Dear sirs,
I am a former editor of one of the Russian gun-magazines and
now act as an independent gun-writer. I was very impressed
with your publication. In the following letter you would be
able to find some brief information about Russian-made
non-lethal pistol, specially designed for the self-defense and
law-enforcement. If you would need further information and/or
photos please contact me.
If you would need
further information I would be ready to help you. Further
information about the NIIPH can be obtained by sending e-mail
to
niiph@tsinet.ru, fax 7-09654-450-26, 7-09654-749-44
Meantime I am
greatly interested in information on other non-lethal system,
such as the French-made Safegom revolver that was tested by
Adrienne Williams and Carl Rone, Philadelphia Police Crime
Lab, Philadelphia, PA. If you could help me to contact these
gentleman or give me any information about this weapon it
would greatly help my work.
Best regards,
Dmitry
Kotchetkoff,
The former executive editor of The Russian Gun Magazine, now
writing for the Kaliber.ru and Magnum gun-publications
casatic@mail.ru
|
Note: The following
information is being provided to AFTE members for
informational purposes only. It's presence on the AFTE
website should in no way be considered an endorsement by
AFTE. |
Russian PB-4M Pistol
Under the current
Law people here in Russia are not allowed to carry handguns.
You can have a shotgun at home (even a 10-shot 12-gauge Saiga
semi-auto with the folding stock and the pistol grip), but it
is completely illegal to carry even a tiny .25 pistol. The
only men allowed to carry are law enforcement officers and
officers of the certain government agencies (ex. foresters,
customs officers and so on). The only type of handguns that
can be purchased in Russia by ordinary people are the
domestic-manufactured pistols that fire non-lethal rubber
ammunition.
The main
representative of the Russian rubber-shooting handguns market
is the PB-4M pistol, designed and manufactured at the FGUP
FNPC NIIPH (that means "Federal state-owned enterprise
Federal center for research and manufacturing "The Institute
for science and research in the applied chemistry"). NIIPH is
one of the leading Russian military contractors and it was the
first-ever Russian developer of the rubber-shooting pistol.
For that time PB-4M pistol is available at the domestic market
and can be purchased and carried by ordinary law-abiding
citizens. It is also used by private and state-owned security
companies. Several Russian law-enforcement agencies now
consider the purchase of such weapons.
PB-4M is the
4-barreled derringer-type pistol with the unique electronic
action. When the trigger is pulled the small generator is
activated. This generator is the know-how of the NIIPH and is
extremely durable and reliable. The power from the generator
comes to the small chip, located in the grip of the pistol.
This chip performs a test in the "ask-response" mode. During
such test the chip receives information about the condition of
the each of the pistol's chambers: is there a cartridge in the
chamber and is it ready to fire. All it takes less then a
fraction of the second. When the chip finds ready cartridge in
sends a power impulse that ignites the cartridge's electric
primer. Such system helps to ease the process of shooting:
until there would be workable cartridges in the pistol, each
trigger pull will cause shooting. In other words, the action
of the PB-4M can be described as a radically improved action
of the double-action revolver. In the revolver if you meet a
non-performing cartridge you just press the trigger, rotate
the cylinder and shoot from the following chamber. Electronic
action perform this job automatically, eliminating the need
for the "extra trigger pulls". It also eases the process of
reloading the gun in the hurry: put the new cartridge in any
chamber and pull the trigger, and the pistol will shoot.
There is also a earlier modification PB-4 with the mechanical
switch, that works just like the DAO-revolver, and a new
PB-4-1, where the generator is replaced with the heavy-duty
battery. The PB-4-1 also has the electronic action and is
equipped with the integral laser sight. All PB pistols are
made of the high-strength aluminum and are very light and
compact. The weight of the loaded PB-4 is about 0.4 kg, the
weight of the loaded PB-4M is about 0.36 kg. Because of the
small weight it is well suited for concealment carry.
All Russian-made
rubber-shooting pistols fire special 18x45 ammunition with the
electric primers. Such primers are very reliable (no less then
0.9999) and can be used in almost every weather and humidity.
Together with the pistol 18x45 (18 mm - external diameter, 45
mm - length) makes the "OSA" system ("OSA" in Russian is for
the "Orujiye samooborony" or "the self-defense weapon")/The
main modification of the 18x45 cartridge is the 18x45T ("T" is
for "Trauma") which shoots the 15.5 mm rubber projectile. Such
projectile incapacitates the assailant with the impact with
the minimal risk of fatal damage. For that time 18x45T
cartridges have the initial energy of the 85J, but upon the
request of the foreign customer the energy can be increased
and decreased in the wide range. According to the NIIPH
statements, the 18x45 cartridge can shoot 160-mm groups at the
range of 10 meters.
There is also a
special law-enforcement modification called 18x70T with the
initial energy of the 100J that is not available for the
civilians. It also has greater accuracy - up to 400-mm at 50
meters. 18x70 cartridges are designed for the law-enforcement
version of the pistol called PB-4-2. PB-4-2 can also use all
cartridges of the 18x45 family. All following variants There
is also a flash-bang version of the 18x45, the 18x45SZ. It
performs just like the flash-bang grenades widely used by
police and special troops and incapacitates the opponent with
the loud noise and the extremely strong flash. There are also
signal (18x45S) and lightning (18x45O) versions that shoot
signal and lightning rockets.
Illustrations
www.afte.org
> Russian PB-4M "Less-Than-Lethal" Pistol
