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.[1][2]
The GSh-18 entered service in 2000 with the Russian Ministry of Justice.[4] It was only in 2003 that the pistol was widely adopted under Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation No. 166.[4]
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,[5] 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.[1] The slide and working parts are steel, and the weapon has a polymer frame.
Two different designs of grip have been observed.[5] 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.
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.[6] The 7N31, has demonstrated penetration of 8 mm of steel (15–20 meters of distance).[1][7]
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