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SPP-1 Underwater Pistol

 

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SPP-1 Underwater Pistol



 
 
The 4.5 mm SPP-1 Underwater Pistol was made in the USSR for use underwater by Soviet frogmen as an underwater firearm
Underwater firearm

An underwater firearm is a firearm specially designed for use underwater by frogmen. Underwater firearms were first conceived during the Cold War during the 1960s and 1970s as a way to arm frogmen, and remain in arms inventories today....
. It was developed in the late 1960s and accepted for use in 1971. Underwater, ordinary-shaped bullets are inaccurate and very short-range. As a result, this pistol fires a round-based 4.5mm caliber steel dart about 4.53 inches (115 mm) long, weighing 12.8 g, which has longer range and more penetrating power than speargun
Speargun

A speargun is a gun designed to fire a spear, usually underwater to catch fish....
 spears.






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The 4.5 mm SPP-1 Underwater Pistol was made in the USSR for use underwater by Soviet frogmen as an underwater firearm
Underwater firearm

An underwater firearm is a firearm specially designed for use underwater by frogmen. Underwater firearms were first conceived during the Cold War during the 1960s and 1970s as a way to arm frogmen, and remain in arms inventories today....
. It was developed in the late 1960s and accepted for use in 1971. Underwater, ordinary-shaped bullets are inaccurate and very short-range. As a result, this pistol fires a round-based 4.5mm caliber steel dart about 4.53 inches (115 mm) long, weighing 12.8 g, which has longer range and more penetrating power than speargun
Speargun

A speargun is a gun designed to fire a spear, usually underwater to catch fish....
 spears. The complete cartridge is 145 mm = 5.71 inches long and weighs 17.5 g.

It has four barrels, each containing one cartridge. Its ammunition comes as a magazine of four cartridges which is inserted into the pistol's breech.

Its barrel is not rifled
Rifling

Rifling is the helix-shaped pattern in the Gun barrel of a gun or firearm, which imparts a spin to a projectile around its long axis. This spin serves to gyroscope stabilize the projectile, improving its Aerodynamics stability and accuracy....
; the fired projectile is kept in line by hydrodynamic effects. As a result, it is somewhat inaccurate when fired out of water.

Depth reduces range because the higher pressure closes the cavity sooner. Once the projectile is no longer supercavitating
Supercavitation

Supercavitation is the use of cavitation effects to create a large bubble of gas inside a liquid, allowing an object to travel at great speed through the liquid by being wholly enveloped by the bubble....
, hydrodynamic drag increases greatly, and the projectile becomes unstable.

Its stated lethal range is the range from which it can easily penetrate a padded underwater suit or a 5 mm thick glass facepiece.

A double-action firing mechanism fires one cartridge sequentially for each pull of the trigger. When all four cartridges are spent, the gun can be reloaded above or below water.

A complete set of SPP-1 equipment includes the pistol, 10 cartridge magazines, holster, an ammunition clip for loading SPS cartridges into the magazines and a special sling to carry the pistol and three containers with loaded magazines.

The SPP-1M pistol is essentially the same as the SPP-1 but:-
  • It has an extra spring above the sear
    Sear (firearm)

    In a firearm, the sear is the part of the trigger which holds the hammer or striker back until the correct amount of pressure has been applied to the trigger; at which point the hammer or striker is released to discharge the weapon....
     to improve the trigger pull.
  • Its trigger guard is larger to accommodate diving gloves.


See also

  • Underwater firearm
    Underwater firearm

    An underwater firearm is a firearm specially designed for use underwater by frogmen. Underwater firearms were first conceived during the Cold War during the 1960s and 1970s as a way to arm frogmen, and remain in arms inventories today....
  • List of Russian Weaponry
    List of Russian Weaponry

    A*AB-7.62 *AVB-7.62 *A-91 *AEK-906 *AEK-918 *AEK-918G *AEK-919 / AEK-919K *AEK-971 *AEK-978*AEK-999 *AJC-978V *AK-47 **AKS-47 *AK-74 ...


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