#9x18mm

The Ukrainian  Ministry of Internal Affairs has published a news release telling about the visit of Arsen Avakov, head of the ministry, to FORT company where a new handgun ammunition line was launched. According to Mr. Avakov, this new production line will allow to completely fulfill the demand of the Ukrainian Border Guard, National Guard, Police, and other law enforcement agencies.

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.

In the early ’50s, small arms of the Soviet Union have been deeply modernized. The Kalashnikov’s “avtomat” along with its new cartridge was adopted and it was replacing the submachine guns and rifles in the service. The Makarov pistol was also just adopted and they have switched to the new 9x18mm Makarov cartridge.

Sometimes there is virtually no way to see images of long-forgotten Soviet firearms that were not ever adopted. Even if any samples of such firearms exist, they are most likely gathering dust in some vault. Thanks to the video and description released by Kalashnikov Media, we have a chance to take a look at one of these firearms called PP-71.

We shoot Hornady 9x18mm 95gr FTX Critical Defense ammunition from a Bulgarian Arsenal Makarov with a 3.7″ barrel into Clearballistics ballistic gel to measure velocity, penetration, expansion/fragmentation, and retained weight. Buy it at Ventura Munitions

Kalashnikov Concern have shown off a rare example of Mikhail Kalashnikov’s automatic pistol developed in the late 1940s. Kalashnikov’s pistol was beaten by Igor Stechkin’s entry into the trials, the APS.

During the Arms & Hunting 2017, Kalashnikov Concern has shown several interesting handguns. The Kalashnikov officials also explained some of the key features and design solutions of the earlier introduced pistols.

PB Pistol (Pistolet Besshumniy (Пистолет Бесшумный) – means silent or noiseless pistol) was developed in the ’60s and adopted by the Soviet Union in 1967. It was issued to special forces units. By the late ‘80s, they started replacing it with the PSS pistol. Now the Russian Ministry of Defense wants the PB pistol back!

Clear Ballistics gel test of 9x18mm Prvi Partisan 95 gr JHP fired from Bulgarian Arsenal Makarov. The “Soviet 9mm” perform out of the classic Soviet pistol.

According to sources at the Eurosatory exposition in Paris, France, the Russian Army has nearly completed tests on the new pistol design likely to be adopted to replace the 9x18mm PMM Makarov and 9x19mm PYa Yargin pistols currently in service. The Udav (Russian for “Boa”) pistol is based on the previous Serdyukov SR-1 “Gyurka” (the Russian name for a kind of desert viper), and like it is chambered for the Russian 9x21mm armor-piercing caliber, what was developed for it. This means that at least for a time the Russian Army will be fielding no less than three 9mm calibers (x18, x19, and x21), until the Udav can replace the other two pistols entirely. According to IHS Jane’s: