POTD: Silent Piston Cartridge 7.62×42

Nicholas C
by Nicholas C

Back in the late 70’s Russia came up with a cool concept. A silent cartridge. You can see the cut away above and below. The long cylinder is the projectile and the red piece under it is the piston. When the primer is struck it ignites the powder like a conventional cartridge. The combustion pushes the piston and that pushes to projectile out. The piston is wide so it cannot get past the neck at the top. This seals the cartridge and the gas cannot escape. This results in very little noise coming from the combustion. It has been reported to have a noise level of only 110 db, similar to a suppressed sub sonic .22lr.

There are three weapons that use this cartridge. The PSS semi auto pistol, the OTs-38 revolver and the NRS knife.

Nicholas C
Nicholas C

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  • Maodeedee Maodeedee on May 03, 2017

    More information would be nice, like, how much does the projectile weigh, and does it engage the rifling and what velocity is it capable of?

    • Tootiredoftheright Tootiredoftheright on May 04, 2017

      @maodeedee it will kill at a distance of 60 feet but is meant for more close up. Also the tonal noise is such that you could fire this off in a crowd and nobody would know a gun had been fired. It is about 300-500 fps from what I remember. It is a gun meant for wetwork after all.

  • Secundius Secundius on May 04, 2017

    Actually is Predates the Russian by almost 90-years, Samuel Marsh of Nottingham, England invented the "Piston Cartridge" in 1879 for the Mining Industry. In the application of Shale Gas Mining, but limited by the Technology of the time to a Maximum Applied Force of ~10,000psi...

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