There are not so many pistols, the ancestors of which were submachine guns. There are several reasons for this. First of all, the submachine gun is slightly larger in size than the pistol. He also has more weight. The location of the control elements of the submachine gun is still more convenient for using two hands during operation, while with certain training, one hand is enough to use the pistol (of course, excluding the procedure for cleaning and replacing the magazine). Despite this, there are some pistols that are converted from PP.
The reason for the creation of such pistols can be called at least the same poverty, or rather frugality. It is for the sake of economy that such samples are created: after all, it is much cheaper to deprive a submachine gun of automatic fire than to start production of a new pistol from scratch. However, even this statement is controversial.
There is a second more obvious reason for the creation of a weapon with the appearance of a submachine gun, but deprived of the possibility of automatic fire, is the law concerning weapons for the civilian population. Let me explain with an example. Suppose a country has certain restrictions on civilian weapons that prohibit the possession of weapons with the ability to conduct automatic fire. Nevertheless, people really want to get hold of a submachine gun. Someone likes the look, someone just wants to have another copy of the weapon in their collection - and so on. It is for such people that "cut-down" versions of the software are produced. Of course, many well-known arms companies do not shun the release of such weapons, after all, and this is also a profit. One example of this would be Steyr's SPP pistol.
Perhaps the most interesting point in this all is that this pistol was created as a weapon for the police, guards and so on, that is, for people who have the opportunity to use full-fledged submachine guns (which is strange). You can try to take the risk of suggesting that the reason for the creation of such a weapon was a banal economy, but I don't want to dig in this direction.
The progenitor of the SPP pistol was the TMP submachine gun. It was from him that the considered sample inherited not only the appearance, but also an almost complete device. In fact, the main distinguishing features are the lack of the ability to conduct automatic fire and the absence of an additional handle for holding. The mass and dimensions of the weapon practically coincide with a full-fledged sample of PP, which, of course, is not good for a weapon classified as a pistol. If you describe the appearance of the pistol, then it is difficult to highlight something special, in fact, the eye does not cling to anything. Above the place where the submachine gun had an additional handle for holding, there are latches that are designed to fix the two halves of the receiver. Those who are used to fuse checkbox switches may not immediately figure out where this item is on this product. The thing is that the safety switch in the SPP pistol is presented in the form of a slider moving transversely to the receiver. The decision is more than controversial, since, on the one hand, you do not need to duplicate the same weapon control on both sides, on the other hand, the location and switching are far from the most convenient, although this is more a matter of habit and personal preference. The pistol has a shutter delay, which is turned off using the button located on the left side of the weapon. It is noteworthy that all the movements of the shutter during firing remain within the receiver, the handle for manual retraction of the shutter to the extreme rear position is stationary when firing. There is a button on the pistol grip to remove the magazine. Since the weapon lost an additional handle for holding, it became possible to take the pistol's forend with the other hand. In order for the shooter's fingers not to accidentally touch the barrel or get in the way of the bullet, which is difficult to imagine, there is a small tide, which looks very fragile. The sights of the apparatus are the classic rear sight and front sight. The rear sight has the ability to adjust. In addition, on top of the receiver, due to the absolutely flat surface, a seat for a collimator sight can be easily installed. On the back of the weapon, a belt can be attached, as well as a butt. Separately, it is worth noting the very large thickness of the barrel of the weapon, or rather the part that protrudes beyond the receiver. What it is and why this size, it would be more appropriate to say in the description of the pistol device.
Weapon automatics are not built according to the most common scheme of work, the use of which requires a particularly careful selection of both materials for individual parts of the weapon and high quality of their processing. All this disgrace works according to the scheme with the disengagement of the barrel and the bolt of the weapon when the barrel is turned around its axis. This is what explains the fact that the barrel of the weapon seems excessively thick, in fact, the barrel is quite ordinary, and what is taken for the barrel protruding from the receiver is the part in which the barrel moves. Thanks to this, it became possible to use various muzzle devices such as silent firing devices without any problems. It all works as follows. In the normal position, the barrel and bolt are engaged in their forward positions. Accordingly, the powder charge, trying to push the bullet and the sleeve as far as possible from each other, pushes the first one forward, and the sleeve, sandwiched between the bolt and the barrel, tries to push it back. Thus, the bolt, as well as the barrel coupled to it, begin to move in the direction opposite to the shot. In the process of this movement, the barrel rotates around its axis, which leads to its disengagement from the bolt. The barrel stops, and the bolt continues to move, removing the spent cartridge case, as well as cocking the firing mechanism and compressing the return spring. After the bolt reaches its rearmost position, it stops and begins to move in the opposite direction under the action of the return spring. Moving forward, the bolt picks up a new cartridge from the magazine and inserts it into the chamber. Leaning against the breech of the barrel, the bolt pushes it forward, which leads back to the rotation of the barrel in the clutch and its engagement with the bolt. The choice of such an automation system is considered by many to be not the best, and one cannot but agree with this. Firstly, such an automation system requires a very high quality of production, and secondly, weapons with such an automation system are very sensitive to contamination. However, you can look at this weapon from a slightly different angle. The horizontal movement of the barrel allows you to achieve a sufficiently high accuracy, and the elongated barrel sleeve, in theory, should protect the weapon from contamination, at least partially.
The main plus, if it can be considered a positive feature of the weapon at all, is that it is outwardly almost identical to its progenitor - the TMP submachine gun. It is also impossible not to note the rather high accuracy of the weapon, especially when using a removable stock. The capacity of the store is also clearly not a minus of weapons. Unfortunately, this is where the positive qualities of the product end.
There are many more negative points in weapons. First of all, it is necessary to note the weight and dimensions of the pistol. Since the submachine gun became the basis of the weapon, the weight and dimensions, respectively, remained practically the same. For this reason, the weapon turned out to be too heavy and massive for a pistol and loses in these parameters to pistols in a classic layout and with a familiar appearance. This is the main disadvantage of the SPP pistol. Despite the fact that the designers have made a lot of effort to ensure that the pistol is as less susceptible to external contamination as possible, it cannot be called reliable in any operating conditions. It is rather a weapon for the city, and peaceful, clean and sunny. The weapon is unlikely to endure dirt and water, even despite the elongated barrel coupling and other design solutions. On the other hand, only a couple of dozen firearms can tolerate barbaric operating conditions in general, while other characteristics suffer.
If we talk about weapons in numbers, we get the following. The weight of the apparatus without cartridges is 1, 2 kilograms. The length without the attached butt is 282 millimeters, while the barrel length is 130 millimeters. The maximum thickness of the weapon is 45 millimeters. The device is powered by detachable box magazines with a capacity of 15 or 30 cartridges 9x19.
Based on all this, it is easy to conclude that a sample of such a pistol will never be in demand either by the police, or even more so by the army. But on the civilian market, there may be lovers of such exoticism.
