Cugir Arms Factory

JSC Vyatskiye Polyany Molot Machine-Building Plant (Russian: Вятско-Полянский машиностроительный завод) is a Russian company based in Vyatskiye Polyany. The plant manufactures rifles and shotguns under the Molot-Oruzhiye (Hammer Weapon) and VEPR ( Wild Boar) brands, and is a subsidiary of Rostec. It is one of the largest companies in Kirov Oblast.

Molot was established in 1940, and was originally based in Zagorsk, Moscow Oblast. It was the main manufacturer of the PPSh-4 submachine gun. In 1941 the plant was evacuated to Vyatskiye Polyany with its workers, including G. S. Shpagin and N. F. Makarov, designer of the eponymous Makarov pistol. In the 1950s the plant manufactured the Vyatka motor scooter.

In the 1990s the company diversified by launching a line of sports and hunting weapons. Rifles manufactured in the Molot plant are exported to the United States under the VEPR brand.

The company entered bankruptcy proceedings in 2012; as of 2017 it is being controlled by a bankruptcy managing company.

* taken from Wikipedia see them for references

JSC Kalashnikov Concern (Russian: Конце́рн Кала́шников, tr. Kontsérn Kaláshnikov, IPA: [kɐnˈt͡sɛrn kɐˈɫaʂnʲɪkəf]), known until 2013 as the Izhevsk Machine-Building Plant (Russian: Иже́вский машинострои́тельный Заво́д (ИЖМАШ), tr. Izhévsky mashinostroítelny Zavod (IZhMASh)), is a Russian defense manufacturing concern and joint-stock company headquartered in the city of Izhevsk in the Republic of Udmurtia as well as the capital city of Moscow. The concern designs and produces a wide range of civilian and military weapons including assault rifles, sniper rifles, designated marksman rifles, machine guns, squad automatic weapons, hunting rifles, shotguns, guided artillery projectiles, and a wide range of other precision weapons including remote controlled weapon stations, unmanned vehicles and military robots.

The Kalashnikov Concern produces about 95% of all small arms in Russia and supplies to more than 27 countries around the world, making it the largest firearm manufacturer in Russia. Notable products include the Kalashnikov (AK) assault rifle series, the RPK light machine gun series, the Dragunov SVD semi-automatic sniper rifle, the SKS semi-automatic carbine, the Makarov PM pistol, the Saiga-12shotgun, and the submachine guns Vityaz-SN and PP-19 Bizon. These firearms, except for the SVD, SKS and the PM, were based on the famous AK series, due to its reliability to endure harsh conditions, low production costs, availability in nearly every geographical region, and ease of use.

As of 2018, 26% of the Concern's shares belong to Rostec, while 74% of the company belongs to private investors (Alexey Krivoruchko, Andrei Bokarev and Nikolaos i. Panagogiannopoulos).

The Concern contains three firearm brands: "Kalashnikov" (combat and civilian weapons), "Baikal" (hunting and civilian guns), and "Izhmash" (sporting rifles). The concern is developing new business lines that include remote weapon stations, unmanned aerial and ground vehicles, and multi-functional special-purpose boats.

An armory in the city of Izhevsk was established by the order of the Emperor of All Russia Alexander I on 10 June 1807 and Andrey Deryabin, the chief mining engineer of the city's iron works, was put in charge with both construction and operation. Architect Semyon Emelianovich Dudin and Deryabin both developed a general long-term plan of further complex growth of the armory. The armory would be located at the bank of the Izh River, mainly due to the proximity of iron works, which immediately solved all the raw material supply problems.

Deryabin employed Russian and Udmurtian plowmen living in the city. At that time, plowmen were to migrate to the armory and work there. Settlements nearby were released from this rule, but had to provide the armory with wagons, horses and harnessing. Deryabin also hired foreign armory specialists to guide the Russian craftsmen. In 1807, the Armory produced 7 long guns, 5 pair of pistols, and 6 backswords.

The first weapons developed by the armory were the No. 15 17.7mm muskets, produced in the autumn of 1807. In 1808, the musket was later mass-produced for infantry equipping. The plant supplied the Imperial Russian Army with over 6,000 of the No. 15 17.7mm muskets. The armory also produced rifles, muskets, carbines, and flint blunderbusses for cavalry in 1809. The venture also produced pistols and gun parts and remelted trophy weapons. Firearms were produced at a rapid pace for the Russian Army during the Napoleonic Wars, mainly in the French invasion of Russia, even though construction of the armory had not been finished yet. During the first four years, the factory produced 2,000 long guns. In 1814, the output grew up to 10,000 guns and almost 2,500 backswords. By 1830, the armory achieved the desired annual output of 25,000 long guns and 5,000 backswords.

Ten stone plants, several wooden constructions and a towered main building for the armory were erected in 1811–1816. By 1817, construction of the main armory building had been finished. It had 4 floors and was one of the first multistory industrial buildings in Russia. The manufacturing process was multilevel: it began with rough preparatory works (at lower floors) and finished with assembly of arms (at higher floors).

Starting in the 1830s, the armory started manufacturing "Gartung" short rifles, "Phalis" breech-loading rifles, and boarding guns for the Baltic Fleet of the Imperial Russian Navy. In 1835, the armory transferred cold steel production of swords and lances to Zlatoust, focusing mainly on firearm production. In 1844, the armory started upgrading current guns into more rapid firing percussion muskets. The armory also started using the caplock mechanism for its products in 1845. During the Crimean War, Izhevsk supplied the Russian Imperial Army with 130,000 rifles, with a third of them grooved. By 1857, 50 years after the creation of the armory, over 670,000 flintlock firearms, over 220,000 percussion firearms, over 58 thousand rifles, as well as a plentiful number of swords and lances were produced.

In 1867, the armory was reorganized into a lease and a private commercial enterprise. At this time, the armory was retrofitted and equipped with steam-engines, new machines, and an open-hearth furnace. This allowed the armory to produce more breech-loading weapons for the Russian Imperial Army, notably the "Krnk" and "Berdan" type rifles. The Berdan rifle was the most widely produced firearm at the plant during the time as well, indirectly allowing Russia to approach the European industrial empires' level of armaments.

By 1870, production rate at the armory exceeded both the armories of Tula and Sestroretsk. Later, when the methods of high-quality steel production were well mastered, Izhevsk became the source of gun barrels and barrel receivers for Russian plants. For example, armory enterprises in Tula used annually up to 360,000 barrels from the armory at Izhevsk. In 1884, the plant was later returned to the state and became Izhevsk Gun and Steel Factories (IGSF). In 1885, IGSF started manufacturing hunting weapons and tools. In 1891, IGSF started mass-producing the Mosin–Nagant rifle. The IGSF also started using DC generators to produce electricity to illuminate the plant as well as to power the machines. The IGSF was the only Russian enterprise that produced firearms for all branches of the Russian military. Thanks to the IGSF, Izhevsk became a large industrial center in Russia.

During the First World War, IGSF supplied the Imperial Russian Army with over 1.4 million new rifles and approximately 188,000 remelted shoulder weapons. Prior to the Russian Revolution, the IGSF took leading positions of the Russian defense industry in terms of manufacturing and manpower capacity. By 1917, about 34,000 people worked at IGSF. In 1918, a design bureau was established in the IGSF.

Stamp on a Mosin-Nagant rifle of the 1924 issue with a hexagonal receiver, Izhevsk Gun and Steel Factories

After the formation of the Soviet Union in 1922, large changes came to the IGSF. The state's first hunting gun factory was opened on the enterprise's premises in the same year. The IGSF required more highly trained personnel in order to accommodate new production and to work on newer machines. Thus, by 1929, IGSF-bound personnel had to be trained at the Izhevsk Technical School. In 1930, a new open-hearth furnace was put into operation and in-house production of machines at the factory was launched.

More re-organization took place in the 1930s, including the conversion of the IGSF into a Chief Designer Bureau, as well as the adoption and production of several new models of firearms: a modified Mosin–Nagant rifle design of 1891/1930, the battle rifle AVS-36, made by Sergei Simonov, and the SVT-38 self-loading rifle and the TT pistol, made by Fedor Tokorev. This gave rise to a flow line method of production. In 1938, the conveyor belt was implemented into the assembly of gun barrels and other parts, greatly increasing the production rate of firearms for the Soviet Army. In 1933, a New Design Bureau, "BNK", was established at the factory to develop and modify firearms. Today, the bureau is named the "Armory Design Center" (KOC). In the bureau's lifetime, about 300 models of small-arms, air ordnance, sport, hunting weapons, and other types of equipment were developed, most of which was in series production at the plant. In 1939, the main plant of the IGSF, Plant No. 180,was split into two independent enterprises: Metallurgical Plant No. 71 and Engineering Plant No. 74, which manufactured weapons. Engineering Plant No. 74 would later be renamed the Izhevsk Machine-Building Plant, or simply, Izhmash.

During World War II, Engineering Plant No. 74 served as the main firearm manufacturer for the Soviet Armed Forces. Since Operation Barbarossa left the Soviet Union in a very desperate position, the plant produced as many firearms as it was physically capable of, more firearms than its lifespan for 92 years prior. From 1941 to 1942, the plant set up mass production of Vasily Degtyarev's PTRD anti-tank rifle, Sergei Simonov's PTRS-41 anti-tank rifle, the Berezin UB aircraft machine gun armament, the 37mm Shpitalny Sh-37 and Nudelman-Suranov NS-37 aircraft guns, and sniper rifles with optic sights, along with the TT pistol and the Nagant M1895 revolver.[citation needed] A total of 11,450,000 rifles and carbines were produced in the plant, exceeding all the combined Germanfirearm manufacturers' outputs of 10.3 million. Besides firearms, the plant also produced over 15,000 aircraft guns and over 130,000 anti-tank weapons.

On 20 July 1942, Plant No. 622 separated itself from Plant No. 74, using equipment transferred from the evacuated mechanical plants at Tula and Podolsk. During the war, the plant manufactured more than 1 million pistols and 200,000 anti-tank rifles. Plant No. 622 would later be renamed as the Izhevsk Mechanical Plant, or simply, Izhmekh

After World War II, the Izhevsk Machine-Building Plant later recovered the production of its civilian arms and transportation. The plant also hired war veteran and ex-tank driver and mechanic, Mikhail T. Kalashnikov, after noticing his submachine gun design that gave him distinction as a gun designer. In 1947, Kalashnikov created his assault rifle, the 7.62×39mm AK-47. The AK-47 became the standard rifle of the Soviet Army in the same year, and later grew popular around the world. The AK-47 gave the plant fame and newer potential in the arms industry. The plant also created newer hunting weapons based out of the Mosin–Nagant rifle as well as sporting weapons. These sporting weapons helped the Soviet Union's team to win shooting competitions in European championships and the Summer Olympic Games numerous times.

Kalashnikov later designed newer firearms: the AKM and the AK-74 assault rifle, the RPK light machine gun, and the PK belt-fed machine gun. These firearms helped contribute to greater firepower for the Soviet Army as well as numerous nations that had imported them. Izhevsk Machine-Building Plant gun designer Yevgeny Dragunov also help contribute to the plant's fame by creating his SVD sniper rifle. Designed in 1963 and based out of sporting rifles, the SVD became the squad support weapon for the Soviet Army in the same year as well as starting a new trend of semi-automatic sniper rifles.

In 1975, the Izhevsk Machine-Building Plant changed its name to the Izhmash Industrial Association

After the dissolution of the Soviet Union, Izhmash struggled with a decline in demand and competition with overseas firearm manufacturers. As a result, Izhmash created the Saiga semi-automatic rifle, and started producing the Tigr, a civilian version of the SVD which was created back in the 1970s, in batches. Izhmash also expanded to the Western market, which was extremely successful, especially with the Saiga. Izhmash also created two new sniper rifles, the SV-98 and the SV-99, which had a more enhanced fire precision than the regular SVD, for special units of the Russian Armed Forces.

Despite the success, by 2008, Izhmash was composed of numerous enterprises that were on the verge of bankruptcy. The Russian state corporation, Rostekhnologii (Russian Technologies, now Rostec), revealed the poor state Izhmash was in by 2010. Only 32 companies of Izhmash were actually operating with a multi-level management system, high overheads and doubled up functions. The combined liability of Izhmash in early 2011 was ₽19 billion. The use of the existing modern equipment hardly exceeded 20%.

As a result, Rostec took control of Izhmash and started restructuring and consolidating the company in 2011. According to Rostec, one of the objectives was to retain its research, industrial and human resources and turn Izhmash into a leading global small arms manufacturer. Izhmash was later reestablished through assets consolidation by 2012. As a result, there was a threefold increase in profits and a 10% cut in costs. In 2011, Izhmash increased the utilization rate of modern multipurpose equipment from 20% to 70%. The effect from the efforts to enhance production performance amounts to ₽100 million.

On 13 August 2013, Izhmash and Izhmekh (formerly Izhevsk Mechanical Plant) merged, with the new concern named Kalashnikov Concern. Thanks to the merger, Kalashnikov Concern is Russia's largest and most important arms manufacturer.

In July 2014, Kalashnikov Concern was sanctioned by the United States and the European Union as a result of the Russian annexation of Crimea and Russian military intervention in Ukraine. Since Europe and the United States were the largest customers of the concern's civilian firearms, the concern was forced to rethink its marketing strategy. The concern opened five new markets and started selling its civilian firearms to ten new foreign countries, which helped the concern make up for its losses.

In the same year, Kalashnikov Concern has presented "Strategy 2020", which includes technical re-equipment and production modernization. When implemented, the project will qualitatively improve production technology and greatly reduce running costs and energy consumption while also improving working conditions and overall productivity.

On 9 February 2017, Rostec's management board gave permission to transfer Kalashnikov Concern to private investors. As of now, Rostec owns 26% of the concern while private investors own 74%.

* taken from Wikipedia see them for references

Fegyver- és Gépgyártó Részvénytársaság ("Arms and Machine Manufacturing Company"), known as FÉG, is a Hungarian industrial conglomerate founded on 24 February 1891 in Csepel (now part of Budapest). The company came under the ownership of MPF Industry Group in 2010. It was an important arms manufacturing company before World War II. Since the acquisition, FÉG is one of the biggest exporters of HVAC products to the international markets in the East-Central European heating device industry.

Throughout its history it was renamed several times for various reasons; to Fémáru, Fegyver- és Gépgyár ("Metalware, Arms and Machine Factory") in 1935, to Lámpagyár ("Lamp Factory") in 1946, to Fegyver- és Gázkészülékgyár ("Arms and Gas Equipment Factory") in 1965. Decades later, in post-communist times it was renamed as FÉGARMY Fegyvergyártó Kft. ("FÉGARMY Arms Factory Ltd.").

On February 24, 1891, the legal predecessor of the Fegyver és Gépgyár (FÉG) was founded in Budapest. In the beginning the company produced rifles and pistols for the Austro-Hungarian Army and also exported its products for foreign armies. The company became an important arms manufacturer in the country, but it also produced gas equipment, water heaters, lamps and miscellaneous metalware. The production of Diesel engines started in 1899, when the Hungarian engineer Oszkár Epperlein (1844-1903) and Jenő Böszörményi (1872 - 1957) bought the patent rights of Diesel engines for the FÉG company from his collaborator Rudolf Diesel.

Through its history it always fulfilled a crucial role in supplying the Honvédség with small arms, this company also manufactured and exported a variety of semi-automatic pistols and rifles, including the P9M and the PJK-9HP models (copies of the famous Browning Hi-Power) and the FÉG PA-63 (a Walther PP/PPK clone in 9×18mm Makarov), but currently only self-loading pistols (P9L, P9M, P9R, etc.) and break-barrel air rifles (LG 427, LG 527). In Hungary, the company is also famous for its starting pistols, for example the GRP-9, as well as manufacturing most of the propane water boilers and heaters found in Hungarian houses.

After 2004 many of its traditional export markets were put under embargo and this caused the company to stop its activity connected to the defence industry. At the end of 2010, FÉG almost went bankrupt when HUF 1.7 billion of funds disappeared from the company. MPF Industry Group made an important investment to rescue the company and restarted the production. Since MPF Industry Group's reorganization, FÉG is one of the biggest East-Central European HVAC manufacturers.

* taken from Wikipedia see them for references