Attempts to combine firearms with cold ones began, probably, when the first primitive pistol had just appeared. It is difficult to say whether these attempts were successful, since as a result of such a symbiosis, it was very rarely possible to make the firearm part complete and it is still good if the knife itself did not suffer, while remaining convenient and functional.
This year at the Shot SHOW exhibition, another similar knife was demonstrated, but this knife has a six-shot firearm part of its design and a full-fledged barrel, which does not interfere with using the entire length of the blade. Let's try to figure out what kind of new "beast" it is and how well the designers managed to combine what was previously very conditionally compatible.
Arsenal RS-1 shooting knife cutting part
It should be noted right away that this knife is not a new product, it appeared back in 2015, but it was shown at the exhibition only now, so it became widely known only this year.
What is this revolver knife externally. Outwardly, this is a quite ordinary-looking knife, of which you can find thousands in specialized, and not so, stores. The only thing that can raise questions is the blade shifted down in relation to the handle, the hole above it and the excessively thick handle for such a blade, which, however, does not make the knife disproportionate. What else can be alarming in this weapon is its price of more than $ 2,000, which, as it were, hints that the knife is clearly not for peeling potatoes and slicing sausages. Knife blade length 165, 1 mm. Unfortunately, according to the grade of steel from which the blade is made, nothing intelligible can be said - the information differs in different sources. Perhaps the manufacturer changed steel grades from release to release of this weapon.
Firearm part of a shooting knife Arsenal RS-1
But we are not interested in the knife itself, but in its handle, which houses a real revolver. So by pressing the button, which acts as a kind of pommel, the handle can be divided into two parts. Inside these halves of the handle, you can see the drum and barrel, as well as the firing mechanism. In practice, it all works as follows. In the handle, in the recess for the fingers, there is a protruding metal plate, when it is turned 180 degrees, a lever is released, which activates the revolver mechanism. So when you press this lever, the drum turns and a platoon, and subsequently the striker breaks down, which leads to a shot. The barrel of the weapon is located from the drum to the guard, the muzzle of which is a hole in the guard above the blade.
Of the interesting features of this design, it can be noted that the ratchet wheel is located in front of the drum, and not on its back. The drum itself has 6 chambers for cartridges. The design does not have a trigger, the striker is made as a single piece with the drum axis, the axis itself is movable and a coil spring is installed at its front end. The construction itself is impossibly simple.
The double-action trigger is tight enough to prevent accidental firing. However, this also affects the accuracy of shooting from this unusual weapon. By and large, it is possible to confidently hit the target only at those distances at which the target can be reached with a knife.
It is strange that the manufacturer did not bother to install at least the simplest and cheapest laser designator, which would significantly increase the range of the weapon. Moreover, there is still room for this inside the handle of the knife. In order for the shooter not to stick his finger in front of the barrel, a sharp spike is installed on the guard, which will immediately remind where the barrel is located at the weapon.
For cleaning, as well as reloading the firearm part of the knife, you will have to open the handle. Removing spent cartridges occurs one at a time, as well as equipping the weapon with new cartridges. When the handle is open, the drum rotates freely on its axis.
It would be quite natural to ask how the designers managed to place the six-shot revolver in the knife handle, which, although it looks thickened, is clearly not so thick that the drum, barrel and firing mechanism would fit in there. The answer lies in the ammunition used, namely the.22 Short cartridge. This old, but still popular cartridge, due to its compact size and modest characteristics, allows you to create very small weapons on its basis. For compactness you have to pay with combat characteristics, which is the main disadvantage of the Arsenal RS-1 shooting knife. Interestingly, the manufacturer made a short drum to exclude the use of.22LR cartridges, apparently, the design is not strong enough for certain variants of these ammunition.
The.22 Short cartridge and what it can do
This part of the article can be safely skipped by those who have an idea of this ammunition and its capabilities, for the rest I will try to outline in general terms how effective this cartridge is and what to expect from the weapon that uses it, including the Arsenal RS shooting knife. 1.
The.22 Short was introduced in 1857 and was one of the first metal-cased cartridges to be produced in the United States. At the time of its appearance, this ammunition was used only in the Smith & Wesson Model 1 revolver. An interesting fact about this weapon is that it was from the revolver of this model that Wild Bill Hickok was shot, at the time of the shot he had a combination of cards, which later received the name in poker Dead man's hand. From this we can conclude that it is possible to kill from a weapon chambered for.22 Short and you should not treat this ammunition contemptuously. However, everything is learned by comparison, and if we talk about whether you need luck to successfully use the.22 Short, then let's say that luck is an accompanying element for every shot. There were cases when the bullet of this cartridge did not pierce the forehead of the attacker, although, of course, after such a hit, although not fatal, it was unlikely that the attacker had a desire to perform any active actions. Repeatedly there were cases when the attacker, being intoxicated or drugged, simply did not notice the bullet hit of this cartridge. So, unfortunately, this cartridge cannot be called good for self-defense.
The dimensions of this baby are as follows. The total length of the cartridge is only 17.4 millimeters, the length of the sleeve is 10.7 millimeters. The real bullet diameter is 5, 66 millimeters. Depending on the bullet and the powder charge, the kinetic energy can vary from 55 to 100 Joules, which is comparable to the kinetic energy of bullets of domestic traumatic products, only in this case the bullet is not made of rubber, but of lead.
Outcome
What can be summed up on the Arsenal RS-1 shooting knife? Of course, the very idea and implementation of the design are worthy of only respect. At least the weapon turned out to be original. However, there is no practical value in adding a firearm component to the knife. The inability to aim normally even at a distance of 5 meters makes shooting from this product very ineffective. Does not add effectiveness and ammunition used in this weapon. The most logical use of such a weapon would be shooting into the air as a warning, however, even in this regard, the.22 Short cartridge is not the most suitable ammunition. If you fire a shot at the attacker in self-defense, then there is a high probability that even after several hits, you will have to use the shooting knife just like a knife. In addition to the fact that a revolver in such an unusual wrapping can be a knife handle, it can be placed virtually in the handle of any object, for example, in the handle of a case.
It is worth noting that in most countries where the carrying of short-barreled weapons by citizens and their use for the same self-defense is allowed, a person with a knife, and not with a pistol or revolver, will cause much more questions and attention from law enforcement agencies.
