GSh-18 (pistol): technical characteristics, variants and modifications, photo. Disadvantages of the pistol GSh-18

So it has traditionally happened that little attention is paid to pistols in our army. Command fairly fairly assumes that "the weather is done" not by them, but by automatic weapons and sniper rifles. But in some cases, pistols are necessary, and the experience of special forces that most often work in cities is clearer than the others. One of the most prominent representatives of the modern weapons school is GSh-18. This pistol combines the usual simplicity and reliability with high ergonomics and combat qualities.

His popularity in the army and law enforcement environment is quite high. The fact is that the GSh-18 pistol, whose resource is slightly lower than that of the legendary Makarov, has good ergonomics comparable to those of the best foreign analogues. It is worth several times less (even without taking into account the import margin). Let's notice, that in Tula for some time the pistol GSH-18 traumatic for a cartridge .45 Rubber was issued. From combat it differed slightly, mainly due to a simplified design and the presence of protrusions in the channel of the trunk, which made it impossible to fire live ammunition.

The release is currently terminated, and this is due to certain changes in legislation (a ban on the production of mass-scale mock-ups and traumatic weapons based on combat models), and with the activities of folk craftsmen. The protrusions in the barrel are being cut down, the pistol becomes combat. However, it is quite dangerous to shoot from such a "homemade", since the weapon in this case differs by the free passage of the bolt, which, in combination with a full .45 caliber, can lead to the destruction of the entire bolt group. Do not confuse with him the pneumatic pistol GSh-18, which has nothing to do with military weapons at all.

How did the gunsmiths come up with the idea of creating this gun?

Created GSh-18 was in the late 90's in Tula. Creators - gunsmiths Griazev and Shipunov. How did they come to the idea of creating it? The fact is that by the mid-1980s almost all the main armies of the world had widely used individual second and third class protection (body armor). Standard PM with their penetration could not cope. The army urgently needed a new weapon, from which it would be possible to hit growth targets in a flak jacket at a distance of up to 25 meters, with the bullet needed to maintain a sufficient stopping action at a distance of up to 50 meters. So, the initial requirements for GSh-18 were formed. The pistol was required by the army, and therefore had to be also very reliable.

It was assumed that the piercing capacity of the new weapon would be equal to the standard patrol "Parabellum", while its stopping power needed to be left at the level of the American .45 ACP. As for Makarov's pistol, which was massively used by the local power structures at that time, this weapon was very successful for its time, but its weak patron spoiled the whole picture. Of course, by that time the gunsmiths had already created improved cartridges of 9x18 mm caliber, but they also had a number of drawbacks. So, their use in old PM was impossible.

The main milestones of the creation of the cartridge

Therefore, the Tula people, in an enterprising manner, designed their GSh-18. The gun was offered at the state competition. But before that they had to do a lot of work, so that their weapons did not look worse than the products of their main competitors.

From the very beginning, the gunsmiths have taken up the issue of the construction of the cartridge of the SSB (armor-piercing). The standard cartridge from Makarov was used as the basis, but its design was largely taken from the unique subsonic SP-5. It was a bold decision to increase the characteristics of the cartridge by increasing muzzle energy and using a powerful steel core. For this, the masters suggested using a polyethylene shirt. On the nozzle of the bullet, a bare core of hardened thermally armored steel is visible. Such a design gave many advantages.

It turned out that the speed of the bullet at the moment of the shot immediately increased from 300 to 500 m / s. In addition, the new cartridge could be used without problems in old PM and new PMM. The breakdown of the bullet has increased by an order of magnitude. So, the standard cartridge from "Makarov" on ten meters allowed more or less confidently to punch only 1,5 mm of a steel sheet. With a new ammunition PM from the same ten meters allowed to pierce confidently 5 mm of steel! So why did the creators still come up with the idea of using NATO's Parabellum in their GSh-18? The pistol was already clearly no worse than its foreign competitors!

Transition to Parabellum

The fact is that the use of the cartridge from Makarov still led to a dead end, since this ammunition had almost completely exhausted the modernization reserve. Impulse 9x19 "Parabellum" and a half times higher than that of the domestic counterpart. It should be noted that by that time in Izhevsk already produced "Rooks" for this cartridge. But the quality of ammunition Ulyanovsk and Tula cartridge factory designers categorically did not suit. In addition, gunsmiths did not like their basic design.

So they make a completely logical decision. Take for the basis of both options: the American and Russian "Parabellum", but with respect to the design of the cartridge, use the results obtained during the creation of the PSP. As in the previous case, the bullet has a bimetallic shell and a core of thermally strengthened steel. Its mass is only 4.1 g (for foreign variants of "Parabellum" - up to 7.5 g). Due to this, it was possible to increase the muzzle velocity to 600 m / s. The new cartridge received the index GRAU 7N31. It provides a sure breakthrough of steel sheet thickness of 15 mm from a distance of eight meters.

Primary work

Gryazev decided not to deviate from the good traditions of Soviet and Russian gunsmiths: it was intended to create an easy, reliable, multipurpose pistol (GSh-18). Technical characteristics of it were supposed to be brought to such a level that it could be used with equal success both in the Ministry of Internal Affairs and in army divisions.

To be able to achieve this goal, the designer before the start of the work conducted a thoughtful analysis of domestic and foreign developments. His attention was immediately attracted by the Austrian "Glock-17", which had a number of curious features. First, the polymer frame, and secondly, the USM, which before the shot is automatically set to self-cocking. Gryazev was also attracted by the idea that there were no visible fuses on the gun body itself.

When the shutter is rolled, the drums are half-cocked: the drummer, located on the shutter casing, is connected to the whisper, after which the return spring drives the bolt to the hemp of the barrel. It is interesting that the coil spring is always half compressed. The shot occurred when the trigger was pressed, when it was completely compressed, and the drummer broke off from the sear. So what ideas were decided to be transferred to the new GSh-18 pistol? Its technical characteristics resemble an Austrian "relative" in some cases.

The main ideas of the GSh

Firstly, Gryazev decided to make the same plastic frame in the new weapon, to introduce half-cocking, and to abandon the idea of external fuses that protrude above the gun body and can prevent its quick extraction from the holster. Like Glock, the domestic gunsmith decided to abandon the idea with an open trigger, which made it possible to simplify the design of the weapon and make it noticeably easier. Finally, in this case, you can squeeze it as much as possible to your hand. Low position, which has a pistol GSh-18 during shooting, allows you to significantly reduce the return, which is very positive for the technique and accuracy of shooting.

Some design features

Automation weapons uses the principle of a short stroke of the barrel, which allows you to use a shorter and lightweight bolt. As for the locking of the barrel, Griazev immediately decided not to use a separate detail for this purpose. Recall that this design is typical for the pistols "Walter" R.38, Beretta 92 and domestic PS "Gyurza". He rightly reasoned that in world weapons practice there are enough successful examples of how the barrel is locked by its skew (in Browning systems), or by its turn. The latter is typical for weapons, which was invented by the Czech gunsmith Karel Krnka.

Immediately it did not happen to realize locking the barrel in a skew, as it is implemented in Glock. The attractiveness of this method is precisely that it does not require the use of separate parts, and also that the breech drops to the magazine, which greatly simplifies the mechanism for sending the cartridge. Then the designer decided to use the version with the "earring", which was originally used in the TT gun. It was characterized by high efficiency, but the comparative tests in harsh conditions such a pistol GSh-18 could not stand it.

The rotation of the trunk, which was most successfully implemented in the "Steier" M 1912, also failed to repeat. It turned out that the required turning radius is more than 60 degrees, and therefore to overcome this distance the mechanism spends a lot of energy, overcoming the increased friction force. It was necessary to reduce the angle of rotation to 18 degrees, and for the reliability of locking, do just ten combat stops. This fact, in combination with the polymeric frame used in the design, allows to significantly reduce the impact on the shot. The fact is that a short rotation of the barrel transfers a significant part of the energy to the fighting stops, and the polymer case effectively dissipates the vibrations that arise in this case.

Features of the USM design

Gun GSh-18, technical characteristics (photo of the weapon we give in the article), received from the creator of the USM double-action. Preliminary (when the shutter moves), the drummer is put on the floor. Debugging is carried out at the moment when the user presses the trigger, "dodavlivaya" fuse. It should be noted that a slightly different principle uses a sports pistol GSh-18. Sports imposes some restrictions on shooting, and therefore it is distinguished by a couple of details: the descent is much tighter, and the fuse is thrown off by its complete rotation around its axis.

By the way, the idea of using a half-cocking drummer in a gun immediately came to the mind of the designer. This method was first used by Karel Krnka on the Roth model, and after that it was revived by Glock taking into account modern specifics. Recall that the "Glock" with the retraction of the shutter compression of the very battle springs immediately does not happen. In the initial stage, this compression also does not take place, and only when it approaches its front position completely through the impactor, it stops with a sear. On the way back, the return spring, which is stronger than the combat one, overcomes its resistance and returns the bolt to its original position, and the fighting spring is compressed at about half.

But it was this idea that the Tula "did not rent". In severe conditions and with heavy contamination, the return spring can not always overcome the resistance of the combat, and this threatens with inoperability of the weapon or with strong delays in firing at best. Griazev decided to do it his own way.

So, GSh-18 is a pistol (the photo is in the article), which assumes the standard scheme: when the bolt is withdrawn, the fighting spring is compressed completely. Under the action of the return and fighting springs at the beginning of the rollback, the cover of the shutter-case goes forward, simultaneously pushing the cartridge from the magazine into the chamber. The drummer is fixed on the sheptal, and the shutter, under the action of a return spring alone, reaches its extreme position. In general, with this scheme, the drummer also remains on the half-cock, but the solutions used in this case look more practical and "elegant."

Shop, other characteristics

A standard two-row magazine is used, with a chess arrangement of cartridges, at the exit from which the cartridges line up in one row. Such a solution makes it possible to significantly simplify the layout of other weapons elements, especially the trigger pull. Of course, with such a scheme, the sending of cartridges from the store into the chamber is greatly improved. In addition, the Gryazev-Shipunov pistol (GSh-18) received a very powerful return spring, which guarantees the supply of cartridges and the combat capability of the weapon in any conditions. The magazine clasp is mounted behind the trigger guard, it can easily be thrown in the right direction. It is enough to press lightly on it, so that the store falls out under its own weight.

In general, it is these characteristics of the GSh-18 pistol that all owners of this weapon like. The situation of loss of a store in battle is not ruled out, which may end quite sadly.

Problems and solutions

At the first tests, very serious problems were revealed: sometimes the shutter casing completely lost its energy and stopped with the extractor's tooth in the bottom of the cartridge. The most insulting thing was that it took only a half millimeter to pass the bolt. But with this spring there was not enough energy. This impasse Griazev's position was bypassed simply: he came up with a puller without a spring. Its tooth is forced into the groove of the cartridge when the barrel rotates. The drummer, passing through a special hole, engages the extractor with the sleeve and holds it until it hits the reflector.

Shot product, sighting devices

When the finger presses on the trigger, it first presses a small lever of the automatic fuse. If the pressure persists and increases, a shot occurs. The protruding drummer (approximately 1 mm), which extends beyond the pistol only when half-cocked, can visually and by touch determine the readiness of the weapon for combat. Trigger - no more than five millimeters, which is a good indicator for service weapons. The trigger force is of the order of two kilograms.

What sighting devices did the GSh-18 pistol get? The reviews speak of the following elements: a removable front sight and a rear sight, the latter being mounted on the shutter casing itself. Especially popular are separately sold flies with tritium inserts (glowing in the dark). In addition, the gun has mounts for mounting the laser target designator (this option is on the photo in the article).

Main characteristics of the production cycle

The complexity of releasing the "Russian Glock" is three times less than that of the standard Beretta police. Of course, this has a positive effect on the cost of weapons. The main role in simplifying and reducing the cost of production is played directly by the frame, which is produced by the simple casting method of a durable polymer. The duration of this process takes only five minutes. The strength of the resulting frame is checked during rigorous tests. The use of a large number of polymers made it possible to achieve an unprecedentedly small weight of weapons: only 0.47 kg without a store.

Cover-bolt - the second most laborious execution of the pistol detail. To simplify production, the casing and the shutter are separate parts that can be separated during cleaning. The casing itself is made of a stamped metal sheet and its subsequent debugging on metal cutting machines. All this made it possible to significantly simplify and reduce the cost of production.

Advantages over foreign models

If you look at domestic models, then, in comparison with Western weapons, the advantage is precisely the GSh-18 pistol: the shot is slightly inferior to the classic "Makarov", but the model is extremely light, quick and ergonomic. Compare yourself: practically all NATO combat pistols with cartridges and a magazine weigh more than a kilogram, while the weight of the GSh is only 800 grams. From a distance of up to 20 meters, it allows you to confidently hit the target in a bulletproof vest of the third class of protection.

At a range of up to 50 meters, the gun allows penetration of up to 30 layers of Kevlar, while the bullet retains a high stopping effect. The best characteristics are shown by the cartridge 7H31. The pistol GSh-18 with a silencer really allows to shoot practically silently because of the thoughtful design of cartridges of subsonic type.

At shooting it practically does not lead upwards, as energy is expended on rotation of a trunk. Because of this, weapons are loved by athletes, since in competitions at a real rate of fire it helps to get excellent results. The advantage is also that it works perfectly with the entire range of domestic and foreign cartridges Parabellum. A high initial speed of the bullet allows you to make a smaller lead in firing on moving targets.

Thanks to the thoughtful, ergonomic form that highlights the pistol in the environment of domestic developments, it perfectly rests in the hand even without the use of individual patches on the cheeks. In combination with a small mass, this allows a long time to firing even in combat conditions, without fear of fatigue.

Some shortcomings

Is everyone good at GSh-18 (pistol)? He also has disadvantages. First, the quality of production suffers. Many owners complain that the completely new pistols wiped and shabby plastic. What's worse is that it's impossible to equip a store in combat conditions: its sponges are too sharp, it's very narrow. This extract requires an extractor.

So in real combat, the amount of ammunition for this weapon can be measured solely by the number of charged stores. Are there any problems with the GSh-18 (pistol)? Disadvantages are also in the extremely poor quality processing of many internal surfaces of weapons. This is especially complaining athletes.