General Facts
- TYPE
Pistol - ORIGIN
Russia - NICKNAMES
P-9 Gurza / Gyurza (early designation)
SR-1 Vektor (FSB service name)
SPS / Samozaryadnyj Pistolet Serdjukova (government designation) - DESIGNED
Early 1990's - DESIGNER
Piotr Serdyukov (TsNIITochMash) - PRODUCTION
1996 - 2005 (early generation)
2005 - present (new generation) - PRODUCERS
Russia - TsNIITochMash - QUANTITY
Unknown - UNIT COST
Unknown - CHARACTERISTICS
Good stopping power
Very good effective range
Good armor piericng capability
Large magazine capacity
Too bulky for people with small hands
Rather heavy
Limited quality sights
Uses uncommon ammunition
Introduction
The Gyurza is a modern pistol of Russian origin. It was developed by TsNIITochMash in the early 1990's as a replacement for the Makarov PM in both military and law enforcement service. The new design was to have a range of at least 50 meters and be capable of piercing body armor. The name Gyurza is Russian for viper. The Russian intelligence service FSB adopted it as the SR-1 Vektor, which stands for Spetsialnaya Razarbotka 1, which is Russian for special design 1. Since 2005 it has also been cleared for use with other Russian users and was designated SPS or Samozaryadnyj Pistolet Serdjukova, which is Russian for Serdyukov self-loading pistol.
Design
The Gyurza is a short recoil operated pistol with the internal mechanism partly based on the Beretta M92. It has a polymer frame and metal slide and is rather bulky due to the large capacity staggered row magazine. A grip safety and trigger safety are fitted and the hammer must be placed in the half-cock position before the pistol will fire. The design has been updated several times over its lifespan.
Firepower
The Gyurza fires the Russian 9x21mm SP-10 round that was specifically developed for this weapon. The 18 round magazine is a vast improvement over the 8 rounds in the Makarov PM. Although targets out to 100 meters may be engages the effective range is more like 50 meters, mainly due to the limited quality sights. The 9x21mm round will pierce 30 layers of Kevlar plus a 2.8 mm titanium plate at 100 meters.
Users
THe Gyurza is in limited use with various Russian law enforcement and special forces units and is available for export. It is facing stiff competition from various designs that provide a near similar performance by using very hot loaded 9x19mm rounds, such as the PYa and GSh-18.
Gyurza
Gyurza: The Gyurza is a modern pistol of Russian origin. It fires the 9x21mm SP-10 round that was specifically designed for this pistol and is also used by the SR-2 sub machine gun. There are no variants although the design has changed over the years. The earliest versions had a smooth grip, the initial production versions a checkered one and current versions a ribbed one. In its original production variant the Gyurza was adopted as the SR-1 Vektor. The latest model is known as the SPS.
- Specifications:
- Gyurza
Type | Pistol |
---|---|
Caliber | 9x21mm Russian |
Magazine | 18 rounds |
Operation | Short recoil, locked breech |
Fire selector | 0-1 |
Rate of fire | Semi-automatic |
Barrel length | 112 mm |
---|---|
Rifling | ? |
Muzzle velocity | 390 - 420 m/s |
Stock | - |
Length | 195 mm |
Width | 34 mm |
Height | 145 mm |
---|---|
Weight | 0.92 kg empty, 1.18 kg loaded |
Sights | Iron sights, blade front, notch rear |
Remarks | - |