Already at the beginning of the last century, the leading armies of the world began to receive the first samples of self-loading pistols into service. However, in the Russian imperial army, things were not as good as many would like. In service, there was still a reliable, but archaic seven-shot revolver of the Nagant system. The revolver, which was put into service in 1895, lingered in the domestic armed forces for decades, having successfully survived the Second World War. However, already in 1905, a young Russian gunsmith Sergei Aleksandrovich Prilutsky presented his own development to the military - a self-loading pistol, which can be called the first Russian model of small arms of this type.
For many years it was believed that the first domestic self-loading pistol was the TK pistol (Tula Korovin). The pistol created by the Soviet designer Sergei Aleksandrovich Korovin was ready by the fall of 1926. TK chambered for 6, 35x15 mm Browning became the first serial self-loading pistol in the USSR, the production of a new model began in Tula at the end of 1926. At the same time, Prilutsky turned to the idea of creating a similar pistol at the beginning of the century.
The first Soviet serial self-loading pistol TK
The history of the appearance of the Prilutsky pistol
The emergence of self-loading or, as is often said in the West, semi-automatic pistols, happened at the end of the 19th century. This period in the history of firearms marked the arrival of machine guns and magazine rifles of various systems. Designers from all over the world drew attention to such an important technical parameter as the rate of fire of small arms. As a result, the first models of magazine-fed self-loading pistols began to appear. At the same time, experts note that the proliferation of self-loading pistols was not so active, since the opinion about such a short-barreled weapon as a means of active defense in close combat was ambiguous. Many military men believed that there was simply no need to change revolvers to self-loading pistols.
In self-loading pistols, the energy of powder gases was used to feed the cartridge from the magazine to the chamber. The energy arising in the barrel bore during the combustion of the powder charge gave the impulse that set in motion the automatic mechanism of the pistol. To fire a weapon, the shooter must pull the trigger each time. In the creation of such a short-barreled small arms at the beginning of the 20th century, the famous American gunsmith John Moses Browning made significant progress, the result of the designer's work was the legendary self-loading pistol M1911, which is widely used in the world today. At the same time, many followers used the ideas of the American to design their own self-loading pistols.
It should be noted here that in the Russian Empire in those years they used only the services of foreign designers, there were practically no own developments and research work on the creation of serial models of short-barreled weapons. For example, the same revolver of the Nagant system was designed specifically for the Russian army by the Belgian designers Emil and Leon Nagan. At the same time, Minister of War Alexei Nikolaevich Kuropatkin raised the question of starting work on his own pistol many times. Even before the Russo-Japanese War in 1903, at a regular meeting of the GAU commission, Kuropatkin gave instructions to create a new short-barreled pistol, assigning a prize for the invention in the amount of 5 thousand rubles. Most likely, Kuropatkin's decision was the impetus that made Russian gunsmiths pay attention to short-barreled weapons and new research in this area.
Browning M1903
Not only gunsmiths responded to the new requests of the military. It is believed that in 1905, the first draft of a self-loading pistol was presented in Russia. We are talking about a sketch work performed so far only by a student of a real school, Sergei Prilutsky. It is believed that in the draft design of the new pistol, Prilutsky used Browning's developments on self-loading pistols, choosing the 7, 65 mm Browning cartridge (7, 65x17 mm) popular at the beginning of the 20th century as a cartridge. The future designer sent his own project by letter to GAU, where the famous designer Vladimir Grigorievich Fedorov, the creator of the first domestic machine gun, met him. After reviewing the project, Fedorov sent Prilutsky a list of wishes for such a weapon. According to the authoritative gunsmith, the mass of the new self-loading pistol should not exceed 900 grams, the caliber of the cartridges used - 9 mm, the capacity of the box magazine - at least 8 cartridges.
Prilutsky self-loading pistol of the 1914 model
Having received the necessary recommendations, Sergei Prilutsky continued to work on the pistol, while continuing to study. After completing his studies at a real school, the designer graduated from the Imperial Higher Technical School. A modified self-loading pistol was presented by Prilutsky in 1911. The weapon chambered for the 9-mm Browning Long cartridge was sent to GAU. Experts who got acquainted with the pistol recommended that the product be slightly modified, considering that the presented pistol deserves attention and can be manufactured at the Tula Arms Factory. For the release of the pistol, the Main Artillery Directorate gave Prilutsky 200 rubles.
When designing the pistol, Prilutsky relied on the automatic scheme of the Browning pistol of the 1903 model and a sketch created earlier. At the same time, the designer, on the recommendations of the military, increased the caliber of the pistol to 9 mm, taking as a basis the cartridge 9x20 mm Browning Long. For his pistol, the gunsmith created an individual magazine latch design by placing this part on the side surface of the box magazine case with a single-row arrangement of cartridges, and also removed the front upper part of the pistol casing. The subsequent decrease in the mass of the casing-bolt did not lead to a change in the weapon's automation system, however, it influenced the decrease in the mass of the pistol, allowing it to meet the requirements. The length of this model of the Prilutsky self-loading pistol was 189 mm, the barrel length was 123 mm, there were 4 rifling in the pistol barrel, the direction of the rifling was right. Magazine capacity - 8 rounds. Today, this sample is kept in the collection of the Tula Museum of Weapons, some researchers believe that the pistol stored in Tula was once made personally by Sergei Prilutsky.
Pre-revolutionary sample of Prilutsky's pistol
After reviewing a new sample of a self-loading pistol, the GAU commission recognized the project as quite bold and interesting, assessing the prospects of the model and design of the pistol. At the same time, the employees of the Main Artillery Directorate highlighted the magazine latch, which the designer placed on the magazine itself, as well as the rear sight and extractor, which were combined and represented one part. The commission attributed to the disadvantages of the Prilutsky pistol the complexity of incomplete disassembly of the weapon and the tendency of the model to eject spent cartridges towards the shooter. The project was proposed to be finalized, but these plans were prevented by the First World War, which began in 1914. The war ended for Russia with a revolution that grew into a full-scale Civil War, which postponed the meeting of the GAU commission with a revised model of a self-loading pistol for years.
Self-loading pistols Prilutsky 1927 and 1930
Prilutsky recalled his own development again in the USSR, where in 1924 he submitted the necessary documents to obtain a patent for a pistol. From 1924 to 1927, when the patent was issued, the designer was engaged in finalizing the pistol, making a number of changes to its design, different from the scheme specified in the patent. The new model of the modified pistol was originally created for the Browning cartridge of 7, 65 mm. Compared to the pre-revolutionary model, the new pistol lay better in the shooter's hand and became more compact. The length of the weapon was reduced to 175 mm, the length of the barrel - to 113 mm. A box magazine with a single-row arrangement of cartridges contained 9 cartridges of 7, 65x17 mm caliber.
The main competitor of Prilutsky's pistol was Korovin's pistol. In the course of comparative tests, a task was issued for the production of 10 Prilutsky self-loading pistols, which in April 1928 went to the Red Army units to undergo field tests. Operation has shown that the self-loading pistol presented by Prilutsky differs for the better from the pistols of Korovin and Walter in simplicity of design and disassembly. Prilutsky's self-loading pistol consisted of 31 parts, and the Korovin and Walter models consisted of 56 and 51 parts, respectively. Tests have also shown the reliability of the model. At 270 shots, 8 delays were recorded, while Walter had 17, and the Korovin pistol had 9 delays for 110 shots. As noted by the members of the commission, in terms of the accuracy of the battle, the pistols of Korovin and Prilutsky were equal to each other, while both models were superior to Walter's pistol.
The Main Artillery Directorate recognized the Prilutsky pistol as the winner of the tests, but did not recommend it to be launched into mass production and adopted by the Red Army due to its shortcomings. The comments identified by the commission included the following: during the extraction, the cartridge cases often flew into the shooter's face, there were difficulties in removing the magazine, and when disassembling the weapon, cuts were noted on the hands. According to the results of the competition, a task was issued for the release of about 500 Prilutsky self-loading pistols, which, most likely, went to the active army, and the designer himself was recommended to eliminate the identified comments.
In 1929, the military put forward new requirements for pistols, Prilutsky and Korovin were ordered to remake their samples under the 7, 63x25 Mauser cartridge. This time Fedor Vasilyevich Tokarev joined the race of designers. The tests carried out revealed new shortcomings of the pistol designed by Prilutsky, which weighed up to 1300 grams and was distinguished by a strong recoil impulse, which was considered unacceptable for such a weapon. It is worth noting that the rest of the samples also showed roughly similar problems. All pistols were once again sent for revision, but already for a new standard ammunition - an adapted Mauser cartridge, which later received the designation 7, 62x25 TT. This ammunition for many years will become a regular Soviet cartridge for all pistols and submachine guns created in the country.
The next tests of the pistols took place in the summer of 1930. Even more models took part in them, to the traditional participants (Prilutsky, Korovin and Tokarev) self-loading pistols Walter, Parabellum and Browning were added. This time, the commission recognized the Tokarev pistol as the best example, which later became the famous TT. Tokarev's pistol was officially adopted at the end of August 1930.
The pistol of the Prilutsky system was inferior to the competitor in terms of ergonomics, weight and reliability of work. After 1930, Sergei Aleksandrovich Prilutsky did not return to his pistol and the creation of short-barreled weapons, focusing on other developments. As an employee of the Design Bureau of the Tula Arms Plant, the designer took part in the creation of twin and quadruple machine-gun installations "Maxim", intended for firing at air targets, worked on a machine for large-caliber machine-gun systems and the creation of submachine guns.
