Jumping right in, today we have the Drozd BB select-fire pistol/carbine. Yes, I know it's not a "real" firearm, but airguns provide plenty of fun when you can't make it to a suitable range for a full-blown rifle or pistol. Plus they're cheap to shoot, and as ammunition prices slowly rise, that's not something to be laughed at.
First a little background: The Drozd is manufactured at the IMEZ (Izhevskii Mechanicheskii Zavod, Izhevsk Mechanical Factory) facility in Russia, and is marketed under the Baikal name. IMEZ supplied the Red Army with arms during the Second World War, and currently produces an extremely wide array of weapons.
I purchased my Drozd from Airgun Depot, with the optional extended barrel and mock suppressor. Trust me when I say the extended barrel is worth it. The order was placed on Friday, May 23rd and arrived on Wednesday, May 28th, which is good considering that weekend was Memorial Day weekend.
When you hold the Drozd in your hands, it definitely feels like it's made by a true arms manufacturer. The gun is constructed entirely of the same polymers and steel used in real rifles that are in the hands of real soldiers right now. Straight out of the box, the Drozd was consistently hitting a standard 12oz drink can at a distance of around 35 feet. The velocity is definitely more than the advertised ~350fps from the factory, and most likely sits in the 400-450 range. There are several simple slide switches on the gun; the left side is home to the fire select switch, which can fire in either 1, 3, or 6 round bursts, as well as the on/off switch. The right side of the gun sports the rate of fire switch, which is adjustable for either 450, 500, or 600 rounds per minute.
The Drozd comes with a removable buttstock and an extension piece for it. Although the buttstock is very short, it still manages to be fairly comfortable with the extension; the buttstock without the extension is most likely intended for children or very, very small adults.
My Drozd is modified with the extended barrel and mock suppressor kit from Airgun Depot. The change is a simple matter of unscrewing one barrel and screwing the new one in; be warned, though, that the old barrel is VERY well attached and may require coaxing to remove. The mock suppressor does have a function besides making the naked barrel look better; it provides pressure on the outer housing of the gun, which is what keeps part of it together. Before the barrel change, that pressure was exerted by the red sleeve that was on the end of the barrel.
After the barrel change, accuracy improved noticeably. Out of 15 rounds fired in three-round bursts at a plastic disk roughly five inches in diameter from a distance of 25 yards, 13 impacted within the area of the disk.
The sights on the Drozd consist of a simple notch rear sight and post-style front sight, although an aperture rear sight is provided.
The Drozd's magazine holds 30 rounds, which is really the only major bad point on the device, as 30 rounds doesn't last any time at all. The magazine also houses the CO2 cartridge and a pressure chamber, which insures that the pressure stays consistent during automatic fire.
All in all, the Drozd is a must for anyone looking for a fun plinker. It provides buckets of fun for people of all ages, can be used competently as both a pistol and a carbine, is extremely compact, and is accurate at a reasonable range.
