Russian shotgun Vepr 12 facts.
The impetus for the development of a series of shotguns 12-gauge line "Vepr" (factory index VPO-205) was exponential growth in popularity of Saiga-12 semiautomatic shotguns with smooth bore, and availability on civilian market. In those days, demand for smoothbore "Saiga" was exceeding supply. But with time- Saiga shotgun began to show more and more negative reviews, product Izhmash had some issues.
Watching the 90s demand for smoothbore "AK-type" from Izhmash, managers of Vyatskie Polyany plant "Molot" made a decision that they should take part in this market. As a result, "Molot" established mass assembly line for shotgun "Vepr-12", which was noticeably different from similar product of Izhmash.
Rifles and shotguns of "Saiga" family were produced at the Izhevsk Machine-building Factory. The design was taken from Kalashnikov Ak47 automatic rifle because it was produced there at the same time. Subsequently production of civilian weapons that had similar constructs in Izhevsk was a straightforward subject.
Molot factory of Vyatskie Polyany in the same time period was producing, machine guns Kalashnikov (RPK), because Izhmash simply did not have enough production capacity for both units AK and RPK, considering huge volumes of manufactured products. The main differences between AK and RPK, was mass-dimensional characteristics and durability of a design. Machineguns RPK were much stronger, had more powerful receiver box,more durable mechanisms, and were manufactured with safety factor that exceeded similar parameter of AK rifle.
Throughout the development of Vepr-12 developers focused on gun applications as self-defense rifle and expected use of this shotgun as a police weapon. So this gun is poorly suited for hunting.
The layout of these shotguns, as well a, the basic principles of its operation are closely identical to Saiga-12 and Saiga-12 K. Although, if to be more accurate - then the most similar to Vepr-12 shotgun is a Saiga-12 "Taktika".
The main advantage of Vepr-12 is the high rate of fire, which together with the 12 gauge shotgun gives tremendous firepower. Rate of fire accomplished by two factors: space for 8 rounds magazine, which are easily to reload and semi-automatic mode of the shotgun. Also significant advantage of shotgun "Vepr" is it "indestructibility". These shotguns can be easily considered one of the strongest in the world semiautomatic shotguns (thanks to structural strength RPK).