Izhevsk (Baikal) PSM

[Cool Hand Luke 22:36]

Does anyone own or have any experience with this pistol? Any idea on where to buy one? It looks like an interesting Walther-type pistol

Comparison to a Walther PPK:

Specifications of the PSM pistol:

Calibre
5.45 x 18 mm (2,46g / 38grains FMJ armor piercing)

Ballistics
v0 = 328m/s (1077 f/s), energy = 132 J (98 fps)

Method of fire
Double Action

Operation
Blowback

Overall lenght
155 mm

Barrel lenght
75 mm

Height 110 mm (with magazine)
Overal widht 17 mm
Weight 450 g
Safety manual blocking the sear, inertial firing pin
Magazine single row, 8 rounds
Material Steel slide and frame, Polymer grips
Rifling 6 RH grooves
Sights fixed

 

[Justin]

They are illegal to possess in the US owing to the fact that the round they were designed to shoot is classified as being armor piercing.

 

[clubsoda22]

Probably too small to import anyway.

 

[gvass]

hi,
I've shot this little pistol. Exciting little bastard!
Very-very flat (more than it seems about photos), so its grip is not that comfortable, but the recoil is also not so harder than a .22 LR Hi-Vel. The trigger is not for a bullseye gun, although manageable. Fun to shoot!

Because its ammo is centerfire and bottlenecked, the gun is 100% reliable, unlike the rimfire autos.

It is quite accurate up to 15 meters.

The little safety/decocker is ingenious!

It is easy to field-strip as a Walther PP.

For backup or deep concealment with soft-point or HP ammo, it would be a great little gun.

 

[Master Blaster]

1077 fps, fmj bullet that weighs 38 grains Armour piercing??????????

Thats right up there with a .22lr in power, ARMOUR PIERCING???????

You mean like an Armour star ham can????? Thats the only armour your gonna pierce with this baby.

Are the bullets made of depleted uranium, or plutonium??????

.17 HMR must be armour piercing too, .22 magnum also armour piercing right??????

 

[gvass]

hi,
the penetration do NOT depends firstly on V0 and E0!
A crossbow with its slowmoving "bullet" is able to penetrate IIIA vests.

The PSM's tipped bullet has steelcore, very similar (maybe interchangeable) with AK-74's 5,45x39'S bullett.

There are even .38 Spec. (+P) ammo (Hirtenberger, LEO!) with steel core, with extreme penetration on soft body armour.

 

[Cool Hand Luke 22:36]

clubsoda22:

Probably too small to import anyway.

Am I correct in understanding that size limitation is a result of the Gun Control Act of '68. I read somewhere that the original PPK was thin like this PSM and couldn't be imported as a result.

 

[Cool Hand Luke 22:36]

gvass:

It looks like then it's reliable like a Makarov, but thinner and smaller.

Any idea of where to buy it or the Baikal-441(?) varient, in the USA?

 

[tetchaje1]

They come up on Gunbroker occasionally, so I get the distinct impression that they are not illegal to own. The hard part about this gun isn't getting one, it is keeping it fed with hard to find Russian ammo...

 

[Cool Hand Luke 22:36]

tetchaje1:

They come up on Gunbroker occasionally, so I get the distinct impression that they are not illegal to own. The hard part about this gun isn't getting one, it is keeping it fed with hard to find Russian ammo...

I guess handloading would be the order of the day with it.

I want something that thin for concealed carry. It looks like it beats the Kahrs, PPK's, Bersas, etc. for thinness.

 

[Cool Hand Luke 22:36]

Justin:

They are illegal to possess in the US owing to the fact that the round they were designed to shoot is classified as being armor piercing.

That sucks. There's other legal handgun ammo that's capable of going through Kevlar.

 

[Dave Markowitz]

They are illegal to possess in the US owing to the fact that the round they were designed to shoot is classified as being armor piercing.

Not true. They are not importable under GCA 1968 because they are too small, and don't get enough points on BATF's scale.

The 5.45mm ammunition is not importable because it's all AP. But if someone were to load it with a non-AP bullet, e.g. a JSP or JHP, then it would be legal.

 

[Nightcrawler]

In any case the US currently has a trade agreement of some sorts with Russia, wherein they don't export non-rimfire handguns and "military" style rifles to the US.

That's why you can get a Vepr or a Saiga, but not a Dragunov, and tha's why you dont' see new production Makarovs being imported.