Molot Oruzhie first showed the prototype of this PCC in May of 2019. Back then, they were calling it Agishevsky PCC. Later, in October of the same year, they brought this pistol caliber carbine to the Arms & Hunting 2019 exhibition, and the gun got an official Molot model designation – VPO-185. And just recently, the company finally launched it on the Russian market. Let’s take a look at the features of the production version of Molot VPO-185 PCC.
Molot VPO-185 PCC is chambered in 9x19mm. Earlier, it was reported that there will also be a version of this firearm chambered in 9mm Altay. The gun is compatible with Saiga-9 magazines. It has a polymer lower receiver and aluminum upper with the polymer magwell attach to it. The upper receiver features a top Picatinny rail and M-LOK slots. The 305mm (12″) barrel has a chrome-lined bore and is threaded with the 14x1L left-hand metric thread pitch (the standard AKM threads). The reciprocating charging handle is reversible. This is a hammer-fired firearm with an AK-pattern trigger mechanism. Although VPO-185 is a direct blowback firearm (firing from a closed bolt), the bolt has a multi-piece design. The exact reason for having such a complicated bolt design is unknown to this writer at the moment of writing this article.
Molot VPO-185 disassembled. The reciprocating parts consist of the bolt assembly, charging handle, bolt carrier, and a forward rod attached to the carrier via a U-shaped lug.
The telescoping stock of Molot VPO-185 is non-adjustable, it has only two positions – fully collapsed and fully deployed. The stock is unlocked via a button located at the bottom rear portion of the lower receiver. The safety selector lever is ambidextrous. In order to collapse the stock, the safety must be on and the collapsed stock prevents it from being switched to the fire mode, making it impossible to shoot the gun when the stock is collapsed. This is done to comply with the Russian gun laws that set a minimum overall length for a gun capable of firing. The overall length of this PCC with the stock deployed and collapsed is 820mm (32.3″) and 585mm (23″) respectively. The gun weighs 2.6 kilograms (5 lbs 12 oz).
Here is a video showing the disassembly process of Molot VPO-185 PCC. The video is in Russian but the process is self-explanatory.
Without a doubt, the most popular PCC on the Russian market is the Saiga-9 and the VPO-185 has to offer a lot in terms of ergonomics and overall performance to be able to compete with Saiga-9 and get any significant cut of the Russian PCC market pie.
Pictures by Molot Oruzhie, www.molot.biz