The GSh-18 (Cyrillic: ГШ-18) is a 9mm semi-automatic pistol developed by the KBP Instrument Design Bureau in Tula during the 1990s. The pistol's name is derived from its designers—Gryazev and Shipunov—and its magazine capacity of 18 rounds.

History

The GSh-18 entered service in 2000 with the Russian Ministry of Justice. It was only in 2003 that the pistol was widely adopted under Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation No. 166.

Design details

The GSh-18 is a rotating-barrel, short recoil, locked-breech pistol with 10 locking lugs spaced equally around the barrel, the large locking surface area resulting in a strong lockup, making it suitable for high-velocity ammunition loads. The GSh-18 may be employed using standard 9×19mm Parabellum rounds, but was designed for the high velocity, Russian armour-piercing 9×19mm 7N31 round. The pistol incorporates a pre-set striker. The slide and working parts are steel, and the weapon has a polymer frame. Two different designs of grip have been observed. The magazine capacity is 18 rounds, and an additional round may be carried in the chamber. The magazine release is reversible for left-handed shooters and the extractor doubles as a loaded chamber indicator. The magazines are a double stack, double feed design common to Russian military handguns.

Ammunition

The GSh-18 is designed to fire standard 9×19mm Parabellum as well as the Russian 9×19mm 7N21 (Cyrillic: 7Н21) and 7N31 (Cyrillic: 7Н31) +P+ armor-piercing rounds. The 7N31, has demonstrated penetration of 8 mm of steel (15–20 meters of distance).

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Users

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