PSM is a second chance weapon. Unknown pistol (4 photos)

In 1970, an order was issued to develop a small-sized pistol. It was necessary to create a pistol for concealed carry by operatives law enforcement, accordingly, it had to be flat, without protruding parts on the side surfaces, weighing no more than 0.5 kg with cartridges. The requirements also included the creation of a new small-caliber cartridge, i.e. the entire pistol complex. The caliber was determined to be 5.45 mm, and it was a completely new type of small-caliber cartridge. The MPC cartridge case, developed at TsNIITOCHMASH by designers A. I. Bochin (work leader), A. D. Denisova, L. S. Nikolaeva, G. P. Shamina, is bottle-type with a slight taper, the bullet has an ogive head and a small flat platform at the top. Bullet with steel core has a mass of 2.4 g, with a lead core - 2.6 g. Note that, in comparison with the 6.35 mm Browning cartridge, the 5.45 mm cartridge, with less weight and comparable dimensions, has 1.4 - 1.5 times greater power (119 J for a bullet with a steel core and 129 J for a bullet with a lead core versus 83-86 J for a bullet with a lead core of the Browning cartridge). This also determined a fairly good penetrating effect of the bullet.
The pistol was developed at TsKIBSOO (Tula) by a design team consisting of T. I. Lashnev, A. A. Simarin and L. L. Kulikov. The 5.45-mm pistol passed state tests from the first presentation, and in December 1972 it was put into service under the designation PSM (“small-sized self-loading pistol”, index 6P23). Serial production of PSM since 1976 was mastered by the Izhevsk Mechanical Plant. The PSM was intended for the operational services of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the KGB, but was also adopted for arming the senior command staff of the Armed Forces, and entered service with the security services, protection of government leaders, drivers of the Special Purpose Garage, etc.
The automatic operation of the pistol operates due to the recoil of the free bolt. The barrel of the pistol is fixedly mounted on a ledge in the middle part of the frame. The return spring is mounted on the barrel. The rearward movement of the shutter is limited by the protrusion of the trigger guard. When disassembling the pistol, the spring-loaded trigger guard is deflected downward.
The impact mechanism is hammer-operated, with an open hammer. The cylindrical helical mainspring is connected to the trigger by a rod. The firing pin is mounted in the bolt. The trigger mechanism allows single firing with both pre-cocking and self-cocking. The trigger has a safety cock, which allows you to carry a weapon ready to fire with the safety off, without fear of an unintentional shot if the weapon is accidentally dropped or strongly shaken. The sear has a protrusion that interacts with the fuse, and a hook for interacting with the trigger rod. A non-automatic flag-type safety mounted in the bolt blocks the sear, bolt and trigger in the forward position, while simultaneously releasing the hammer and blocking the firing pin from the action of the hammer. The location of the safety flag protruding above the back of the bolt allows you to turn off the safety and cock the hammer in one motion thumb shooting hand or the palm of the other hand.
When firing with the hammer pre-cocked, when the trigger is pressed, the trigger rod moves forward, rises, turning the sear with its tooth, and disengages it from the trigger tooth. The trigger, freed from the sear, under the action of the mainspring through the trigger rod, sharply turns forward and strikes the firing pin, which hits the cartridge primer with its striker. The bolt, moving backward under the action of recoil, presses down the releasing protrusion of the trigger rod, the rod lowers and disconnects from the trigger tooth of the sear, the trigger turns and moves the trigger rod down, compressing the mainspring. The released sear, under the action of its spring, is pressed against the trigger and, with further rotation, sinks with a protrusion under the trigger tooth. When firing by self-cocking, the hammer is cocked and released by pressing the trigger: the trigger rod moves forward, its tooth engages with the self-cocking tooth of the hammer, the hammer rotates and, cocking, squeezes the trigger rod out of engagement with it; the trigger rod removes the sear from the zone of passage of the safety and combat teeth of the trigger; at the moment of complete disengagement from the rod, the trigger turns forward, striking the firing pin.
Removing the spent cartridge case from the chamber and removing it is done using an ejector mounted in the bolt and a reflective stop protrusion.
The cartridges are fed from a single-row magazine with a capacity of 8 rounds, inserted into the pistol grip. The magazine has large side windows that accommodate the feeder lugs, equipped with a notch for fingers to facilitate loading the magazine. The rear protrusion of the trigger guard rests against the front wall of the magazine, so it is impossible to fold the trigger guard down and disassemble the pistol without removing the magazine, which increases the safety of handling the pistol. When the cartridges are used up, the magazine feeder switches on a stop that holds the bolt in the rear position.
A sighting device is placed on the bolt, including a front sight and a constant sight.
The location of the pistol's controls makes it easy to operate the weapon with one hand. An original feature was the manufacture of the handle cheeks from metal and their fastening to the frame with a stopper instead of a screw - replacing the threaded connection, which requires use during disassembly and assembly special tool, a stopper simplified the assembly and disassembly of the pistol and ensured reliable fastening of the handle to the pistol. The wrap-around handle covers the side windows and the back of the frame, closes and secures the axles from falling out during operation.
The pistol is compact, its flat shape without any protruding parts and smooth contours make it easier to carry concealedly and quickly draw the weapon. A relatively long - 85 mm (15.5 caliber) - barrel and a powerful cartridge for such a small caliber provided good ballistic performance at ranges of use of “pocket” weapons.
To use PSM as an auxiliary weapon, a number of belt, thigh and ankle holsters have been created.
However, the “flattening” affected the service qualities of the weapon - the small size of the handle makes its fit in the palm insufficiently tight. Full contact of the palm with the handle is not possible, and you have to press the trigger with the middle phalanx index finger. Therefore, during production, the flat cheeks of the aluminum alloy handle were replaced with plastic cheeks with fins that were increased in length and width, making holding the pistol noticeably more convenient. The stability of the pistol increases when fired and after the shot, and therefore accuracy. The new grip increased the overall width of the weapon by 2 mm.
In the 1990s, the Izhevsk Mechanical Plant offered for export a version of the pistol under the designation IZH-75, and then the MP-441 (“Baikal-441”) pistol, a modification of the PSM for the 6.35-mm Browning cartridge (. 25 ASR). The pistol has become noticeably wider. There is an indicator of the presence of a cartridge in the chamber. A curious feature of this modification was the installation of an adjustable sight on the “pocket” pistol.
There are also gas versions of the pistol. The first was the 6P37 pistol developed by V. A. Yarygin. The version for the domestic 7.62 mm gas cartridge was initially produced with a barrel bore smooth along the entire length, then with a separator spring in the barrel bore. Later, an option for an 8 mm gas cartridge was added. From 1996-1997 modifications of the IZH-78 and IZH-78-8 gas pistols (chambered for an 8-mm cartridge) were produced with additionally “weakened” barrel walls made of inferior steel - such a gas pistol was more difficult to convert to a live cartridge.
The development of the IZH-78 was the traumatic IZH-78-9T, which appeared in 2004 (in common parlance - “Pe-se-emych”) chambered for the Emm RA cartridge with a rubber bullet or gas.

The small-sized self-loading pistol, abbreviated as PSM, was developed at TsKIB SOO in Tula by a team of designers consisting of T.I. Lashnev, A.A. Samarin and L.L. Kulikov. in 1970-1972. The pistol was created on the basis of TTT approved by the military-industrial complex under the Council of Ministers of the USSR. The main requirement was “flat, without protruding parts on the side surfaces; thick as a matchbox (17mm), lightweight, weighing with a loaded magazine no more than 0.5 kgf", with overall parameters - length 155 mm, height 106 mm, thickness 17 mm."

In 1972, a pistol with a factory index of 6p23 was put into service the first time, without making any modifications. As conceived by the designers, the pistol was intended to arm the army's top commanders, but its high efficiency with small dimensions and weight made it popular among security forces and law enforcement officers. The combination of these qualities also makes it an ideal weapon for self-defense.

PSM began to be produced in 1974 at the Izhevsk Mechanical Plant.

For this pistol, designer A.D. Denisova developed a new MPTs cartridge (5.45*18), the mass of which was 4.8 g, the bullet - 2.5 g, starting speed bullet flight was 300-315 m/s.

It should be noted that over more than 30 years of production, the PSM pistol has not undergone any modernizations or modifications, with the exception, perhaps, of the handle shell.

The first PSMs had an aluminum handle, but to improve the ergonomics of the pistol, it was soon decided to replace the handle with a plastic one. The pistol “got thicker” by 2 mm, now its width was 20 mm, but this was a small price to pay for improving its “grip”. All modifications of PSMA produced and currently produced are equipped with a plastic handle.

Type - automatic based on blowback recoil, self-loading

Caliber - 5.45 mm

Length - 155 mm

Barrel length - 85 mm

Weight - 0.46 kg

Magazine capacity - 8

The operating principle of the automatic PSM is based on the recoil of the free shutter-casing during a shot. The bolt return spring is mounted on the barrel. There is a notch on both sides of the shutter surface. The impact mechanism is an open trigger with a screw mainspring and a curved trigger rod. This design of the trigger mechanism allows for single fire, both with self-cocking using special protrusions on the trigger rod, and with pre-cocking of the hammer. The safety flag protrudes from the rear of the bolt, allowing you to cock the hammer and slide the safety with one movement of your thumb.

The trigger has a safety cock. This makes it possible to carry a weapon ready to fire with the safety off. The safety lever blocks the sear and trigger in the forward position, thereby releasing the hammer from cocking and disconnecting the firing pin from interacting with the hammer.

The PSM handle has a flat 8-round magazine. The single-row walls are made with large side windows. They move a feeder with notched projections, which ensures easy loading of the magazine. It is impossible to disassemble the pistol without removing the magazine, since the rear protrusion of the trigger guard rests against the front wall of the magazine.

The pistol has a flat, compact shape and smooth contours without parts protruding to the side, which makes it easier to carry concealed and allows you to easily remove the weapon if necessary. The pistol is perfectly balanced, and the convenient location of the controls allows you to easily operate the weapon with one hand. Distinctive feature The pistol is equipped with a handle made of a metal alloy and secured to the frame with a stopper.

The PSM pistol is a melee weapon, and is excellent for performing special tasks and self-defense.

Fighters special units use PSM as an auxiliary weapon. It should be noted that the flat and small-sized handle makes the PSM fit in the palm insufficiently tight. You have to press the trigger with the middle, and not the front, phalanx of the index finger, which worsens the practical results of shooting.

The designers of TsKIB developed a modernized version of the PSM, which is produced by the Izhmekh plant and is designated IZH-75. It differs from the PSM in having an elongated barrel and a wider handle.

Gas pistol 6p37.

In 1993, with permission for Russian citizens to purchase gas weapons, the production of domestic weapons was launched. gas pistols, which differed favorably from foreign models in that they were made of weapons-grade steel. As in the case of the PM, when developing the gas PSM, they did everything simply: they took a regular combat PSM, installed a chamber sleeve for a specially designed 7.62 mm gas cartridge. The trunk was smooth throughout.

There was no need to redo the shutter, because this cartridge was developed on the basis of the MPC cartridge, only instead of a bottle shape it received the usual cylindrical shape and its barrel was clamped in the form of an asterisk. The pistol was named 6p37.

The production of a new modification of the gas PSM was due to the fact that the 6p37, falling into criminal hands, could very easily be converted into a combat pistol, both chambered for 5.45 mm and 6.35 mm. To do this, it was enough to remove the separator, the muzzle sleeve and drill the barrel for these cartridges. Therefore, the Izh-78 was distinguished by a thinner barrel made of inferior steel. Due to the design features of the PSM, it was no longer possible to weaken the pistol.

Now it was the other way around: the gas Izh-78-8 was produced en masse, and the Izh-78-7.6 was produced in separate batches. It should be noted that in terms of reliability, the 8mm modification of the Izh-78 is much more reliable than the similar 8mm version of the Izh-79 due to the more suitable length and width of the magazine for an 8mm gas cartridge.

But the constant criminal conversions of the gas-powered Izh-78 into a combat pistol, as the most suitable for this purpose from the entire range of pistols produced, led to the fact that the Izh-78 abruptly disappeared from the assortment of gun stores at the beginning of 2000.

Also at the beginning of 2000, the pistol magazine underwent some changes: its cover began to be made of plastic, and it received a slightly different shape, more convenient for the little finger of the shooting hand.

In the fall of 2004, a new modification of the PSM pistol, more precisely the gas Izh-78 - Izh-78-9T chambered for a 9mm-RA caliber cartridge with a rubber bullet, appeared in the Kolchuga weapons store. This pistol received its own name "Kolchuga", after the name of the store of the same name, which pushed the pistol onto the civilian market. Unlike the usual gas Izh-78-7.62/8, this pistol received a 9-RA caliber. In connection with this, the magazine body was changed (the thickness of the walls became smaller, the cutout in the side walls changed), the feeder became a little thicker, having a different shape. Due to the use of a 9mm cartridge, the magazine capacity became only 6 rounds, although by making the feeder yourself, the capacity can be increased to 7 rounds (it’s strange that this was not done at the factory). Also, due to the use of a 9mm cartridge, the thickness of the walls of the barrel post has decreased significantly, but has sufficient strength for firing a cartridge with a rubber bullet.

By the way, I would like to note that the Izh-78-9T pistol is more like a combat pistol than any other gas, or gas-powered pistol. It can only be distinguished externally by its factory marks.

The channel of the pistol barrel has two protrusions, which have already become standard, in order to prevent the possibility of firing anything harder than a rubber ball, and also to keep the muzzle energy of a shot with a factory cartridge within 40 J.

Today IZH-78-9T is one of the popular pistols for self-defense.

PSM

The self-loading small-sized pistol (PSM) of 5.45 mm caliber is designed to defeat enemy personnel in self-defense and performing special tasks. It was developed to equip the highest command staff of the Armed Forces and award personnel. He aroused interest from the operational services of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the KGB.

The pistol was created according to instructions for the development of a small-sized “pocket” type pistol, issued by the Ministry of Defense in 1969. The main requirement for a pistol is “flat, without protruding parts on the side surfaces, as thick as a matchbox (17 mm), lightweight, weighing no more than 0.5 kg with a loaded magazine.

To enlarge the picture, click on the image.

It was developed at TsKIB SOO (Tula, 1970-1972) by a group of designers including T.I. Lashneva, A.A. Simarin and L.L. Kulikov, who previously worked on the creation of sports pistols. During its development, the layout diagram of the “Walter” RRK pistol was used. In 1974, the PSM pistol chambered for a 5.45 mm pistol cartridge, developed at the Central Research Institute Tochmash A.D., was adopted for service. Denisova.

The PSM pistol passed all tests without significant comments or modifications.

Serial production of the pistol was organized in 1974 at the Izhevsk Mechanical Plant.

The pistol is compact, and its flat shape without protruding parts and smooth contours make it easier to carry concealedly and quickly draw the weapon if necessary. A relatively long barrel, a cartridge powerful enough for a small caliber, and the balance of the weapon provided it with good ballistic performance.

The hammer-type trigger mechanism is designed to hold the hammer cocked, fire control and self-cocking firing. Includes hammer, hammer rod, trigger assembly and sear with spring. The trigger mechanism provides single fire with pre-cocking and self-cocking due to special protrusions of the trigger rod and hammer.

The bolt, as a moving part of the pistol, locks the barrel bore and, under the influence of recoil force, activates its automation. The shutter contains sighting devices, fuse, firing pin, ejector, recesses and protrusions for stopping the bolt in the rear extreme position, cocking the hammer and chambering the cartridge.

The return spring serves to return the bolt to its most forward position after firing and create additional force to lock the barrel. One end of the spring has a coil of smaller diameter to hold it on the barrel, the other has a coil of larger diameter to create a stop against the transverse annular wall of the bolt.

The stop is designed to hold the bolt in the rear position after the entire set of cartridges has been used up in the magazine and is actuated by the feeder.

Flat single-row magazine for 8 rounds. Its walls have large side windows in which the feeder protrusions move, making it easier to equip the magazine. Consists of a housing, feeder, spring and cover.

The pistol is a self-loading weapon in which reloading and cocking of the hammer are performed automatically when fired. The automatic action is based on the recoil principle of the free shutter. The double-action trigger mechanism, of the hammer type, ensures single-shot fire both after pre-cocking and without pre-cocking.

Gift option

Safe handling of the pistol is ensured by a safety lock that blocks the firing pin from the impact of the trigger and locks the bolt and trigger in the forward position. Safety when disassembling and assembling the pistol is increased by the impossibility of removing the bolt from the frame without first separating the loaded magazine.

A special feature of the PSM pistol is the location of the safety catch head above the rear of the bolt. This allows the safety to be released and the hammer to be cocked simultaneously by pressing simultaneously with the thumb of the hand holding the pistol or the palm of the other hand.

Pistol Izh-75, export version PSM

When attaching the handle to the gun threaded connection, which requires the use of a special tool during disassembly and assembly, has been replaced by a stopper. This simplified the assembly and disassembly of the pistol, and ensured that the handle was securely attached to the pistol. The handle is made of light alloy instead of plastic, which increases the survivability and reliability of the pistol in difficult operating conditions.

Over more than 30 years of production, the PSM pistol has not been modernized or modified, with the exception of the handle shell.

• Caliber 5.45 mm
• Cartridge 5.45x18 mm
• Cartridge weight 4.8 g
• Bullet weight 2.5 g
• Weight without cartridges 0.46 kg
• Weight with loaded magazine 0.51 kg
• Length155 mm
• Height106 mm
• Width 21 mm
• Barrel length 85 mm
• Rifling 6 (right-hand)
• Initial bullet speed 315 m/s
• Muzzle energy 125 J
• Combat rate of fire 30 v/m
• Sighting range 25 m

Caliber: 5.45x18 mm

Length: 155 mm

Barrel length: 85 mm

Thickness: 18 mm

Weight without cartridges: 460 g

Magazine capacity: 8 rounds

5.45mm pistol PSM(designers Lashnev, Simarin and Kulikov), originally intended for concealed carry by employees of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the KGB, was adopted for service in 1972 based on the results of a competition in which it defeated its only competitor - the Babkin BV-025 pistol. To achieve a minimum gun thickness at an acceptable lethal action for it, the Klimovsky TsNIITochMash developed a special, unique 5.45x18mm cartridge with a bottle sleeve (designation 5.45x18 MPC, index 7N7). Subsequently, the PSM pistol was also used as a weapon of personal self-defense by senior command ranks of the law enforcement agencies of the USSR and Russia.

The Small-Size Self-Loading Pistol, or PSM for short, gained fame primarily for its exceptional compactness and minimal thickness, as well as for the ability of its small-caliber pointed bullet to penetrate some soft body armor at short ranges, successfully protecting against more powerful cartridges such as 9x18PM or 9x19.

The disadvantage of the PSM pistol is the low stopping effect of bullets. There are known cases when, after using PSM on a criminal, the latter, even having received mortal wounds, continued to resist or flee, and then, after some time, “suddenly” died.

The reason for such a low stopping effect lies in the small caliber of the bullets, which, in turn, was determined by the minimum dimensions of the future weapon specified in the tactical and technical requirements of 1971. In particular, the requirements stated that the thickness of the pistol “should not exceed the thickness of a matchbox,” that is, 17 mm; in addition, the pistol should not have protruding parts and be as flat as possible.

The limitation on the thickness of the bolt obviously limited the maximum possible diameter of the barrel, which, in combination with the simplest scheme with a free bolt and a return spring around the barrel, limited the possible caliber of the new weapon. Commercial versions of the PSM pistol in export version have the index Izh-75 and are produced both in the native caliber 5.45x18 and in the once popular caliber for pocket pistols 6.35mm Browning (.25ACP).

The PSM pistol is built on the basis of automatic blowback action.

The design of the pistol is made almost entirely of steel; on pistols of early releases, the grip cheeks were made of aluminum alloy; later they began to use plastic cheeks, which had a more convenient shape. The trigger trigger for the PSM pistol is double action. The safety lever is located on the left side of the slide, next to the trigger.

When the weapon is put on safety, the hammer is automatically released from cocking. The safety itself is located in such a way that by moving your thumb when turning it off, you can simultaneously cock the trigger. The PSM design has a bolt delay, but there is no lever to turn it off (this was done to reduce the number of parts protruding from the weapon). To remove the bolt from the slide stop, you need to remove the empty magazine and, slightly pulling back the open bolt, release it.

The small-sized self-loading pistol (aka PSM) is, along with the Makarov pistol, perhaps the most famous short-barreled weapon in the country. Popular rumor even nicknamed the small-sized pistol PSM a “spy pistol” - for the reason that from the very beginning it was intended mainly for employees of special agencies (Ministry of Internal Affairs and KGB) and, due to its characteristics, was used, for the most part, to carry out all sorts of operational (secret) activities. . In Soviet films about spies, the PSM was simply shown as the most important spy weapon.

In addition to all sorts of espionage matters, the pistol was intended for the highest command ranks of the army, and also as a reward weapon.

The pistol was designed in 1972 by Russian gunsmiths. For firing from a pistol, special cartridges of 5.45x15 MPC caliber were created. Having defeated its competitors as a result of tests, two years later the pistol officially became one of the types of weapons for the army and special forces. It is still in service to this day.

And here's what's interesting: since the seventies last century and ending with the present time, the pistol has not undergone any design changes, additions or other innovations. There was simply no need for such changes, since the weapon had proven itself with best side, and rightfully occupied a leading position among pistols of its class not only in Russia, but also abroad. The only change was some reworking of the handle, and this is more related to tuning than to some kind of design change.

This concerns a sample of weapons that were used within the country. The export sample of PSM has undergone some fundamental alterations. The fact is that the export model had to be adapted for firing with cartridges of a different type and caliber.

More about the pistol

The weapon is configured in the same way as the famous German-made Walter pistol. The PSM differs from other weapons of the same class in the following characteristics:

• Excellent accuracy;
• High precision;
• Excellent balancing, making it very comfortable to shoot from the pistol;
• The simplicity of the device allows you to easily disassemble and reassemble the pistol.

In addition, the consumer liked the dimensions of the pistol. Weapons of smaller thickness simply did not exist at that time. Another undoubted advantage is that the charges for this pistol were with unusual bullets. Unlike most other pistol loads, these bullets were pointed. Having this design, the bullet was capable of penetrating protective vests - despite the relatively small caliber. Even more powerful charges do not have such properties.

By the way, in addition to the fact that a bullet fired from a PSM pierced protective vests, it did not lose its lethal qualities and could kill the person wearing the vest. For some reason, domestic weapon users did not attach any importance to this, but, say, the Americans did, and were very worried about this circumstance, since they did not have compact weapons with such an impressive destructive force of the charge.

Features of the tactical and technical characteristics of weapons

The performance characteristics of the PSM pistol are as follows:

• The length of the weapon (total) is 15.5 cm;
• The trunk is 8.5 cm long;
• Gun width – 1.8 cm;
• When unloaded, the pistol weighs 460 grams;
• When loaded, the pistol weighs 500 grams;
• The pistol's magazine capacity is 8 charges;
• Rate of fire – up to 30 rounds per minute;
• The most effective fire is up to 85 m;
• The number of rifling in the barrel is 6;
• Bullet flight speed (initial) – 310 m.

5.45x18 MPC caliber cartridges are intended for firing from a pistol.

How automation and other components of the pistol work

The automatic operating principle of a weapon is classic - blowback recoil. The impact mechanism is trigger type. The trigger is open. The first shot can be fired without cocking the hammer. You can only fire single shots from a pistol. The frame is firmly connected to the barrel. The return spring is put on the barrel. When moving during the firing process, the bolt reaches a special protrusion located on the trigger guard and inhibits further movement of the bolt. When the last shot occurs, the magazine delay stops the bolt in its rearmost position. In order for the bolt to return to its place, you must first remove the magazine and move the bolt itself back a little.

In general, the operation of pistol automatics is traditional in everything. As well as the sight device (front sight and fixed rear sight).

But the pistol’s safety flag is located in a unique way – on the left side of the pistol body. In this way, you can use your thumb to turn off the safety and at the same time cock the trigger. Another feature of the weapon is that in order to remove the bolt, you must first remove the magazine from the handle. This must be remembered - including during the process of disassembling the pistol.

Additional technical characteristics of PSM

If we talk about the combat performance of weapons, then they are generally recognized to be very high level. Despite the fact that the pistol itself is compact, its barrel is relatively long. With such a barrel, the weapon's ammunition, despite its relatively small caliber, has sufficient power to hit the enemy.

This concerns the ballistic data of the pistol. If we talk about its operational data, they differ in the following characteristics:

• The pistol is thin (it is considered the flattest pistol in the world);
• The pistol is easy to control while firing;
• Disassembling the pistol, as well as assembling it, is not difficult;
• Spare parts for the pistol are not in short supply, and the pistol itself is not difficult to repair.

If we talk about the disadvantages, then, perhaps, the main disadvantage of the PSM (small-sized self-loading pistol) is that its bullet has a rather small stopping effect. Rumors are passed on from mouth to mouth in Russia that sometimes an enemy, struck by several bullets fired from a pistol at once and receiving mortal wounds, nevertheless does not fall dead from them, but continues to act for some time, and only after some time time is dying.

However, this is a relative disadvantage, because the PSM from the very beginning was not created for the battlefield, but to carry out some specific operations with its help.

About the appearance of the pistol

The appearance of any weapon is perhaps its main advantage. It happens that all other characteristics of a weapon are very mediocre, but if at the same time it has an excellent modern design, then such a weapon is simply doomed to popularity. Concerning appearance PSM, then, according to many of its users, it is quite up to par. Its handle has specially made sidewalls (cheeks). Thanks to them, the design of the weapon is improved, and, in addition, the pistol is more convenient to shoot. The cheeks mask the side windows, as well as the back of the frame. At the very beginning, the cheeks were made of duralumin, later they became polyamide.

Again, according to the testimony of many weapon users, the pistol grip is quite successful and ergonomic. The handle fits freely and comfortably in any palm - be it large or small.

There are no protrusions on the pistol's slide. Thanks to this, the pistol was always easily hidden in a pocket or in the folds of clothing, as well as in handbags (remember movies about spies), and was removed from there without any problems.

Weapon modifications

It is clear that such a successful and legendary pistol sooner or later had to serve as the basis for modifications. However, until the early nineties, no modifications or versions of PSM existed. In the early nineties, due to known historical events, such modifications began to appear.

At first they tried to introduce the pistol to the Western market. The attempt was quite successful, and the pistol very soon took a prominent place on the world market. firearms. True, for this it was necessary to slightly change the design of the weapon, adapting it for firing with other charges - 6.35 mm Browning. And by the way, it was a very good decision. The PSM, which fires 6.35 Browning charges, has become very popular among the intelligence services of many countries around the world, and, in addition, among ordinary users who use weapons for self-defense.

In addition to the above version, there are currently many purely civilian modifications of the famous “spy” pistol. Here are just a few of them:

• Traumatic pistol PSM-R, produced by craftsmen from Ukraine, and is practically an exact copy his combat double;
• Gas pistol 6p37;
• Gas version of IZH-78. This is a modified modification of 6p37. So that no one is tempted to convert the gas 6p37 for firing live rounds, a barrel of a different caliber is attached to the IZH-78, made from a material of worse quality than the barrel of the previous version;
• IZH-78-9T. This is a traumatic pistol, similar in appearance to the PSM and adapted for firing 9 mm RA charges;
• Traumatic pistol "Chain mail". Of all the PSM modifications, it is the “Kolchuga” that is most similar to the original. Due to design decisions, it is almost impossible to convert this version to fire live rounds, however, due to its exceptional similarity to the original, the weapon is extremely popular.

According to available data, several more versions are currently being developed by gunsmiths in several countries. traumatic weapons based on the PSM pistol.

Final conclusions

PSM is a famous, recognizable and in demand pistol. He is rightfully considered a pride Russian weapons and even, along with AK, a national symbol. Probably no one can say how many copies of this weapon have been produced over the years. To this day, many intelligence agencies around the world willingly use this weapon - despite the fact that the pistol has many much more modern competing models. And this speaks of high quality PSM.

In addition to performing purely combat missions, the pistol is also used for self-defense. In addition, the pistol is used for sporting purposes, shooting at targets from it.