When looking at the I.O. Polish PPS-43C Pistol, I obviously started thinking about the PPS-43 SMG upon which this pistol is based. For me, the most interesting aspect of the PPS-43 was its original field-testing. The forerunner of the PPS-43, the PPS-42 SMG, was being produced in Leningrad during the German World War II siege and PPS-42s were coming directly off of the production line and into the hands of Soviet troops—feedback was immediate.
Friend and author T. J. Mullin, who has written a series of books testing 20th century infantry weapons, rates the PPS-43 among the best submachineguns ever produced. Based on my own experiences with the weapon, I would agree. Developed to offer a less expensively produced version of the PPSh-41 with a lower cyclic rate, the PPS-43 required only 2.7 hours of machining to complete; plus there were savings of up to 50% on the amount of steel needed to produce the SMG. By late in World War II, the Soviets were producing 350,000 PPS-43s per month.
The PPS-43 fires from an open bolt and is chambered for the 7.62x25mm round used in the Tokarev pistol and the PPSh-41 SMG. Feed devices are 35-round curved detachable box magazines. It can only be fired on full-auto, but the 600 rounds per minute cyclic rate makes it relatively controllable. It has a rudimentary muzzle brake that deflects gases to the side and rear, which helps dampen recoil. My experience with the PPS-43 has always been that it is loud. Along with the distinctive muzzle brake, the PPS-43 has a perforated handguard around the barrel. Note that this handguard gets very hot when rounds are fired rapidly. It employs a top-folding stock and has a pistol grip. A safety, which protrudes inside the triggerguard when on safe much as does an M1 Garand safety, works quite well. Sights are a front post protected by two ears and a pair of rear L-shaped flip-up sights marked for 100 and 200 meters. Although the 7.62x25mm round is fairly flat shooting, 200 meters is optimistically the maximum effective range for the gun.
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