Saiga carbine that they unveiled earlier this year. No news on when it will hit US shelves, but I wouldn’t be surprised if we saw the first shipments before the end of 2013. Both firearms are set to be shown at the IWA Show in Germany in March.

19 COMMENTS

ensitu December 12, 2012 At 23:45

need far more pics!
jwm December 12, 2012 At 23:59

My son had 1 of those California legal saiga 7.62×39 carbines. Detachable 10 round mags. On the inside it was pure AK. It worked as well as my SKS. Only real drawback was the cost of those mags. 35 bucks each.
Lance December 13, 2012 At 00:11

Will it be in good old 5.45mm???

Don’t get the logic the Russian dumped the design it had good idea but it was for better full auto fire on a semi only version whats the point over a AK-74 in semi auto only???

Forget the 9mm Seiga. I want a semi auto Bison in 9x18mm!!
Eric S. December 13, 2012 At 00:21

I can’t wait to see who will sell this and for how much. It seems the Izmash-produced Arsenal AKs have pretty much dried up. Also, will this even be sold in the US or is this a Russia only type of deal.
AnotherMatt December 13, 2012 At 00:47

Oh hell yes. I will so buy a 9mm Saiga.
Mehul Kamdar December 13, 2012 At 00:57

Don’t know anything about the AK 107 system and its been almost 20 years since I was last in Russia anyway, but it does look like the Russians figured out a way to use the Haidurov and Raseronov pistol counterweight system on a semi auto rifle. This should be very interesting – let’s see if the basic idea is adapted by US gunmakers as well.
- Lolinski December 13, 2012 At 10:33
  
  But they can just make another AR and people will buy it – no innovation necessary.
  - Mehul Kamdar December 13, 2012 At 15:47
    
    LOL! I’m all for people buying as many guns as possible. 🙂 I do like to think, though, that some US designer will use the basic idea, add high quality manufacturing processes and offer an American interpretation of this old design. Feinwerkbau did hire Haidurov to design their AW 93 match pistol. Perhaps, someone over here will do something similar and produce a high end version of this rifle. The upward movement of the muzzle is definitely arrested to a considerable degree in the pistols – and the video shows the same advantage for a rifle. Could make for a very accurate and comfortable to shoot semi auto rifle or carbine if the design could be made to work properly.
    
    We can, all, dream, can’t we? 🙂
g December 13, 2012 At 02:18

Both sound interesting and I’d love to have chance to try shooting both.

I most definitely love my Arsenal Saiga in 762…
John Fritz December 13, 2012 At 10:01

Oh, goody. Just what I need, another AK to buy.
speedracer5050 December 13, 2012 At 10:26

I Want one of the Izmash AK’s. Have shot some other Izmash weapons and personally I really liked them.
I know I don’t really need it but I want it. 9mm carbine?? Hmmm I wonder if I get my GF the 9mm carbine if she will get me the AK?? She does love her 9’s!!!!
- Lord_Platypus December 13, 2012 At 17:50
  
  I have a converted Saiga 74 and I like it. Much nicer than my first AK, which was a century import.
Inkstain December 13, 2012 At 13:13

Meh. There’s a reason the AK-107/108 went nowhere. All too soon the synchronization gear between the two pistons starts shedding teeth. As a general rule, gears don’t handle impulse loads well. At all.
- Esh325 December 13, 2012 At 13:33
  
  That isn’t true. Never have I read that. When the AK-107 existed as as the AL-7 back in the 1970’s, the reason it was not chosen was because of cost. It was more costly to switch assembly lines over to new rifle.
  - Inkstain December 13, 2012 At 15:18
    
    There’s plenty written on the failure and premature wear of the synchronization gear, unfortunately it’s all in Russian. But in case you haven’t noticed:
    
    1) Nobody has adopted the AK-107 and the AK-12 uses the traditional AK gas system.
    2) People generally don’t use gears in implementation where they will be subjected to high impulse. Gears are very good for steady loads. Impulse loads, not so much.
    3) The biggest advantage of the “balanced impulse” system of the AK-107 is the increased controllability of the rifle in fully automatic fire, which incidentally puts the most stress on the synchronization gear.
    4) Those who wish to treat the synchronization gear as a consumable and replace it every thousand rounds or so are welcome to do so, just like there are people who fire steel-cased ammo from their AR’s and treat their extractor as a consumable.
    - Esh325 December 13, 2012 At 15:45
      
      I know very basic Russian and I’ve read some of the sources, and I don’t recall them mentioning that. Just because it wasn’t adopted doesn’t mean it didn’t work right. They are trialing the AK-107. If there are mechanical problems with such a system, I’m sure they will fix it in the new version.
  - JSIII December 13, 2012 At 22:08
    
    Didnt Hugo Chavez just buy a bunch of AK-107’s?
Tomy Ironmane March 17, 2014 At 19:02

9mm?
WHICH 9mm?
9×18, 9×19, or the one that’ll give the .300 Blackout some real competition in the “subsonic carbine” market, 9x39mm?