To date, the Leningrad-made Baltiets pistol is one of the rarest examples of Soviet firearms. It was created as a promising replacement for the legendary TT pistol. However, something in the history of the Baltiyets went wrong, and this weapon did not eventually reach mass production. So what happened?
The Tula Tokarev or Pistol of 1933 became the first self-loading domestic pistol designed for the needs of the Red Army and the internal affairs bodies. First of all, the TT was precisely an army pistol. When developing, the stake was placed on the high power of weapons, low cost, ease of production in order to achieve the maximum circulation in the shortest possible time. Of course, the TT had specific shortcomings, many of which directly stemmed from the haste of development and the lack of experience in the young weapons school of the Soviet Union.
One of the most serious shortcomings of the TT clearly manifested itself during the winter hostilities on the eastern front in 1941-1942. At extremely low (-30 C and below) temperatures, it turned out that the parts of the Tula Tokarev have a habit of freezing. Then, at one of the meetings of the Leningrad Regional Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks, Rear Admiral Yuri Fedorovich Rall put forward a proposal to develop a more reliable pistol for the command staff of the army and navy. This task was entrusted to the Leningrad Plant No. 181.
The new pistol was based on the German Walther PP, which generally performed well in the harsh "Russian winter". The sketches of the new pistol were created by the chief designer of the plant, Egorov, and the technologist Bogdanov. The weapon was converted under the Soviet cartridge of caliber 7.62x25 mm TT. Spare parts for the first 15 experimental pistols, nicknamed "Baltiets", were made by hand at the sites of senior craftsmen V. Fokina A. Baturina A. Vizzhalova. The first sample was assembled in March 1942. Weapon tests at a temperature of -30 degrees were carried out in a special workshop.
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In general, the Baltiets showed its best performance in extreme cold conditions, significantly surpassing the TT in a number of parameters. The only real problem with the new weapon was that it came out extremely heavy - 1.1 kg. For this reason, the barrel had to be slightly shortened. However, even after that, the Leningrad pistol showed good accuracy and firing range, and its automatics worked flawlessly in any conditions.
It was not possible to establish mass production of the pistol under the conditions of the blockade of Leningrad. In the end, only 14 pistols were assembled. Five copies later became awards for Soviet officers of the highest echelon and party leaders. It was not possible to replace the TT during the war. This will happen only with the advent of the Makarov Pistol.
In continuation of the topic, read about gun "Boa": why he really can not replace the legendary "Makarov".
Source: https://novate.ru/blogs/120422/62698/