In one of the Russian social media pages dedicated to firearms, I found a picture of two pistols being in development in Russia. These handguns are designed by an unknown arms designer whose nickname is “Kochevnik”.

Both pistols are chambered in 9x19mm. The slides and barrels are made of Russian 30KhGSA (30ХГСА) steel which looks like doesn’t have an exact US equivalent, but I suspect it is close to the 4140. The frames are made of Russian V95 aluminum which is similar to 7075. Unfortunately, that’s all the information that was accompanying the picture. Let’s take a closer look at each of these two pistols and make some assumptions.

The smaller one shown in the above image is obviously a concealed carry pistol. It is very reminiscent of a recent Belarusian pistol called PSN-V. You can read about that pistol by clicking here and here is an image of the PSN-V pistol for comparison.

Belarusian PSN-V pistol

The finger grooves, grip panels, slide serrations and the location of the safety selector are really similar. I think if it is not the same pistol, then the two guns should be somehow related – maybe made by the same person or at least highly influenced by each other.

Next pistol is a full-size one. The slide and frame fit, as well as the rails’ shape, make me think that this design is highly influenced by the CZ-75.

The lever on the slide is probably the safety selector (note the white dot marking in the middle position). Interestingly, it looks to be a three position safety. Maybe the third position is a decocker or a fun switch!?  Note also the wide trigger guard and lack of accessory rails.

As you can see, there are too many unknown features. Hopefully, “Kochevnik” will read this article and tell us more details which I will be glad to update this article with.

What interesting features have you noticed?

UPDATE: The mystery is solved! The original source that I found these images from was referring to the designer as to some unknown person with the Kochevnik nickname. Thanks to a couple of my friends and to our readers I found out that these handguns are designed by a gentleman named Igor Vasilyev, who is quite a renown arms and accessories designer and uses the nickname “Kochevnik” without an intent to hide his identity. Kochevnik is also the name of Igor’s company. I called Igor and he told me amazingly interesting details concerning these pistols! The large one is mechanically really interesting. Igor also promised to send me more images and possibly a video in a couple of weeks. Once I get this information, we’ll publish a separate article with a detailed description of these handguns. Stay tuned!