The allure of Soviet workhorses

Nice collection. Which is your favorite? Which features do you like most? Which features do you like least?
Well, TBH I enjoy learning about history, design and mechanics more than I enjoy shooting. Or, at least I can't allocate as much time to shooting as I want. I haven't shot all of them, just some. Most of them I got in a recent single purchase, thanks to a member here. I'm planning to shoot them all to actually get a hands-on experience with all the features and differences. I also will disassemble and see what's inside.
I can tell what I don't like - the hammer springs on TOZ, haha, these were made for neanderthals.
 
Well, TBH I enjoy learning about history, design and mechanics more than I enjoy shooting. Or, at least I can't allocate as much time to shooting as I want. I haven't shot all of them, just some. Most of them I got in a recent single purchase, thanks to a member here. I'm planning to shoot them all to actually get a hands-on experience with all the features and differences. I also will disassemble and see what's inside.
I can tell what I don't like - the hammer springs on TOZ, haha, these were made for neanderthals.
Yeah i know that feeling. Stupid kids wanting to do stuff OTHER than go to the range... foolish little punks lol
 
I too had the same idea lately of collecting the Russian shotguns and learn more about them. Despite them being widely used across the world it would seem that there is very little written about them.

It would be very interesting to know the differences between all the models, and proof marks and their meaning.

I think it would be interesting also to see and know more about the more higher grades of Russian shotguns. Especially the one that is a copy of a Purdey sidelock.
 
I think it would be interesting also to see and know more about the more higher grades of Russian shotguns. Especially the one that is a copy of a Purdey sidelock.

On this I can help, Gun Boy. Bear with me, you have to put in some effort to get there.

There is a Russian-language website devoted to sporting guns at shotguncollector.com. For non-Russian speakers, there is a trick to access the articles found there, which are very well researched and illustrated. The English translation is not perfect, but close enough. The website gives the following instructions:

Open https://translate.google.com/
Click Websites button
Choose language
In the Website window, type http://www.shotguncollector.com and click on the arrow in the right
Click ARTICLES
This will open a list of all articles in the selected language.

The list of articles on the right should appear in English. Scroll down to A Russian Purdey, parts I and II. Click on these, and the articles will show up in Russian, then after a second or two, will appear in English thanks to Google Translate (AI to the rescue?). Happy reading.
 
Well, TBH I enjoy learning about history, design and mechanics more than I enjoy shooting. Or, at least I can't allocate as much time to shooting as I want. I haven't shot all of them, just some. Most of them I got in a recent single purchase, thanks to a member here. I'm planning to shoot them all to actually get a hands-on experience with all the features and differences. I also will disassemble and see what's inside.
I can tell what I don't like - the hammer springs on TOZ, haha, these were made for neanderthals.
The springs are a leaf design. They can be ground down. I did 4 external hammer guns this last winter. I can pull both hammers back with a sweep of my hand. Just need to be careful...you can always take more off, but it's harder to put back on. lol
 
Yeah i know that feeling. Stupid kids wanting to do stuff OTHER than go to the range... foolish little punks lol
That's OK, it's a temporary situation. Eventually they grow up enough to take them shooting with you, then they grow some more and start going places on their own and you get big chunks of your life back. Just make sure to enjoy the ride while it lasts, then go shoot lots to make up time.


Mark
 
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