Based on the conclusions formulated in the article "Army pistol and the stopping effect of pistol cartridges", the ammunition of a promising army pistol must meet the following requirements.
1. The initial energy of the bullet must provide the depth of penetration necessary for guaranteed damage to internal organs, taking into account the penetration of bones, muscles, adipose tissue, etc.
2. The shape, composition and initial energy of the bullet must ensure the penetration of existing and prospective NIB at a pistol shot range (up to 50 meters).
3. The configuration of the cartridge should proceed from the minimization of the lateral dimension of the cartridge (diameter of the sleeve) to maximize the ammunition in the magazine.
4. The recoil when using such a cartridge must be acceptable for fast shooting with high accuracy.
Based on the above requirements, this can be a cartridge with a bullet with a diameter of 5-7 mm, made of hard alloy, possibly based on tungsten carbide, with a sleeve about 30 mm long, most likely bottle-shaped, with a diameter of 6-8 mm. The initial energy of the bullet should be in the range of 400-600 J
What are the reasons for these parameters? The bullet diameter was chosen based on the need to penetrate the NIB, since the heat-strengthened cores of domestic pistol cartridges with increased armor penetration have approximately the same diameter. Increasing the length of the sleeve is necessary to accommodate a sufficient powder charge, taking into account the reduction in the diameter of the sleeve. And reducing the diameter of the sleeve is necessary to increase the ammunition in the pistol magazine. The initial bullet energy is selected based on those parameters that are used in existing domestic pistol ammunition with increased armor penetration, while the shape and composition of the bullet, as well as the absence of a deformable shell, should increase the armor-piercing properties of a promising ammunition, with comparable initial energy.
The most interesting thing is that ammunition, in many ways falling under the above description, has already been created - these are cartridges used in weapons created according to the concept of personal defense weapons (PDW). The first "swallows" of the PDW direction can be considered the Belgian cartridge 5, 7x28 from Fabrique Nationale (FN) and the German cartridge 4, 6x30 from Heckler & Koch (HK).
Later, other similar ammunition appeared, made according to the PDW concept, which are currently less common.
In the USSR, several decades before the appearance of cartridges 5, 7x28 mm and 4, 6x30 mm, its own cartridge "PDW" was created - 5, 45x18 mm MPTs, which even at the moment has good armor-piercing properties. Nevertheless, the low energy of the cartridge 5, 45x18 mm MPC does not allow it to effectively hit even unprotected targets. Nevertheless, theoretically, it can be considered as the basis for the development of a conventional cartridge 5, 45x30 mm, intended for use in an army pistol, implemented according to the PDW concept.
Of course, the development of a promising cartridge based on the 5, 45x18 mm MPC cartridge is advisable only if its intended characteristics can be achieved in the chosen configuration, while the cost of its development and production will not exceed the cost of creating a new ammunition.
In addition, taking into account the progress in the creation of new materials, a promising cartridge for an army pistol, implemented according to the PDW concept, may be more efficient to develop completely from scratch. A promising cartridge can be implemented on the basis of a polymer, composite sleeve, or a cermet sleeve. Bullet material can be ceramic materials, composite ceramic materials, or tungsten-based alloys.
In the nose of the bullet, the use of a flat polymer tip can be considered to improve the properties of the bullet to create a temporary cavitation cavity. The presence of a flat area in the head of the bullet reduces the speed requirement required for the formation of a temporary cavitation cavity by the bullet. Despite the fact that in the previous material we highlighted the conclusions that the presence of a temporary cavitation cavity does not bring a significant effect to the stopping action, it makes no sense to abandon this effect if it is easy to implement. At the same time, in the case of overcoming the NIB or a solid barrier, the polymer tip will be destroyed without reducing the bullet's armor penetration characteristics.
Another way to increase the stopping and lethal effect can be the use of fragmented bullets in a promising cartridge.
A promising direction is the creation of telescopic ammunition, with a fully or partially recessed bullet, including a sub-caliber bullet.
Whatever technologies are used to create a promising cartridge, its dimensions should not exceed 40 mm in length and 8 mm in diameter. This will ensure the convenience of holding the weapon in the hand and an increase in the magazine capacity, compared to cartridges of 9 mm or more.
Small caliber pistols and submachine guns
Since we are considering the possibility of transferring an army pistol to a small caliber, then it is worthwhile to familiarize yourself a little with examples of small arms of this type.
First of all, these are, of course, weapons chambered for 5, 7x28 mm and 4, 6x30 mm - the FN Five-seveN pistol, the FN P90 submachine gun and the HK MP7 submachine gun.
Weapons of caliber 5, 7x28 mm and 4, 6x30 mm are quite widespread in the world. For example, the FN Five-seveN pistol is in service with the security forces of countries such as Belgium, Canada, Cyprus, France, Georgia, Greece, Guatemala, India, Indonesia, Italy, Libya, Mexico, Nepal, Peru, Poland, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Spain, Suriname, Thailand, United States.
The FN P90 submachine gun is used in Austria, Argentina, Bangladesh, Belgium, Great Britain, Germany, Greece, India, Ireland, Spain, Italy, Canada, Cyprus, Libya, Malaysia, Mexico, Morocco, the Netherlands, Pakistan, Panama, Peru, Poland, Portugal, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, USA, Thailand, Turkey, Ukraine, Chile, Philippines, France. The HK MP7 submachine gun is used in Austria, Vatican, Germany, Great Britain, Ireland, Jordan, Norway, Oman, Republic of Korea, Kazakhstan, USA, Japan.
According to some reports, Russian special forces also have a small number of FN P90 and HK MP7 submachine guns.
A weapon chambered for 5, 7x28 mm, the Fort-28 pistol, was even produced by a Ukrainian company, whose products are familiar to many Russian citizens from traumatic weapons.
An interesting example of small arms is the American Kel-Tec PMR-30 pistol in.22 WMR caliber. Its distinctive features include a low weight - 0.385 kg without a magazine and 0.555 kg with an loaded magazine, as well as a large ammunition load of 30.22 WMR rounds. Users note the extremely low recoil and ease of shooting from this pistol. Despite the fact that the initial bullet energy of the Kel-Tec PMR-30 pistol is only 190 J, it is believed that this is due to the slow burning of the powder of the.22 WMR cartridge, which is optimized for long rifle barrels in which the.22 WMR cartridge shows the initial energy is about 400 J (in a short pistol barrel, the powder charge may not completely burn out).
The Kel-Tec CP33 pistol in.22 LR caliber has an even more impressive 33 rounds of ammunition. The cartridges are housed in a four-row magazine, consisting of two compartments.
An interesting fact was revealed when firing another small caliber small arms weapon - the American.22 LR American-180 submachine gun. This weapon is distinguished by a large-capacity magazine for 180 rounds and a high rate of fire of 1200 - 1500 rounds per minute. Despite the minimal damaging properties of the.22 LR cartridge, the American-180 submachine gun has established itself as a powerful, effective, easily controlled weapon.
Some of the police officers who were armed with the American-180 came up with the idea to shoot one disc at a regular multi-layer Kevlar body armor, which the.22 LR cartridge did not penetrate under any circumstances. However, a long burst of American-180 gnawed through a hole in the body armor: each bullet pierced one layer of high-strength fabric, and the next one instantly flew to almost the same place.
Based on this "experiment", it is easy to guess what a line of more powerful cartridges, with bullets, with a carbide core, will do with the body armor. It is necessary to understand that for any body armor a certain number of hits is declared, which it is able to withstand. This property applies only to NIB, but also to armored glass, armor of tanks and any other. After each hit, the structure of the armor material is damaged, and it is easier for the next ammunition to overcome it.
And finally, one cannot but recall the unique domestic pistol Ots-23 "Dart". The OTs-23 Dart pistol was developed in the early 1990s by a team of designers from TsKIB SOO under the leadership of designer I. Ya. Stechkin, known for the charismatic pistol APS (Stechkin Automatic Pistol). The special features of the OTs-23 "Dart" are the use of a small-caliber cartridge 5, 45x18 mm MPTs, as well as the ability to fire single shots and short bursts of three shots at a rate of 1700 rounds per minute. Due to the unsatisfactory characteristics of the cartridge 5, 45x18 mm MPTs, the OTs-23 "Dart" pistol did not become widespread, but the concept itself is of considerable interest.
The small stopping effect of the 5, 45x18 mm MPC cartridge was supposed to be compensated for by a fixed burst of three shots. In practice, it turned out that this is not enough. Why? Most likely, the cartridge 5, 45x18 mm MPC, in principle, has too little initial energy for confident hitting the target, i.e. the resulting obstacle - bones, elements of clothing, reduce the likelihood of hitting for each bullet so much that even their combined effect does not provide a sufficient probability of hitting the target. And it is possible that this weapon seemed too unusual to the security forces, compared to pistols of accepted calibers.
It would be interesting to release an American-180 submachine gun chambered for 5, 45x18 mm MPTs, and see the results of this "crossing".
Army pistol limit parameters
Based on the foregoing, we will try to form the appearance of a promising army pistol (weapon cartridge complex) of small caliber.
1. To ensure a high probability of hitting a target, including a protected NIB, it is necessary to develop a new cartridge, the expected characteristics of which are discussed above. By analogy with the PDW weapon chambered for 5, 7x28 mm and 4, 6x30 mm, the intended cartridge should ensure the possibility of hitting a target at a distance of up to 200 meters. For a pistol, such a range is excessive, but the very possibility of effective firing at such a distance characterizes the capabilities of a weapon chambered for this cartridge at a shorter range.
2. A weapon chambered for a promising cartridge should provide the possibility of firing single shots and firing bursts, with a cutoff of two rounds. Moreover, the priority mode is the mode of firing a short burst of two rounds. The shooting mode with a two-shot cutoff is necessary to increase the stopping and striking effect of the weapon
The mode of firing in a short burst, with a cut-off for two rounds, is used in the AN-94 assault rifle, which implements a fire monitor with recoil accumulation. In a pistol, such a scheme is impossible, and even unnecessary, quite a high rate of fire of 1700-2000 rounds per minute.
The simultaneous use of two rounds on a target not only increases the likelihood of hitting it, but, as we said earlier, further increases the likelihood of NIB penetration
According to statistics cited by H&K, the effectiveness of the MP7 submachine gun of 4, 6x30 caliber against targets in body armor is two and a half times higher than that of the 9x19 mm MP5K, with half the recoil. This allows us to expect that with comparable characteristics of a promising cartridge with cartridges of 5, 7x28 mm and 4, 6x30 mm, the recoil of a pistol under this cartridge, when firing in short bursts of two shots, will also be comparable to the recoil of a pistol of 9x19 mm caliber. Additionally, it is necessary to take into account that the recoil from two shots is spaced, albeit on a short time interval, which should also positively affect its perception. In the Glock-18 automatic pistol, with a rate of fire of 1800 rounds per minute, the 31-round magazine is automatically emptied in a little less than two seconds, that is, about six hundredths of a second pass between shots.
It is possible that the tests will show the need to reduce the rate of fire, by analogy with how it is implemented in the APS or OTs-33 Pernach pistols. Ultimately, the optimal rate of fire in terms of recoil and hitting accuracy must be determined empirically.
The shooter selects the firing mode with one or two cartridges, depending on the distance to the target. By default, after removing the fuse, the mode of firing with two cartridges should be selected. If the target is at a distance, for example, more than 15-25 meters, the requirements for stopping action are reduced, and it is possible to conduct aimed fire with single shots, with less ammunition consumption. Moreover, the recoil in this mode will decrease even more, therefore, the accuracy of shooting will increase.
In a promising army pistol, a fully automatic fire mode should also be implemented. But switching to this mode should be provided with increased (significant) effort. We will talk about why this is necessary later.
3. In a promising army pistol, it is necessary to implement ammunition at the level of 26-30 rounds. Experience in creating pistols FN Five-seveN (20 rounds 5, 7x28 mm), "Fort-28" (20 rounds 5, 7x28 mm), Kel-Tec CP33 (30 rounds.22 LR), OTs-23 "Dart" (24 cartridge 5, 45x18 mm MPTs) shows that this is quite achievable. For installation in the stores of a promising gun, coil springs made of rectangular wire or wave springs can be considered. Wave springs with the same force and working stroke can be up to 50% more compact and lighter than coil springs, since the mechanical properties of the tape are much higher than that of round wire.
As another solution, you can consider the rotary-conveyor type magazines, which are currently used in pneumatic weapons. A somewhat similar scheme is implemented in rotary magazines for firearms. In a rotary-conveyor-type magazine, cartridges should be fed not by a spring-loaded feeder, but by displacing the cartridges with a feeder rotator, that is, something like a closed, closed machine-gun belt will turn out. The advantage of this solution is that the tape is not under load, therefore, there is no problem of reducing the characteristics of the spring when the cartridges are in the store for a long time, and the equipment of the magazines is also greatly simplified.
So, let us formulate once again the key differences of a promising pistol of limiting parameters (a weapon-cartridge complex):
1. A small-caliber cartridge with a 5-7 mm bullet (maximum cartridge dimensions 8x40 mm), with a hard alloy bullet and an initial energy of 400-600 J.
2. The main mode of operation should be firing in short bursts of two cartridges, with a rate of fire of 1700-2000 rounds per minute.
3. The magazine capacity should be 26-30 rounds.
Stages of creating a promising weapon-cartridge complex
The creation of new types of weapons, especially those with a high coefficient of technical novelty, requires the involvement of significant human and financial resources. To reduce the cost of creating a promising army pistol of limiting parameters (a weapon-cartridge complex), it is advisable to break its development into stages:
1. Development and creation of cartridge 5, 45x30 mm based on cartridge 5, 45x18 mm MPTs (or a new cartridge, but made on the basis of proven technologies) and a pistol based on OTs-23 "Dart" (or a new pistol, but made on the basis of used design solutions). Concept validation. Small batch production. verification of military and special applications. Study of commercial potential.
2. In case of successful implementation of clause 1 - the development and creation of a promising cartridge based on the latest achievements in technology and materials science, using promising design solutions, and the creation of an appropriate weapon for this cartridge. Small batch production. If successful, verification of military and special applications, adoption by special units, limited purchases. Limited commercialization.
3. In case of successful implementation of clause 2 - search for ways to optimize technological processes and materials used, without a significant decrease in tactical and technical characteristics (TTX). Large-scale production. Adopted by law enforcement agencies. Commercial implementation.
4. In case of successful implementation of clause 1 and confirmation of the effectiveness of a promising pistol within the framework of existing technological and design solutions, but unsuccessful implementation of clause 2, large-scale production, adoption by the security forces, and commercial sale of the product created according to clause 1 are carried out.
What are the benefits of creating a pistol with extreme parameters?
First of all, this is an increase in the stopping effect and the likelihood of hitting the target due to the summation of the effect from hitting two bullets. It is more difficult to achieve such an effect with two shots in a row due to the displacement of the weapon and the slower rate of fire "manually". On the other hand, the rapid firing of "deuces" from a pistol of extreme parameters will significantly increase the probability of guaranteed target destruction, in comparison with pistols of classical design.
The combination of new bullet materials and hitting two bullets practically at one point can ensure the defeat of targets protected by the NIB, even designed to protect against automatic weapons under an intermediate cartridge, due to the consistent impact on the NIB elements. It should be borne in mind that a pistol is a melee weapon, and at a short distance the spread of bullets will be minimal, and it is much more difficult to ensure that two automatic ammunition hits practically the same point, even using a recoil accumulation scheme.
In the end, it cannot be denied that the expediency of firing pistols in bursts and short bursts was studied, and pistols of this design were promoted by the famous designer I. Ya. Stechkin. Perhaps only time did not allow him to create a weapon similar to the one discussed in this article.
Note. The pistol on the splash screen is NOT an example of what a promising army pistol should look like.
