Why the promising Stechkin pistol was not needed by the Russian military

  • May 02, 2021
Why the promising Stechkin pistol was not needed by the Russian military

The Stechkin automatic pistol is a fairly old weapon and at the same time very well-known in the domestic open spaces, not only among lovers of everything that shoots. Many experts still consider the design proposed back in 1951 to be one of the best in its class. However, here a completely natural and difficult question arises: if everything with Stechkin is so cool, then why such a promising weapon actually turned out to be unnecessary for representatives of domestic power structures.

The main problem is that the pistol is very heavy. / Photo: warfor.me.
The main problem is that the pistol is very heavy. / Photo: warfor.me.

The development of the famous APS began in the late 1940s under the leadership of the Soviet gunsmith Igor Yakovlevich Stechkin. The new automatic pistol was developed in the USSR as a potential replacement for everything else. short-barreled weapons that were at that time in service with officers, intelligence and special divisions. It was assumed that the Stechkin pistol would become, among other things, a sergeant weapon in line units. But in practice, everything turned out to be not at all so simple. In fact, Stechkin did not join the army.

instagram viewer

Even without the stock, the APS came out too cumbersome. / Photo: dnpmag.com.

At the same time, the "combat path" of the APS is really glorious and long. The pistol has been in the conflicts in Angola and Mozambique, was used during the war in Afghanistan. Already in our time, he was seen in Syria. Some even argue that the APS was supplied to the Vietnamese army during the War of Independence from the colonial forces of France and the United States.

The pistol was being developed back in the 1940s. / Photo: osob.store.

The APS has plenty of advantages. A sufficiently large firepower is achieved through the use of an automatic firing mode and a 9x18 mm PM caliber. This actually makes the APS not so much a pistol as a submachine gun. The weapon is supplied with ammunition from magazines for 20 rounds. Like all other domestic small arms that were able to get out of the conveyor, the APS has sufficient reliability, which is largely dictated by the simplicity of the design.

READ ALSO: How snipers manage to hit targets at a distance of 2 kilometers

The design as a whole is not complicated. / Photo: doblest.club.

At the same time, the Stechkin automatic pistol has a number of serious shortcomings, which back in the 1950s years forced the command of the Armed Forces of the USSR to abandon the idea of ​​widespread introduction of this weapons. The first, main and most terrible drawback of the APS is its weight and dimensions. They are very large, even for an automatic pistol. The weapon does not have an acceptable level of ergonomics. After the compact domestic pistols, using Stechkin is frankly inconvenient.

>>>>Ideas for life | NOVATE.RU<<<<

For the army, the pistol did not work. / Photo: vitalykuzmin.net.

The second important drawback of the APS, which prevented it from becoming "the pistol of the whole army" at one time, is the not too high range of the bullet. This disadvantage directly stems from the selected caliber. Cartridges 9x18 mm do not give the bullet a sufficient initial velocity to ensure the proper level of flooring when firing. With an effective firing range of 100 meters, the APS simply does not have a tactical niche for itself in the context of linear units, and therefore remains only the lot of special forces.

Continuing the topic, read about
five best pistols according to American weapons experts.
A source:
https://novate.ru/blogs/111020/56333/