The reproduction VSS Vintorez announced and shown by BSD Fabrication & Works at SHOT Show 2025 has garnered a tremendous amount of excitement and attention. This is understandable, as the VSS is a very cool rifle, and there are a lot of people who would love to have one. However, I the coverage from SHOT is seriously lacking in any sort of realistic assessment. So, as a guy who has been badly burned once by a reproduction rifle preorder and has seen lots of other people also burned, I wanted to give this project a bit of a reality check.

To reiterate what I say in the video, BSD said they would not be taking preorder money from people, so there is nothing actually at risk here for potential customers. I will buy one myself at full retail price off the production line when they are ready...if they get that far. I wish them genuinely all the best because I'd love to have a VSS clone built exactly like a Russian original - but I am skeptical.

I don't like being the pessimistic voice on a new and upcoming project from a small company. If it weren't for all the uncritical hype I'm seeing people repeat I would have stayed silent about this gun, but I am concerned about people pushing to place paid preorders out of potentially undue excitement.

Full video on a real VSS Vintorez:
https://forgottenweapons.vhx.tv/videos/vss-vintorez