I have one of these. They are great. I bought it in london in
janurary 2001, just 3 short months after 9-11. Actually to get thru
customs was a bit of a challenge.

it looks like a gun! it has a pistol/rifle grip, kinda looks more like
a uzi, and about the same size. the camera body with 300 lens
attached to it uses standard screw mount to the 'grip' The
modification that was mentioned in previous post/s was the
addition of shutter release on the bottom of the camera body to
facilitate the rifle grip. when you squeeze the trigger it rockers a
pin in the grip that is vertical and presses into a sleeve that
contains the mod'ed shutter release.

The lens is actually pretty cool too. fixed 300 length with upto a
4.5 f-stop. I am not sure if this is a standard feature on lenses
this length but it has a sort of cocking ring just infront of the f-stop
ring. this toggles a kind of preview. uncocked it is the amount of
light that will be sent to the film plane. in cocked posistion it is
full open for maximum brightness and focusing, I think for
focusing. but certainly the brightest the rig will deliver when
cocked. When shutter release is depressed both the preview
and the shutter go. it almost has a kick!

As I am looking at the body now, it is a 12c body. Mine also came
in a metal lunch box sized case. This case has places for 2
screwdrivers which I have not used on the camera, but work well
form my prescription glasses :), 2 35mm film canisters, 2
threaded holders that are flat against the top of the lunch box. 1
is for the lens cap for the 300, the other holds a more standard
lens. Mine came with a helios 2/58 with cap.

Shoting with this rig is a blast. I have shot about 50 rolls thru it on
both lenses. I can easily fill the frame of a football helmet logo at
50 yards.

The biggest draw back fo this camera is.... it looks like a friggin
gun! At the park a few months back the police actaully showed
up. some concerned citizen saw a man with a big gun in the park
and notified the cops. They were not pleasant at first, but
laughed thier asses off eventually.

free tip: if you aquire one of these cameras, which was in
production as late as 1983 I think, there is a secret way to
release the take up reel of the film. There is no release button on
the bottom, side, visible, obvious, somewhat un-obvious on the
body. It was actaully a fluke that while I was in a camera store in
southern california, where I live, that another customer who just
happned to have owned this camera, but spoke very poor
english, but great russian, showed me, like it was 'DUH' its right
there. enuf build up, here it is. on the shutter release there is a
metal sleeve that goes around the shutter release button on the
top of the camera body. around that is a 3rd metal sleeve, that is
fixed that has an angular cut towards the rear of the body. The
SECOND ring needs to depressed and held while the rewind
process is going on. WITHOUT depressing this sleeve, you will
tottally, well screw your film.

also fyi, this camera takes pentax lenses.
and lastly, I have seen this camera called a 'russian sniper
camera'

doobie