Maxim Popenker was born in Leningrad, graduated from St Petersburg State Technical University and is a lieutenant [reserve] in the Russian Armed Forces. He is an established author of books and magazines and online articles on the subject of firearms. He is the owner and author of a leading Internet resource on small arms, the 'Modern Firearms and Ammunition' website at www.worldguns.ru. Maxim has a long-term interest in the history and technical aspects of firearms, especially those of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries.