MOSCOW, November 1. /TASS, Artyom Kuznetsov/. Russia’s small arms manufacturer Kalashnikov has moved the dates of the serial production of the new Bi-7-7 biathlon rifle to the summer of 2020, Kalashnikov Director for Sports Projects and three-time biathlon world champion Ivan Cherezov told TASS on Friday.

Cherezov told TASS in February speaking on the sidelines of the Russian Investment Forum in Sochi that the manufacturer would start a gradual production of Bi-7-7 biathlon rifles by the end of 2019.

"Due to the current overload of the factory’s manufacturing process, we have decided to adjust the timeframe and moved the dates of the serial production for the next year’s summer," Cherezov said.

"We will continue manufacturing the previous model of Bi-7-4 rifles, however, we are planning to manufacture more of the new-model rifles and will be gradually putting this model on the conveyor," he continued.

"The Bi-7-7 model has already been tested by many merited Russian biathlon athletes, including Olympic champions Alexei Volokov and Anton Shipulin, and they expressed positive impressions," Cherezov added.

The Kalashnikov Group is Russia’s largest small arms manufacturer and the basic supplier of combat small arms for the country’s armed forces controlling the production capacities for the manufacture of precision-guided weapons for army aviation.