The GSh-18 (

Cyrillic , bg, кирилица , mk, кирилица , russian: кириллица , sr, ћирилица, uk, кирилиця , fam1 = Egyptian hieroglyphs , fam2 = Proto-Sinaitic , fam3 = Phoenician , fam4 = G ...

: Г Ш-18) is a

9 mm 9 (nine) is the natural number following and preceding . Evolution of the Arabic digit In the beginning, various Indians wrote a digit 9 similar in shape to the modern closing question mark without the bottom dot. The Kshatrapa, Andhra and ...

semi-automatic pistol A semi-automatic pistol is a type of repeating single-chamber handgun ( pistol) that automatically cycles its action to insert the subsequent cartridge into the chamber (self-loading), but requires manual actuation of the trigger to actuall ...

developed by the

KBP Instrument Design Bureau JSC ''Konstruktorskoe Buro Priborostroeniya'' (KBP) (russian: АО «Конструкторское бюро приборостроения», AO konstruktórskoje bjuró priborostrojénija Joint-Stock Company - Instrument Design Bureau) is one ...

Tula Tula may refer to: Geography Antarctica *Tula Mountains *Tula Point India *Tulā, a solar month in the traditional Indian calendar Iran * Tula, Iran, a village in Hormozgan Province Italy * Tula, Sardinia, municipality (''comune'') in the pr ...

during the 1990s. The pistol's name is derived from its designers—Gryazev and Shipunov—and its magazine capacity of 18 rounds.

Design details

The GSh-18 is a rotating-barrel,

short recoil Recoil operation is an operating mechanism used to implement locked breech, autoloading firearms. Recoil operated firearms use the energy of recoil to cycle the action, as opposed to gas operation or blowback operation using the pressure of the pr ...

, locked-breech pistol with 10 locking lugs spaced equally around the barrel, the large locking surface area resulting in a strong lockup, making it suitable for high-velocity ammunition loads. The GSh-18 may be employed using standard 9×19mm Parabellum rounds, but was designed for the high velocity, Russian armour-piercing 9×19mm 7N31 round. The pistol incorporates a pre-set striker. The slide and working parts are steel, and the weapon has a polymer frame. Two different designs of grip have been observed. The magazine capacity is 18 rounds, and an additional round may be carried in the chamber. The magazine release is reversible for left-handed shooters and the ejector doubles as a loaded chamber indicator. The magazines are a double stack, double feed design common to Russian military handguns.

Ammunition

The GSh-18 is designed to fire standard

9×19mm Parabellum The 9×19mm Parabellum (also known as 9mm Parabellum or 9mm Luger or simply 9mm) is a rimless, tapered firearms cartridge. Originally designed by Austrian firearm designer Georg Luger in 1901, it is widely considered the most popular handgun a ...

as well as the Russian 9×19mm 7N21 (

: 7 Н21) and 7N31 (

: 7 Н31) +P+

armor-piercing round Armour-piercing ammunition (AP) is a type of projectile designed to penetrate either body armour or vehicle armour. From the 1860s to 1950s, a major application of armour-piercing projectiles was to defeat the thick armour carried on many warsh ...

s. The 7N31, has demonstrated penetration of 8 mm of steel (15–20 meters of distance).

Variants

* GSh-18 (

GRAU The Main Missile and Artillery Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation (), commonly referred to by its transliterated Russian acronym GRAU (), is a department of the Russian Ministry of Defense. It is subordinate to the ...

index 6P54) * GSh-18 Tactical with

Picatinny rail The Picatinny rail ( or ), or Pic rail for short, also known as a MIL-STD-1913 rail, 1913 rail or STANAG 2324 rail (cancelled), is a military standard rail interface system that provides a mounting platform for firearm accessories. It was o ...

, a new receiver and an ability to install a silencer, which was officially revealed in 2012. * GSh-18S «Sport» (''ГШ-18С «Спорт»'') –

civilian Civilians under international humanitarian law are "persons who are not members of the armed forces" and they are not "combatants if they carry arms openly and respect the laws and customs of war". It is slightly different from a non-combatant, b ...

version with modified

trigger Trigger may refer to: Notable animals and people ;Mononym * Trigger (horse), owned by cowboy star Roy Rogers ;Nickname * Trigger Alpert (1916–2013), American jazz bassist * "Trigger Mike" Coppola (1900–1966), American gangster ;Surname * Bru ...

and

firing pin A firing pin or striker is a part of the firing mechanism of a firearm that impacts the primer in the base of a cartridge and causes it to fire. In firearms terminology, a striker is a particular type of firing pin where a compressed spring ...

and 10-round detachable box magazine * GSh-18 «Sport 2» (''ГШ-18 «Спорт 2»'') – civilian version with modified

and 18-round detachable box magazine * GSh-18T (''ГШ-18Т'') –

Non-lethal Non-lethal weapons, also called nonlethal weapons, less-lethal weapons, less-than-lethal weapons, non-deadly weapons, compliance weapons, or pain-inducing weapons are weapons intended to be less likely to kill a living target than conventional ...

version using MP-80-13т .45 rubber bullets.

Users

* **

Armed Forces of the Russian Federation The Armed Forces of the Russian Federation (, ), commonly referred to as the Russian Armed Forces, are the military forces of Russia. In terms of active-duty personnel, they are the world's fifth-largest military force, with at least two m ...

Internal Troops The Internal Troops, full name Internal Troops of the Ministry for Internal Affairs (MVD) (russian: Внутренние войска Министерства внутренних дел, Vnutrenniye Voiska Ministerstva Vnutrennikh Del; abbreviat ...

Ministry of Justice A Ministry of Justice is a common type of government department that serves as a justice ministry. Lists of current ministries of justice Named "Ministry" * Ministry of Justice (Abkhazia) * Ministry of Justice (Afghanistan) * Ministry of Just ...

Ministry of Internal Affairs An interior ministry (sometimes called a ministry of internal affairs or ministry of home affairs) is a government department that is responsible for internal affairs. Lists of current ministries of internal affairs Named "ministry" * Ministry ...

Law enforcement in Russia In the Russian Federation, law enforcement is the responsibility of a variety of different agencies. The Russian police (formerly the ') are the primary law enforcement agency, with the Investigative Committee of Russia as the main investigative ...

Постановление Правительства Российской Федерации № 776 от 2 октября 2009 года "Об обеспечении боевым ручным стрелковым и иным оружием, патронами к нему, специальными средствами, оборудованием и снаряжением Федеральной службы судебных приставов" * **

Syrian Armed Forces The Syrian Arab Armed Forces ( ar, الْقُوَّاتُ الْمُسَلَّحَةُ الْعَرَبِيَّةُ السُّورِيَّةُ, al-Quwwāt al-Musallaḥah al-ʿArabīyah as-Sūrīyah) are the military forces of the Syrian Arab Re ...

Law enforcement in Syria Law enforcement in Syria is carried out by the Public Security Police, which is a force for general policing duties; internal security duties are carried out by different intelligence agencies. The Political Security Directorate is one of these a ...

References

Sources

* Михаил Дегтярев
Правнук «Токарева»
// журнал «Калашников. Оружие. Боеприпасы. Снаряжение», No. 1, 2001 г. стр.10-18 * 9-миллиметровый пистолет ГШ-18 // журнал «Солдат удачи», No. 5 (80), 2001. стр.24-25 * 9х19 мм пистолет ГШ-18. Руководство по эксплуатации

External links

*
KBP Instrument Design Bureau—official site
* M.R. Popenker
GSh-18 (Russia)
/ "Modern Firearms" * Сергей Монетчиков
Арсенал: Пистолет ГШ-18 — детище тульских оружейников
// Братишка 2006 No. 7. {{Use dmy dates, date=June 2017 9mm Parabellum semi-automatic pistols Semi-automatic pistols of Russia KBP Instrument Design Bureau products