In 2010, a small group of Russian precision shooting enthusiasts, backed by several private investors, bought an abandoned manufacturing building in Moscow. Less than a year later, the building became the home for a unique Russian small arms manufacturer known as ORSIS.
ORSIS is the first privately owned Russian small arms manufacturing company that can mass-produce firearms compatible, if not superior, to products of the world’s most famous brands in the precision rifle business. ORSIS’ goal is to build custom-grade precision rifles for civilian shooters and law enforcement using the most modern mass-production technologies, most notably CNC machining. Right from the start, great emphasis was put on self-dependence and quality control during all stages of production. Also, being run by shooters, the company was built to be as customer-oriented as possible, which is a very welcome change in the Russian gun industry.
Within just a few years, ORSIS has built itself a reputation within the Russian shooting community. Currently, ORSIS rifles are being tested and evaluated by several elite Russian law enforcement units. ORSIS’ most successful product is the T-5000 line of precision rifles. These magazine-fed bolt actions are available with a wide selection of caliber, stocks and other options. The T-5000 uses an aluminum alloy chassis with a side-folding shoulder stock, while Hunter models, also very popular for the company, are offered in a variety of traditional stocks made from wood, plastic or carbon.
With its undisputed success in the domestic precision rifle market, ORSIS is now looking for export markets. Despite current political tensions between Russian and the West because of the Ukrainian crisis, ORSIS is not connected to the Russian government or any of its officials. In fact, it already works with several foreign partners to assemble hunting and sport guns for Russian markets, including American ArmaLite AR-10 and M-15 semi-auto rifles, Italian Marocchi SI12 shotguns and Austrian Glock pistols.
For its own rifles, ORSIS makes everything in-house, including the actions and barrels. ORSIS buys premium stainless steel for making its barrels in almost any conceivable caliber (between .22 and .50), profile and length. The barrels are manufactured to very high tolerances using old and proven cutting techniques implemented by CNC machines. Each groove is cut in 60 to 80 passes, and it takes up to two and half hours to completely rifle one barrel. The barrels are chambered and contoured on separate CNC machines.
The rifle receivers are made from stainless steel on CNC electro-erosion machines; the stainless steel bolts, with dual opposite front lugs, are CNC-machined and then individually fitted to their receivers. The barrels are installed into the receivers using simple screw-in interfaces, which allows for simple replacement of worn-out or damaged barrels using a minimal amount of tools. Barreled actions are then set into their appropriate stocks, which are also made in-house. Hunting rifles are normally set into wooden or carbon stocks; tactical rifles are built into proprietary aluminum alloy chassis-type stocks.
Finalized rifles that successfully pass quality-control inspection are then test-fired for accuracy. No ORSIS rifles, with the exception of some African big-game calibers, are allowed to leave factory unless they can shoot 100-meter, three-round groups at or less than 0.5 MOA. Each rifle is shipped with its own proof target, often showing groups as small as 0.3 MOA.
The video shows the Fourth Moscow Open Sniping Championship event, held on June 21-22, 2013. The participants are civilian long-range shooters, as well as some members of Spetsnaz units (their faces are blurred in the video for security reasons). ORSIS sponsored the event. The event had many stages at ranges from 50 to 800 meters. “Anonymous” Spetsnaz snipers won the first and second places, while third place went to one of ORSIS’ own shooters. This video serves as proof that long-range precision shooting is a rapidly growing sport in Russia and many sportsmen are almost as good at it as the best Spetsnaz/elite LE operators.
And keep your eyes peeled for a full review of the ORSIS T-5000 in the upcoming October 2014 issue of SPECIAL WEAPONS FOR MILITARY & POLICE, available on newsstands and digitally Aug. 19, 2014. To subscribe, go to Tactical-Life.com/subscribe.
