The project of a civilian semi-automatic carbine "Sarych" chambered for.308 Win (a civilian analogue of cartridge 7, 62x51 NATO) is an example of a weapon that once every few years pops up on the Internet on various sites and attracts the interest of users. The model has never been produced and is only a graduation design project. But interest in non-existent weapons has not subsided for ten years.
Perhaps the whole point is in the design, which attracts people who are not even very fond of firearms. The shapes and contours of the body of a semi-automatic carbine with the sonorous name "Sarich" (sarych is a bird of prey of the hawk family) catch the eye and evoke associations with popular science fiction films, for example, with weapons from the movie Starship Troopers. At the same time, the design project of a student from St. Petersburg eventually even reached the popular computer game Rainbow Six Siege, in which the carbine was introduced under the designation Spear.308. Moreover, on the Internet you can still find offers for the sale of a detailed model of a conceptual carbine in the form of a birch construction set. In a sense, the Sarych project really shot and made a lot of noise.
At the same time, the only sane material about this model that can be found in the public domain is an article by Mikhail Degtyarev in the Kalashnikov magazine (No. 7, 2009). Andrey Ovsyannikov, a graduate of the State Art and Industry Academy in St. Petersburg, was involved in the work on the visual appearance of Sarych. His thesis became, in a sense, a joint project of the Industrial Design Department and the Kalashnikov magazine.
As Mikhail Degtyarev wrote, in the fall of 2008 he came up with the idea to move away from working with already existing models and fantastic concepts, having worked with models that are just getting ready for production and whose appearance has not yet been determined. Such a sample of small arms was found quickly enough. Russian weapons engineer Alexander Vyacheslavovich Shevchenko proposed his project of a semi-automatic carbine for the civilian market, built in a bullpup layout. The originality of the new model of the carbine was in the compactness of the receiver with a minimum shutter run and in the device of the gas engine, which, according to the idea of Alexander Shevchenko, could provide the sample with high reliability without the negative impact of the moving parts of the weapon on the accuracy of fire.
Submachine gun "Cheetah"
It should be noted that Alexander Shevchenko himself had previously managed to make a fuss in the Russian world of small arms. In the mid-1990s, an employee of the department for testing small arms and melee weapons at the Rzhev test site proposed a model of the experimental Gepard submachine gun, which was presented to the general public at an exhibition in Moscow in 1997. Developed on an initiative basis, the weapon was a model created on the basis of the design of the Kalashnikov AKS-74U assault rifle and the PP-19 Bizon submachine gun, from which up to 70 percent of the parts were borrowed. This was done to improve manufacturability and low cost of production. The new Gepard submachine gun was distinguished by the possibility of using six different types of 9-mm cartridges (from 9x18 PM to 9x30 Thunder), it was a model of modular weapons, which in the 1990s was still looked upon with some distrust. At the same time, the experimental Gepard submachine gun made so much noise that it even managed to get into a number of reference books, where it was designated as a mass-produced model of Russian firearms.
The semi-automatic rifle "Sarych" presented later in the bullpup arrangement, in which the trigger is brought forward and is located in front of the store and the firing mechanism, also did not go unnoticed, information about it pops up on the Internet to this day, 10 years after the first acquaintance with the new product, which happened on the pages of the Kalashnikov magazine. At the same time, today there is simply no information about whether it was possible to bring the weapon at least to the stage of shooting tests. Everything that is available to the general public is the visual embodiment and appearance of the new weapon, which were worked out by Andrey Ovsyannikov, a graduate of the State Academy of Arts and Industry in St. Petersburg. The latter, most likely, drew inspiration from modern samples of foreign small arms, which was reflected in the appearance of the concept, which ordinary people liked so much.
The bullpup layout itself has its pros and cons. If we consider only the main positive points, then we can note the compactness. All samples of such weapons are shorter than the models made in the traditional layout, while maintaining the same barrel length. At the same time, modern military doctrine attaches great importance to military operations in urban conditions, where the compactness of small arms in the bullpup layout is especially valuable. Also, the undoubted advantages include the almost complete absence of a recoil shoulder, which means that when firing in bursts, the toss of weapons is significantly lower. In addition, such models are distinguished by the convenience of reloading when firing from a car or through embrasures.
Andrey Ovsyannikov enclosed the conceptual carbine in a polymer casing, since it is the plastic that provides the comparative ease of implementation of not only ergonomic, but also the most daring design ideas. The presented project of a civilian semi-automatic carbine "Sarych" for the worldwide popular.308 Win cartridge provided for the possibility of not only adjusting, but also changing the butt plate, as well as overlays on the fire control handle. In addition, it was possible to rearrange the cocking handle of the shutter and the option with the installation of various sighting devices. The weapon used standard Picatinny-type guide rails, which made it easy to place any attachment, including a laser designator, tactical flashlight or an additional handle that could be attached to the front of the carbine stock.
In the massive forend of the Sarych carbine, a folding two-legged bipod was hidden, which made it possible to adjust the height of the racks. Mechanical sighting devices were made retractable: the diopter rear sight "hides" at the base of the Picatinny rail, and the base of the front sight is folded. The design of the weapon also provided for the versatility of fastening the belt for carrying the carbine.
It is worth noting that Andrei Ovsyannikov himself took the initiative, deciding to work on the development of the design of an initially civilian weapon. In particular, they provided for the possibility of the combat use of a carbine with the addition of an automatic fire mode. For this, Ovsyannikov proposed a system of barrels differing in different lengths, thus "Sarych" was transformed into a modular machine, made in a bullpup layout. Various barrels, which changed along with the front of the box, turned the "Sarich" either into a variant of a compact assault weapon, or into some semblance of a light machine gun. At the same time, even in the maximum possible compact version, the Shevchenko system did not become an inferior weapon, which was achieved by the design feature and the bullpup layout itself. Judge for yourself, with a total weapon length of about 900 mm, the barrel length of the Alexander Shevchenko carbine could be more than 700 mm. At the same time, with a barrel length of about 450 mm, the total length of the weapon would not exceed 600 mm in the firing position.
The performance characteristics of the Sarych carbine (unrealized project):
Caliber -.308 Win (civilian version of cartridge 7, 62x51 NATO).
The total length of the weapon is 906 mm.
Barrel length - up to 720 mm.
Magazine capacity - 10 rounds.
Weapon weight without cartridges and optics - 4 kg.
