RB-12: ”dead” development at the price of antiques (Topic)

Government changes in the 90s led to the reformatting of the military-industrial complex. There was an increasing demand for security equipment, which led to the emergence of a class of weapons for self-defense, including the RB-12 rifle by A.G. Bandaevsky.

Dead-end project

The removal of some prohibitions of legislation in the 90s seriously affected the civilian arms market and the demand for certain types of weapons. There was an interest in the so-called tactical weapons, or means of self-defense. The stakeholders included not only those wishing to protect themselves, but also the growing segment of private security companies.

The foreign assortment did not cover the growing demand in the domestic market, besides, the cost of foreign samples also played a significant role. The modernization of some types of self-loading rifles (for example, the MC 21-12 model) for self-defense samples did not become salvation.

It so happened that in the 90s the market supply of weapons for personal security did not in any way overlap the demand for them. This situation spurred arms enterprises in every possible way to release new types of their products - processed from old samples or developed from scratch. Many types did not become in demand or simply could not hold out for some time on the market - including the RB-12 self-defense rifle, which can be called one of the "dead" projects.

Mechanism with its own characteristics

RB-12 can be attributed to the pump type, because it must be recharged manually. Reloading is carried out by setting the barrel in motion, which is connected to a movable wooden forend. At the same time, the bolt does not move from its place, the barrel independently captures the cartridge from the removable magazine. As a result, the Bandaevsky's rifle for self-defense has the first feature - its barrel does not produce the classic back-and-forth movement, but acts the other way around - “back and forth”.

The product developer noted that the priority of this design was given because the forend in the rear position becomes easier to fix. There is an opinion that another option for such a weapon simply would not fit, and with more obviousness this design method made it possible to make the RB-12 pump-action shotgun simpler and more compact and, which is also important, to the maximum budget. When developing the RB-12, the designers focused not only on compactness, but also on reducing the time the gun was ready to fire.

Flaws in execution

The appearance of the sample is quite curious. However, according to many, the RB-12 rifle looks rather harsh for its class of tactical weapons. The elements that raise questions and possible doubts about the appropriateness often include a large number of wooden parts, namely: the handle, forend, part of the butt and receiver. But the flaws of the weapon are not limited to this.

The steel magazine looks like a reliable mechanism, but the location of the ammunition inside it debunks the initial impression. The cartridges are located quite curiously: five of them fit in the store, while pushing the sixth forward. It, in turn, is located in special grooves and fixes the position of the rest - otherwise the store will not hold them all.

The magazine itself is secured to the weapon when the barrel is closed. At the same time, its design requires holding the snapping key. If you do not pay attention to this, the store will lose all ammunition and pop out immediately after the first shot. The same will happen when replacing a magazine that has not been shot to the end.

However, this was not considered the main flaw of RB-12. The product did not become an example of reliability due to the extremely unfinished barrel locking mechanism. For this reason, the RB-12 self-defense weapon tends to disintegrate when used too actively: the barrel is in one hand, everything else is in the other.

All these reasons were the reason for the removal of the sample from production. No further “work on errors” was carried out. Probably due to the appearance of more promising types of guns (for example, "Saiga," Bekas "), the commercial success of the RB-12 seemed doubtful. In total, about a hundred copies of the Bandaevsky rifle were made, some of which can be found on the secondary market. It is interesting that the cost of such samples is often high, because for some people the RB-12 is considered a rarity.

The Topic of Article: RB-12: ”dead” development at the price of antiques.
Author: Jake Pinkman