REVIEWS
Bear Simplicity
Once a military armory, Russia's Baikal has made a name for itself with a line of unique hunting guns.
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As a country at war, you do your best to acquire guns. If you're a world power, a bear among smaller countries, you build your own. So in 1942 the State Defense Board of the USSR ordered the construction of a large-scale gunmaking facility in the deep recesses of Eurasia west of the Ural Mountains. Izhevsky Mekhanichesky Zavod (Izhevsky Manufacturing Plant, better known today as Baikal, an actual company trademark) was founded in July of that year in the small city of Izhevsk. During World War II it produced countless Tokarev 1933 pistols, Nagant 1895 revolvers, Degtyaryov and Simonov anti-tank rifles and other military armament, including rocket launchers.
After the war, in an effort to establish a military industrial complex, the plant was transformed and re-equipped. It was decided that the facility should expand its production program to include precision machinery and parts, as well as microelectronic products. The production of such consumer-oriented items became a main objective for Baikal's enterprise-driven management. But the art of small-arms manufacturing was not lost along the way.
"The experience in small-arms manufacturing acquired during the war allowed us to successfully accomplish a new task—to establish the production of a new military pistol, the Makarov," says Vassili S. Tchougouevski, Baikal's general director.
The first batch of Makarovs was produced in 1949 for military evaluation. Full-scale production started in 1953; more than 5 million have passed over the shipping docks at Baikal since then. Baikal is also well known for producing the PSM compact pistol, as well as Simonov autoloading (SKS) carbines.
Sporting guns were also rolling off assembly lines by the late '40s, the first of which was a Margolin small-bore match pistol. In 1978 the plant began producing the small-bore IZH-35 (and eventually the upgraded IZH-35M), with which the home team has won numerous medals in Olympic and national shooting competitions. As early as 1949, Baikal began producing hunting guns, beginning with Kazansky ZK single-shot and IZH-49 double-barrel shotguns, both of which have been distributed throughout much of the world.
Today Baikal is home to some 16,000 employees and has a line that includes nearly 50 sporting arms, which share a shrinking retail market around the world. This growing line is the direct result of a decrease in military contracts.
In 1991 the manufacture of civilian arms made up less than 20 percent of Baikal's production volume.
"At that time factory management had to try solving the problems caused by considerable decrease of military orders," says Tchougouevski.
Increasing production of existing sporting models wouldn't have solved the problem, due to developing economics and direct competition with foreign gunmakers who were tapping into the Russian marketplace.
"Factory management decided to increase the factory's production program by adding new [to Baikal] types of guns," he says, "which had good market potential in both Russia and abroad."
These guns had to meet Russian Gun Law standards for both internal distribution and exportation. Fortunately, the laws governing such are not over-prohibitive and Baikal began the production of pump shotguns, airguns, flare guns, combination guns and guns specifically manufactured for private security companies. This collective combination was a huge economic boon for the plant and the government that owns it.
"Thanks to the optimal choice of the factory development trends, establishing the Izhevsk State Proof Center with active participation of Baikal, and marketing activities," Tchougouevski says, "Baikal increased production and export of civilian arms by 90 percent from 1991 to 1995. . ."
According to Tchougouevski, the existence of unique production processes at the Baikal plant was also important in achieving this goal. The ability to make high-precision steel castings and to hot-broach and rotary-forge shotgun barrels and build wood stocks on high-speed contour machines are but a few examples.
Last fall I visited the Baikal plant in Izhevsk, along with a couple other American writers. I didn't know quite what to expect. But the trip was very informative and the people very pleasant. No longer does the proverbial "curtain" hang between Russia and America. We spent most of our time touring the manufactory, which includes a network of buildings located mostly behind a formidable wall. The wall, I suspect, was built to protect the facility and its employees during the war; at one point the fighting was so close, the plant and surrounding city were evacuated.
