The following snippet about the Baikal IJ40 comes courtesy of German collector and writer Bruno Bukner, from an engineer who works at the Izhewsk plant. The IJ40 was made between 1985 and 1990, and was designed by Valentin Chebukov (born 1958). Production of its replacement, the IJ53 started in 1990.


Incidentally, the Haenel 54 is a rare East German air pistol made by ETW between about 1952 and 1954. ETW was the state-run replacement for Haenel set up by the Russians after the war. The company used the same Haenel machinery and premises, and produced a limited number of air guns before it finally disappeared in 1993.