Favorite pistol of the NKVD
The name of Paul Peter Mauser (1838-1914) is known throughout the world thanks to his remarkable repeating rifle.
In our country, it is more likely associated with a powerful pistol. True, Mauser, strictly speaking, was not its creator. In 1893, one of the three design brothers Federle, who served as director of the Mauser plant in Oberndorf, developed a self-loading pistol with a permanent magazine. Mauser, then under the impression of the commercial success of Borchard's pistol, modified Federle's design and patented it in his own name (a common practice at that time), and in 1897 he began producing a pistol under the designation S-96 (K-96). The pistol was repeatedly modernized and produced in many variations, differing in barrels, magazine capacity, trigger mechanism parts, sights, and finishes. The most famous were the 7.63 mm models of 1902 and 1908, as well as the “classic type” of 1912. One of the first commercially successful self-loading pistols, the Mauser C-96 was one of the first to begin military service, carrying it out for quite a long time. Even without being officially adopted anywhere, it ended up with both sides in the Anglo-Boer War of 1899-1902. His last big war was World War II, and he served in China and Latin America later. 7.63-mm self-loading Mauser C-96 with a 10-round magazine, a sector sight and a classic “broom” handle shape. The
Russian army, even having become interested in self-loading pistols, initially did not pay much attention to the Mauser. But over time, it aroused interest as a “pistol-carbine” - it was intended to equip “teams for whom a rifle is a burdensome weapon due to the nature of their service.” The aeronautical part of the Main Directorate of the General Staff already in 1913 accepted Mauser pistols “as an accessory for airplanes.” During the First World War, Mausers were purchased in Japan and England and distributed mainly to special units - aviation, automobile, and scooters. They also took the pistol as trophies, including a 9-mm model chambered for the Parabellum cartridge (not to be confused with the earlier model chambered for the powerful 9-mm Mauser Export cartridge). In Russia, the C-96 was often called “Mauser No. 2” or “Mauser in the block.”
The Mauser S-96 became very popular during the Civil War, when, thanks to the intervention and British assistance to the white armies, a considerable number of these pistols came into the country.
It began to be widely used by cavalrymen, although abroad it was considered a good weapon for cavalry officers already at the beginning of the century (one of its fans was then the young W. Churchill). The Mauser was also convenient where the uniform did not allow carrying a rifle and pouches - is this why it became popular among the “revolutionary sailors” who came ashore in 1917-1918. From the technical troops and scooter riders, the “Mauser in the shoe”, along with leather jackets, migrated to the Soviet commissars and the Cheka. It was also loved by the bandits of those years - it was not the first time that the Mauser C-96 found itself on both sides of the barricades. With a Mauser, Moscow criminal Korolkov robbed V.I. himself. Lenin, Lenka Panteleev also operated with the Mauser in St. Petersburg. In Central Asia, Mausers became popular among the Basmachi. "Mauser" C-96 model 1920 ("Mauser Bolo") with a magazine for 10 rounds, a sector sight and wooden grip cheeks.
In 1926-1930. - during the period of close military and military-technical cooperation between the USSR and the Weimar Republic - 7.63-mm Mausers of the so-called police model of 1920 with a barrel length of 99 mm, a total length of 255 mm, a shortened or regular handle were purchased for the Cheka-OGPU . The magazine held 6 or 10 rounds, the handle cheeks were made of wood or plastic. The shortened barrel and the “police” purpose of the Mauser are associated with the restrictions of the Treaty of Versailles - among other things, Germany was prohibited from producing pistols with a caliber of 9 mm or more and with a barrel length of more than 100 mm. After the signing of the Rappal Treaty in 1922, Soviet Russia became a desirable partner for Germany. It is not surprising that abroad this model was nicknamed “Bolo”, i.e. "Bolshevik".
In the 20s, the Podolsk Cartridge Plant produced copies of 7.63x25 Mauser cartridges.
Coupled with extensive experience in operating Mausers, this determined the choice of the Soviet pistol cartridge - in 1930, a 7.62 mm cartridge was adopted, now known as 7.62x25 TT, which differed slightly from the 7.63 mm Mauser cartridge. The view of the Mauser C-96 in Soviet service as a “firing squad weapon” is a tribute to ideology rather than history. The accuracy, bullet penetration and survivability of the Mauser were very useful in combat conditions. “Mauser” C-96 model 1920 with a classic handle shape
“Mausers” remained in service with the NKVD units for a long time and even became a kind of symbol for them. Many, apparently, remember Sergeant Karatsupa with two faithful companions - the dog Dzhulbars and the Mauser pistol. The Mauser also served on other borders - I. Papanin took it with him to the famous polar wintering.
Our country has also shown interest in automatic modifications of the S-96 with fire mode translators - the Spanish Astra-901 and the German Mauser-712. In July 1930, I. Uborevich ordered, in addition to a “carbine” type submachine gun, to develop a submachine gun “weighing 3.2 kg in a holster.” In 1939, an automatic pistol by P. Voevodin was tested. But “carbine” submachine guns turned out to be more necessary, so they returned to automatic pistols only after the war.
And Mauser Veerke continued to produce pistols of the S-96 family. Thus, from 1930 to 1937, the Model 1930 was produced with a safety lock in three positions: “locked trigger,” “locked trigger and bolt,” and “fire.” During World War II, the Mauser was used, albeit to a limited extent, by the Wehrmacht, and its automatic variants were used by SS units. On the Soviet side, old supplies and new trophies were used not only by the NKVD troops, but also by the Red Army. In 1943, Guard Colonel L. Brezhnev was awarded the combat Mauser. Special groups of the NKVD and GRU often went to the German rear with Mausers, and paratroopers jumped with Mausers. In the famous photograph of May 1945, where Red Army soldiers salute at the captured Reichstag, among the various types of small arms there is the good old Mauser.
Characteristics of the Mauser S-96 model 1912
Caliber – 7.63 mm Cartridge – 7.63x25 (7.63 Mauser) Weapon weight – without cartridges 1.15 kg with loaded magazine – 1.26 kg Weapon length – 290 mm Barrel length – 140 mm Weapon height – 140 mm Width weapons – 35 mm Muzzle velocity – 425 m/s Rate of fire – 30 shots/min Magazine capacity – 10 rounds
OUR HELP
The Mauser C-96's automatic system operated due to the recoil of a short-stroke barrel.
The bolt moved inside the receiver. The barrel bore was locked by a larva swinging in a vertical plane. When the barrel-bolt system moved backward, the larva connected to the receiver lowered and released the bolt. When the system returned forward, the larva ran onto the protrusion of the frame, rose and engaged the lugs with the bolt. The return spring was placed in the bolt. The impact mechanism has an open hammer and a screw mainspring hidden in the frame. To the left of the trigger there was a safety lever: in early models it locked the cocked or released trigger, in the 1912 model it only locked the trigger. The buyer of the Mauser C-96 model 1920 was not only the USSR.
The photo shows a version of the pistol with a 6-round magazine, a fixed sight, an enlarged trigger and plastic grip cheeks. The inscription on the frame indicates that the pistol was apparently made for sale in the USA. A characteristic feature was a permanent magazine, placed “rifle-style” in front of the trigger guard and equipped with a plate clip on top. To quickly unload, it was possible to remove the magazine cover, remove the feed mechanism and cartridges, and remove the cartridge in the chamber by twisting the bolt.
The sector sight is notched to “1000 m”. This, of course, did not correspond to the real capabilities of the pistol, but effective shooting at 200 m was quite possible. At a distance of 100 m, the dispersion radius was 15 cm - a high figure. True, the front sight, pointed at the top, required a very good eye for aiming even at medium ranges. The weight of the pistol and the forward shift of its center of gravity required a strong hand, but they also contributed to more accurate shooting. On the back of the handle there were grooves for attaching a wooden butt holster. The cartridge with a bottle casing made the pistol quite powerful (at 25 m, a bullet of a 7.63 mm cartridge could penetrate 8 inch pine boards), and the heavy barrel provided not only good ballistics, but also exceptionally high survivability of the weapon.
A hard wooden butt holster was worn on a narrow shoulder strap. Its hinged lid served as a shoulder rest. The outer pocket contained a screwdriver necessary for disassembling the pistol.
Semyon Fedoseev
NAGAN: life story with continuation (Part I)
A design feature of the 7.62 mm Nagan revolver of the 1895 model was that the drum with cartridges was pushed forward onto the barrel before each shot. Such a system for sealing powder gases required the creation of a special flanged sleeve with an elongated barrel that would cover the entire bullet. A special part of the trigger mechanism - the breech, when cocking the hammer, not only rotated the drum by 1/7 of the circle, but also, together with the pawl, moved it forward, pushing the conical part of the cartridge case neck directly into the barrel chamber. In this case, the stub of the barrel fell into the groove at the front end of the drum. When fired, under the influence of powder gases and a moving bullet, the cartridge case neck straightened, closing the gap between the chamber and the barrel stump, so that all the gases remained inside the weapon itself. This design of the barrel and drum, together with the new revolver cartridge, ensured complete obturation when fired. Another characteristic feature of the Nagan was the elongated firing pin, which was supposed to reach the cartridge primer, despite the presence of the breech and the displacement of the drum forward. The revolver had a one-piece frame. Removal of spent cartridges was carried out by alternate extraction using a ramrod-ejector. Another feature of the Nagan revolver of the 1895 model was the arrangement of the drum locking device with a door protrusion for loading cartridges. When the door was folded back, the protrusion jumped into the end recess on the edge of the drum and held it in this position, allowing the weapon to be quickly loaded or unloaded.
The sliding of the drum onto the barrel, which eliminated gas breakthrough, significantly influenced its high combat characteristics, which, together with the successful balancing of the revolver, led to excellent accuracy of combat (at a distance of 25 m, r50 was 5.3 cm, and r100 was 9.1 cm ) and the high ballistic qualities of this type of weapon. The Nagan revolver, with a barrel length of only 115 mm, had an initial bullet speed of 301 m/s. When shooting at a package of 10 pine boards with a thickness of 25.4 cm at a distance of 25 m, a bullet fired from a Nagan revolver pierced 5 of them.
Along with good fighting qualities, compact and light (the weight of an unloaded weapon was 0.86 kg), compared with other military models, the Nagan revolver was distinguished by high service and operational characteristics, trouble-free operation and reliability of all mechanisms, in any conditions, including including the most unfavorable ones.
The formation of Soviet power took place in the most difficult conditions of war, devastation, famine, the collapse of the national economy, a sharp drop in production volumes, and even a complete stop of many industries, including the arms industry. All this could not but affect the Tula Arms Plant. In the most difficult year of 1918, the production of revolvers by the Tula Arms Plant (TOZ) fell sharply, amounting to only 52,863 units. Along with this, in connection with the transition to the metric system of measures in 1918, the Tula plant revised all technological documentation for its products, including the Nagan revolver.
The transformation of the young Soviet Republic into a single military camp, the mobilization of all the country's resources for defense needs, carried out in 1918 - early 1919 by the Council of People's Commissars and the Council of Labor and Defense, made it possible to reverse the tragic situation. Thanks to the efforts made to increase the production of weapons, Tula gunsmiths in 1919 were able to increase the production of revolvers to 79,060 units, however, the almost complete collapse of the industry, the lack of raw materials and fuel due to the violation of all levels of industrial cooperation led to the fact that in 1920 the production of revolvers fell to its lowest level in eight years - 43,192.
And yet, despite all the difficulties of the Civil War, the small number of skilled labor, the deterioration of equipment and accessories, Tula gunsmiths contributed to the supply of small arms to the Red Army. This is clearly evidenced by the fact that in 1918-1920 alone, the Tula Arms Plant produced 175,115 Nagan system revolvers. In total, 1,177,279 Nagan revolvers of both types were manufactured in 1900-1920.
The end of the Civil War in Russia and the restoration of the national economy by the mid-1920s allowed the Soviet state to seriously begin to review the entire weapon system of the Red Army and equip it with new promising models, including small arms. However, rearmament with new weapons did not mean that it was necessary to completely abandon old, well-proven models. This, in particular, applied to the faithful revolvers.
By decree of the USSR Central Executive Committee of December 12, 1924, the Nagan revolver was approved as an Honorary Revolutionary Weapon, being the highest award for the command staff of the Red Army for special military merits. Mounted on the handle of the revolver, on one side, was a small copy of the Order of the Red Banner, and on the other, a silver plate with an engraved inscription: “To an honest warrior of the Workers’ and Peasants’ Red Army from the Central Executive Committee of the USSR.”
The revision of all weapons left to the Red Army as a legacy from the Tsarist army, carried out by Soviet military specialists, led to a sharp reduction in the range of standard small arms. Therefore, only the more advanced model of the 1895 model self-loading revolver is left in service. At the same time, taking into account the experience of using weapons during the First World War and the Civil War, the Main Artillery Directorate decided, simultaneously with the work on creating new self-loading and automatic pistols, to carry out a partial modernization of well-proven revolvers. A member of the Scientific and Technical Committee (STC) of the Artillery Directorate, the outstanding Russian shooter A.A., took an active part in these works. Smirnsky.
On May 7, 1930, in accordance with the order of the chief of armaments of the Red Army I.P. Uborevich No. 81/28, a commission was created headed by the chairman of the 6th section of the Scientific and Technical Committee of the Artillery Directorate V. Tsvetkovsky, which conducted tests at the Scientific Research Experimental Test Site (NIOP) in the city of Golutvin along with other samples of small arms and Nagan revolvers of the 1895 model of the year. The main objectives of the tests were: - identifying the service life of the revolver before loss of accuracy (getting the bullet to fall off the rifling of the barrel bore); - identification of structural weaknesses of the revolver and determination of the actual need for the current standards of spare parts.
Nagan revolvers produced in 1925-1930 were tested. In their course, revolvers were recognized as reliable, durable and accurate self-defense weapons, fully satisfying their purpose. Their disadvantages included only inconvenient reloading, a large trigger pull and not very convenient sighting devices. The accuracy of fire remained virtually unchanged after 5,000 rounds were fired. The following recommendations were developed for the Tula Arms Plant: - the trigger force should be in the range of 2.4-3.9 kg; — eliminate difficulties when removing cartridges; — to eliminate the shooter’s hand from being filled with recoil during a shot, it was proposed to make the upper part of the handle rounded without notches. However, the most important decision of the commission was the proposal to rearm the Red Army with a self-loading pistol instead of the Nagan revolver.
Brand on a Nagan revolver from the Tula arms factory.
1931 Immediately after the completion of the work of V. Tsvetkovsky’s commission from June 25 to July 13 of the same year, the modified revolvers were again subjected to testing at NIOP by a new commission chaired by V.F. Grushetsky. But the changes made to the design of standard Nagan revolvers of the 1895 model affected only the sighting devices: the sight slot, instead of a triangular one, became semicircular, 3 mm wide; The semicircular front sight was initially replaced with a technologically simpler rectangular one with a comb width of 1.25 mm. However, later (since 1938) they were forced to abandon it and return to the previous shape of the front sight, but with a “truncated” upper part, more convenient for aiming. In general, the technology for manufacturing revolvers has become somewhat simpler, although the labor intensity of their manufacture has not decreased, amounting to 30 machine hours per product. In their production, mechanical processing of parts and manual assembly continued to be widely used, which influenced the high cost of weapons.
During the years of the first five-year plans, a rapid rearmament of the Red Army began with new types of automatic weapons, in particular, 7.62 mm TT self-loading pistols, whose mass production was mastered by the Tula Arms Plant in 1933. However, Tokarev pistols could not completely displace the 1895 model revolvers from the standard weapon system. Therefore, the production of both types of short-barreled weapons continued in parallel at TOZ.
In the 1930s, the production of Nagan revolvers by workshop No. 2 (production 502) of the Tula Arms Plant, depending on the situation prevailing in our country at that time, was reduced (1932 - 82,368 units, 1933 - 38,763 units) or even stopped altogether (1934), then at an increasing pace it overtook the production of TT. This situation with the production of personal self-defense weapons was due to both objective and subjective reasons. With the beginning of the arrival of TT pistols into the troops, on which the highest military command pinned very high hopes, numerous complaints were immediately made against them from the units, which was explained by shortcomings in the design of these weapons. At the same time, the well-deserved reputation of the revolver as an excellent example of a target weapon, moreover, overshadowed by legends about the “super-accurate” shooting from this revolver of the first red marshal, the founder of the “Voroshilov shooters” movement, was as high as ever.
Therefore, already in 1935, TOZ produced 12,871 revolvers, and in 1937 their production increased to 76,086. Subsequently, until the beginning of the Great Patriotic War, the production volumes of revolvers and pistols remained at approximately the same level. In January–October 1941 alone, Tula gunsmiths produced 118,453 revolvers. In total, in ten pre-war years (1932-1941), the Red Army received more than 700,000 Nagan revolvers of the 1895 model.
The experience of many years of joint use in the troops of various types of short-barreled personal self-defense weapons contributed to a kind of “division of labor” between revolvers and pistols. If initially it was planned to leave revolvers only in the arsenal of infantrymen, and to arm officers and junior specialists of the technical troops, artillery and air force with pistols, it soon became clear that the TT was not suitable for use everywhere. Thus, in the armored forces, the position of the TT turned out to be quite problematic, since the TT pistols were not suitable for firing through the small openings of the hatches in the tank turrets. Therefore, revolvers, despite their advanced age and the fact that they were supplanted by new, more advanced representatives of short-barreled weapons, still continued to successfully serve not only in the Soviet Armed Forces, but also in law enforcement agencies.
Brand on the Nagan revolver of the Izhevsk Mechanical Plant N 622 - 1944
Back in 1924, the Tula Arms Plant resumed, along with the production of standard revolvers of the 1895 model, the production of a modification of the revolver - with a shortened barrel (85 mm long) and handle. This compact revolver, the so-called “commander’s” revolver, was intended primarily to arm the operational staff of the OGPU, NKVD, and the customs department of the People's Commissariat for Foreign Trade, where the specifics of the service required the concealed carrying of personal weapons. At the end of 1929, “commander” revolvers were subjected to field tests, the purpose of which was to determine the possibility of replacing the standard 1895 model revolver in service with a standard-length barrel with a revolver with a shortened barrel (90 and 95 mm). The weapon was evaluated for accuracy and shooting accuracy at various distances. The shortened revolver differed from the standard one not only in its reduced weight and dimensions, but also in a slightly modified disassembly and assembly sequence. Based on the test results, it was concluded that shortening the barrel by 25 mm does not worsen the shooting results, and reducing the revolver grip does not impair the comfort of holding the weapon during shooting. At a distance of up to 25 meters, the accuracy of fire was practically independent of the length of the barrel, and at a distance of 50 meters there was a significant deterioration in the accuracy of fire as the barrel shortened. This is what led to the refusal to replace standard revolvers in the army with shortened ones. “Commander” revolvers were produced until the end of 1932. In total, approximately 25,000 shortened Nagan revolvers were produced.
Shortly before the start of the Great Patriotic War, especially for state security agencies, the Tula Arms Plant began producing revolvers in a small series with a device for silent, flameless shooting designed by the brothers V.G. and I.G. Mitins, who received the designation “BRAMIT” (MITIN BROTHERS). This fairly effective expansion-type muffler was a hollow cylinder, inside of which there were 10 expansion chambers with 9 rubber gaskets - seals. The device was put on the muzzle of the revolver barrel using a coupling. To fire from BRAMIT, a special revolver cartridge with a pointed bullet was used. Soon this weapon received its baptism of fire, albeit on a very limited scale, being used by security officers deployed as part of reconnaissance and sabotage groups behind enemy lines.
The beginning of the Great Patriotic War turned another, but far from the last, page in the history of these revolvers. The planned production volumes of Nagan revolvers according to the Military Economic Plan for the fourth quarter of 1941 were to be 197,000 units. However, the failures that befell the Red Army in the initial period of the war forced the Tula Arms Plant to evacuate its main facilities to the Urals in October 1941. Therefore, in October, before the evacuation, only 5,000 Nagan revolvers were manufactured. Their production was transferred from Tula to Izhevsk, where a branch of machine-building plant No. 74 mastered the production of these weapons at the beginning of 1942. The constantly growing needs of the front for weapons, including short-barreled weapons, led to the fact that in addition to the Izhevsk Mechanical Plant No. 622 (as the branch of plant No. 74 began to be called on July 20, 1942), the production of revolvers resumed in Tula in January 1943 , where, after partial re-evacuation from the Urals, part of the equipment of the Tula Arms Plant returned. At the same time, the production of these weapons in Izhevsk continued until the end of the war. In total, Izhevsk residents produced 313,705 revolvers: in 1942 - 15,485 pieces; in 1943 - 107,260 pieces; in 1944 - 190,960 pieces. However, the low-tech revolver caused great difficulties in production for Izhevsk gunsmiths. One of the most difficult technological operations was operation 112, in which the axles of the hammer, sear and trigger were mounted in the frame. A defect associated with the rolling of the axles was detected at the very end of assembly, during factory testing of finished revolvers. Then the defective samples had to be returned to the workshop, completely disassembled and the axles in the frame reinstalled. Numerous experiments were carried out to change the design of the axles, improve the technology of their assembly, including the use of spot welding. It was only at the end of 1944 that the correct assembly regime was developed, which made it possible not only to sharply reduce the return of defective revolvers, but also to involve teenagers and students of the FZU in their assembly.
In Tula, the production of revolvers also continued, but in very small quantities. So, in 1945, the Tula Arms Plant produced only 1,509 Nagan revolvers. Moreover, in Tula, the assembly of the revolver relied exclusively on very highly qualified assemblers.
In total, in 1942-1945, Soviet gunsmiths transferred more than 370,000 model revolvers to the front. 1895. The relatively small volumes of production of revolvers are explained not only by the labor intensity of their production, but also by the fact that, based on the results of the use of various types of short-barreled weapons in combat operations on the fronts of the Great Patriotic War, preference was still given to TT pistols. By that time, the excellent fighting qualities of revolvers could no longer fully satisfy all the army’s requirements, since these weapons were outdated not so much structurally as morally. Short-term fire battles of modern maneuverable combat required the ability not only to instantly open fire, but also to use weapons with a high rate of fire, which was fully met only by automatic weapons that had high-capacity magazines, and not by the outdated seven-round revolver. Despite the high combat qualities of the revolver, its low rate of fire, due to the inconvenience and duration of loading and extracting spent cartridges, required replacing the revolver with a more promising model of personal weapon. A self-loading pistol could be considered similar, in which only reloading was automated, i.e. the operations of unlocking the bore, removing and extracting the spent cartridge case, cocking the striking mechanism, locking the bore, and only the descent had to be done manually each time.
The result of the generalization by Soviet military specialists of combat experience in the use of weapons was the formulation of new, more stringent requirements for military models of small arms, including short-barreled ones. The Red Army's weapons system for the post-war period, formed back in 1944-1945, was focused on equipping the infantry with the latest promising models of automatic weapons. Among them there was no longer room for most of the models with which the Russian soldier went through more than one war, this also applied to the 7.62 mm revolver of the 1895 model. Therefore, immediately after the end of the Great Patriotic War, Nagan revolvers were removed from production (Izhevsk Plant No. 622 ceased their production in March 1945), and soon from the arsenal of the Red Army. In total, over forty-five years of production (from 1900 to 1945), Russian soldiers and officers received more than 2,600,000 Nagan revolvers of the 1895 model.
The old but faithful revolver remained in the memory of front-line soldiers as one of the simplest and most reliable examples of domestic small arms. Unpretentious in operation and trouble-free in combat, revolvers were quite widely used during the war years by both commanders and non-commissioned officers, not only in the infantry and artillery, but also in special technical troops.
Along with the Red Army, revolvers of the 1895 model were used during the war years by foreign military formations created on the territory of the USSR: the Polish Army, the 1st Czechoslovak Corps, the Romanian Infantry Division. Tudor Vladimirescu, Yugoslav Infantry Brigade, pilots of the French Fighter Regiment "Normandie-Niemen".
With the end of the war and removal from service in the army, the long life of revolvers did not end. Some of them were stored in arsenals, and a significant number of revolvers continued to serve in the police for many years. After the rearmament of the internal affairs bodies in the mid-1950s with more modern models of personal weapons, Nagans were transferred as self-defense weapons to private security units, cash collection services, fisheries inspections, game wardens, etc., where many of these revolvers were used 100 years later years from the date of their creation, until very recently, until their circulation in Russia was limited by the Law “On Weapons”, adopted in 1993.
(Beginning. Ending in the article “NAGAN: a life story with a continuation (Part II
)»)
Vitaly Kryuchin Photo from the author’s archive
German pistols in the service of the Cheka
After the end of the Civil War in Soviet Russia, the question of arming a number of categories of military personnel with modern models of self-loading and automatic self-defense weapons, and primarily the operational personnel of the Cheka - OGPU, arose in a very acute form.
Military-technical cooperation with yesterday's enemy, and today with its best friend - Weimar Germany, allowed Soviet military specialists to gain direct access to German arsenals. In Russia, since pre-revolutionary times, German pistols with the Mauser brand have been very popular. Subsequently sung by one of the best Soviet poets, V. Mayakovsky, in the poem “Your word, Comrade Mauser!”, this weapon became a symbol of the revolution for many Soviet people.
In Germany, which suffered a crushing defeat in the First World War, the military-political leadership advocated for a review of the results of the war and built a new military system. This affected almost all aspects of life, including the creation of the latest types of small arms. In the army's clear and concise manner, these sentiments were expressed by Minister of State von Rathenau (who laid the foundation for the reconstruction of the German military industry) immediately after the end of the war in his speech to the Reichswehr generals: “They destroyed your weapons. But these weapons would one way or another become obsolete before the start of the next war. In this war, completely new weapons will be used, and the army that is least constrained by outdated weapons will have a huge advantage.” It was this situation that formed the basis for the revival of Germany’s military potential over the next twenty years.
Traditionally, small arms were produced in central and northern Germany. Weapons production centers developed in the cities of Suhl, Nuremberg, Berlin, Zella-Mehlis, Leipzig, Erfurt, and Kiel. Before the First World War, the German arms industry was divided into two large sectors: state arsenals (in the cities of Amberg, Berlin, Danzig, Erfurt, Potsdam, Spandau), engaged in the production of military models, and private firms (Waffenfabrik Mauser; Walther; Simson & Co; Sauer & Sohn; Theodor Bergmann Gaggenau Waffenfabrik; Rheinmetall; Lignose; IG Anschutz; H. Weirauch; W.?Brenneke; Emil Langenhan, etc.), as a rule, producing commercial weapons (civilian, sporting and hunting) or involved in fulfillment of government orders for military weapons (DWM). During the First World War, the weapons production base in Germany was significantly expanded, when in 1914–1918. Many dozens of medium and small arms production and engineering factories joined in the production of standard weapons for the Kaiser’s army.
The restrictions of the Treaty of Versailles imposed on the German military industry did not dramatically affect the reduction in the number of weapons production; in order to preserve the accumulated potential, these firms switched from producing military models to the production of hunting, civilian and sporting weapons.
Despite the fact that the production of weapons under the terms of the treaty was prohibited for state arsenals (only the Simson & Co plant in Suhl was allowed to produce small arms for the Reichswehr), with the obvious connivance of its yesterday's enemies, already in the early twenties, the process of hidden remilitarization began to rapidly develop in Germany. Already at the end of the 1920s. The Germans begin work on designing the latest types of weapons, including small arms, thereby laying the basis for significant groundwork in this area, which will play an important role in the very near future.
Bypassing discriminatory restrictions, German arms companies, through their numerous subsidiaries or front enterprises, were able to deploy abroad (in Switzerland, the Netherlands, the USSR) not only significant in volume and quantity of research and development work (R&D) in the field of creating the most advanced samples of small arms, but also to organize the production of individual samples. Thus, Soviet Russia, which had established close political, trade and military relations with Germany, was able to obtain some of these new weapons, including the newest models of short-barreled weapons for personal self-defense.
Modifications of the 7.63 mm Mauser K.96 pistol. Germany
Already in 1920, the Waffenfabrik Mauser company offered for the German police a new, significantly shortened version of the K.96 mod.1920 pistol with a total length of 255 mm and a barrel length of 99 mm, and pistols of early releases were also converted to this model of weapon, not only of 7.63 mm caliber , but also 9 mm “parabellum”. It was this pistol, called the “BOLO-Mauser” (BOLO - abbreviated - Bolshevik), that was primarily ordered for the OGPU in quantities of several thousand pieces.
7.63-mm pistol Mauser K-96 Model 1912 with a wooden holster-butt and ten-round clips with pistol cartridges
In 1926, the Mauser mod.1912 was replaced by the 7.63-mm modernized pistol Mauser Mod.1926. In it, along with some changes to the trigger mechanism, improvements were made mainly in terms of simplifying the manufacturing technology; the barrel was thickened at the chamber. The design of the fuse was significantly changed; it now allowed the trigger to be pulled without puncturing the primer of the cartridge in the chamber. The fuse box could be fixed in three positions, two of which were marked. In the upper position of the flag, opposite the letter “F”, the pistol was in the firing position; when the flag was set to the middle position, the weapon was put on safety; if the safety flag was lowered to the lower position, opposite the letter “S”, then the trigger was blocked in such a way that the firing pin could not be activated. The presence of such a universal fuse made it possible to quickly reload a weapon with the safety on and carry it loaded. However, the Mauser Mod.1926 pistol, even after all the improvements, still remained complex and expensive to produce. It, like its predecessors, was only a commercial model intended for the civilian market, therefore, after the appearance of this model on the arms market, the USSR immediately purchased several tens of thousands of pistols of this model, to arm primarily the command staff of the Red Army and the NKVD. These weapons continued to be widely used by Soviet soldiers during the Great Patriotic War.
7.65 mm Mauser M.1914/34 pistol. Germany
Along with military models of Mauser pistols, designed to use powerful cartridges in them, and therefore having a strong interlocking locking of the barrel, Mauser pistols of service (police) and commercial models became widespread among the senior command staff of the NKVD and the Red Army in the 1930s. designed for the 7.65-mm Browning cartridge, whose automation, thanks to the use of a relatively low-power pistol cartridge, worked on the principle of free-bolt recoil.
7.65 x17 Browning pistol cartridges (German production)
The Mauser-Werke AG company offered its original model to the arms market back in the early thirties - the 7.65-mm Mauser M.1914/34 pistol, designed by the famous gunsmith Josef Nikl, consisting of at that time it had been in service with the police for more than twenty years. It was a compact and quite good personal self-defense weapon for its time. This pistol has successfully proven itself over more than two and a half decades of service in German law enforcement agencies.
Created on the basis of the 6.35-mm Mauser M.1910 pistol, its 7.65-mm version M.1914, according to the principle of automatic operation, was classified as a blowback system. Common to these Mauser pistols is a removable barrel, which was connected to the frame using a recoil spring rod passing through corresponding holes in two barrel lugs. Its feature was the design of stopping the bolt casing in the rear position when the magazine was empty, which made it possible to significantly reduce the time for reloading and thereby significantly improve the combat capabilities of the weapon. When a new magazine was inserted into the pistol, the stop was automatically turned off and the bolt casing was released, which sent the cartridge into the chamber. The pistol had a striker-type trigger mechanism. Although the disassembly and assembly of this weapon is very simple, small parts of the trigger mechanism are easily lost during disassembly. The impact mechanism is very sensitive to clogging and contamination; in addition, at low temperatures, the Mauser M.1914 pistol often misfired when firing due to a weak mainspring. The safety, consisting of a safety lever with a button, as well as a locking spring, was located on the left side of the frame. In order to put the pistol on safety, and this could be done both in a loaded and unloaded state, as well as with the trigger mechanism cocked and not cocked, it was necessary to lower the safety lever flag down with the thumb of the right hand until it clicked, fixing the locking safety spring. The fuse blocked the sear and the bolt casing. To remove the safety, you had to press the locking safety spring button. There was also a click, signaling that the spring had released and the pistol was off safety and ready to fire.
7.65 mm Mauser M.1914 pistol.
Germany In 1934, the Mauser pistol underwent another modernization in order to simplify and reduce the cost of production. In the modernized Mauser, the rectangular molded plastic cheeks were replaced with cheaper wooden cheeks with a smoother bend, and instead of the complex spring latch of the rod holding the barrel, a steel leaf spring was introduced.
The Mauser M.1914/34 pistol consisted of 31 parts, components and mechanisms, the main ones being: barrel; pistol frame; bolt casing with sighting devices; impact and trigger mechanisms; shop; safety device.
The Oberndorf company Mauser-Werke AG produced in 1910-1939 more than 500,000 thousand Mauser M.1914 and M.1914/34 pistols, which found some use in the Red Army and Soviet state security agencies during the Great Patriotic War.
7.65 mm Astra M 300 pistol. Spain
Along with German pistols, the Soviet state security agencies at the end of the 1930s also received small quantities of Spanish weapons supplied from the burning Pyrenees. The economic department of the NKVD of the USSR, taking advantage of its ability to control the military industry of the Spanish Republic in 1937–1938, purchased a small batch of self-loading and automatic pistols "Astra" models 300, 901, 902 and 903, manufactured individually (with a planar ornament on the outer surfaces of individual metal parts made using the technique of hand engraving and chasing, as well as with mother-of-pearl cheeks of a pistol grip) and in a souvenir version (where almost the entire outer surface of the pistols was covered with artistic hand engraving, chasing and color inlay on metal). This very beautiful and richly decorated weapon was intended to be presented on behalf of the General Secretary of the CPSU (b) I.V. Stalin, or from his associates, to the closest persons from the inner circle of the “leader of all times and peoples.”
7.63 mm automatic pistol Astra Model 903 with holster-butt.
Spain So, in 1940, very compact and well-made 7.65-mm Astra Model 300 luxury pistols were presented by the People's Commissar of Defense of the USSR K. E. Voroshilov to young Soviet military pilots - the son of I. V. Stalin - Vasily Stalin ; son of M.V. Frunze - Timur Frunze; son of A.I. Mikoyan - Sergei Mikoyan. Larger weapons, with significant “representative” dimensions, such as 7.63 mm Astra pistols Models 901–903, were handed either to military commanders or senior command staff from the NKVD itself.
This weapon was created by one of the most famous largest Spanish arms companies, Unceta y Compania SA, which was founded back in 1908 in the city of Eibar by two entrepreneurs Juan Esperanzo and Pedro Unceta. The company specialized in the production of numerous revolvers and pistols of civilian models "Victoria", since 1911 known under another brand name "ASTRA". Later, only “ASTRA” remained in the corporate designation, which was reflected in the changed name - Unceta y Cia.
In 1913, this company, located in the Basque Country in northern Spain, in the city of Guernica, began producing the 9-mm Campo-Giro M.1913 self-loading pistol for the Spanish armed forces. It was designed by Lieutenant Colonel Artillery Don Venanzio Lopez de Ceballos and Aguire Count of Campo Guiro. He created a weapon complex consisting of a military-style self-loading pistol and a 9 x 23 mm Bergmann-Bayard pistol cartridge (in Spain called the 9 mm Largo (large). The original design of this weapon, subsequently improved several times, marked the beginning of a new series of Astra pistols "
A special feature of the Campo-Giro pistol was a previously unusual combination - it worked on the principle of free-breech recoil and at the same time was designed to use very powerful pistol cartridges. Also new was the placement of the recoil spring on the barrel; accelerated disassembly - assembly of weapons, thanks to the very successful design of the joint between the barrel and the frame (later used in many other short-barreled weapon systems). Trigger-type impact mechanism with open trigger arrangement. This weapon was characterized as quite simple to handle and operate, reliable in operation, and with high survivability. The automatic pistol "Astra" Model 400 was designed to use the recoil of the free shutter. The removable barrel was attached to the pistol frame using a cracker method. The return spring, located on the barrel, was held by a coupling, also fixed using a cracker method. Impact mechanism - with a hidden trigger. The pistol had three types of safeties: a safety lever blocked the trigger and the bolt housing; an automatic safety was mounted in the rear wall of the pistol grip, blocking the sear, and in addition there was also a magazine release that blocked the trigger. After the cartridges were used up, the bolt housing remained in the rear position on the bolt stop. The shutter stop lever was located on the left side of the frame. The housing-bolt of the Astra Model 400 pistol, like that of the Campo-Giro pistol, had a cylindrical shape, the back of which was the bolt. The elongated barrel and comfortable pistol grip contributed to accurate shooting from this weapon, which, in addition to excellent combat qualities, was also characterized by high reliability in operation. Food was supplied from a single-row magazine with a capacity of 8 rounds. The magazine release lever was mounted in the lower plane of the pistol grip. After the last shot, the magazine feeder held the bolt housing open. Target firing range – 50 m.
The features of this pistol included the fact that, although it was developed for the 9 x23 Largo cartridge, it could also fire other cartridges: 9 x19 Parabellum; 9 x19 “Glisenti”; 9 x20 “Browning-long”; 9 x23 "Steyer". The dimensions of the chamber and the design of the bolt allowed such a multiplicity of use in one pistol of a wide variety of ammunition of the same caliber. Such versatility, apparently, was intended to ensure that soldiers did not experience difficulties with the supply of ammunition on the battlefield, becoming dependent on their stocks of 9-mm Largo cartridges, and, if necessary, could use enemy cartridges. The Astra Model 400 pistol was widely exported to other countries in the 1920s and 1930s, including the French Army and the Chilean Navy. From 1921 to 1946 Astra Unceta y Compania SA produced 106,175 Astra Model 400 pistols.
7.65-mm pistol Astra Model 300. Spain
In 1922, designers of the company Astra Unceta y Compania SA, at the request of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Spain, created on the basis of the Astra pistol Model 400, smaller (by 65 mm) and lighter (by 0.45 kg) variant Model 300, designed to use the less powerful 9 x 17 mm Browning short cartridge. Structurally, it was similar to its prototype, with the exception of moving the magazine latch to the left side wall of the pistol grip. In the same year it was adopted by the Spanish prison service. Six years later, the Astra Model 300 pistol was adopted by the Spanish Navy. Along with the standard version, a commercial model soon appears, developed for the 7.65 x 17 mm Browning pistol cartridge. In 1922–1947, Spanish gunsmiths produced 171,300 Astra Model 300 pistols in both calibers, several thousand of which went to the Soviet Union to arm the senior command staff of the Red Army and the NKVD.
The Astra Model 300 pistols fully satisfied the fairly stringent requirements of the Soviet NKVD. Thanks to their simplicity of design, trouble-free operation and high combat characteristics, Spanish pistols have earned well-deserved respect. The only major drawback inherent not only to the Astra Model 300 pistols, but also to other models of weapons of this family, was considered to be the absence of an indicator for the presence of a cartridge in the chamber. Since the Astra Model 300 pistols had a hidden trigger, the absence of such an indicator made handling the weapon not always safe. However, the presence of an automatic fuse to some extent made it possible to solve this problem.
7.63 mm automatic pistol "Astra" M 902. Spain
Among the Spanish pistols handed over to Soviet military leaders were a number of 7.63 mm Astra Model 902 automatic pistols (more related to works of decorative and applied art than to military weapons). During the war, Supreme Commander-in-Chief J.V. Stalin gave it to his former bodyguard, State Security Commissioner of the 3rd rank G.T. Karanazde, who by that time held the position of People's Commissar of Internal Affairs of the Georgian USSR. This weapon, manufactured by the famous Spanish arms company Unceta y Compania SA in Guernica, is a modernized version of the popular German Mauser K.96 pistol, the automation of which worked on the principle of using recoil with a short barrel stroke. The redesigned firing mechanism Model 902 with the ability to conduct single and automatic fire, allowed, in combination with an increased capacity magazine for 20 rounds, a sector sight and a wooden attached holster-butt, to effectively use this weapon during fleeting fire contacts with the enemy in close combat at distances up to 150 m.
Despite the fact that this weapon was designed for targeted shooting at a distance of up to 1000 m, it showed the best results when firing with single fire when firing at a distance of up to 100 m - r50 was only 30 cm. At the same time, when hit by at an angle of 90 degrees from a distance of 50 m, a bullet fired from the Astra Model 902 pierced a pine tree 220 mm thick, at a distance of 100 m - 160 mm thick, and at a distance of 200 m - 130 mm thick.
At the same time, this powerful pistol soon developed quite serious problems. Thus, when firing in short bursts, the thin-walled barrel quickly heated up, which often led to self-ignition of the next cartridge fed into the chamber from the magazine. After three bursts of 10 shots, the weapon became so hot that the next shot could occur within 10 seconds even with the bolt not fully closed.
However, the features of these award pistols included not so much their high combat characteristics as the external finishing of the weapon itself. The entire outer surface of the pistols was covered with a thin layer of gilding and decorated with artistic engraving in the Moorish style. The cheeks are made of a single piece of mother-of-pearl. In 1928–1936, the company Unceta y Compania SA produced a total of 7075 Astra Model 902 pistols, of which only 3440 pistols were in piece and souvenir versions. Some of them during the Great Patriotic War were in service with senior officers of the NKVD - NKGB of the USSR.
7.65 mm Walter pistol "Polizaipistole" (PP). Germany
Pistols with traditionally belong to the best examples of German short-barreled small arms. For many centuries, one of the centers of German arms production was the small town of Zella-Mehlis, which was part of one of the principalities of Thuringia - Saxe-Coburg-Gotha.
Back in the 18th century, August Theodor Albrecht Walter created a weapons workshop there, producing mainly hunting weapons. At first it was just a small craft production, but over time it grew. In 1886, one of the descendants of August Walter, Karl Walter, based on the old workshop, created a new industrial enterprise, which at the end of the last century had only a few metalworking machines. At the time of its creation, the entire staff of this enterprise was only 15 people. The new arms factory, named after its founder, Carl Walther,? – Carl Walther GmbH, began producing civilian firearms. However, it was not hunting and sporting rifles that brought this company worldwide fame, but self-loading pistols. The creators of the newest models of short-barreled weapons were the sons of Karl Walter - Fritz, Erich and Georg. Difficulties in equipping the Kaiser's army with weapons during the First World War led to the fact that the base of weapons production in Germany was significantly expanded, with the involvement of many dozens of medium and small weapons production and engineering factories in fulfilling government orders for army weapons. This also affected the company Carl Walther GmbH.
Defeat in the First World War and the restrictions of the Treaty of Versailles imposed on the German military industry did not affect the sharp reduction in the potential of weapons production. To preserve the accumulated potential, these companies switched from producing military models to manufacturing hunting, civilian and sporting weapons. However, soon the desire of the command of the German Reichswehr to keep up with other states, which in the mid-1920s began rearming their armies with the latest types of weapons, including small arms, created taking into account the accumulated experience of the First World War, was clearly evident. The desire to circumvent the direct ban of the Treaty of Versailles, which prohibited Germany from producing military pistols with a caliber of more than 8 mm and with a barrel length exceeding 98 mm, forced many German arms companies, including Carl Walther GmbH and Mauser-Werke GmbH, widely known for their civilian-style pistols, begin work on creating a model of short-barreled weapon that, without going beyond the established limitations, would have tactical and technical characteristics as close as possible to military pistols of other countries.
7.65 mm pistol Walter Model RR.
Germany In 1929, one of the co-owners of the Walther company, Fritz Walter, based on the 6.35 mm Walther Model 8 pistol, developed one of the most successful designs of short-barreled weapons, which caused a real revolution in the arms business, the 7.65 mm Walther RR pistol (Polizeipistole , German - police pistol). Such weapons were required not only for the police, but also for customs officers, security officers, etc. From its predecessor, the RR received the design of a movable trigger guard, which also served as a latch for disassembling the pistol. Intended for use as a police service weapon, the Walter RR (designed to use the 7.65 x 17 Browning cartridge), without going beyond the restrictions of the Treaty of Versailles, was close in its characteristics to military models.
Along with the 7.65 mm Walter RR pistols, their variants were also produced, designed to use other pistol cartridges, including: 9 x17 “Browning short”; 6.35 mm Browning and .22 LR. The production program of Carl Walther GmbH, along with standard Walther RR pistols with a steel frame, also included weapons with a frame made of aluminum alloys; as well as decorated weapons, made in piece (with a flat ornament on the outer surfaces of individual metal parts, made using the technique of hand engraving and chasing) and in souvenir design (where almost the entire outer surface of the pistols was covered with artistic hand engraving, chasing and color inlay according to metal).
The automatic operation of the Walter RR pistol worked on the principle of using the recoil of a free bolt with a stationary barrel. The return spring was put on the barrel. The trigger mechanism of the pistol is a hammer type. A flag-type fuse, mounted on the bolt casing, blocked the firing pin when turned on and pulled the trigger. The capacity of the box-shaped single-row magazine is 8 rounds. The main advantages of the Walter RR included: a self-cocking firing mechanism, which made it possible to fire the first shot without first cocking the hammer (German imperial patent N 444?763 from 1924); the functioning of an automatic safety device with fall protection, which allowed the hammer to act on the firing pin only when the trigger is fully pressed (German Imperial Patent N 578?765 of 1930), as well as an indicator of the presence of a cartridge in the chamber (which later became a proprietary feature of all pistols with the brand “ Walter"), which made it possible to determine by touch whether the weapon was loaded. If the cartridge was in the chamber, then in the end part of the bolt casing, a signal pin protruded three millimeters outwards, and if the gun was not loaded, then the pin was removed inside the bolt casing.
In 1944, when Walther had to increase production of its products at the expense of its quality, the cartridge presence indicator was excluded from the design of the PP pistol. After the magazine was emptied, the bolt housing remained in the rearmost position, held by the magazine delay. At the request of customers, the pistol could be equipped with a removable luminous attachment on the front sight to improve accuracy at dusk and in the dark.
The Walter RR pistol consisted of 42 parts, assemblies and mechanisms, the main ones being: barrel; pistol frame; casing-shutter; impact and trigger mechanisms; shop; safety device.
Modern design; small dimensions (total length – 170 mm, height – 109 mm, thickness – 22 mm, barrel length – 98 mm) and weight (weight with cartridges – 0.65 kg); ease of use; ease of use and a high degree of safety, along with almost instant readiness to open fire, high rate of fire and reliability combined with very good fighting qualities allowed Walter RR pistols to establish themselves as police weapons from the very first steps.
This effective weapon was distinguished by its high combat qualities: a bullet fired from a Walter RR pistol with an initial speed of 320 m/s, at a distance of 50 m, pierced a pine tree 110 mm thick. Along with this, the Walter RR pistol had high ballistic characteristics. The accuracy of the r100 combat at a distance of 15 m was characterized by a dispersion ellipse of 50x40 mm; at 25 m – 90x70 mm; at 35 m – 110x90 mm. The practical rate of fire was 40 rounds/min. Effective firing range – up to 35 m.
The personnel of the German police and security services, who began receiving Walter RR pistols in 1935, appreciated their many positive properties. Such high assessments expressed by numerous experts attracted the close attention of HWaA leaders to weapons that, it would seem, did not at all fall under military requirements. This was also facilitated by the fact that in proportion to the manifold increase in the size of the Wehrmacht in gigantic proportions, the need for appropriate weapons also grew. The available stock of weapons at that moment could not satisfy the demands of the army, and the full deployment of production of standard weapons was still far away. Therefore, the leadership of HWaA makes a palliative decision to fill the vacuum that has arisen in the small arms system by purchasing short-barreled weapons of service and civilian models from arms companies. The Wehrmacht immediately found a field of application for this police pistol. Compact and lightweight Walter RR pistols were used primarily by senior officers, staff officers, rear units of both the Wehrmacht and the Luftwaffe (i.e., all categories of command personnel, with the exception of officers of linear units), as well as in the SS field troops, SA units and SD security services.
In total, over the years of production (1929–1945), Carl Walther GmbH produced approximately 200,000 RR pistols (of which 10,000 were chambered for the 9x17 Browning Short cartridge).
However, with the defeat of Nazi Germany, Walter RR pistols were not scrapped, but continued to serve, but with their former opponents. The Soviet Union, among other trophies, received a fairly large number of Walter RR pistols, which Soviet security officers paid close attention to during the Great Patriotic War. Since the main weapons in the NKVD/MGB were Nagan revolvers of the 1895 model and Tokarev TT pistols of the 1933 model, which were not entirely suitable for concealed carry, the security officers needed a new compact, but at the same time relatively powerful weapon with a high stopping power of the bullet. The captured German 7.65-mm self-loading Walter RR ideally met such requirements. Therefore, in 1946–1948, several tens of thousands of these excellent pistols entered service with the operational staff of the USSR Ministry of State Security, where they were used until the mid-1950s, when they were replaced by domestic 9-mm Makarov PM pistols.
Sergey Monetchikov Drawings by Vladimir Makarov, Photo from the author’s archive
Pistols of the USSR, which you have never heard of.
This article will describe the rarest small arms that have not received wide publicity in society. And only a few models were produced.
Prilutsky pistol
It received its name in honor of the Soviet designer Sergei Prilutsky, who created it in 1914. The magazine holds 9 rounds of 9x20 mm caliber. With a length of 190 mm, it weighs 800 g. But due to the onset of the First World War, Prilutsky’s pistol was never put into service. After the war, Prilutsky returned to work and continued his development. Weapons with a free shutter have been modified more than once with to improve technical characteristics
. It consists of 31 parts, and is characterized by increased reliability and good accuracy of fire. It is inferior in power to the TT pistol, so it never gained demand.
Pistol "Drill"
The Margolin pistol of the 1948 model was taken as the basis. "Drill" was designed for law enforcement officers. Among the advantages is compactness. The weight is only 560 g. 5.45x18 mm cartridges are used for shooting. The store holds 10 units. But this caliber did not provide good stopping power. This is the main reason why weapons have not become widespread. The sighting range of Soviet small-sized self-loading weapons is also low. It does not exceed 50 m. There is no self-cocking.
Babakin pistol
The pistol is called BV-025
. It was developed by designer V.I. Babakin in the 60s. This was an order from the KGB and the Ministry of Internal Affairs, which planned to replace the Makarov pistol. But the weapon was ahead of the competition by the PSM - a small-sized self-loading pistol.
Despite the loss, the result was a high-quality double-action model. The automatic system is triggered by the recoil of the free shutter; there is a safety catch. The cartridges used are 5.45x18mm, which can penetrate an armored vest. The initial bullet speed is 315 m/s. With a length of 155 m, the weight is only 460 g, so BV-025 is easy to hide under clothing.
