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Initial impressions of the Vepr Rifles


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The purpose of this thread is to get a little bit more information on the Vepr rifles out there. I recently bought one and took a number of pictures though I have not gotten a chance to get it to the range. Therefore I will limit the scope of this thread to merely being one of initial impressions and some comments on the build of the rifle.

 

With that being said, I will cover the details first and post the bling at the end.

 

The rifle ships with the following:

Rifle

10 round magazine

Cleaning rod

Cleaning kit

Owners manual

Rubber bumper over the charging handle to protect it and prevent it from poking through the top of the box.

 

Inside the receiver:

Many will be happy to note that there is a retaining plate used and not a shepherd’s crook spring (Picture 12). There is a pistol grip nut that helps affix the thumbhole buttstock to the bottom of the receiver (Picture 12). The trunnion is round and there are a few markings on the left side of it that indicate year of manufacture (Pictures 10 and 11). The recoil spring is contained on a nesting guide rod which is a departure from the unit found on the Izhmash guns (Picture 8). Whether this is an issue is unknown but concerned about it am I not. Also the bolt has a few cool markings (Picture 9) but closely resembles its Izhmash counterpart. There are a few more machining marks on the interior of the bolt carrier than I would like but this was about it for very obvious machining marks. I was a bit surprised because my Izhmash carrier is cleaner in the channel in which the locking lug rides but I do not expect it to cause a problem.

 

Front of the rifle:

The front of the rifle is very nicely finished and solid. The barrel is heavy and quite thick. I am expecting pretty good accuracy. There is not too much to say other than I was a little dismayed to see the FSB not entirely straight. I am not sure if the gun is zeroed at the factory but the front sight post is definitely off center (Pictures 3 and 4). If the gun is zeroed then this can be dealt with later as the gun is shooting straight. If they are not zeroed this will make me grumpy as it will be more pressing to get this recified.

 

Also, there is no shroud attached to the FSB so I don’t think anyone will get luck with factory threads. Looks like all of these will need to be threaded once you’ve added compliance parts.

 

Finally there is an adjustable rear sight, which I think is pretty cool (Picture 2). I hope to not need it but good to know it is there. Like the Izhmash guns they only having markings to 300 meters. I don’t know why that is the case though. I won’t be using irons past that anyway so no big deal but still odd.

 

End of Rifle:

Pretty much just the buttstock but it is comfortable to shoulder and has a built in recoil pad (Picture 5) that says Molot on it in Cyrillic. That is really neat! I did a quick comparison to my Saiga rifle that has the Warsaw length stock and the Molot thumbhole version appears to be about 1” longer. This means that it still shoulders nicely and is decently balanced given the heavier configuration of both the receiver and the barrel.

 

Final first impressions:

I have to say I am really pleased with the rifle and I eagerly anticipate taking it to the range. As long as the FSB is a non-issue POA/POI-wise then I can worry about that later.

 

I do plan on making it compliant so I can use my stash of AK mags. I also want to have the barrel threaded. I’ll have to do some more research though because the trunnion is round but at least appears to me to not look like the round trunnions of the Izhmash guns. Hmmmmmm. But I think I will leave the thumbhole stock and the walnut forearm. I really like the look of the stock set.

 

The markings on the receiver are very nicely done (Pictures 6 and 7) and look nicer than those from Izhmash. Also, I can confirm that the Izhmash 10 magazines will not work in the Molot Vepr rifles. I tried and the Izzy mag would not lock in and was pretty tight in the front.

 

Overall, with the sale on these at K-Var I think they are a solid value at roughly 2x the cost of the Saiga rifles. However, I would be hesitant to pay more than that unless they were guaranteed to be absolutely straight in the FSB area. As a bit more than the $629 you begin to enter Arsenal area where this would be checked before it leaves the factory.

 

I think these two rifles will make an excellent pair and at this point I regret not my purchase!

 

Pictures:

 

Picture 1: Comparison picture of the Vepr with a Rifle Dynamics Saiga

comparisonpic.jpg

 

Picture 2: Adjustable rear sight

img0181rn.jpg

 

Picture 3: Front sight picture A

img0182d.jpg

 

Picture 4: Front sight picture B

img0183pqr.jpg

 

Picture 5: Recoil pad

img0185ex.jpg

 

Picture 6: Detail of the right side of the receiver

img0186eca.jpg

 

Picture 7: Detail of the left side of the receiver

img0187z.jpg

 

Picture 8: Recoil spring assembly and bolt carrier group

img0188nf.jpg

 

Picture 9: Detail of bolt and markings

img0189kn.jpg

 

Picture 10: Front trunnion and chamber

img0190t.jpg

 

Picture 11: Details of front trunnion markings

img0191bb.jpg

 

Picture 12: Pistol grip nut visible at the bottom of the receiver.

img0192je.jpg

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I don't know on the VEPR's. I know that we do on all of the SGL and SLR's, but since we don't touch them I know we don't do it on those. I'll try to check and see if this is something that is done before they ship.

 

Excellent, I really appreciate it. That way I know what to expect when I get to the range.

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