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Caliber:9×18mm PM

The Soviet Union in the late 1920s trying to start the personal defense for military personnel need to develop a fully automatic fire can be a large-scale military pistol, but without success. After the Second World War, this idea has been reintroduced. In 1948, at the Tula Design Bureau of the Central engineer Igor Stechkin (Igor Stechkin) formally accepted the task of designing a new pistol design requirement is to adopt a new 9 × 18mm Maca Love handgun cartridges carry out semi-automatic and fully automatic fire, in the fully automatic shooting easier to operate when required, and requirements can SPIDERS butt,
That is so-called "assault pistols."

This assault pistol designed soon, and in 1951 with the Makarov PM pistol along with the Soviet Army adopted the new gun was named Stechkin automatic pistol (Russian for Автоматического Пистолета Стечкина, equivalent to English Automaticheskij Pistolet Stechkin), abbreviated as APS (Russian АПС), also often referred to as Stechkin pistol. APS pistol in the 1953-54 years, a large number of equipment to the Soviet army's artillery, tanks / armored transport vehicle group, the infantry in the RPG-7 shooter, front-line officers and other military personnel,
To become the world's only listed as standard military equipment of the assault pistol.

However, after the troops were equipped only to find APS size too big, butt of a rifle-type holsters also too heavy to APS as a self-defense seems to bring inconvenience, but as offensive weapons and it looks powerful enough, so in the early 1970s began to gradually move from conventional forces APS loaded and transferred to the withdrawal of stock. In the 1970s, designed and produced an improved version of the APS small group pistols, these new APS pistol barrel a bit longer, and the Department of engraved muzzle threaded for external quick release muffler, this pistol has been improved named APB (АПБ). Although the APS conventional forces to withdraw from the containers,
However, APB along with APS by the Soviet Union equipment and Special Forces SPETsNAZ used on the battlefield in Afghanistan.

In the 1990s during the conflict in the former Soviet Union, APS has also been a number of special forces with Russian law enforcement agencies, such as OMON, SOBR, VIP Protection Teams. APS wide range of equipment than the Makarov PM pistol with better accuracy and a greater amount of capacity of shells, and the APS both in order to accurately and rapidly firing semi-automatic mode, but also in indoor close combat emergency situations to full-automatic firing . Now, even though there are more modern and more powerful pistol there, such as GSh-18, but the APS due to the use of inventory and prices low enough to 9 × 18mm handgun cartridges, and good shooting accuracy and low recoil,
Until now, Russia is still the law enforcement bodies, especially the special forces use.

APS pistol, using a simple working principle of free recoil type, structure similar to the Makarov pistol, all-steel structure, exposed-type hammer, double action trigger, recoil spring sets in the barrel, the double pairs into the magazine. In the steel sleeve in the left rear has a three-position insurance / speed machine handle, in order to fully automatic firing easy to control, APS pistol grip was installed in a plunger-type spring buffer, and to extend the sleeve recoil stroke Makarov handgun cartridges the equivalent of the length of two times, so that theoretical rate of fire reduced to 600 rounds a minute. Fixed-chip installed in the sleeve-shaped front sight front sight range of the gap-type adjustable
Rear sight scale there are 25m, 50m, 100m and 200m.

In order to further increase the range and improve the accuracy of automatic firing of the spread, APS pistol used a lighter to act as receiving the pistol butt of the crust-style holsters, you can use to make holsters belt holsters hang card to around the waist, you can also hanging by a shoulder-strap hanging on his shoulders; for use with rifle butts, pistol grips by end of the guide slot SPIDERS holsters, holsters when connections are likely to use straps. Early butt of a rifle-style holsters are made of wood, and later switch to brown plastic. As the original butt-style holsters are too bulky, and now the Russian special forces also used some of lightweight "open-top-style" tactical holsters,
But not into the butt of SPIDERS.