This odd-looking gadget is a Hungarian pocket pistol made in the mid-’80s. It is called Minimax 9 with the digit indicating its caliber – 9mm. It was designed to be chambered in various 9mm calibers including the 9x19mm Luger, 9x17mm (.380 auto) and 9x18mm. It was fed from a 4-round non-detachable magazine. This was a manual repeater, not a semi-auto pistol.

Instead of conventional spiral riflings, Minimax 9 had straight ones. It means that no spin was imparted to the projectile and it was not stabilized. It was done deliberately to make the bullet tumble and have a better terminal performance at close ranges. Judging by that design feature, one can expect that it was supposed to be used at extreme close range distances of a couple of yards or so. If so, then why didn’t they make it smoothbore? What is the reason to have riflings that are not going to spin stabilize the projectile?

This pistol was designed to use blank and CS gas ammunition, too. There was also a rubber less-lethal projectile worn over the barrel and shot with blank cartridges (see the above image). The Minimax 9 pistol had a length of 96mm (3.78″), a height of 68mm (2.68″) and it was 24mm thick (.945″). The empty weight was 80 grams (2.8 oz). The pistol was made for a very short time and failed to find any significant demand.

Sources:

topwar.ru

mpopenker.livejournal.com

UPDATE: TFB reader Poresz contacted Gábor Vass, the chief editor of Hungarian Kaliber magazine, who found the US patent of this firearm (US5299373).

Apparently, there is a stack of chambers inside the grip. Upon pulling the trigger, the chamber block gets pushed up (one chamber at a time) thus aligning a chambered cartridge to the bore axis and breech. As soon as this alignment happens the hammer fires the chambered cartridge. The mechanism is similar to a harmonica gun with a vertical orientation of the chamber block. Below are a couple of images from the patent.

Thanks, Poresz!

UPDATE 2 (12.18.2017): TFB reader dansquad found the issue of “Armas y Municiones” magazine with an article about the Minimax 9. Dansquad has also translated the article from Spanish. You can find his translation by clicking here. You can also find below some images from the mentioned magazine.

Thank you dansquad!

Images by “Armas y Municiones” magazine.

What an amazing example of contribution by our readers! Thank you, guys!