The current Russian service pistol is the PYa, or MP-443 “Grach”, and it is (or was) made for civilian sales as the Baikal MP-446C “Viking”. The gun was adopted by the Russian Federation to replace the PM Makarov in 2003, although it took many years to actually get into production and widespread issue.
Mechanically, this is a pretty basic and unexciting pistol – although military pistols really should not be exciting pieces. A standard service sidearm really just needs to function reliably, and the PYa design appears to do that just fine. In military service it’s chambered for a high-pressure 7N21 9x19mm cartridge, while the civilian version here has a lighter barrel and slide and it only rated for standard 9×19 Parabellum.
Many thanks to the Royal Armouries for allowing me to film and disassemble this pistol for you! The NFC collection there – perhaps the best military small arms collection in Western Europe – is available by appointment to researchers:
https://royalarmouries.org/research/national-firearms-centre/
You can browse the various Armouries collections online here:
https://royalarmouries.org/collection/
