The Jericho 941 is a
double-action/single-action semi-automatic pistol developed by
Israel Military Industries (now
Israel Weapon Industries
Israel Weapon Industries (IWI), formerly the Magen division of the Israel Military Industries Ltd. (IMI), is an Israeli firearms manufacturer.
It was founded in 1933. Formerly owned by the State of Israel, the Small Arms Division of IMI was pr ...
) introduced in 1990.
It was first imported into the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...
in 1990 by K.B.I., Inc. of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. It was later imported by
O.F. Mossberg & Sons and named the Uzi Eagle and by
Magnum Research
Magnum Research Inc. (MRI) was an American privately held corporation based in Fridley, Minnesota which manufactured and distributed firearms. The majority owners, Jim Skildum (President and CEO) and John Risdall (Chairman, COO), had been with ...
, Inc. as the Baby Eagle until the end of 2008. Some pistols from Magnum Research are marked Desert Eagle Pistol. Despite these names being used in the American market, the Jericho 941 is not related to the
IMI Desert Eagle
The Desert Eagle is a gas-operated, semi-automatic pistol known for chambering the .50 Action Express, the largest centerfire cartridge of any magazine-fed, self-loading pistol.
Magnum Research Inc. (MRI) designed and developed the Desert Eagle ...
other than its manufacture and design by IMI, and bears only a slight cosmetic resemblance to the larger pistol. From January 2009 until they ceased business in January 2010, K.B.I., Inc. (which also imported
Charles Daly firearms) imported the handgun as the Jericho. Magnum Research, now a division of
Kahr Arms, announced a renewed importation of the Jericho.
In December 2014, IWI US, Inc. announced they would begin importing both the steel and polymer versions of the Jericho 941 in early 2015.
Design and features
The original Jericho 941 was modeled on the
CZ-75
The CZ 75 is a semi-automatic pistol made by Czech firearm manufacturer ČZUB. First introduced in 1975, it is one of the original " wonder nines" and features a staggered-column magazine, all-steel construction, and a hammer forged barrel. I ...
pistol and built using parts supplied by the Italian arms house
Tanfoglio, which had been making their own CZ-75 clones. Using a well-tested design allowed IMI to avoid the teething problems most new pistol designs experience, and subcontracting much of the basic fabrication work to Tanfoglio allowed IMI to quickly put into production a pistol that would have enough Israeli content to satisfy government contract requirements.
While the R-versions of the Jericho 941 feature a combined safety/decocker (the decocking lever also acts as a safety and remains on "safe" when actuated), the decocker version of the CZ-75 (CZ-75BD) features a simple decocker (the pistol is always ready to fire in double-action mode when decocked). The barrel of the CZ-75 is traditionally rifled, while the Jericho 941 features a
polygonal
In geometry, a polygon () is a plane figure that is described by a finite number of straight line segments connected to form a closed ''polygonal chain'' (or ''polygonal circuit''). The bounded plane region, the bounding circuit, or the two to ...
barrel, furthermore the Jericho 941 is substantially heavier. These differences translate into substantial differences in the condition in which the gun is carried. Magazines for the CZ-75 and
Tanfoglio T95
The Tanfoglio Combat or Standard, also known as T(A)95 or EAA Witness Steel, is a modified clone of the Czech CZ-75/ CZ-85 pistol. It is made in Gardone Val Trompia near Brescia, Italy by Fratelli Tanfoglio S.N.C.
Design details
The Tanfogl ...
will function in the Jericho 941.
One innovation by IMI was a new, much "hotter" cartridge, the
.41 Action Express
The .41 Action Express is a pistol cartridge developed in 1986 to reproduce the performance of the .41 Magnum police load (which is a reduced load) in semi-automatic pistols.
History
The .41 Action Express was designed by Evan Whildin, vice pre ...
(see below) to go along with the Jericho 941. A key feature shared between 9mm and
.41 AE
The .41 Action Express is a pistol cartridge developed in 1986 to reproduce the performance of the .41 Magnum police load (which is a reduced load) in semi-automatic pistols.
History
The .41 Action Express was designed by Evan Whildin, vice pre ...
is that the AE cartridges have rebated rims which are the same diameter as the less powerful rounds, but the case is wider, providing more capacity and potential for more power. This allows these pairs of calibers to be used in the same firearm with only a change of barrel, recoil spring and magazine.
The
.41 AE
The .41 Action Express is a pistol cartridge developed in 1986 to reproduce the performance of the .41 Magnum police load (which is a reduced load) in semi-automatic pistols.
History
The .41 Action Express was designed by Evan Whildin, vice pre ...
was less commercially successful than the
10mm
The following are examples of orders of magnitude for different lengths.
__TOC__
Overview
Detailed list
To help compare different orders of magnitude, the following list describes various lengths between 1.6 \times 10^ metres and 10 ...
, and was soon discontinued.
Experience with heavily loaded rounds gave IMI a considerable lead, however, in chambering for the soon-to-be successful
.40 S&W and also allowed the Jericho to be designed for the popular
.45 ACP
The .45 ACP ( Automatic Colt Pistol) or .45 Auto (11.43×23mm) is a rimless straight-walled handgun cartridge designed by John Moses Browning in 1904, for use in his prototype Colt semi-automatic pistol. After successful military trials, it ...
.
The Jericho 941 design has been modified to include
accessory rails on the frame for mounting lasers or flashlights, a feature found on many modern semi-automatic handguns.
Variants
The introduction of the Jericho 941 also introduced a new caliber to the market, the
.41 Action Express
The .41 Action Express is a pistol cartridge developed in 1986 to reproduce the performance of the .41 Magnum police load (which is a reduced load) in semi-automatic pistols.
History
The .41 Action Express was designed by Evan Whildin, vice pre ...
(or .41 AE), which was developed in 1986.
The .41 AE was a rebated rim cartridge designed to use .410-inch (10.25 mm) bullets and duplicate a reduced power police loading of the
.41 Magnum
The .41 Remington Magnum, also known as .41 Magnum or 10.4×33mmR (as it is known in unofficial metric designation), is a center fire firearms cartridge primarily developed for use in large-frame revolvers, introduced in 1964 by the Remington A ...
.
The Jericho originally shipped with two barrels, one for
9×19mm Parabellum and the other for .41 AE. Since the .41 AE was designed with a rebated rim the same dimensions as that of the 9 mm, the extractor and ejector worked equally well for either cartridge.
A later compact version, the Jericho 941, was chambered in
.45 ACP
The .45 ACP ( Automatic Colt Pistol) or .45 Auto (11.43×23mm) is a rimless straight-walled handgun cartridge designed by John Moses Browning in 1904, for use in his prototype Colt semi-automatic pistol. After successful military trials, it ...
or 9 mm.
Initially Jericho pistols used barrels with
polygonal rifling, which sometimes produces slightly higher velocity due to better bullet to barrel fit. IWI switched to conventional land and groove rifling from 2005 to 2007.
The Jericho 941 is issued in current service throughout the
Israeli Security Forces, but Israel Weapon Industries lost a 1.2 Billion Pesos bid for the Philippine National Police's 60,000 handgun procurement on July 11, 2012.
![IWI Jericho 941 mine](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/29/IWI_Jericho_941_mine.jpg)
Israeli Government IMI Jericho 941F's, occasionally available on the US Civilian Surplus Market, are SAO (Single Action Only) versions of the IMI/IWI Jericho 941 models sold new in the US. These pistols can appear with either factory SAO triggers, or trigger/frame modifications performed by Israeli Armorers. The Armorer-modified version can be externally identified by an extra
roll-pin added in the frame slightly forward of the trigger-pivot (also a roll-pin). This extra roll-pin prevents the trigger from moving forward to the now non-existent DA position within the trigger-guard. The SAO triggers of the Govt. 941s apply to what is commonly known as the "Israeli Method" of carry, otherwise known as "Condition 3" within the lexicon developed by
Jeff Cooper.
Users
![Pistol Md](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/72/Pistol_Md._2000_BSDA_2010.jpg)
*: The
Chilean Marine Corps has the IWI Jericho 941 RPSL.
*
*
*
*: Used by army and police.
*
*: Used by Special Forces.
*: Used by various police and security forces.
*
*
*: Manufactured by the
Cugir Arms Factory
Cugir Arms Factory is a Romanian state owned defence company that is one of the oldest defense companies of Romania. Cugir Arms Factory has a history that can be traced back to 1799 during the Austrian Empire. The steel manufacturing workshops were ...
as the Pistol model 2000.
*
*: Used by Army and Marine Corps Military Police Special Duty Team
*: since September 2009 produced in Ukraine under the name “Fort-21.03”. Used by Ukrainian police and special forces
*: Limited use in the army and police. Manufactured locally at the
Z111 Factory
The Z111 Factory ( vi, Nhà máy Z111), formally registered as the 11 Precise Mechanical One Member Liability Company () is a state-owned small arms factory located in Thanh Hoá, Vietnam.
The Z111 Factory was built in 1957, and was originally ...
.
References
External links
IWI official webpageJericho 941 Pictorial{{IMI IWI smallarms
Semi-automatic pistols of Israel
9mm Parabellum semi-automatic pistols
.40 S&W semi-automatic pistols
.41 Action Express semi-automatic pistols
.45 ACP semi-automatic pistols
Weapons and ammunition introduced in 1990