O.K.
I'll start and let Geno correct the mistakes, if any.
Now let's begin with the fact that "Russia" is a helluva lot of ground, covering lots of different places, cultures, etc. Namely, Russian Federation was just one of the 15 republics that the USSR consisted of. You can think of those as something like the states within the US, with federal laws, and state laws. The situation with gun control in, say, the Caucasian republics (Georgia, Armenia, Azwerbaijan) was slightly, but still different from the Baltic republics, Asian republics, etc. For example, Moldova had the tightest gun control of all, with hunting guns, at a time, being stored at the Militia (police) departments in the off season. So that;s one variable.
Another variable is between the "developed" regons, like most of the European part, where hunting was mostly recreation, and the "remote regions", like (roughly) Siberia, where hunting for fur and meat was a profession for many.
And then there's a factor of time.
