I think the Yarygin PYa / MP-443 “Grach” pistol, which was adopted as the Russian army and law enforcement service pistol, must be the ugliest modern pistol. What do you think?
It fires the 9×19 mm 7N21 cartridge which is just a very hot 9mm Parabellum.
Click to expand the photo.
More info about the pistol here.
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I was actually grabbing photos of the Grach on Friday for the GunPorn blog. Unfortunately, all the decent shots I’ve seen are those same ones here. The gun looks… rough. It looks almost unfinished when compared to similar firearms on the market, like it got machined but never deburred or cleaned before being assembled.
The 9×19 ammo is interesting at least. Another handgun that uses it is the GSh-18 – http://world.guns.ru/handguns/hg111-e.htm (photos also by Max who took those pictures of the Grach – this time with the AP 9×19 ammo in the frame).
I think what we’re seeing here is a firearm built with two purposes – something that can hold more ammo and more potent ammo than the old Maks, and something that is still hardy enough to operate alongside the AKs and Maks in the field (and be used for hammering nails as needed).
The Russian design teams are much more about function – they don’t have the history and culture of firearms as art or accoutrement as many of us do.
thanks for that info.
“The Russian design teams are much more about function – they don’t have the history and culture of firearms as art or accoutrement as many of us do.”
Good point!
[...] Russians are not know for producing beautiful firearms, but you would have thought they would have chosen a nicer looking animal than the Saiga for which [...]
It looks like a combination of a beretta 92f and a mark 23. It isn’t ugly… if you want to see an ugly handgun, check out the Beretta Px4 handgun line or the Steyr M handguns.
And it doesn’t look unfinished, it looks like it’s been rigorously tested and you’re looking at the beat up result.
I used to own one civilian model called MP-446 “Viking”. Still got two extra magazines for it (holds 17 rounds).
It’s a decent pistol and works just fine even in harsh conditions. Local paper did a test with 5000 rounds through it without cleaning (can’t remember the results, I think it didn’t feed properly after 6k of rounds).
It also throws spent cardridges almost straight back and if you aren’t holding your gun properly they end up in your face (according to many reports). Didn’t happen to me and I did shoot about 15-17 thousand rounds.
Groups (from my memory) were mostly around 20cm from 25m since I’m only a decent shooter. Sights are a tad on the crappy side, but works just fine for MLE.
Ergonomics are great although I do have big hands. When I let other people shoot with it they we’re usually suprised about how good the grip feels (1911 like) and the performance of the gun.
Civilian model also has plastic frame, the slide is the same, while MLE uses full metal frames. As for finishing – it’s typical Russian with 5% tolerances etc. Compared to any western pistol side-to-side looks really bad.
But it just works, much like AK47.
Sami, thanks for the comment. very interesting.
Where can I purchase the russian made gsh-18 9mm handgun
This looks to me like a clone of the original Ruger P85/89 (http://www.ruger.com/Firearms/FAProdView?model=3048). The manual safety/decocker has been moved from the slide to the frame. What is most striking is the Ruger-esque guide rod. As I recall, the P85 was designed to compete in the “Great Sidearm Competition” in the mid- to late-80s that gave rise to the current-issue Beretta M9/92. I have a P85 and as one would expect from Ruger, the gun is WAY over-built for the 9mm cartridge — even with a steady diet of +P+ ammunition.