In previous articles, we examined traumatic weapons allowed to citizens, their advantages (absent) and disadvantages, as well as the problems and ways of legalizing rifled short-barreled weapons. Let's now see what effective weapons Russian citizens can wield at the present time.
Speaking of smooth-bore weapons, I do not mean muskets and barrels of tank guns, but only what the people often call a "shotgun". A smoothbore weapon is a weapon in which there are no rifling in the barrel to stabilize the bullet by rotation. Proceeding from this, smooth-bore weapons are designed for shooting at short distances up to 50-100 meters. As ammunition, cartridges are used, loaded with shot of various sizes, buckshot or bullets. In some models of smooth-bore weapons, a muzzle attachment of the "Paradox" type can be installed in the barrel - a rifled section of the barrel to increase the accuracy of firing a bullet. According to the laws of the Russian Federation, the length of the "Paradox" nozzle should not exceed 140 mm. Also, to improve the accuracy of firing a bullet, an oval-screw drilling of the "Lancaster" type can be used. To change the accuracy of shot firing, muzzle constrictions of the "CHOK" type are used.
The following main calibers are sold in Russia (in order of decreasing barrel diameter) - 12, 16, 20, 410, 9, 6/53 Lancaster and 366TKM.
The main purpose of smooth-bore weapons is hunting. Also, smooth-bore weapons can be effectively used for self-defense from people and animals.
In the United States, smoothbore weapons are often used by the police to enhance the firepower of patrols due to the cheapness and high stopping power of rifles (pump-action ones are mainly used), however, recently they are gradually being replaced by submachine guns and shortened assault rifles. It can also be mentioned that smooth-bore weapons were actively used by the US armed forces during the Vietnam War. Currently, the role of smooth-bore guns in the armies of the world is small.
In the USSR, smooth-bore weapons were widespread, and were sold almost as freely as in the United States, with a passport or a hunting ticket. There were no special storage requirements. The situation - a gun in a closet, under a sofa or in an attic was the norm, the attitude towards a household item - fishing rods or skis. At the same time, there were practically no significant incidents with such weapons.
According to the nomenclature, these were most often double-barreled or single-barreled guns. However, there were also self-loading ones, for example, the Tula MC 21-12 developed by TsKIB SOO, produced by the Tula Arms Plant (TO Z). The automation of this gun is based on recoil from the recoil of a movable spring-loaded barrel and a longitudinally sliding bolt according to the Browning scheme, the capacity of the under-barrel tubular magazine is four rounds.
In the future, the authorities began to "tighten the screws", and as a result, we came to what we have now. In fact, a normal, non-convicted, non-drug addict, mentally healthy person has no problems with obtaining a license for smooth-bore weapons.
To acquire a license for a smooth-bore self-defense weapon, you need to obtain certificates from a drug and neuropsychiatric dispensary, go through an ophthalmologist and a therapist, take a 3x4 photo, undergo training and pass an exam (theoretical and practical part), purchase a metal safe, pay a fee and write a statement in the license Police Permitting Department (LRO). All these procedures can be completed in two to three days, for the money it is about five to seven thousand rubles (of which most of them are for training and exam).
To be able to go hunting, you need to get a hunting ticket, then the license will be for "storage and carrying".
After submitting all the documents, the wait will be about one month, and you can pick up the license and go to the store to choose the model you like. After purchase, it must be taken to the LRO for registration.
A maximum of five smoothbore weapons can be purchased. Recently, ideas have been floating around to increase the number of acquired smooth-bore weapons to ten units.
State Duma deputies have prepared a bill that doubles - from 5 to 10 units - increases the number of smooth-bore and rifled weapons allowed for storage by citizens, and also reduces the experience of owning a smooth-bore weapon from 5 to 3 years, which gives the right to purchase a rifled one.
The initiative is aimed at expanding opportunities for the sale of weapons by manufacturers who have encountered difficulties in the context of the sanctions, Ernest Valeev, one of the authors of the initiative, the first deputy chairman of the State Duma's security and anti-corruption committee, told TASS on Thursday. He specified that the document is currently under consideration by the expert council of the United Russia faction and may soon be submitted to the State Duma.
Upon obtaining a license for collecting, you can purchase and store an unlimited number of weapons, but this is a topic for a separate conversation.
What smooth-bore weapon can a law-abiding citizen of Russia acquire? Let's face it - the range of smooth-bore weapons available to citizens of the Russian Federation is huge. There are both Russian and foreign manufacturers on the market. The price range for new weapons ranges from about ten thousand rubles and up to millions of rubles for exclusive samples. The cost of used guns starts from a few thousand rubles. I think it is quite possible to get a gun for free, or for a symbolic fee from those who want to give up their license due to their advanced age. By the way, there are very interesting specimens, for example, of the TOZ plant, high-quality and maintainable - an ageless classic.
Most often, a smooth-bore weapon is chosen based on its intended main purpose - hunting or self-defense.
For hunting, double-barreled guns or semi-automatic rifles with a tubular under-barrel magazine and a classic stock that goes into a stock with an integrated holding handle are preferable.
For self-defense, multiply charged samples made in the "military" style are preferable, often based on army weapons, with a folding stock and a pistol grip, with the ability to mount a flashlight and a collimator sight.
Since hunting is a complex, multifaceted thing, different weapons are often used for different hunts, we will consider smooth-bore weapons not from the point of view of suitability for hunting, but from the point of view of the suitability of self-defense and a general understanding of the firepower available to citizens of the Russian Federation. It should also be noted that both hunting weapons can be effectively used for self-defense, and vice versa.
One of the most effective examples for self-defense are the smooth-bore self-loading rifles of the Saiga line, produced by the Izhevsk Machine-Building Plant. The guns of the Saiga family developed on the basis of the Kalashnikov assault rifle are distinguished by their increased reliability, large capacity of a detachable box magazine and small dimensions. Smoothbore guns "Saiga" are produced under calibers 12, 20, 410 with various barrel lengths, types of butts and handles.
Saiga's competitors are smooth-bore self-loading carbines of the Vepr-Molot family, created by the Molot-Arms plant (Vyatskiye Polyany).
The cost of smooth-bore weapons of the Saiga and Vepr-Molot families averages 50,000 rubles.
From foreign samples of such weapons, the Benelli M4S90 shotgun, adopted by the US Army, can be noted. The shotgun is equipped with a telescopic folding stock and a tube magazine for five rounds.
The weapons of the Italian company "Benelli" are distinguished by both high quality and high price. Most self-loading smoothbore shotguns use a gas vent mechanism for reloading. In the "Benelli" line, many models are made according to an inertial reloading scheme.
For example, an interesting model with a combined reloading mechanism, a pump / inertial semiautomatic device "Benelli" M3 super 90.
Of the Russian classic semiautomatic devices, the MP-155 rifle of the Izhevsk Mechanical Plant can be noted, which is equally convenient for hunting and for self-defense.
By the way, the aforementioned "pump" - a gun with a reloading movable forend, previously an invariable attribute of militants and police cars, and therefore beloved by the people in the nineties, has lost ground to semiautomatic devices. From personal experience, the advantages of a pump-action shotgun include its high reliability and the fact that it "eats" almost any - crumpled, "chewed" ammunition, with any weight of gunpowder and shot. Of the minuses - a decrease in the accuracy of shooting due to the need to actively twitch the fore-end, a cartridge wedge is possible if the shooter does not vigorously bring the fore-end to the end.
As already mentioned, the market for smooth-bore weapons in Russia is huge, it is not possible to consider even superficially all the samples that are present on it.
What can you say about the use of smooth-bore weapons for self-defense? Let's take a look at the energy of smooth-bore shotgun cartridges.
The weakest 410 caliber allows you to obtain an energy of about 1000 J. When firing a bullet or buckshot, for comparison, the muzzle energy of a 9x18 cartridge of a Makarov pistol is about 300 J, a 9x19 cartridge is 500-600 J. Accordingly, when firing buckshot cartridges (three 9 mm buckshot in a cartridge) from ten-round magazine, the efficiency is comparable to a thirty-round 9x18 submachine gun, albeit with slightly less accuracy. When firing a 410 caliber bullet, its energy is comparable to or exceeds the energy of such powerful cartridges as.357 magnum,.357 sig, 10 mm AUTO. At the same time, due to the large mass of the weapon and the minimum recoil of this caliber, it is easily operated by people with poor physical fitness.
12 gauge shotguns have tremendous firepower. The muzzle energy of a shot with a cartridge with a sleeve length of 70 mm exceeds 3000 J, and for Magnum cartridges with a sleeve length of 79 mm, it exceeds 4000 J. When a person is hit with buckshot or a 12-gauge bullet, the probability of a lethal outcome is about 99%. Taking into account the large muzzle energy and short range of application, even if the enemy is wearing a bulletproof vest, with a high probability he will be hit by the bullet's armor effect (injury to internal organs from impact).
Shotguns of caliber 16 and 20 in terms of efficiency occupy an intermediate position between 12 and 410 caliber.
There are a huge number of options for equipping rounds for smooth-bore weapons. The legislation of the Russian Federation allows the purchase of components of cartridges - bullets, shot / buckshot, gunpowder, primers, and independent equipment of cartridges. Since 2019, self-loading ammunition has been allowed for rifled weapons.
It is strongly not recommended to use rubber bullets or buckshot for 12 gauge cartridges for self-defense. Their striking effect, like that of traumatics, is not predictable, you can easily kill the enemy, and then prove in court why he only wanted to "injure", but in fact killed. Also, do not experiment with salt shooting and the like. Firstly, now shooting at a thief of apples is a guaranteed prison, and in the event of a real threat to life, shooting with salt is simply stupid. Secondly, over time, salt can be caked into a kind of "salt" bullet, and the consequences of its use will also lead to unplanned death.
In principle, to protect the home, the opportunities provided by a smooth-bore long-barreled weapon are more than enough. Everything is spoiled by the Russian law enforcement practice, which, with perseverance worthy of better application, is fighting for the life and health of criminal elements. A good help would be the adoption of amendments to the law, set out in the popular initiative "My home is my fortress", which collected more than 100,000 signatures, but this initiative was rejected.
The story of smooth-bore weapons available to citizens does not end there. Taking into account the fact that rifled weapons are available to citizens only after five years of trouble-free possession of smooth-bore weapons, the Russian industry came up with the idea to create a kind of hybrid, comparable in accuracy at a limited range with rifled weapons, but allowed for purchase without a five-year waiting period.
This is how the.366 TKM cartridge (9, 5x38) developed by Tekhkrim and VPMZ Molot was born. For the use of ammunition, the design of the weapon must provide for the use of a nozzle of the "Paradox" type or a rifled part of the barrel bore up to 140 mm long. The muzzle energy when using this cartridge is 2000-2500 J. The cartridge is based on the cartridge case 7, 62 × 39 mod. 1943 At distances over 150 m and up to 300 m, the cartridge loses to the 7, 62 × 39 cartridge in speed and flatness of the trajectory, but surpasses the energy and momentum of the bullet. sports. Ballistic characteristics allow you to confidently hit the chest figure at a distance of up to 150 meters, a tall figure at a distance of up to 200 meters.
Several samples of smooth-bore weapons based on AKM and other models of rifled weapons were fired under this cartridge.
A little later, cartridge 9, 6/53 Lancaster appeared, made on the basis of cartridge 7, 62x54R. The initial speed when firing a new cartridge is 735 m / s, the energy is not less than 4000 J. Accuracy per 100 m is 65 mm. At a distance of 250 meters, the muzzle energy of a bullet is about 1500 J.
Weapons chambered for this cartridge are made with the use of an oval-screw drill type "Lancaster".
Several samples of firearms have already been released under this cartridge.
It is planned to release the Tiger carbine (based on SVD) chambered for 9, 6x53 Lancaster.
The combination of high accuracy (for smooth-bore weapons) and high stopping action of the bullet, coupled with the choice of compact models of carbines, makes the weapon chambered for.366 TKM and 9, 6x53 Lancaster cartridges extremely effective for self-defense. It can also be of considerable interest to hunters.
In general, since weapons for these calibers are becoming quite popular, one can expect the appearance of both new types of weapons and cartridges of a similar type.
According to open data, 17.6 million small arms (mainly rifles and traumatic pistols) are privately owned by Russian civilians. This is the highest figure among European countries and the fifth place in the world.
In second place in terms of this indicator in Europe (and in eighth - in the world) is Germany - 15.8 million privately owned weapons. The world leader in the number of small arms among citizens is the United States - 393, 3 million units.
What can you say about this? Despite the fact that the people of Russia are one of the most armed in the world, a significant number of incidents with the use of weapons have not been observed, so the fears of opponents of the legalization of rifled short-barreled weapons are, to put it mildly, not justified.
Despite the fact that carrying smooth-bore weapons is allowed only for hunting, not completely law-abiding citizens can easily carry such weapons in a bag, backpack or carry them in a car. But there is neither an increase in the number of outbreaks of violence, nor shootings in traffic jams, nor attempts to carry out coups d'état. This allows us to conclude that the citizens of Russia are not as inadequate as some would like to see them, and they deserve their right to bear arms.
In the next part, we will consider a rifled weapon available to citizens of the Russian Federation.
