Our author has long used the APS pistol in a combat situation, and decided, based on his own experience, to dispel some of the myths that exist about this weapon.
SOME INACCURACIES
Perhaps there is no other such controversial weapon as the Stechkin APS automatic pistol. He still causes numerous disputes and discussions about his combat capabilities and characteristics, there are a lot of absolutely opposite and different opinions regarding him, many of which, unfortunately, are based not on personal experience, but on simple reasoning. At the same time, it is quite rare to meet a person who had to use this weapon in battle and who has the ability to draw conclusions about the APS based on his own experience.
I turned to this topic, accidentally discovering in the magazines "Weapon" of different years very contradictory opinions about this pistol. So, in the second issue of 1999, an article was published entitled "The weapon is not for us?" Its author, a career officer, reserve colonel Leonid Migunov, draws conclusions based on personal experience of using the APS, but, as I understand it, not on its combat use, but on the experience gained in the course of daily official activities. He expresses his opinion, which is that the Stechkin pistol is not effective enough, moreover, it is cumbersome and inconvenient to use.
APS pistols with standard stock holsters and pouches
APS pistols in a converted hip holster with a rubber grip and a twisted pistol strap
A little later, in the third issue of the magazine "Arms" for 2000, a letter was published, the author of which was Peter Dobriden from the city of Spassk-Dalny. This author has a completely different opinion regarding the APS pistol and gives his arguments.
In addition, on the Internet, on various weapons sites and forums, there is also a lot of conversations on these topics, but there are not so many intelligible and reasoned opinions there either.
I had to use the APS pistol in a combat situation for quite a long time. Therefore, I dare to assume that I can judge this weapon based on my own experience and personal impressions. Now I will try to share them, while trying to avoid using those data and characteristics of this weapon, which can be easily found in large quantities in a variety of sources. At the same time, I perfectly understand that my conclusions and opinions cannot be considered indisputable either.
In the book by A. I. Blagovestov "What they shoot from in the CIS" under the general editorship of A. E. Taras, in the section on the APS it says: "… A variant of a pistol with a removable metal butt and a silent flameless firing device was successfully used in Afghanistan by special forces units. In addition, the APS has proven itself well as a personal weapon of mechanics-drivers of tanks, armored personnel carriers and infantry fighting vehicles, helicopter crews. " After reviewing such information, some questions immediately arise. And why has it proved itself well as a personal weapon of driver mechanics, and not, for example, tank commanders or loaders? And with what qualities did he especially suit them, how and where did they use it?
In his letter to the Oruzhie magazine, Pyotr Dobriden also talks about something similar: “… APS, several decades after it was decommissioned, became the favorite weapon of pilots and special forces who fought in Afghanistan and Chechnya. Special forces soldiers noted its high efficiency in the conduct of hostilities in the city and used as a "weapon of the last throw", which was explained by its high maneuverability and firepower. … As for the special forces, they widely used the silent version of the Stechkin APB in combat."
Let's talk first about the crews of combat vehicles. After graduating from a tank school and having served in the tank forces for more than one year, having visited Afghanistan in the mid-eighties as a commander of a tank company, I have never met a tanker armed with an APS pistol, especially a driver-mechanic. And motorized riflemen did not find this weapon, even more so. Moreover, not a single Stechkin pistol was officially listed as a personal weapon of officers or members of tank crews in the staff of tank units. There were PMs, there were AKS-74 or AKSU submachine guns, but not APS, Then where could they come from if they were not listed on the staffing table?
APS of different years of release
I often had to communicate with helicopter pilots during the second Chechen war, visiting Khankala. I didn’t pay much attention to their personal weapons, but I can say for sure that they weren’t armed with the “stechins”. Even if we admit that this pistol was in service with the crews of combat vehicles and helicopters, how could it prove itself well there, as many authors claim? The crews of combat vehicles and helicopters on the battlefield perform tasks using completely different weapons, therefore, they cannot assess the advantages or disadvantages of the APS. They do not fight outside combat vehicles, and they do not use Stechkin's pistol, even if they have it with them.
In this regard, it is not clear why the authors of the above book are misleading their readers by talking about facts that did not take place in reality. If somewhere the crews of military vehicles and helicopters were armed with a Stechkin pistol, then this was not a rule, but rather an exception. And how they then could assess his merits is also incomprehensible.
SPETSNAZ AND APB
There are references to special forces, who allegedly often and successfully used the Stechkin pistol and appreciated it, especially in the APB version. At the same time, it seems that the authors of these arguments do not have a clear idea of who the special forces are, what tasks and with what weapons they perform.
We had to carry out combat missions, together with the army special forces, as well as with the special forces of the GRU and the FSB. I want to note that this is, in fact, selective, well-trained, trained and equipped infantry, performing the most difficult and responsible missions. In the units of the army special forces, as strange as it may seem to many, the personnel mainly consisted of well-trained conscripts. Of course, there were also a considerable number of contractors. The main tasks for the special forces in Chechnya were the organization and conduct of ambush operations, raids in mountainous and wooded areas in order to detect and destroy bands of militants, their camps and bases. But the same tasks, and no less successfully, were carried out by reconnaissance and conventional motorized rifle units. To do this, they needed a fairly powerful weapon, at least a machine gun. Neither automatic pistols nor submachine guns, due to their insufficient firepower, were suitable for these purposes.
It was quite rightly noted that in Afghanistan the APB was used by special forces to carry out a number of tasks. But its use was episodic, due to the specifics of the weapon itself. It should be noted that the use of another pistol, namely the Makarov-Deryagin PB design in these conditions was no less successful, and it was used no less often than the APB. And given its much smaller dimensions, its use was much preferable to APB.
I am familiar with both samples of this weapon, and I can say that for performing specific tasks, the Stechkin APB pistol does not have any special advantages over the Makarov PB. "Stechkin" with a connected silencer has absolutely exorbitant dimensions, inconvenient to carry and place on equipment.
"Makarov" with a silencer is also not small, but, nevertheless, much more compact than APB.
To reduce the initial velocity of the bullet to 290 m / s in the barrel of the APB there are gas vents that are not available in the usual army APS. Thus, the firepower of this pistol has been significantly reduced, which has become quite comparable with the power of the PB pistol, which has a muzzle velocity of 290 m / s as well. So, for example, the muzzle energy of the APB is 250 J, against 246 J for the PB. Therefore, the PB in its capabilities is not much inferior to the APB, while having much smaller dimensions.
Figuratively speaking, if someone believes that with any of these pistols it is possible to quietly sneak into the rear of the enemy and quietly shoot a sentry there near the enemy headquarters, then this is a pernicious delusion. Both the APB and the PB are not completely noiseless, and, as it seemed to me, the PB sound is better muffled by the PB. In addition, in both pistols, when firing, a fairly loud clang of the shutter is heard during rollback and rollback. Given these circumstances, the ability to fire in bursts is not considered an advantage of the APB, since its silencer successfully copes only with a single shot, and the sound of the burst is poorly muffled. Moreover, the massive shutter of the APB, moving during the automatic mode of fire, emits a roar, similar to the sound of a train walking nearby. For these reasons, it is useless to fire in bursts with an installed silencer.
Without a doubt, the APB and PB pistols are a very worthy weapon, but if we talk about the fact that the APB has become the favorite weapon of the special forces and scouts, then there is another quite simple explanation for this. One very important fact contributed to the fairly frequent and successful use of both of these pistols. And this is by no means some of their exceptional characteristics and qualities, but the ability to use the common and affordable PM ammunition. This is what became decisive when choosing a weapon for performing special tasks. All other silent weapons, the choice of which is currently not so small, as well as ammunition for them in the form of SP-3 and SP-4 cartridges, are rather exotic, rarely found in the troops. Everyone knows that it exists, but many in all their service, including myself, have not seen it in the eyes.
Silent pistol Makarov and Deryagin PB
PERSONAL EXPERIENCES
In order to use a weapon correctly, you need to correctly assess its characteristics and combat capabilities. Then it will become clear for which fire missions it is suitable and for which it is not, and in what conditions its use will be most expedient. Unfortunately, I did not immediately take into account this simple truth, and initially I significantly overestimated the capabilities of the Stechkin pistol. The understanding of these misconceptions came soon enough.
APS made a very good impression on me immediately. He had an attractive appearance, was handsome and elegant, if this epithet applies to weapons. I liked the simplicity and originality of its design, it was easily disassembled for maintenance and cleaning, it was well balanced. With an attached plastic holster, it turned into something like a submachine gun, which, in fact, it is.
I also noticed the shortcomings, although they seemed not so significant. So the wide and thick grip when firing from the hand does not allow you to comfortably hold the weapon. This disadvantage is due to the design, since a two-row magazine for twenty rounds is located in the handle, as well as retarder parts, a mainspring and a mainspring pusher.
Holding the pistol in the right hand, moving the safety catch to different positions and cocking the trigger with the thumb of the same hand, as can be done with the Makarov, is not possible. To do this, you must resort to the help of the other hand, while removing the weapon from the line of fire.
When the hammer was cocked, the angle of installation of the trigger also seemed not very convenient, located too close to the handle, this caused the feeling that there might not be enough finger travel to fire the shot. Therefore, the trigger had to be pressed with the second phalanx of the finger, and not the first. Perhaps it's all about habit.
In the course of almost daily use, "Stechkin" showed amazing reliability, reliability and unpretentiousness, approximately at the level of "Makarov". For all the time, there has not been a single delay due to the fault of weapons or ammunition, and this is taking into account the fact that there was not always an opportunity for its high-quality maintenance and cleaning.
Oddly enough, but when firing from the hand at 20-25 m, it turned out that in these conditions the APS pistol does not have any clearly pronounced advantages in relation to the PM pistol. Their shooting results were roughly comparable. It is much more difficult to shoot from the hand from the APS than from the PM, since its significant dimensions and weight play an important role here. These parameters adversely affect the results of shooting due to the rapid fatigability of the hand, and therefore the accuracy of hitting each subsequent shot is reduced. It is hardly advisable to fire in this way for a long time, especially at a considerable range. With such a weight of the weapon, shooting from two hands or using a holster-butt, of course, is preferable.
With an increase in the range to targets, the effectiveness of fire and the accuracy of hits decreased sharply. Therefore, I believe that the firing ranges declared in the technical specifications for the APS without a stock of 50 m, and with a stock of 200 m, are clearly overestimated, at least twice.
When firing with an attached buttstock, both single shots and bursts, the pistol bolt moving in the immediate vicinity of the shooter's face evokes not very pleasant sensations.
In a combat situation, several attempts were made to use the APS as an independent weapon. Here the possibility of firing automatic fire from it was misled, and the butt that was fastened at the same time seemed to endow it with the capabilities of a submachine gun. The illusion was created that the Stechkin was a versatile weapon, compact, mobile, easy to use, capable of continuous fire. But, as you know, there is no universal weapon, and "Stechkin", naturally, did not turn out to be such either.
Modern Russian special silent pistol PSS for the special cartridge SP-4
It soon became clear that in modern combat there are practically no tasks that this pistol is capable of performing. Fire contact occurs, as a rule, at ranges that are not available for effective use of the APS. Its bullet has low penetration, for which even light cover becomes an insurmountable obstacle and limits the already low combat capabilities.
In a combat situation, another not very pleasant quality of "Stechkin" became clear. It has a high unmasking property. Since its concealed carrying is difficult due to its considerable size, it was necessary to wear it on a belt in a regular holster in full view of everyone, including the enemy, who perfectly understands that an ordinary infantryman cannot be armed with such a weapon. Therefore, the owner of the MTA becomes the first candidate for destruction. And this had to be taken into account.
The understanding quickly came that when everyone around is armed with assault rifles and machine guns, when the enemy is also conducting automatic and machine gun fire, the owner of the APS feels completely helpless and useless. To be able to carry out combat missions in modern combat, you need to use a much more powerful weapon than even the most remarkable automatic pistol.
Experience has shown that the most suitable weapon in a combat situation is a set of an assault rifle and a pistol. In this case, with the help of a machine gun, the main fire missions are performed in battle, and the pistol is used as an additional and backup fire weapon. Very often there were situations when the use of a pistol was preferable to a machine gun. For example, when inspecting premises, basements, dugouts. In addition, a secondary weapon such as a pistol was used when the primary weapon was unloaded or malfunctioning. Therefore, a pistol, as a reserve weapon, has certain requirements: it must be compact, reliable, reliable, safe to handle, well placed among the equipment and equipment, easy to remove and always be ready to fire. All these requirements for such a weapon, as well as possible, are satisfied by such an excellent pistol like the PM.
For a certain, but for a short time, I made attempts to use the APS as a backup firepower, but they were unsuccessful. It turned out that this pistol is not suitable as such a weapon, since it does not satisfy all the requirements for such a weapon. In addition, it has excessive, no longer pistol firepower, although this, of course, cannot be attributed to shortcomings. As an additional weapon, a compact and reliable PM is much more preferable. In this regard, it became obvious that the Stechkin pistol is practically useless in normal combat.
SIMPLE CONCLUSIONS
Here are some more quotes from the letter of Peter Dobriden: “… From my own experience I know that when firing with one hand at a distance of 70 m, all the bullets fall into a circle with a diameter of 30 cm … for a submachine gun, the main thing is the density of automatic fire, and even with one hand - that's already great … as the experience of Afghanistan and Chechnya shows, there is no replacement or alternative for it, because not a single pistol in the world fits into the parameters of the APS, that is, twenty cartridges, an aiming range of 200 m (and this is real), weight 1220 g with a loaded magazine, plus the ability to conduct automatic fire with one hand. The author of another letter, Leonid Migunov, on the contrary, believes that the APS shows low results even when shooting at 25 m due to the large windage and mass of the pistol, and automatic fire from this pistol is absolutely ineffective.
But is it worth arguing about this, because the point is not even which of the given authors is right and who is not? Shooters also have different levels of training, and therefore show different shooting results: some are the best, others are the worst. But this reasoning does not take into account one important fact that in a battle the enemy is not a growth or chest target located motionless at a certain distance. In battle, different rules. And very often it happens that even an insufficiently well-trained shooter, but possessing endurance, composure and combat experience, performs a firing mission much more successfully than one who has the best shooting training, but who has lost his composure and lost in a difficult situation.
Peter Dobriden repeatedly points out the possibility of automatic fire from hand to create a high density of fire. But this cannot be considered the task of the pistol. With a rate of fire of 700-750 rounds per minute, the APS will empty the magazine in one and a half seconds, leaving the shooter unarmed in front of the enemy. Shooting in bursts with the use of a holster-butt does not give high shooting accuracy, and shooting in bursts from the hand, especially
Modern submachine gun "Kashtan"
will give high results. The ability to conduct automatic fire for a pistol is not so important, it is judged by completely different qualities. It is for this reason that automatic pistols capable of firing in bursts have not become widespread either in the world or in our country.
The magazine capacity of twenty rounds also cannot be considered a great advantage of the Stechkin. Although, in theory, this is not bad. But practice tells a different story. When it comes to the use of pistols, the most important factor here is the reliability of the weapon, the time of the first shot and the accuracy of its hit. If the firing mission with the use of a pistol could not be solved with the first shot, or at least the first three, since the enemy gave you the opportunity to fire them, then neither the eighth, nor the tenth, nor, moreover, the twentieth cartridge remaining in the store will help you. In life, of course, all sorts of situations happen, there are no rules, no exceptions, but usually it looks like this.
Modern submachine gun "Cypress"
There is no doubt that the APS pistol by its design is a masterpiece of design thought, and its creator, Igor Yakovlevich Stechkin, is undoubtedly an exceptionally talented person. As part of what he was entrusted with, he created an unsurpassed sample of weapons. The low power of the ammunition used in this pistol determined the simplicity and reliability of the design, but, at the same time, significantly limited its fire capabilities.
Modern submachine gun "Kedr"
In fact, the APS pistol is not a pistol, but a submachine gun, comparable in its characteristics with other, already more modern PPs, designed for the 9-18 mm PM pistol cartridge, such as Kedr, Wedge, Cypress and some others. In some ways it surpasses them, and in some ways it is inferior. But all these weapons have very limited capabilities, therefore they did not receive wide recognition and distribution among the troops. In our army units, it was not in service and was not used in any way. In the special forces, GRU and FSB units, with whom we had to jointly carry out combat missions, if there were such samples, it was only in single copies. The soldiers of these units were armed with much more powerful weapons. So, for example, I saw the APB pistol only once at the head of reconnaissance of the 503rd motorized rifle regiment of the 19th MRD, as an additional weapon. He did not express any enthusiasm regarding the use of this pistol. The APS pistol was in service with almost every commandant of a city or region of Chechnya, General Vladimir Bulgakov, whom he had a chance to meet, was also armed with a Stechkin. We had submachine guns chambered for PM by some Ministry of Internal Affairs officers, such as investigators, criminologists and the like. I don’t remember a case when any of them had to use this weapon in battle. These categories of servicemen and militiamen with their personal weapons did not directly participate in hostilities.
All modern submachine guns, including the APS, cannot be considered a full-fledged weapon on the battlefield, their fire capabilities are very limited. It is even difficult to say in what situations such a weapon can be used. Rather, it is suitable for the employees of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, for performing the tasks characteristic of this department of arresting criminals. And in modern combat, its use is ineffective. In this regard, the removal from service of such a good, at first glance, pistol, like the APS, was quite natural and justified.
