9mm police

New Chinese police revolver. Note the manual safety lever located above the cylinder release latch.

Ammunition of a new revolver: left, with standard bullet, right - with black rubber "less lethal" bullet

Type	Double Action revolver
Caliber(s)	9mm (see text)
Weight unloaded	650 g
Length	186 mm
Barrel length	n/a
Magazine capacity	6 rounds

This new revolver has appeared in 2006 as a future armament for various elements of Chinese Police which previously were unarmed - such as traffic police, local municipal police etc. Since proposed users are mostly unfamiliar with modern small arms, it is reasonable to issue a weapon which is most simple in use - that is, the double action revolver. The ammunition, which is apparently based on old and rather anemic .38 S&W (9x20R) round, retains enough muzzle energy to pose a threat to any unprotected low-grade criminal at short ranges; and even if this gun will fail into wrong hands, any police body armor will be able to stop the bullet. The muzzle velocity for standard round is given as 220 m/s (720 fps). No bullet weights are given, but we can expect this round to be ballistically similar to .38 S&W, thus having muzzle energy about 220 Joules (160 Ft-Lbs). Other than standard round with jacketed of JHP bullet, a "less-lethal" rounds with rubber bullets are provided for crowd control.
It must be noted that no official designation of this gun is known so far.

Mechanically, this new revolver is a rather conventional design, with double-action trigger and swing-out cylinder. The firing pin is mounted in the frame, and a coil mainspring is located in the grip frame. Barrel is enclosed into separate jacket, styled after American Dan Wesson revolvers. The most unusual thing about this revolver is an additional manual safety lever, which is located on the left side of the frame, above the cylinder latch. Apparently, this safety blocks the firing pin. The sights are of open type, with rear sight blade being adjustable for windage.

Posted in: China,Handguns