PPS-43

The PPS-43 is a Soviet submachine gun designed by Alexei Sudayev and introduced in 1942 as a low cost personal defense weapon for reconnaissance units, vehicle crews and support service personnel. Chambered in 7.62 by 25 millimeter Tokarev, it uses a blowback action firing from an open bolt, is fully automatic only, and feeds from a 35 round curved box magazine. It was designed to simplify manufacturing compared with the earlier PPSh-41, cutting machining time by more than half and using half as much raw steel. About two million were built in the Soviet Union between 1942 and 1946, with further production in Poland from 1946 into the 1970s. The weapon saw extensive use in the Second World War and was later adopted by Warsaw Pact nations and a number of African and Asian allied forces.