My wife gave me this Ironwood Design unfinished stockset for this 16" 54r Vepr a couple years ago. Just finished it up after some colossal mistakes in sanding, staining and oiling. In the end it turned out pretty cool. Probably couldn't reproduce this color if I tried. Fit and finish are tight and satin. This this rings like a bell when you rack the bolt. Trigger is crunchy and scratchy and needs work or replacement (I think I have an Arsenal trigger in a bin somewhere).  Found a UTG Pro mount that fit and slapped a Trijicon Accupoint on her for the pics. I'll probably put RS Regulate mounting hardware on her. Not sure of final optics. Yea I already have a few CSSpecs 10 rounders (sharp corners – not cheap).

Does anyone know if the Russians actually use Molot Veprs as some sort of DMR today? If so what do they look like?

Very nice. I received one of the first stock sets IWD produced, and finished it in a red shellac for my 54R. Optic is a POSP. I still need to update the muzzle device.

Very nice!  Both of you.

Those appear to be essentially higher-quality versions of the Romanian PSL.

How do they shoot?

Nice finishing OP. For comparison's sake, here is a Rhineland Arms paduak stock set Vepr with a POSP 4x24. I only used BLO to finish it.

Vepr's shoot very well.

Both good looking rifles.

I can't vouch for the performance of mine.  I basically sent a bunch of test rounds down range the summer before last.  Funny, the ugly thumb-hole stock that came with it blistered it's finish at the cheek rest from some moderate sweat on a hot afternoon.

Should shoot better than my PSL with the thicker barrel.

I wish I could say I had a range report since that last post but I literally have gone shooting a half a dozen times in the last year and non where I know I had the time to immediately clean up after corrosive shooting so she's been parked for the last year.  Been doing an annual cleaning and oiling of all my safe-rifles and it never really struck me before but for a .30 cal rifle this sure seems to have lighter parts and construction overall when compared to my other AK pattern rifles such as PSL, M76, M77, M70s and Draco.

Anyone else notice this or have comment relevant ?

That's kinda interesting as Molot has guaranteed that the Vepr can handle 200gr stuff sufficiently while the PSL is known to have problems shooting heavy ball, most commonly the receiver cracking near the back. Though I guess the Russians knew what they were doing by basing the rifle off the RPK platform.

Yea there is a mod to a PSL that I’ve read about creating valve at the gas port to ease the pressure that can drive the bolt back a bit too fast and far when shooting  heavy ball.  But since I have a lifetime supply of 150gr I’ll probably never need to go that route.

Not bitching or bagging on my VEPR just an observation when having all the parts/pieces out next to the others

Guess I'm bitching and baggin now.  This is an excerpt from a different post about looking into new production ammo performance results.  The Vepr was a dog !!!  Do I ditch this thing?
------------------------------------------------
Finally got out:

BTW are the Tula and Red Army Standard the same stuff?  Aside from the external box the internal cartridge carrier, cases and markings are identical “TulaAmmo”.  Here’s what I was able to test with.
•Tula 148gr
•RAS 148gr
•Brown Bear 174gr

These are my 54r rifles with scopes.  I have another PU Sniper and another M39 (w/o glass) but didn’t bring them out that day .
•SVT40 wi PU Scope
•91/30 PU Sniper
•M39 wi PU Scope (a Century concoction from years ago – very cool and pretty rare)
•PSL wi PSO 3-9x24 Tigr, 1000m Rangefinder, SVD
•Vepr wi Accupoint 1-4

Excluding the PSL and Vepr the Tula and RAS produced similar results out of the SVT, 91/30 and M39.  The 148gr landed higher than the 174gr by about five inches wi 4+inch groups.  The 174gr produced 2-3inch groups. I forget if it’s cool to fire heavier bullets out of an SVT40 but they did seem to perform better (someone please advise).   All in all this new ammo is in fact a bit better than the various Russian, Bulgarian and Yugo milsurp I’ve been using especially the heavier bullet.  I’d be curious to move up in bullet weight

Here’s where it get’s weird.  The PSL actually shot better groups with the 148gr in fact I was able to pull off better than 2” 5-shot groups.  I couldn’t believe my eyes. Reproduced it three times after barrel cool down.  Was FINALLY hitting 300yd 12”steel plates more often than missing.

Last up was the Vepr.  I’m thinking it’s going to be great.  It blew chunks !!!  Awful !!!  5+ inch groups on the 148gr and slightly better on the 174gr.  WTF !!!   In fact I’d almost hazard to say it shot slightly better with the old light ball milsurp.  I am indeed perplexed.  I’m wondering if I should bother to sample different ammo for the Vepr or simply “off” the thing (can anyone share more Vepr experiences? Go heavier as some suggest?).  Now in all fairness I did have a 9x FFP on the PSL and the AccuPoint is 4x with a post reticle but certainly FAAAAR better glass than the old PU Scopes so I don’t think different optics were too much of a factor @ 100yds shooting from a sled.

It's your mount. You need a RS regulate AK-353M and 1913 upper for your Accupoint. The rs regulate guy had to design an entire lower optic mount for the Veprs because the optic rail is slightly different than standard, and was chewing up his standard lower optic mounts under harsh recoil in calibers like your 54R and 308. Speaking of, Veprs are heavily gassed. You should consider a KNS Precision gas piston, it will make a big difference in comfort.

Interesting.  The UTG was only for the picture way back when.  I've had an AK-303 + AKR on it all this time.  Pretty sure that 303's been snugging down pretty tight.  I'm gonna get wi Scott Hoskisson and see what he says ,

And what ended up happening with your x54 Vepr?

Beautiful rifle that shoots like crap. So frustrating. Maybe it's got a dog Barrel on it? I don't even know if I could be replaced or if it's worth it. I've since picked up some match-grade ,  heavier grain 54R that I plan to try out of it but I hold no high hopes.  After the weather warms up I'll give it another try.

Finally got out today with that "match" ammo.  

This is a rifle I’ve been struggling with for a couple years never able to get any kind of reasonable performance out of it. Once in a while I’d get it out of the rest and be able to hit steel or some reactionary target reliably after figuring out a hold but could never really print groups. I detailed the poor performance last October when trying different new ammo out of it.

Today I ran this stuff: https://ppu-usa.com/ppu/7-62x54-r-match/ Tried to print and as in the past just spattered 4-5” groups from a couple mags. Put it down (disgusted) for an hour, picked it back up and hit 100yd 12” steel 8 out of 10 rounds (WHAAAAT?). Put it back into the sled and shot the 5rd group you see on the upper right. Thinking “okay, I’ve finally got a group I can dial in” I took the elevation down a couple inches and windage to the left by in inch and shot the 6rd group you see lower left. I literally touched nothing else on the rifle but dialed the turrets of the Trijicon Accupoint. I didn’t even change mags (11th round was a stray I hand fed into the chamber)

So, After all this grief - Is this scope toast ? Have I been chasing a drifting reticle the last two years? I’ve always considered Trijicon on the upper tier of optics which is why I’ve used this scope as a floater on new firearms to test, dial in to see how they perform before I commit some other milsurp or specialty optic that will live on it. Should an Accupoint be able to take constant pounding from 762Nato or 54r ? Or is it some fragile hunting scope? It’ll be some time before I’m to the range again and can proof with another optic. Guess I’ll call Trijicon tomorrow with this story and see what they say.

Weeeeeeell, just got this note from Trijicon via email today:


"Thank you for your patronage of Trijicon products.  We have evaluated your item and will be sending you a replacement TR24R at no charge. We will not be returning your previous optic back to you. I have attached your order confirmation. Please review for accuracy."

...

Asked for tracking.  Said backordered fo 19 weeks

Literally just got the replacement Trijicon .  Some cool weekend we'll try again.