VEPR 7.62x54R AK Rifle

Hey guys, welcome back. So today I want to talk to you about a rifle that's kept the AK community pretty excited over the years. Now this product has come and gone from the U.S. market over the years, but it's back again with a new importer. The rifle that I'm talking about is the Russian made Vepr. This one is in 7.62x54R, but they're also coming into the country in a number of different calibers, including 5.45x39, 7.62x39, 5.56, 3.08, and 7.62x54R like this rifle here. Now like I said, these rifles have come and gone from the U.S. market over the years. Back in the late 1990s, early 2000s, Robinson Armament brought these rifles in, and again they had their thumbhole stocks back then with this wooden furniture. However, Robinson Armament took these stocks off, put their own U.S. produced stock sets on the rifles that had a traditional pistol grip, it was black furniture, and the rifles were fairly popular on the market. These rifles are known for extremely high quality and are probably one of the highest quality AKs on the U.S. market. Let's take a closer look at this rifle. The Vepr has a number of features that set it apart from other AKs on the market. First of all, this one is in 7.62x54R, which is somewhat unique. There are other AKs on the market, or AK-type rifles, like the Romanian PSL. This rifle does differ from the Romanian PSL in a couple of different areas. First of all, this rifle has a normal AK-length receiver. The PSL will have a slightly longer receiver. Because of that, you'll notice it has a feature that's similar to the Saiga 12-gauge shotgun. There's an extended port cover here that moves back as you pull the bolt to the rear. That's because this top cover is a standard AK-length top cover. To compensate for the shorter bolt carrier and the 7.62x54R long cartridge, they had to get a little bit creative and use that extension piece. The rifle also features an accessory rail here on the left-hand side of the receiver. It does have an RPK-style receiver, which is reinforced, and all of the Veprs—not just the 7.62x54R Vepr—all the Veprs will have this reinforced RPK-style receiver. They do feature wooden stocks, which are absolutely beautiful, if you ask me. They do look like sporter stocks with the butt pad. It looks like almost hand-stippling on the wood, and the pistol grip in here on the fore-end. It's really pretty wood furniture. It looks really sharp on the rifle. It has standard AK controls, has a safety that you're familiar with, and it fires from a five-round polymer, Russian-made, single-stack magazine. Wolf Performance Arms is the importer—the new importer—of these rifles, which is the same company as Wolf Performance Ammunition—the people that import Wolf ammo. They changed their name slightly, and they're the ones importing these rifles, and Wolf tells me that here in the next couple of months, they will have 10-shot single-stack magazines that will work in this rifle. Now, if you look inside the rifle, you might—I don't know if you guys can see that or not—but it's definitely set up to be a single-stack rifle. You could probably do some cutting, if you're handy with tools, and get it to accept a double-stack magazine, but I'm not sure that that would be worth the effort. Somebody may do that in the future. Now, the rifle does have a slant-cut rear receiver, so it doesn't have that straight Saiga cut, so stocks that would fit a Saiga rifle without an adapter won't fit this rifle. This rifle—the 7.62x54R rifle—has a 20-inch barrel. Now, this barrel is fairly thick and heavy underneath the handguard here, and I'll try to show you guys that here a little bit later. It also features RPK-style rear sight that is windage-adjustable and elevation-adjustable in the conventional AK manner. The front sight is adjustable for windage and elevation. As a standard AK-type front sight, you will notice that the barrel is not threaded and has no muzzle nut. The rifle weighs 8.8 pounds. Overall length is 40.75 inches. It feels really good in the shoulder the stock is western length. It's very comfortable. Unlike the Romanian PSL, it doesn't feel too short like the PSL. This thing shoulders nicely on my rather large 6'4 frame. Let's do a little bit more shooting with the rifle. Shooting the 7.62x54R Vepr is surprisingly pleasant. The recoil is more comfortable than my M44 carbine, which is 7.62x54R as well. It's just a subtle push, not a real sharp kick. Loading the magazine for the Vepr is a bit challenging. You need to learn how to do it. You have to push the rim down in front of the feed lips, then the next round you have to roll across the top of the first round, which takes a little bit of practice, but once you get the hang of it, it becomes more and more easy. The spring is rather stiff in the magazine as well. Once you get five rounds loaded, it loads like a standard AK. Just rock your magazine in, nose first, charge the weapon, and you're ready to go. I do have a PSOP scope mounted. This is an 8x power scope with a 42mm objective. This is a scope made in Belarus, and it attaches via the side rail of the rifle. They're decent scopes for the money. They're fairly cheap. Now the ammunition I'm shooting out here today is made by PPU. It's 180-grain, 182-grain ball ammunition. Now one of the things that people bring up about shooting the 7.62x54R is they say, well, sure, the ammunition is cheap right now, but what happens when the surplus dries up? Well, that's true. The cheap ammo will go away, but there's also commercial ammunition available on the market, like this PPU. I buy my ammunition from AIM Surplus. They always have a good selection of military calibers, like 7.62x54R, both the surplus and this PPU ammunition, which again is commercial. Let's fire five rounds downrange and see how this for you guys here when I get back to the studio, but it is very, very light and crisp, and it does surprise me every time that the rifle goes off. Let's run downrange and take a look at that target. Here we are at 100 yards after firing five rounds of 180-grain PPU ammunition out of the Vepr. It looks like about a 1.75-inch five-shot group for the Vepr, which is actually fairly respectable for the rifle, given this is non-match ammunition. One of the things I also like to mention about that PSOP scope, the scope sits slightly off the left-hand side of the receiver. Works great for us right-handed shooters, not so much if you're lefty. However, what it does allow for is a co-witness of the iron sights while the scope is mounted. It works fairly well. You can see the sights just under the scope. Pretty respectable accuracy for the Vepr. Some final thoughts on the 7.62x54R Vepr. Now, these rifles stack up very nicely when compared to Arsenal SGL rifles, their other Russian-made rifles that are coming into the country. I would say that the fit and finish on this Vepr is actually better than that of the Saiga AKs that the Arsenals are based on. The quality of the wood is absolutely beautiful, and this one does have a Monte Carlo stock, but the finish really is nicer than the Arsenal finish. It's smooth, evenly applied, and it holds up well to solvents. The rifles retail for around $899. Now, I did buy this rifle from my friends over at Atlantic Firearms. They have not just the 7.62x54R rifles, but they also have the other calibers available as well. Wolf Performance Arms is bringing these rifles into the country, and hopefully the supply remains steady. I don't want to see these go off the market again, because I want to buy a few more of them. I would like to pick up a .308 and a 7.62x39 rifle as well. Now, the one thing that sets these apart from other AKs, obviously, on the market is the slant-cut rear receiver and the wooden thumbhole stocks that they all come with, regardless of the caliber. They are working on, I say they, I mean Atlantic Firearms is working on a conversion kit, which they should have on the market shortly. I've seen pictures of it that will allow you to put a standard pistol grip and AK stock set on these Veprs, so that would be a nice touch. I actually might consider buying one if they come out for the 7.62x54R rifle. If you guys have any questions about this rifle, you can ask those questions on our Facebook page. You can find us on Facebook at www.facebook.com forward slash military arms. Thanks for watching, everybody. Thanks for those subs, and we'll talk to you guys soon.