Vepr-12

The Vepr-12 is a Russian semi-automatic, magazine-fed shotgun produced by Molot-Oruzhie since 2003. Early examples were built by Izhmash before production moved to the Molot factory, where the design was reworked for mass production. It was conceived as a direct competitor to Izhmash's Saiga-12, the other major Kalashnikov-pattern shotgun, and differentiates itself through a heavier receiver and a set of features unusual for the Kalashnikov family.

Where the Saiga is built on a rifle receiver, the Vepr-12 uses the RPK light machine gun receiver: stamped steel, reinforced and 1.5 mm thick instead of the standard 1 mm. The shotgun is chrome-lined throughout, including the gas block, barrel and chamber, giving it strong corrosion resistance. It dispenses with the usual AK side optics rail in favour of a Picatinny rail on a hinged dust cover, which can be opened and closed without losing the zero of a mounted optic. Most models have a side-folding stock, though fixed stocks are also offered, and Russian law requires a disconnector that prevents firing when the stock is folded if overall length drops below 800 mm.

Several features set it apart mechanically. The extractor port is lengthened to account for the size difference between a 12-gauge shell and the rifle cartridges the action was designed around, avoiding stovepipe malfunctions. The Vepr-12 has a last-round bolt hold-open - rare among Kalashnikov derivatives - with a release lever inside the trigger guard so the shooter need not break their grip. A magazine well allows straight-in magazine insertion rather than the rock-and-lock motion required by AK rifles and the Saiga-12. Some models carry an ambidextrous safety operable from either side of the receiver. The gas system is an unregulated fixed open-port tappet design cloned from the IZ-433, which cycles most commercial 12-gauge loads from 3.25 dram equivalent upwards without manual adjustment; it is often described inaccurately as self-regulating, since no variable regulating mechanism is present.

The shotgun is offered in numerous designations, principally the VPO-205 with a two-strut side-folding stock and reversible cheek pad and the VPO-206 with a collapsible AR-style sliding stock. Magazines run from 2 to 12 rounds in box form plus 20- and 25-round drums; Vepr-12 magazines will not fit a Saiga-12, though Saiga magazines can be adapted to the Vepr. It is exported worldwide and is in service with Russia and Belarus, with police tactical units including France's RAID, Germany's Spezialeinsatzkommando and Greece's EKAM, and has been documented in Syria, Nicaragua and with North Korean troops deployed to the Kursk region.