A promising army pistol based on the PDW concept
Promising Army Pistol Ammunition
Based on the conclusions formulated in the article “Army pistol and the stopping action of pistol cartridges”The ammunition of a promising army pistol must meet the following requirements.
1. The initial energy of the bullet should provide the penetration depth necessary for guaranteed damage to internal organs, taking into account the breakdown of bones, muscles, adipose tissue, etc.
2. The shape, composition and initial energy of the bullet should ensure the penetration of existing and promising NIB at the range of the pistol shot (up to 50 meters).
3. The configuration of the cartridge should be based on minimizing the transverse size of the cartridge (sleeve diameter) to maximize ammunition in the store.
4. The recoil when using such a cartridge should be acceptable for conducting fast firing with high accuracy.
Based on the above requirements, it can be a cartridge with a bullet with a diameter of 5-7 mm, made of a hard alloy, possibly based on tungsten carbide, a sleeve with a length of approximately 30 mm, most likely a bottle shape, with a diameter of 6-8 mm. The initial energy of the bullet should be in the range of 400-600 J.
What are the reasons for these parameters? The diameter of the bullet is selected based on the need to break through the NIB, since the heat-strengthened cores of domestic pistol cartridges of increased armor penetration have about the same diameter. An increase in the length of the sleeve is necessary to accommodate a sufficient powder charge, taking into account a decrease in the diameter of the sleeve. A reduction in the diameter of the sleeve is necessary to increase the ammunition in the gun store. The initial energy of the bullet is selected based on those parameters that are used in existing domestic pistol ammunition with increased armor penetration, while the shape and composition of the bullet, as well as the absence of a deformable shell, should increase the armor-piercing properties of the promising ammunition, with a comparable initial energy.
The most interesting thing is that the ammunition, which largely falls under the above description, has already been created - these are the cartridges used in weapons, created according to the concept of personal defense weapon (PDW). The first "swallows" of the PDW direction can be considered the Belgian cartridge 5,7х28 from Fabrique Nationale (FN) and the German cartridge 4,6х30 from Heckler & Koch (HK).
Cartridge 5,7x28 mm, cartridge 4,6x30 mm, and the characteristics of their armor penetration when firing submachine guns HK MP7 and FN P90
Later, other similar ammunition appeared, made according to the PDW concept, which is currently less common.
Serial cartridges - 5.56 × 45 NATO (1), .30 Carbine (2), 9 × 18 Makarov (3), 7.65x17SR (.32 Auto) (4), 9 × 19 NATO (5), 5.7 × 28 FN ( 6), 4.6 × 30 HK (7), 5.8 × 21 Chinese (8), 9 × 19 Russian AP (9), 9 × 21 Russian AP (10), .40 S&W (11), .45 Auto (12)
Serial and experimental cartridges - 5.56mm NATO (1), .22 APG (2), .221 Fireball (IMP) (3), 5.56mm Colt MARS (4), 6 × 35 KAC PDW (5), .17 Libra , .6 SCAMP (22), .7 Boz (224), .8 JAWS MicroMag (225), .9 JAWS MicroMag (250), .10 VA (224), .11 TCM (22), .12 Tim ), 223 × 13 CBJ (6.5), 25 = 14 × 15 (9)
In the USSR, several decades before the advent of cartridges 5,7x28 mm and 4,6x30 mm, its own PDW cartridge was created - 5,45x18 mm MPC, which even at the moment has good armor-piercing properties. However, the low energy of the 5,45x18 mm MPC cartridge does not allow it to effectively hit even unprotected targets. Nevertheless, theoretically, it can be considered as the basis for the development of a conditional cartridge 5,45x30 mm, intended for use in an army pistol, implemented according to the PDW concept.
Comparative characteristics of cartridges 5,7x28 mm, 4,6x30 mm and 9x19 mm 7X31, 7X29, 5,45X18 mm MPC and the proposed characteristics of the conditional cartridge 5,45x30 mm for an army pistol implemented by PDW *
* It should be noted that the characteristics of the ammunition available on the Internet do not always correlate with each other, for example, based on the mass and speed of bullets of cartridges 7Н31 and 7Н29 their initial energy should be 756 J and 563 J, respectively, which does not coincide with the values indicated in the table.
Of course, the development of a promising cartridge based on the 5,45x18 mm MPC cartridge is advisable only if its expected characteristics can be achieved in the selected configuration, while the cost of its development and production does not exceed the cost of creating a new ammunition.
In addition, taking into account progress in the creation of new materials, a promising cartridge for an army pistol, implemented according to the PDW concept, may be more effective to develop completely from scratch. A promising cartridge can be implemented on the basis of a polymer, composite sleeve, or cermet sleeve. As the material for the bullet, ceramic materials, composite ceramic materials or tungsten-based alloys can be considered.
In the bow of the bullet can be considered the use of a flat polymer tip, to improve the properties of the bullet to create a temporary cavitation cavity. The presence of a flat area in the head of the bullet reduces the requirement for speed necessary for the formation of a temporary cavitation cavity of the bullet. Despite the fact that in the previous material we have come to the conclusion that the presence of a temporary cavitation cavity does not bring a significant effect to the stopping effect, it makes no sense to refuse this effect if it is not difficult to implement. In this case, in the case of overcoming the NIB or a solid barrier, the polymer tip will be destroyed without reducing the characteristics of the bulletproof armor.
Another way to increase the stopping and lethal action can be the use of fragmenting bullets in a promising cartridge.
Cartridge with fragmented sub-caliber bullet
A promising area is the creation of telescopic ammunition, with a fully or partially recessed bullet, including a sub-caliber.
Cartridges with a polymer sleeve
Telescopic ammunition
Whatever technology is used to create a promising cartridge, its dimensions should not exceed 40 mm in length and 8 mm in diameter. This will ensure the convenience of holding the weapon in your hand and increasing the capacity of the magazine, compared with cartridges of caliber 9 mm or more.
Pistols and submachine guns of small caliber
Since we are considering the possibility of transferring an army pistol to a small caliber, it is worth a little familiarization with samples of small arms of this type.
First of all, this is of course a weapon chambered for 5,7x28 mm and 4,6x30 mm - FN Five-seveN pistol, FN P90 submachine gun and HK MP7 submachine gun.
FN Five-seveN pistol caliber 5,7x28 mm
The scheme of the pistol FN Five-seveN
Weapons of the caliber 5,7x28 mm and 4,6x30 mm are quite widespread in the world. For example, the FN Five-seveN pistol is in service with law enforcement agencies of countries such as Belgium, Canada, Cyprus, France, Georgia, Greece, Guatemala, India, Indonesia, Italy, Libya, Mexico, Nepal, Peru, Poland, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Spain, Suriname, Thailand, United States.
The FN P90 submachine gun is operated in Austria, Argentina, Bangladesh, Belgium, Great Britain, Germany, Greece, India, Ireland, Spain, Italy, Canada, Cyprus, Libya, Malaysia, Mexico, Morocco, the Netherlands, Pakistan, Panama, Peru, Poland , Portugal, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, USA, Thailand, Turkey, Ukraine, Chile, Philippines, France. HK MP7 submachine gun is used in Austria, Vatican, Germany, Great Britain, Ireland, Jordan, Norway, Oman, Republic of Korea, Kazakhstan, USA, Japan.
According to some reports, a small number of submachine guns FN P90 and HK MP7 are also available in Russian special forces.
Cartridges of caliber 5,7x28 mm, issued by various manufacturers (by the way, apparently fragmented). For unpopular weapons, these do not produce
Weapons chambered for 5,7x28 mm, a Fort-28 pistol, were even produced by a Ukrainian company whose products are familiar to many citizens of Russia from traumatic weapons.
Pistol Fort-28 caliber 5,7x28 mm
An interesting example of small arms is the American Kel-Tec PMR-30 .22 WMR pistol. Its distinguishing features are its low weight - 0,385 kg without magazine and 0,555 kg with an equipped magazine, as well as a large ammunition load in 30 .22 WMR cartridges. Users note an extremely low return and ease of shooting from this gun. Despite the fact that the initial energy of the Kel-Tec PMR-30 pistol bullet is only 190 J, there is an opinion that this is due to the slow burning of the powder of the .22 WMR cartridge, optimized for long rifle barrels in which the .22 WMR cartridge shows initial energy of the order of 400 J (in a short pistol barrel the powder charge may not completely burn out).
Kel-Tec PMR-30 .22 WMR pistol
The Kel-Tec CP33 .33 LR caliber pistol has even more impressive ammunition in the 22 cartridge. The cartridges are housed in a four-row magazine, consisting of two compartments.
Kel-Tec CP33 .22 LR pistol
.22 LR and .22 WMR cartridges
An interesting fact was revealed when shooting from another sample of small-caliber small arms - the American-180 .22 LR caliber American submachine gun. This weapon is distinguished by a large-capacity magazine on 180 rounds and a high rate of 1200 - 1500 rounds per minute. Despite the minimal damaging properties of the .22 LR cartridge, the American-180 submachine gun has established itself as a powerful, effective, easily controlled weapon.
Submachine gun American-180 .22 LR caliber
Someone from the police who were armed with American-180 came up with the idea of shooting one disc with a regular multi-layer Kevlar body armor, which the .22 LR cartridge did not break under any circumstances. However, a long line from American-180 gnawed a hole through the bulletproof vest: each bullet pierced one layer of high-strength fabric, and the next one instantly flew to the same place.
Based on this “experiment”, it is easy to guess what will make the line of more powerful cartridges with bulletproof vests, with bullets, with a carbide core. It must be understood that for any body armor a certain number of hits is declared, which it is able to withstand. This property applies only to NIB, but also to armored glass, armor tanks and any other. After each hit, the structure of the body armor material is damaged, and the next ammunition is already easier to overcome.
And finally, one cannot help but recall the unique domestic Ots-23 Dart pistol. The OC-23 Drot pistol was developed at the beginning of the 1990 by the TsKIB COO design team under the guidance of designer I. Ya. Stechkin, known for his charismatic APS pistol (Stechkin automatic pistol). The OTC-23 Dart features are the use of the small-caliber cartridge 5,45x18 mm MPC, as well as the ability to fire with single shots and short bursts of three shots, at a rate of 1700 rounds per minute. Due to the unsatisfactory characteristics of the cartridge 5,45x18 mm MPC, the OTs-23 Drot pistol is not widely used, but the concept itself is of considerable interest.
Pistol OTs-Xnumx "Dart" caliber 23x5,45 mm MPC
The small stopping effect of the 5,45x18 mm MPC cartridge was supposed to be compensated by a fixed burst of three shots. In practice, it turned out that this is not enough. Why? Most likely, the 5,45x18 mm MPC cartridge, in principle, has too little initial energy for confident destruction of the target, i.e. the obstacle that has arisen - bones, clothing elements, reduce the probability of defeat for each bullet so that even their total impact does not provide a sufficient probability of hitting the target. And it is possible that this weapon seemed too unusual to the security forces, in comparison with the pistols of the accepted calibers.
It would be interesting to release an American-5,45 submachine gun under the 18x180 mm MPC cartridge and look at the results of this “crossing”.
Army Pistol Limit Parameters
Based on the foregoing, we will try to form the appearance of a promising army pistol (weapon cartridge complex) of small caliber.
1. To ensure a high probability of hitting a target, including a protected ISS, it is necessary to develop a new cartridge, the proposed characteristics of which are discussed above. By analogy with PDW weapons chambered for 5,7x28 mm and 4,6x30 mm, the intended cartridge should provide the ability to hit a target at ranges up to 200 meters. For a pistol, such a range is excessive, but the very possibility of effective firing at such a distance characterizes the capabilities of weapons under this cartridge at a shorter range.
2. Weapons under a promising cartridge should provide the possibility of firing single shots and firing bursts, with a cut-off for two rounds. Moreover, the priority mode is the firing mode in a short burst of two rounds. The firing mode with a cut-off for two shots is necessary to increase the stopping and damaging effect of the weapon.
The mode of firing a short burst, with a cut-off for two rounds, is used in the machine gun AN-94, which implements a fire monitor with accumulation of recoil. In a pistol, such a scheme is impossible, and not necessary, for the quite high rate of fire of the 1700-2000 rounds per minute.
The scheme of operation of the machine AN-94
The simultaneous use of two rounds on the target not only increases the likelihood of its destruction, but, as we said earlier, additionally increases the probability of breaking through the NIB.
The probability of hitting a target with one or two shots. A correlation can be made between the stopping effect of various ammunition indicated in the results of various theories considered in the previous material, and compare the result for one and two shots of different rounds
According to statistics cited by H&K, the effectiveness of the MP7 submachine gun of 4,6x30 caliber against targets in body armor is two and a half times higher than that of the 5x9 mm MP19K, with half the recoil. This makes it possible to expect that with comparable characteristics of a promising cartridge with cartridges of 5,7x28 mm and 4,6x30 mm, the recoil of a pistol under this cartridge, when firing in short bursts of two shots, will also be comparable to the recoil of a pistol of 9x19 mm caliber. Additionally, it is necessary to take into account that the recoil from two shots is spaced, albeit on a short time interval, which should also positively affect its perception. In the Glock-18 automatic pistol, with a rate of fire of 1800 rounds per minute, the 31-round magazine is automatically emptied in a little less than two seconds, that is, approximately six hundredths of a second pass between shots.
It is possible that the tests will show the need to reduce the rate of fire, by analogy with how it is implemented in APS or OTs-33 Pernach pistols. Ultimately, the optimal rate of fire in terms of recoil and accuracy of hits must be determined empirically.
The shooter selects the firing mode with one or two rounds depending on the range to the target. By default, after removal from the fuse, the firing mode with two cartridges should be selected. If the target is at a distance, for example, farther than 15-25 meters, the requirements for stopping action are reduced, and you can conduct targeted fire with single shots, with less ammunition consumption. Moreover, the recoil in this mode will decrease even more, therefore, accuracy will increase.
In a promising army pistol, a fully automatic fire mode should also be implemented. But switching to this mode should be provided with increased (substantial) effort. We will talk about why this is necessary later.
3. In a promising army pistol, it is necessary to implement ammunition at the level of 26-30 cartridges. Experience creating pistols FN Five-seveN (20 cartridges 5,7h28 mm), "Fort-28» (20 cartridges 5,7h28 mm), Kel-Tec CP33 (30 cartridges .22 LR), BMP-23 «dart» (24 cartridge 5,45h18 mm MOC ) shows that this is quite achievable. For installation in prospective gun stores, coil springs of rectangular wire or wave springs can be considered. Wave springs with the same strength and working stroke can be up to 50% more compact and lighter than coil springs, since the mechanical properties of the tape are much higher than round wires.
Wave springs
As another solution, you can consider the shops of the rotor-conveyor type, which are currently used in pneumatic weapons. A somewhat similar scheme is implemented in rotary firearms stores. In a rotary-conveyor-type store, the supply of cartridges should be carried out not by a spring-loaded feeder, but by the displacement of the cartridges by the feeder rotator, that is, something like a closed, closed machine-gun belt will be obtained. The advantage of this solution is that the tape is not under load, therefore, there is no problem of reducing the characteristics of the spring when the cartridges are in the magazine for a long time, and the magazine equipment is also greatly simplified.
BX-1 Rotary Store for Ruger 10 / 22
Stores for airguns
So, let us formulate again the key differences between a promising pistol of limiting parameters (weapon-cartridge complex):
1. As ammunition, a small-caliber cartridge with a bullet of the caliber 5-7 mm (maximum dimensions of the cartridge 8x40 mm), with a carbide bullet and an initial energy of 400-600 J should be used.
2. The main mode of operation should be firing in short bursts of two rounds, with a rate of 1700-2000 rounds per minute.
3. The magazine capacity should be 26-30 cartridges.
Stages of creating a promising weapon-cartridge complex
The creation of new weapons, especially with a high coefficient of technical novelty, requires the attraction of significant human and financial resources. To reduce the cost of creating a promising army pistol of maximum parameters (weapon-cartridge complex), it is advisable to break down its development into stages:
1. Development and creation of an 5,45x30 mm cartridge based on the 5,45x18 mm MPC cartridge (or a new cartridge, but made on the basis of proven technologies) and a pistol based on the OC-23 “Dart” (or a new gun, but made on the basis of tried-and-tested design solutions). Validation concept. Small batch production. verification of military and special use. Studying commercial potential.
2. In case of successful implementation of p.1 - the development and creation of a promising cartridge based on the latest technological and material science achievements, using promising design solutions, and the creation of appropriate weapons for this cartridge. Small batch production. If successful, verification of military and special use, adoption by special units, limited purchases. Limited commercialization.
3. In the case of successful implementation of p.2 - the search for ways to optimize technological processes and the materials used, without significantly reducing the performance characteristics (TTX). Large-scale production. Adoption by law enforcement agencies. Commercial implementation.
4. In the case of successful implementation of paragraph 1 and confirmation of the effectiveness of a promising pistol within the existing technological and design solutions, but unsuccessful implementation of paragraph 2, large-scale production, adoption by the armed forces, and commercialization of the product created under paragraph 1 are carried out.
What are the benefits of creating a gun with extreme parameters?
First of all, this is an increase in the stopping effect and the probability of hitting the target due to the summation of the effect of two bullets hit. It’s just more difficult to achieve such an effect with two consecutive shots due to the displacement of the weapon and a lower rate of shooting “manually”. On the other hand, quick firing of “deuces” from a pistol of limiting parameters will significantly increase the likelihood of guaranteed target destruction, compared to pistols of a classic design.
The combination of new bullet materials and the hit of two bullets at almost one point can ensure the defeat of targets protected by NIB, designed even for protection against weapons of the "automatic" type under an intermediate cartridge, due to the consistent impact on the elements of the NIB. It should be borne in mind that the pistol is a melee weapon, and at short range the bullets will be flying apart, and it will be much more difficult to ensure that two machine gun ammunition hits almost one point, even using the recoil accumulation scheme.
In the end, it cannot be denied that I studied the feasibility of firing pistols with bursts and short bursts, and the pistols of this design were promoted by the famous designer I. Ya. Stechkin. Perhaps only time did not allow him to create a weapon similar to that considered in this article.
In the next article we’ll talk about what other technical solutions can increase the effectiveness of a promising pistol, why it needs automatic firing and consider potential niches and scenarios for using such weapons.
Note. The gun on the headband is NOT an example of how a promising army gun should look like.
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