Probably every person who is at least a little interested in Soviet weapons knows about Stechkin’s automatic pistol or just an APS. He really had a lot of successful decisions and, on the whole, established himself as a very good, albeit somewhat highly specialized weapon. So, it will be useful to tell about the history and technical characteristics of the Stechkin pistol. Photos attached to the article will complement the overall picture.
History of creation
After the end of World War II in the USSR, it was decided to create a pistol for a new cartridge, which could be equipped not only with military and police officers, but also with special services.
Although the caliber of 7.62 mm (like that of the Tula Tokarev) proved to be good, it turned out to be relatively weak. That is why a new pistol was taken as the basis - 9x18 millimeters. The wider and heavier bullet, although it did not provide a longer combat range and serious penetration of obstacles, turned out to be really scary at short distances. When hit, she inflicted serious wounds, often leading to death from shock or internal bleeding. In addition, the probability of piercing the enemy’s body with the subsequent wound of people behind it was reduced.
It was then that the young and little-known engineer Igor Yakovlevich Stechkin began to work. He began developing new weapons in 1948. Already in 1949, he submitted a trial copy to the commission, which was adopted without any special modifications. For development, the young designer received the Stalin Prize - a huge achievement of that time.
In addition to the sample from Stechkin, pistols from the already experienced and venerable designer P.Voevodin, as well as M. Kalashnikov, who was only gaining popularity, were presented at the competition. When checking the pistols, they were compared with relatively successful pistols that did not meet certain requirements - the Soviet PPS and the German Mauser-Astra.
The Stechkin caliber (APS) was 9 mm - under a proven, reliable and very practical cartridge.
One of the important features of the weapon was the presence of two shooting modes - single and automatic.
The pistol was adopted for service in 1951 and was produced until 1958. After that, due to existing shortcomings, he was discontinued, preferring Makarov’s pistol. However, it still enjoys the love of experts and is not forgotten, but is actively used even today. Over the years of production, they managed to produce relatively few pistols - about 30 thousand. However, it is worth considering that automatic pistols generally have a narrower niche than conventional self-loading.
Main characteristics
Now it’s worth telling about the main technical characteristics of the Stechkin pistol, a photo of which is attached to the article.
To begin with, the gun is quite heavy - without a magazine, its weight is 1.02 kilograms. For comparison, the more familiar Makarov pistol weighs only 730 grams. With constant wear, the extra 300 grams have a pretty big difference. A fully charged magazine increased the mass by an extra 200 grams.
In terms of dimensions, the gun was also not very suitable for secretive and comfortable wearing. Take at least its length - 225 millimeters. Makarov's pistol turned out to be a third shorter - only 161 millimeters.
But when using the same cartridge of 9 mm caliber, Stechkin’s pistol can boast a magazine of 20 rounds! PM also holds only 8 rounds. Of course, in a real battle, both when used in police operations and when used by the military, the extra 12 rounds may well play a decisive role, bringing a landslide victory to a good shooter. True, for this I had to use a two-row magazine with a staggered arrangement of cartridges. On the one hand, the hilt turned out to be wider than most of the military got used to. On the other hand, the store was sticking out a little from the handle of the pistol, further increasing its dimensions.
Talking about the technical characteristics of Stechkin, one can not help but mention the aiming range. This figure is quite large - about 50 meters. It is worth recognizing - for most pistols such a range is prohibitive. Still, we must not forget that the pistol was and remains a melee weapon. If we compare the dispersion radius, then at an APS at a distance of 50 meters it is only 5 centimeters. And at PM already at a distance to the target of 25 meters, the dispersion reaches 6.5 centimeters. Moreover, Stechkin’s long pistol barrel allows him to shoot at a distance beyond the limits of the vast majority of analogues - up to 200 meters! True, in this case the sifting is already 22 centimeters - and this is when shooting at the firing range, in ideal conditions. Therefore, of course, in combat conditions, it would never occur to anyone to shoot at such a distance - in this way you can hit a target only by pure chance.
But here it is worth remembering that the initial speed of the bullet is only 340 meters per second - because of the weak cartridge 9x18 millimeters. Therefore, we must pay tribute to the talent of the designer - few manage to create such a long-range weapon for weak ammunition.
The main advantages
Having talked about the main characteristics and caliber of Stechkin's cartridges, one should deal with those advantages that allowed him not only to be accepted into service in the USSR and the Russian Federation, but also to become a real legend.
To begin with, it is worth noting the large capacity of the store, which was already mentioned. Still, the ability to make 20 shots without reloading dramatically increases the likelihood of winning a shootout.
An additional advantage is the presence of automatic fire. True, it is strongly recommended to use it only if there is a holster attached and we will talk about it a little later.
The long barrel and well-designed internal ballistics significantly reduced the noise level when shooting. Yes, the sound of a shot from a PM is heard at a much greater distance than when firing from an APS.
Like most Russian weapons, Stechkin’s pistol boasts the highest reliability, allowing it to be used not only at landfills, but also in difficult operating conditions.
The accuracy of shooting also does not make one dream of the best - the dispersion indicators are shown above when shooting at different distances. Very few pistols can boast a dispersion of 5 centimeters at a distance of 50 meters to the target. And just getting into the growth target at a distance of 200 meters when using them is generally impossible.
Also, it is impossible not to mention a relatively small return. It is provided with a significant weight of the pistol and of course, a relatively weak cartridge. Due to its low recoil, the weapon demonstrates good accuracy when firing single shots. In close combat, this is especially important - the shooter is faced with the need to conduct a series of shots, inflicting as much damage as possible to the enemy, including fatal ones.
A simple design greatly facilitates maintenance - not only a special forces officer can deal with him, but also a simple sergeant with relatively little experience in handling weapons.
Finally, the use of quality material and thoughtful design provide a good margin of safety for weapons. During the tests, some pistols passed a very severe test - up to 40 thousand shots. And even after that no cracks appeared on the shutter-casings, not to mention other serious breakdowns.
Shortcomings
But nevertheless, despite the important advantages, which many experts on weapons readily acknowledge, the characteristics of Stechkin, whose photo the reader sees in the article, became the cause of certain shortcomings.
One of the most noticeable is the weight, as mentioned above. Few would like to carry a holster with a pistol on its side that weighs a kilogram, and four more fully charged magazines, weighing about 800 grams. And in general, large dimensions brought certain inconvenience when worn and used.
A minus can be called a relatively small power - the fault is not the design of the gun, but the cartridge used. Still, Stechkin’s caliber cannot provide serious breakdown power.
These two shortcomings turned out to be very important for different users. For example, for the military, who may need to use weapons in battle in open space, the gun was too weak. And for law enforcement officers he was too heavy and large - it was secretly impossible to wear, and a holster with a gun and shops, weighing 2.5 kilograms, does not add comfort.
As a result, it was decided to stop the production of the Stechkin pistol, preferring the analogue created by Makarov. In addition, the Art Nouveau contest was announced in the 1970s. His main task was to create a small-sized machine gun that would use 5.45x39 mm ammunition and could completely replace Stechkin’s pistol. As a result, the victory went to the machine gun AKS-74U.
However, a successful gun was not forgotten at all. Already in the 1990s, several types of weapons developed on its basis were developed and put into production: OTs-23 "Drotik", OTs-27 "Berdysh" and OTs-33 "Pernach".
Who used and is being used
It will be useful to say who generally armed himself and is armed with this pistol.
Of course, immediately after the introduction into production, the possibility of arming them with the military and police was considered. However, for the reasons mentioned above, this was not the best idea.
Therefore, it was subsequently decided to equip machine gunners and grenade throwers with this pistol, which could use it as a melee weapon. Moreover, this good tradition remained relevant until the collapse of the USSR - almost until the end of the 80s of the last century.
In addition, for some time he became a service weapon for tank crews and armored personnel carriers. A completely justified decision - to get out of the SCS or AK in such a cramped environment is almost impossible, especially if necessary, act quickly. But the compact and relatively light pistol with a very decent range of battle perfectly suited this position.
Often, Stechkin’s pistol was also included in the mandatory survival kit for Air Force pilots. Moreover, it was relevant as half a century ago, and today. Not everyone knows, but the military pilots participating in the operation in Syria were armed with this particular gun.
Finally, it is worth noting that many special forces officers, having the ability to use almost any weapon, both domestic and foreign, give preference to this pistol, appreciating its reliability, spacious store, battle range and accuracy.
Fancy holster
As promised earlier, back to the holster. The first samples were made of wood, but subsequently preference was given to plastic counterparts. However, there is nothing interesting here. But the fact that the holster was used as a butt is not widely known.
Yes, at the bottom of the holster there was a special guide that allows you to connect a pistol grip to it. The educated design resembles a very short carbine, thanks to which it is possible to fire in short bursts with much greater accuracy.
The fact is that, despite the weak recoil when firing single shots, with automatic firing only the first two rounds go to the target - the rest is almost impossible to hit due to the uncontrolled lifting of the pistol. The presence of a stock holster allowed to partially solve this problem. Partly - because in a battle, a soldier or officer often does not have time to connect a holster to a gun. However, the need to conduct automatic fire at a remote target from a pistol also arises extremely rarely.
Existing Modifications
First of all, it is worth telling about the APB - the silent automatic pistol. It was developed by designer A. S. Neugodov in 1972 and is produced, albeit in small volumes, to this day. The pistol uses the same cartridge as Stechkin’s caliber - 9x18 millimeters. But APB has a number of improvements.
One of them was an extension of the barrel by 2 centimeters for the possibility of installing a silencer. In addition, the barrel has two openings for the exit of gases. This reduces the power of the shot (the initial velocity of the bullet drops to 290 meters per second), but significantly reduces the noise level when firing. The maximum firing range has decreased markedly, but usually during such operations this is not the most important drawback.
In addition, it was decided to abandon the plastic or wooden holster. They were replaced by an analogue of fabric. And the butt was made of wire, which allowed to reduce weight, increasing usability.
Also, in some weapon circles, information about the Stechkin pistol of 7.62 mm caliber sometimes slips. Moreover, this happens, although rarely, but regularly. However, there is no documentary evidence for the existence of such information in the public domain.
Rate of fire
Speaking of automatic weapons, which is also an APS, one can not help but talk about rate of fire.
In general, the maximum rate when shooting in bursts is about 700-750 rounds per minute. However, the practical rate of fire is much lower. When shooting single, it is about 40 rounds per minute, and with automatic fire - about 90 rounds per minute. However, even these indicators are very impressive. For example, the familiar Makarov pistol has a combat rate of only 30 rounds per minute.
In which countries was used
Of course, the gun was most widely used in the USSR. As mentioned earlier, they were armed with crews of tanks and combat vehicles, the first numbers of machine guns and grenade launchers.
After switching to the AKS-74U, the Stechkin pistol remained in service with the military intelligence and special units of the KGB and the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the USSR.
It is also used in Belarus - by officers of the SOBR and riot police.
For the arming of the German police at one time, a certain number of these reliable pistols were also purchased.
Fighters from the Avispas Negras special unit in Cuba are also armed with APS.
In addition, the gun is in service with special services in countries such as Kazakhstan, Armenia, Bulgaria.
This already indicates the excellent properties of weapons. After all, it, developed seventy years ago, has still not lost its relevance, which says a lot.
