Cold vodka hot steel: a test of Russia's Bizon 2 submachine gun

Like a plain-looking girl flanked by two bombshells, the Bizon 2 submachinegun went almost ignored by us. How this could happen to a modern Russian submachinegun featuring a novel feed mechanism is easier to understand if you know the company she kept.

To her left was an AN-94 Nikonov. This revolutionary 5.45x39 assault rifle is more desirable than a mini-skirtclad redhead giving a sultry look.., as she struts by on six-inch stilettos. Simple conversation becomes difficult in her presence as every pore of your body wants to understand her innermost secrets. Watching her rock is akin to a religious experience.

To the Bizon's right was a racy SV-98. This mysterious, suppressed 7.62x54R sniper rifle may lack the heart attack appeal of the Nikonov, but she has... other qualities. You can't help but yearn to go prone with her, to find out for yourself if her reputation is indeed fact or mere fantasy.

A Plan Begins To Form

So it was no intentional slight to the Bizon 2 submachinegun that we didn't test fire it first during our visit. Our small team, consisting of Marc Krebs, Mark Vorobiev, and Comrade Author had pooled money and flown all the way to Russia. Our desire? To give American firearms enthusiasts first hand look at some of the latest Russian small arms.

Krebs is nationally recognized for his custom M1911s, and of late, Kalashnikovs. He brought the knowledge, skills, and experience of a highly respected gunsmith to our team.

Vorobiev was born in Russia and served during the 1980s in the Soviet Army as a SPETsNAZ sniper. While he acted as guide and translator, more importantly he brought the insight of having "been and done" SPETsNAZ style to our team. My job of course was to simply share what we saw and experienced with you.

Our quest was no small one though. I flew from Bangor, Maine to Moscow. From there, with the help of Eric Mustafin who made our arrangements and carted us around in his trusty Lada, we boarded a rickety old ex-Areoflot passenger plane for the flight to Izhevsk. This did its best to remove the fillings from our teeth, but it got us where we wanted to go.

From Napoleanic Wars To Today

Located in the Udmurt Republic, Izhevsk is approximately 1,200 kilometers east of Moscow on the European side of the Western Urals. With a population of over 700,000, it's the capital of this Russian province that numbers approximately 1.5 million. Formerly a closed city, it's the home of OJSC, Russia's premiere arms manufacturer.

It was originally founded in 1807 to provide weapons to the Imperial Russian Army to fight Napoleon. After the French were expelled, Izhmash continued to play a major role in the defense of Russia. Readers of GUNS Magazine know lzhmash for their famous Kalashnikov assault rifles, Dragunov sniper rifles, as well as the Saiga line of sporting rifles and shotguns imported by EAA.

We were met upon our arrival by Ahat Khisamutdinov, the personal photographer of Mikhail Kalashnikov, and Andrei Vishnyakov, the head of public relations for Izhmash International Trading Center Ltd. These two men would spend the next few (lays going out of their way showing us this fascinating city, taking us to numerous gunshops, and putting up with innumerable questions.

With their help (and a letter of introduction from Tula Cartridge Works) we were able to meet with the general director of Izhmash, Alexander G. Likhachev.

Upon hearing of our desire to do a story on their latest small arms, Likhachev graciously granted us permission. Within a few hours of our meeting we were pulling into a shooting range where a small group awaited us.

Pulse-Quickening Opportunity

There we had a chance to have an up close and personal look at the AN-94, SV-98, as well as the Bizon 2. Of these, the Bizon 2 stands out as a modem and effective subma-chinegun. While the Russians have more combat experience than anyone else when it comes to submachineguns, they turned their back on them decades ago. The introduction of the AK-47 assault rifle immediately put an end to any interest the Russians had in this type of weapon.

However, the rise of organized crime and the need to conduct anti-terrorist operations have led to a resurgence of interest in the lowly subgun. This began in the 1980s and has led to the development of a number of new designs, including the Bizon and now the improved Bizon 2.

At first glance, the Bizon 2 appears to be a 5.45x39 AKS-74U with the magazine removed. There is good reason for the confusion, the Bizon is a member of the Kalashnikov family. It was designed by a team headed by Mikhail Kalashnikov's son, Victor, which also included Evgeni Dragunov's son, Alexi.

The result of their labor is a family of submachineguns based upon the AKS-74 assault rifle. Chambered for 9x17, 9x18 Makarov, 9x18 Makarov High Impulse, 9x19 or 7.62x25 Tokarev, they are lightweight, compact, reliable and extremely controllable.

Detailed Inspection

The heart of the fun is a shortened AKS-74 style sheet metal receiver. It's simple, it works, and of course is readily available. To the rear of this is attached a sturday AKS-74 side-folding stock. This locks rigidly in place or folds neatly to the weapon's left side. On the left side of the receiver is a rail mount for attaching optics. This allows a host of day and night optics to be easily mounted and dismounted from the weapon. However the stock cannot be folded with an optic mounted.

On the right side of the receiver is the ejection port, bolt handle, and a standard Kalashnikov selector lever. Snapping the lever all the way up places the weapon on safe. In this position the weapon cannot be fired nor can the bolt be retracted far enough to chamber a round.

Pushing the lever down one click to the position marked by the Cyrillic letters AB provides fully automatic fire. Snapping the lever all the way down provides semi-automatic fire. Beneath the receiver one finds a standard black AK-74M pistolgrip.

A short, sheet-metal handguard runs from the front of the receiver to the rear of the front sight assembly. Sights consist of a protected front post adjustable for windage and elevation and a tangent rear. The rear sight has a simple "U" notch and is adjustable from either 50 to 100m or 50 to 150m in 50m increments.

At the muzzle, one finds a small conical flash suppressor with tear drop ports. This is stragith from the parts bin and is normally seen mounted on the SVDS sniper rifle. If an operator so desires this can be removed and a suppressor mounted.

The 64-Round Difference

So far, all relatively simple and straight forward. Things get a might interesting though when one examines the weapon's feed system. In place of the usual overbuilt Russian detachable box magazine is a round helical magazine that lies parallel to the weapon's barrel. Manufactured from aluminum, it holds 64 rounds.

As the Bizon is intended for high intensity firefights at very close range, the large ammunition reserve is a welcome feature. The magazine has two "U" shaped catches at its front. These grasp onto two corresponding pins located beneath the front sight assembly.

With the front of the magazine so caught the rear pushes up into the mag well and locks into place. The magazine release is the familiar ambidextrous AK paddle.

Popping-off the top cover reveals a simple yet reliable design. The weapon fires from the closed bolt for superior accuracy and is straight blowback. The bolt assembly resembles an AK-74 bolt carrier, minus the gas piston. The recoil spring assembly is straight AK-74, as is the entire trigger mechanism.

Actually a full 60 percent of the Bizon 2's parts are fully interchangeable with the AKS-74. This results in a weapon which is economical to manufacture and which takes advantage of proven-reliable components.

Likhachev was kid enough to provide not only a 9x17 (.380) bizon 2 for testing but a member of the weapon's design team as well. He explained the weapon's workings, stripped it for us, and then demonstrated it. It was immediately apparent watching him shoot it that the Bizon 2 was quite controllable. When his magazine was empty it was our turn.

Hands-On At Last

Picking up the Bizon 2, the first thing you notice is how short and light it is. Overall length with the stock unfolded is only 26 inches. Fold the stock and the weapon becomes a compact 16.7 inches. Weight with an empty magazine is a light 5.45 pounds. Handling is excellent.

The magazines load easily by inserting rounds and twisting a lever on the maga-zine-body's base. Round count holes are provided on the right side of the magazine, showing round numbers 4, 24, 44, and 64. However, locking the magazines into the weapon is slowed by the need to "hook" the front of it. Once you have properly hooked, it, the rear of the magazine locks easily into place.

A side benefit of this magazine system is the fact it allows a shooter to take up a very low prone position without having to dig a hole for his magazine. From there the controls are identical to those of a standard AK-74.

This allows easy cross training. Anyone who has been trained on an AK-74 can in-turn easily operate an RPK-74 squad auto, SVD sniper rifle, or Bizon 2 submachinegun.

Stock, Sights and 'Druthers

Shouldering it, one notices the stock is on the short side, as is typical of all members of the Kalashnikov family. However this easily facilitates use with either body armor or cold weather gear as well as moving the weapon's center of gravity closer to the shooter.

The pistolgrip could be a bit more ergonomic, but it works and it better than what's mounted on the M-16A2. As the magazine runs almost the length of the bottom of the weapon, it serves as a forend. The sights are typical Kalashnikov, and more than adequate for their intended usage. However, flip up night sights would have been a nice extra.

With a magazine locked into place it's time to hammer! To begin the fun, simply place the weapon on either full- or semi- auto, work the bolt, and you're ready to rock. Personally, I would prefer a little more easily accessible selector, such as on the Galil, but it works. With the gun on semi-auto simply bring it up, align the sights and squeeze.

More Accurate Than You Might Think

The Bizon 2, like most Russian AKs, has a very good two-stage trigger. When it breaks, the little gun barks and tosses an empty into the air. Rapid fire simply puts more brass in the air and more holes in the target. This is no open-bolt bullet hose though. Accuracy is very good with hits in the center of a man-sized silhouette easily made at 100 meters.

Nudge the selector up to the "group therapy" position and the fun really begins. Cyclic rate is an easy to control 650 to 700 rpm. Whether firing long bursts or short bursts, I was extremely impressed by how controllable the little subgun was.

The 64-round magazine provides a good reserve and would allow an operator to fire almost 13, five-round bursts. Egged on by my Russian hosts I fired a full magazine in one long continuous burst. Firing from the shoulder I picked out a rock on their berm some 110 meters distant. Leaning into the gun I touched the "go" switch and poured 64 rounds into an area about the size of a man's chest. I felt this to be an extremely impressive indicator of the Bizon's controlability.

Okay, Here's The Verdict

On the negative side, I really didn't care for the helical magazine system. While it provided a generous amount of ammunition on tap, I felt the design made reloads somewhat clumsy and slow. I also had a conversation with a chap who worked for the British MOD dissecting Russian hardware.

He related that the magazine design gave problems when exposed to mud and dirt. For police use--where 64 fast and furious rounds is all that's required and the weapon will be kept clean--it would work fine. However, I would just as soon utilize simple stick magazines.

On the positive side, it's a happening little burp gun! Small, light, and compact, it carries and conceals well. The stock locks very solidly in place or folds neatly out of the way. Used as a carbine on semi-auto, the Bizon 2 will provide excellent accuracy within its cartridge's limitations. In full-auto mode it's very controllable with a high hit probability and lots of rounds on tap. In addition, the weapon easily accepts both optics and sound suppressors. Final verdict? Two big thumbs up.

Acknowledgments: Much thanks to Eric Mustafin, Ahat Khisamutdinov, and Vladimir Makarov. Also much thanks to Alexander G. Likhachev and everyone from Izhmash that aided us to make this article possible.

BIZON 2 SPECIFICATIONS


  Operation:  Unlocked blowback, selective fire
              from the closed bolt position
    Caliber:  7.62x25, 9x17, 9x18 or 9x19
Cyclic Rate:  650 to 700 rpm
     Weight:  5.4 pounds w/ empty mag
     Length:  26 inches with stock folded
              16.7 inches with stock folded
     Barrel:  1:9.4 RH-twist, chrome lined
       Feed:  64 round helical magazine
              (7.62x25 version uses 35 round stick mags)

RELATED ARTICLE

Locking a 64-round magazine in place. Note how it must be caught in the front before being rocked into the mag well.

The member of the Bizon 2 design team shows off the excellent controllability in full auto.

The Bizon 2 feeds from a 64-round helical magazine permitting a very high volume of fire with little interruption.

Here's the bolt of the Bizon 2. While greatly simplified, it shows its Kalasnikov heritage.

Magazines load easily by inserting rounds and rotating this lever.

Left side of the receiver wears a rail for mounting day and night optics. Note the AN-94 Nikonov in the background.

Fortier found the Bizon to be highly controllable in full auto, and impressively accurate in semiauto fire.

A look with the hood up. The Bizon 2 strips easily just like an AK. Also note the rear sight calibrated for 50 and 100m on this 9x17 weapon.

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COPYRIGHT 2003 Gale Group