The IZh-58 (''ИЖ-58'') is a Soviet double-barreled

shotgun A shotgun (also known as a scattergun, or historically as a fowling piece) is a long gun, long-barreled firearm designed to shoot a straight-walled cartridge (firearms), cartridge known as a shotshell, which usually discharges numerous small p ...

History

IZh-58 was designed by L. I. Pugachev (''Л. И. Пугачев''), in last months of 1958 first shotguns were made. Since 1961, a new varnish with improved characteristics has been used to protect the wooden parts of the gun. As a result, since January 1961, the price of one standard IZh-58 was 60

roubles The ruble (American English) or rouble (Commonwealth English) (; rus, рубль, p=rublʲ) is the currency unit of Belarus and Russia. Historically, it was the currency of the Russian Empire and of the Soviet Union. , currencies named ''rub ...

. More than 1.36 million IZh-58 hunting shotguns were produced in all four standard variants. In addition, one experimental sample of lightweight IZh-58 shotgun was made with

aluminium alloy An aluminium alloy (or aluminum alloy; see spelling differences) is an alloy in which aluminium (Al) is the predominant metal. The typical alloying elements are copper, magnesium, manganese, silicon, tin, nickel and zinc. There are two principal ...

details. It was replaced by

IZh-43 The IZh-43 (''ИЖ-43'') is a Soviet and Russian double-barreled shotgun. History IZh-43 was designed in early 1980s, and in October 1985, first prototypes of IZh-43 were presented at the hunting weapons exhibition in Irkutsk. In 1986, produc ...

model in late 1980s. The last IZh-58MAE shotgun was made in 1987.инженер Н. Аксенов. Ружейные новинки на ВДНХ // журнал "Охота и охотничье хозяйство", № 10, 1987. стр.20-21

Design

IZh-58 is a side by side smoothbore shotgun. The detachable barrels are made from

heat-treated Heat treating (or heat treatment) is a group of industrial, thermal and metalworking processes used to alter the physical, and sometimes chemical, properties of a material. The most common application is metallurgical. Heat treatments are also ...

50RA steel (''сталь 50PA'')Ружьё модели ИЖ-58 // А. А. Потапов. Всё об охотничьих ружьях. М., ФАИР-Пресс, 2011. стр.353-355 The barrels have

chokes Choking, also known as foreign body airway obstruction (FBAO), is a phenomenon that occurs when breathing is impeded by a blockage inside of the respiratory tract. An obstruction that prevents oxygen from entering the lungs results in oxygen depr ...

at the muzzle end. It has a walnut, birch or beech

shoulder stock A gunstock or often simply stock, the back portion of which is also known as a shoulder stock, a buttstock or simply a butt, is a part of a long gun that provides structural support, to which the barrel, action, and firing mechanism are attached ...

and fore-end

Variants

* IZh-58 (''ИЖ-58'') - first model In total, 642,000 IZh-58 shotguns were made in 1958-1971 and 73 thousands of them were sold to other countriesИЖ-58 и ИЖ-58М // В. Н. Трофимов. Отечественные охотничьи ружья гладкоствольные. М., ДАИРС, 2000. стр.236-240 * IZh-58M (''ИЖ-58М'') - second model, since 1970 In total, 235,000 IZh-58M shotguns were made in 1970-1976 and 115 thousands of them were sold to other countries * IZh-58MA (''ИЖ-58МА'') - third model, since 1975. It is equipped with new

safety mechanism In engineering, a fail-safe is a design feature or practice that in the event of a specific type of failure, inherently responds in a way that will cause minimal or no harm to other equipment, to the environment or to people. Unlike inherent safe ...

* IZh-58MAE (''ИЖ-58МАЕ'') - last model, since 1977. It is equipped with new safety mechanism and

ejector An injector is a system of ducting and nozzles used to direct the flow of a high-pressure fluid in such a way that a lower pressure fluid is Entrainment (hydrodynamics), entrained in the jet and carried through a duct to a region of higher pre ...

* IZh-58MA-20M (''ИЖ-58MA-20М'') - export variant (IZh-58MA with 670-680mm barrels chambered in 20/76 mm Magnum shotgun shells)

Users

* * - is allowed as civilian hunting weapon * * - is allowed as civilian hunting weapon * - the import was allowedV/O "Raznoexport" export-import organization // "Guns Magazine", February 1962 page 51

References

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Sources

* Охотничье двуствольное ружьё ИЖ-58 // Охотничье, спортивное огнестрельное оружие. Каталог. М., 1958. стр.36-37 * Двуствольное охотничье ружьё ИЖ-58 // Спортивно-охотничье оружие и патроны. Бухарест, "Внешторгиздат", 1965. стр.26-27 * Отечественные ружья // журнал «Охота и охотничье хозяйство», № 1, 1965. стр.36-37 * Э. Штейнгольд. Ружьё ИЖ-58М // журнал «Охота и охотничье хозяйство», № 7, 1973. стр.28 * Universal/Baikal Model IJ-58M double-barrel shotgun // "

American Rifleman ''American Rifleman'' is a United States-based monthly shooting and firearms interest publication, owned by the National Rifle Association (NRA). It is the 33rd-most-widely-distributed consumer magazine and the NRA's primary magazine. The magaz ...

", January 1977 * Отечественное охотничье оружие. ИЖ-58 // журнал «Охота и охотничье хозяйство», № 3, 1981. стр.33 * М. М. Блюм, И. Б. Шишкин. Охотничье ружьё. М., «Лесная промышленность», 1983. стр.85 * Ижевское оружие. Том 1. Ижевские ружья / Н. Л. Изметинский, Л. Е. Михайлов. - Ижевск, издательство Удмуртского университета, 1995. - 247 стр. : ил. Double-barreled shotguns of the Soviet Union Izhevsk Mechanical Plant products Weapons and ammunition introduced in 1958