The 9×21mm ''Gyurza'' (''Гюрза'', Russian for " blunt-nosed viper") round is a Russian

handgun A handgun is a short- barrelled gun, typically a firearm, that is designed to be usable with only one hand. It is distinguished from a long gun (i.e. rifle, shotgun or machine gun, etc.), which needs to be held by both hands and also braced ...

round designed to defeat

body armor Body armor, also known as body armour, personal armor or armour, or a suit or coat of armor, is protective clothing designed to absorb or deflect physical attacks. Historically used to protect military personnel, today it is also used by variou ...

that was developed by

TsNIITochMash TsNIITochMash (russian: ЦНИИТОЧМАШ) is a Russian industrial design bureau which is a major designer and producer of weapons for the Russian military and MVD National Guard. The name is an initialism for Central Scientific - Research Ins ...

for its

SR-1 Vektor The SR-1 Vektor also known as the Gyurza (''Гюрза'', Russian for " blunt-nosed viper") or Serdyukov SPS is a 9×21mm Gyurza semi-automatic pistol designed for the Russian military. The firearm is currently produced as the SR1M. Design det ...

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 ...

and

SR-2 Veresk The SR-2 "Veresk" (russian: СР-2 «Вереск», English: Heather) is a Russian submachine gun designed to fire the 9×21mm Gyurza pistol cartridge. History Development of a new submachine gun chambered for the 9×21mm Gyurza cartridge (al ...

submachine gun A submachine gun (SMG) is a magazine-fed, automatic carbine designed to fire handgun cartridges. The term "submachine gun" was coined by John T. Thompson, the inventor of the Thompson submachine gun, to describe its design concept as an autom ...

Performance

The method of construction of the rounds allows them to be effective against both unarmored and armored targets. The bullet has a hard sub-caliber core contained within an outer sleeve and separated from it by a polyethylene layer. If the bullet strikes an unarmored target, it holds together to produce a wide wound channel. If the bullet strikes an armored target, the sleeve is stripped away and the core penetrates alone. The 7N29 AP loading fires a bullet at with of muzzle energy, and will reportedly penetrate two 1.2 mm titanium plates, plus 30 layers of Kevlar, at . The disadvantage of the rounds is that high impact velocities are needed for them to work effectively, so the bullets are relatively light to maximize their muzzle velocity. This means they will lose velocity relatively quickly, limiting their effective range.

Variants

SP-10 (7N29) - armor-piercing bullet with hardened steel core SP-11 (7N28) - standard FMJ bullet with lead core SP-12 - low ricocheting,

expanding bullet Expanding bullets, also known colloquially as dumdum bullets, are projectiles designed to expand on impact. This causes the bullet to increase in diameter, to combat over-penetration and produce a larger wound, thus dealing more damage to a li ...

SP-13 (7BT3) -

tracer Tracer may refer to: Science * Flow tracer, any fluid property used to track fluid motion * Fluorescent tracer, a substance such as 2-NBDG containing a fluorophore that is used for tracking purposes * Histochemical tracer, a substance used for tr ...

AP bullet based on 7N29

Designations

* 9×21mm Gyurza * 9mm Gyurza

Notes

External links

9×21mm pistol cartridges

9x21mm Ammunition (Russian)

Pistol and rifle cartridges Military cartridges TsNIITochMash products {{ammo-stub