HP handguns - Excellent summary/recap

HP handguns

High-penetration handguns
( note: the specifications are in the data table ! )
The high-penetration handguns that I present here are all pistols and machine pistols, but not some Magnum and other high-power handguns for non-military users. I’ve split them up in four categories;
calibre of less than 6 mm and high bullet velocity (SCHV)
calibre of less than 6 mm and normal bullet velocity
9 x 21 mm calibre
9 x 18 mm and 9 x 19 mm (‘normal’) calibres
a 10 mm PDW project
All of them use some harder metals than lead for great parts of the bullets in order to achieve high penetration properties. All of them seem to be able to penetrate at least level II body armour. Interestingly, the fourth category cartridges shows that normal handguns can be converted to high-penetration handguns - and by using SLAP (Sabot) cartridges, normal 9 mm and .45ACP handguns could even fire small-calibre bullets at high velocity. Their rifling would be suboptimal for this ammo, but it would function. It should be noted that the HK MP5F is a variant of the proven SMG that can use the ‘hottest’ 9x19mm cartridges, especially useful for possible later use of high-penetration ammo.
The examples of normal calibre are less dubious in their wound ballistics than the smaller calibres, although a 9 mm AP bullet is very likely to have less wounding capability than soft lead or even non-military hollowpoint bullets of the same calibre do.
The military utility of these pistols is not really obvious; although they’re capable of penetrating light body armour, their practical range is usually more limited by the weapon’s design than by bullet performance. Few of these handguns have any specials like fore grips, folding/removable buttstocks, laser pointer, red dot sight or compensator, therefore are the hit chances in combat not impressive beyond 25 m. Under combat stress, most of them might prove quite useless to their users in all but the closest distances, just like normal pistols. Their best use is probably as backup weapons in a comfortable quick draw holster with one magazine each in weapon and holster - but the heavier examples are unsuitable for this.
Anyway, I do present them here because the requirement to defeat soft body armour was such a prominent part of the PDW process and after all, it is primarily the belief in the inability of pistols and submachineguns to defeat light body armour that lead to the PDW. Note that any external and terminal ballistic performance that can be achieved by these weapons could as well be achieved (and more) by a full-size submachinegun that’s of comparable compactness as the most famous PDW, the FN P90.
SCHV - small calibre, high velocity handguns
The first of my categories of high-penetration handguns are the small calibre high velocity handguns. While their larger cousins can at least claim to have the sights and stability for controlled fire bursts on/in the target and therefore the ability to place many hits in short time into the enemy, these pistol-like weapons are less likely to compensate their supposed lack of single bullet wounding effect with a superior count of hits.
.224 BOZ pistol

This is rather an ammunition development than a pistol project - seemingly, they started with a Colt Delta Elite as Basis for this and now use a Glock 20. Both pistols are originally 10mm Auto handguns - the .224 BOZ cartridge is a necked-down 10mm Auto and should therefore fit well except in the barrel. The new barrels seem to have 5,5” or 6,5” length (140 or 165 mm) and are therefore longer than a standard Glock 20 barrel - that’s clearly visible. The overall approach is interesting; some 10mm Auto-chambered weapons are available including members of widespread and successful weapon families like the Glock 20 and HK MP5/10. The use of a (in comparison to FN’s and HK’s bullets) heavy 5.56mm bullet that’s compatible or identical to 5.56 x 45 mm weapons (kind of M193) is both pro and contra argument. This bullet will strike slower than usual when fired from an assault rifle and is therefore likely suboptimal for this job. Otherwise, these bullets are in production and are heavier than most other PDW bullets! The developers claim that DERA (UK) has tested the cartridge.
http://www.civil-defence.org/products/ballistics/boz224/ppw.html

Colt SCAMP

The SCAMP (Small Caliber Machine Pistol) was developed to be a worthy successor for the Colt Model 1911 Government (that has the impressive calibre of .45ACP). Just like this, the SCAMP machine pistol was rather large but would have given its user full-auto fire or a three-round burst of soft body armour penetrating small calibre high-velocity bullets (only the Tuma mte .224 VA bullets seem to be faster in this category!). Note its compensator against muzzle climb and the lack of buttstock and fore grip. The cartridge’s effective range with the SCAMP’s long barrel likely outperformed the weapon’s practical range. It’s also beyond my understanding why a high-velocity weapon with insufficient ergonomics for 100 m (for example) would need windage-adjustable sights.
www.smallarmsreview.com/pdf/scamp.pdf

FN Five-seveN

The FN Five-seveN is the little brother of the FN P90, firing the same cartridge. So far, this self-loading pistol seems to be less famous and commercially successful than the P-90. Its best properties are lightweight (744 g loaded), high magazine capacity (20) and of course the penetration (CRISAT). Available for some years, it will soon have a new rival in the HK UCP / P46. This weapon certainly does not need much of an description here because it’s well-documented in the internet:
www.FNHerstal.com/html/index.htm
www.world.guns.ru/smg/smg59-e.htm
www.remtek.com/arms/fn/57/index.htm
www.fnhusa.com/contents/hg_fiveseven.htm
users.belgacom.net/jm.armes/FN-FS/F-S_menu.htm (in French)
www.securityarms.com/20010315/galleryfiles/1500/1599.htm
www.securityarms.com/20010315/galleryfiles/1600/1679.htm
www.securityarms.com/20010315/galleryfiles/2300/2367.htm

HK NBW (sometimes incorrectly called “G11 PDW”)

This is a kind of little brother of the famous assault rifle (project) for caseless cartridges, the German HK G11. The G11 assault rifle was in the process of being adopted when the Cold War ended and was then cancelled together with a light machinegun project with the same cartridge and this pistol-like “Nahbereichswaffe” (German: ‘close-in weapon’). It’s said that prototype cartridges (different ones than the G11 cartridges) were produced but the weapon itself did not advance beyond mock-up stage. The comparison with the contemporary HK design presented directly below is interesting; this mock-up for a caseless cartridge gun doesn’t seem to be designed with the same intentions about ergonomics; maybe the NBW picture doesn’t look at all like the weapon would have looked if fully develeoped. The conventional MP7 (PDW), G36 (assault rifle)and MG4 (light machinegun) were developed for and adopted by the Bundeswehr instead of the caseless cartridge weapons family.
www.hkpro.com/g11pdw.htm
DWJ 8/2004 issue

HK project in 1989 in 5.7 x 22 mm GIAT (exact name unknown to me)

This seems to have been the conventional counterpart of the HK NBW above - it used the later abandoned 5.7x22 mm calibre by GIAT. That was a new cartridge resembling a 7.62 x 22 mm Luger round necked down to .22 caliber. But this calibre was abandoned when GIAT became parent company of FN and FN had both a more powerful PDW calibre with its 5.7 x 28mm as well as more mature weapon designs for it. The front sight of this weapon confuses me; it doesn’t seem to be designed for greater than pistol ranges - otherwise its radius could easily be enlarged by a more forward fore sight. This project/study is dead now and I’m even not sure whether there was ever a prototype. Note that the “5.7 x 22 mm” calibre info could be wrong because GIAT’s own PDW project of the time was according to Jane’s in 5.7 x 25 mm.
DWJ 8/2004 issue

HK UCP / P46

The small brother of the MP7. A brochure of the UCP was seemingly shown at the MILIPOL 2003 expo in Paris (which I’m still trying to get...) and a graphic of it is part of a Heckler & Koch advertisement on the cover of Jane’s Infantry Weapons 2004-2005, but this pistol doesn’t seem to have been officially launched yet. Superficially, it seems to be a very close rival to the FN Five-seveN.
www.hkpro.com/p46.htm
www.securityarms.com/20010315/galleryfiles/2700/2794.htm (obsolete photo)

Leitner-Wise LW70S pistol

This pistol seems to be in development for a 7.82S x 24 mm cartridge with a normal commercial 55 or 62 grains 5.56 mm bullet held by sabots. The sabot arrangements promises a comparably high muzzle velocity despite a short barrel, but the cartridge seems to be primarily defined for a full-size PDW (LW15S CAW), not for a pistol. This might be a disadvantage for the pistol due to (probably) strong muzzle flash and noise.
www.leitner-wise.com/products/82s.htm

NORINCO SFQ 5,8 / Chang Feng

The early version of the Chang Feng submachinegun was in a 5.8 x 21 mm calibre and quite complicated. Telescoping buttstock and some kind of fore grip might give this one decent hit chances at good SMG ranges. It seems as if the really extraordinary feature was the use of two magazines at once; a normal one in the grip and a high-capacity helical magazine as known by Calico weapons and Russian PP-90M1 submachinegun. That would outperform even the magazine capacity of the FN P90. The Chinese do also have a variant of the Type 85 submachinegun in the 5.8 x 21 mm calibre. It seems as if this gun was cancelled in favor of a less complicated design with standard calibre.
www.securityarms.com/20010315/galleryfiles/2800/2802.htm
http://world.guns.ru/smg/smg74-e.htm

NORINCO QSZ-92-5.8

The Chinese either don’t seem to want their weapons become famous or they are lousy in marketing. Anyway, it’s difficult to find out much about this weapon. It’s said to be in service with the PLA at least for trials. Its muzzle energy is rather low, and it has difficulty to qualify for this category.
www.sinodefence.com/army/individual/pistol.asp
world.guns.ru/handguns/hg122-e.htm
www.edu.cn/20011211/3013568.shtml (in Chinese. This text exists at different places in the internet.)
www.securityarms.com/20010315/galleryfiles/2700/2796.htm
www.securityarms.com/20010315/galleryfiles/2700/2797.htm

Norinco Type 05

This 5.8 x 21 mm submachinegun seems the primary variant for the Chinese military while a 9mm version is for police use and foreign sales.
http://world.guns.ru/smg/smg75-e.htm

Tuma mte .224 VA

The Tuma mte .224 VA is a machine pistol (the mte .224 V is a self-loading pistol) of the small Swiss weapons design corporation Tuma Engineering. It’s quite comparable to the other modern guns in this category, but it’s seemingly the most powerful concerning muzzle energy (.224 BOZ’ muzzle energy is likely close or better, but unknown to me). It has even more muzzle energy than the two most famous “NATO PDWs” HK MP7 A1 and FN P90. A magazine holder in the front can act as fore grip, but doesn’t seem to be compatible with a normal holster. The fashionable tactical lights and silencer extras are also for this weapon available.
www.mtuma.ch/sites/content/mte224V.htm
www.waffenhq.de/infanterie/mte224va.html (in German)
www.geocities.com/personaldefenceweapons/Tuma/Tuma1.jpg (high-quality photo)
www.geocities.com/personaldefenceweapons/Tuma/Tuma2.jpg (high-quality photo)
www.geocities.com/personaldefenceweapons/Tuma/Tuma3.jpg (high-quality photo)
www.securityarms.com/20010315/galleryfiles/1100/1149.htm
www.securityarms.com/20010315/galleryfiles/1600/1626.htm
www.securityarms.com/20010315/galleryfiles/2800/2858.htm

Small calibre, normal pistol bullet velocity - this category is both old and difficult to understand.
Despite soft body armour penetration capability, these are in my humble opinion definately no weapons for use as PDW. Their stopping power and practical range doesn’t elevate them above normal 9 x 19 mm pistols. But they’re interesting because they demonstrate the penetration potential of even slow small-calibre bullets.

KBP OTs-23 “Drotik” (Javelin) / SBZ

As differences to the earlier PSM, this is a machine-pistol with an astonishing magazine capacity of no less than 24 cartridges, completely in the hand grip. The three-round bursts are extremely fast with 1800 rpm and despite this burst fire capability and the small calibre (5.45mm), this pistol looks - normal. The multi-hit chance for a burst should at least partially compensate for the dubious wounding potential of the bullet. The weapon has a muzzle compensator and an interesting detail is an external indicator that allows the user to determine by touching it how many rounds are left in the magazine.
www.securityarms.com/20010315/galleryfiles/2100/2140.htm

KBP PSM

This weapon is rather a pocket pistol that surprisingly is able to defeat strong soft body armour. A toy for high-ranking officers and both small and light enough not to be noticed often when worn. It uses the same cartridge with Spitzer bullet like the Drotik.
world.guns.ru/handguns/hg23-e.htm

9 x 21 mm calibre weapons
Their soft body armour penetration is awesome in comparison to the performance of normal 9 x 19 mm bullets, but the price is that the 9 x 21 mm pistol is quite heavy. Western sports shooters have used calibres like 9 x 22 mm to beef up in comparison to the old 9 x 19 mm weapons - but such cartridges did not become standard. The 10mm Auto cartridge is also much more powerful than 9 x 19 mm (primarily in wounding effect, AP bullets are uncommon or non-existant in this calibre). It was selected by the FBI and weapons like the MP5 were modified for 10mm Auto. But it didn’t become one of the standard cartridges. The same so far happened to the 9 x 21 mm cartridge - it seems as if the 9 x 18 mm AP cartridge is more successful.

Rex Firearms Gepard / PP-SShS in 9 x 21 mm

The Gepard is described elsewhere as a 9 x 30 mm calibre weapon. It was tested with 9 x 21 mm, too. That’s potentially advantageous for the ergonomy of the hand grip and might allow a shorter barrel...

Serdyukov SPS / P-9 “Gyurza” (Snake or Viper, also written Gurza) / Vector SR-1

There’s surprisingly little to say about this weapon; you need a vest class higher than normal against pistols to protect against its bullet, that’s besides an unconventional safety arrangement the only remarkable detail of this gun.
world.guns.ru/handguns/hg25-e.htm

Tsniitochmash SR-2

Despite it fires a pistol cartridge and can be categorized as machine-pistol, this gun has a gas-operated rotary locking mechanism. It doesn’t seem to be advisable to stabilise it with the weak hand below the handguard because there’s no protection against sliding forward to the muzzle. With a folding fore grip, it would be much better.
www.securityarms.com/20010315/galleryfiles/2200/2214.htm
I’d also like to present some examples for the normal calibre breed of high-penetration handguns - interestingly, they’re all Russian.
This doesn’t need to be like that - it seems as if the fear of ‘copkiller’ ammunition distribution prevented the use of such cartridges in the western world. They are available!

6P35 “Grach” / PYa / Pistolet Yarygina

This seems to be a good, modern self-loading pistol for hot armour-piercing cartridges. It has a very good magazine capacity, the cartridge-typical good armour penetration and an easily acceptable weight. Finally, it’s entering service in the Russian military and other Russian institutions.
world.guns.ru/handguns/hg50-e.htm

KBP GSh-18

The GSh-18 is a modern and lightweight pistol that seems to be quite similar to the Glock series in that it has no external safety. It’s compatible with 9 x 19mm Parabellum cartridges but deserves its entry here with the hardened steel core bullets of the 9 x 19 mm 7H31 cartridge with its astonishing claimed penetration. It’s likely that this pistol has lost out to 6P35 “Grach” and Vektor SR-1 - the competition among Russian high-penetration handguns is fierce with so many designs at one time in one country with such defence budget problems.
www.shipunov.com/eng/str/strelk/gsh18.htm
world.guns.ru/handguns/hg111-e.htm
www.securityarms.com/20010315/galleryfiles/2100/2141.htm

KBP OTs-02 “Kiparis” (Cypress) / TKB-0217

This weapon is located at the upper edge of the machine pistol segment. It has been issued to Russian police special forces (which seem to get a lot of different new weapons) and uses the same cartridges and is from the same manufacturer as the KBP PP-93. Every source seems to state another range of rate of fire for this weapon...
www.shipunov.com/eng/str/strelk/ots02.htm
world.guns.ru/smg/smg04-e.htm

KBP OTs-27 “Berdysh” (pole-axe) / PSA

Just one seemingly unspectacular self-loading pistol more. Except that it can handle the same 9 x 18 mm 57-N-181SM armour-piercing cartridge as Pernach, Kiparis and PP-93, too. And the magazine has a very good capacity. Seems to be in use with some Russian police units.
www.shipunov.com/eng/str/strelk/ots27.htm
world.guns.ru/handguns/hg138-e.htm

KBP OTs-33 “Pernach” (multivaned mace) / SBZ-2

A machine pistol with moderate weight, ability to handle hot AP cartridges, good magazine capacity and limited use in Russian OMON special units. Notable is also that it’s simpler to produce than the ‘predecessor’ APS. The buttstock promises to increase the practical range in comparison to normal pistols.
www.shipunov.com/eng/str/strelk/ots33.htm
www.securityarms.com/20010315/galleryfiles/2900/2907.htm

KBP PP-90M1

This submachinegun is relevant for its large helical high-capacity magazine and for its ability to use 9 x 19mm AP bullets (7N21 and 7N31). Ergonomically, it seems to be terrible.
www.shipunov.com/eng/str/strelk/pp90m1.htm
world.guns.ru/smg/smg59-e.htm

KBP PP-93

This rather good-looking weapon is located at the upper edge of machine pistols. The combination of heavy weight, buttstock and comparably low rate of fire promises that this machine pistol is more controllable than many others are. The penetration should at least be useful in law enforcement against soft vehicles and I guess it’s able to defeat Level III-a soft body armour (30 layers Kevlar® 129).
www.shipunov.com/eng/str/strelk/pp93.htm
world.guns.ru/smg/smg58-e.htm

KBP PP-2000

The KBP PP-2000 is a very new weapon with several highly uncommon features. The most obvious unusual feature is the combined fore grip/trigger guard. But the shoulder stock in form of a long magazine is also pretty unusual if not unique. It’s here because it can use hot 7N31 cartridges with enhanced vest piercing capability.
world.guns.ru/smg/smg61-e.htm
10mm PDW project of Arm West

This is a development project - but I take it seriously because the well-known L. James Sullivan is the designer. It will as it seems result in pistol and machine pistol for a 10mm light AP bullet design for combat ranges up to 100m.
www.military.com/soldiertech/0,14632, Soldiertech_HK,,00.html
www.defensereview.com/crane1/Arm%20West%20PDW_Pistol%20Version.jpg
www.defensereview.com/crane1/Arm%20West%20PDW_Shoulder%20Weapon%20Version_Retracted-spec.jpg
www.defensereview.com/crane1/Arm%20West%20PDW_Shoulder%20Weapon%20Version_Extended.jpg

Stan Crist’s PDW (conversion) proposal

Finally, I want to draw your attention to an article written by a friend of mine. It was published by the U.S. ARMOR magazine in 2001. Basically, he argued for a conversion of the existing M9 (Beretta 92) pistols in U.S. service for lengthened barrel, telescoping buttstock and 9 x 19 mm AP cartridges to enable the weapon to defeat light body armour and to enable the user to hit targets farther away. I consider this as one of the very rare examples of a pistol-to-PDW conversion proposal. Key to enhanced penetration are AP cartridges, another hint that western 9 x 19 mm systems still have some potential.
I’m not aware of any such or similar conversions, but the cost of the British SA-80 assault rifle conversion/upgrade seems to indicate that it’s likely more advantageous to put the pistols into war reserve and purchase new weapons instead of an upgrade. But the Pentagon’s practices are obscure enough that this argument is not necessarily relevant there.
www.knox.army.mil/center/ocoa/armormag/nd01/6pdw01.pdf