Izhmash

The Izhevsk arms plant was founded in 1807 on Alexander I’s order, to end the empire’s dependence on imported muskets, and it has been the principal Russian small-arms works ever since. Under the Izhmash name it produced the Mosin-Nagant, the SKS, the Kalashnikov and the Dragunov. It is recorded separately from its successor because a rifle built in 1954 was built by Izhmash and not by the concern that later absorbed it, and collapsing the two would quietly rewrite half a century of manufacture. Wikidata holds one item for both, which is why this entry carries no join key.