PSS Pistol

Last Updated on Friday, 24 July 2009 13:07 Friday, 24 July 2009 12:42

The PSS pistol was a Soviet silent pistol designed in 1983. The PSS was designed to equip Soviet secret forces with a silent weapon for conducting reconnaissance and assassination missions. It was intended as a replacement for the earlier MSP and S-4 pistols. The PSS offered higher firepower when compared to other silent pistols in its class. This was due to the six-cartridge clip it used. In addition, the pistol also had a semi-automatic operation. Other pistols in its class were manually-cocked. However, the PSS was not much larger and so it was very useful as a concealed weapon.

The PSS pistol used unconventional cartridges. The bullet is fully encased by the cartridge case. When it is fired, the expanding gases are fully contained within the case and do not expand out of the barrel. This makes the shot very quite. In addition, it also eliminates muzzle flash.

Apart from the special cartridge the weapon uses, the operation of the pistol is very straightforward. However, details of the PSS are not fully known as only a few weapons have ever landed up in Western hands.

PSS achieves self-loading by using an unusual design. The barrel of the weapon has two parts--one part is fixed and rifle and the second part of the moving breech. The breech doubles up both to dampen the slide recoil and also to load the next round. Apart from the barrel, the PSS has common features such as simple sights, one-stack magazine and a manually operated safety switch.

The PSS was the last pistol to be completed in the Soviet silent pistol program. The earlier pistols designed under this program proved unsatisfactory due to their 2-shot limitation. Earlier designs i.e. the MSP and the SP-4M had two barrels.

The PSS was first issued to OSNAZ in 1983. The pistol was intended to be used as an assassination weapon. It was manufactured at a special weapons factory at Tznitochmash and Soviet Special Forces were often equipped with it.

The PSS continues to be used even today by some Spetsnaz, FSB and MVD units in Russia. The PSS is used by the various counter-terrorism units of the Russian Military Forces.

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