Supergun invented in Tula

The instrument-making design bureau of Tula produced a new item – GSh-18 gun, developed by engineer-in-chief, Arkady Shipunov and his first deputy, Vasily Gryazev. The title of the gun reflects the initial characters of its creators and the amount of cartridges to it.

GSh-18 weighs 580 grams when loaded, while the majority of other guns of that class rarely weigh less than 1 kilo. The body and components of the gun are made of the modern lasting materials. A bullet shot from GSh-18 will go through 8 millimeter steel, if you shoot from 12 meters distance – no flak jacket will save from this weapon.

Many specialists of the weapon industry fear, least the super-gun should not be accepted for the armoury. There was even better weapon invented in the cities of Tula and Izhevsk, but the army and the defense complex are used to Kalashnikov, which is 50 years old already. The customer - the Principal missile and artillery directorate of the Defense Ministry does not give any perspectives for the weapon either: GSh-18 is meant for the professional army, but there is no such army in Russia so far.

Translated by Dmitry Sudakov

Read the original in Russian: http://www.pravda.ru/main/2001/12/26/35167.html