K-VAR Teases New Russian Mystery Rifle
September 22, 2016
Over the past two days, the folks at K-VAR have taken to social media and web forums to tease an upcoming mystery rifle. The image they’ve posted, featuring a plain white box, gives away little about the rifle and company representatives have been tight-lipped about the announcement. Apparently, they plan to formally announce the gun sometime next week.
Some things are known, though. First, K-VAR has revealed (on Facebook) that the rifle does come from Russia. Because of the current import situation, this effectively guarantees that it comes from Molot and is probably a Vepr of some sort. Second, if we assume that the tiles in the photo are 24″ by 24″, the box is probably around 54″ long. Such a box would easily fit an RPK style rifle, but as some have wishfully noted, it could also house an SVD (Molot has never made SVDs). Lastly, the retail price of the new gun will be $999.
Based on all of the information above, my prediction is that the rifle will end up being an RPK-74M of some sort, possibly chambered in the proper 5.45x39mm. The country of manufacture, size, and pricing all make sense for such an eventuality. If I’m wrong, I certainly hope K-VAR has found a way to bring us new SVDs (for around 2/3 of their European asking price), but don’t get your hopes up.
Jeremy Mallette is co-founder of International Sportsman. An avid hunter and outdoorsman, he has spent more than a decade in the outdoor industry, from hiking and camping to silencers and hunting. His father taught him to shoot at age six, and he received his first firearm at age eight — a 1942 Colt Commando .38 special revolver. He enjoys yearly trips to Kansas for pheasant hunting, spending time with his children at the deer lease, and collecting unique firearms.
An information security professional by day and gun blogger by night, Nathan started his firearms journey at 16 years old as a collector of C&R rifles. These days, you’re likely to find him shooting something a bit more modern – and usually equipped with a suppressor – but his passion for firearms with military heritage has never waned. Over the last five years, Nathan has written about a variety of firearms topics, including Second Amendment politics and gun and gear reviews. When he isn’t shooting or writing, Nathan nerds out over computers, 3D printing, and Star Wars.